Dallas Stars Daily Links: Stars Take on Winless Coyotes

After a two day respite, the Dallas Stars take the ice again tonight against the Arizona Coyotes, the only remaining NHL club which has yet to win a single game.

The Coyotes are coming off a 6-2 blowout against the Boston Bruins, a loss so bad that head coach Rick Tocchet apologized to the fans for the performance:

"The second period, it was chaos," Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet told media after the game. "That's my fault. I thought I had them ready to go. A couple guys were loose, not getting the puck in deep. Some guys go off the grid. I'm kind of embarrassed for the fans."

The Stars meanwhile sit at 2-3-0, which may not be as bad as Arizona but is still a disappointing start to the season. Even coming off of Saturday’s victory against the Colorado Avalanche, Ken Hitchcock is still looking for ways to improve the lineup. And that leads us to a bit of news that many fans might or might not like hearing:

In Monday's practice there were no changes to the lines or defense pairs used in Saturday's games, but Hitchcock indicated that he wanted to get defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, who was a healthy scratch Saturday, back into the lineup.

"We took a player out that didn't deserve to come out, and he needs to get back in right away," Hitchcock said. "We'll look at that."

Regardless of who’s in the lineup, let’s just hope the team pulls out the victory tonight at home. You can read more about the game from the official game preview here.

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Other Stars News

As you’ve probably heard by now, Ken Hitchcock passed Al Arbour in all time wins. But what might surprise you is that he has some mixed feelings about the milestone. [NHL]

Ben Bishop took over the Dallas Stars’ Twitter yesterday, and one lucky fan was brave enough to ask the net-minder for some tickets:

Also let it be known that Bishop has excellent taste in candy:

Mike Heika talked about Devin Shore, Alex Radulov, and the unfortunate lack of scoring to start the season in his weekly chat. [SportsDay DFW]

Valeri Nichushkin now has 8 goals in 18 games; here’s his latest, which was the game winner.

Speaking of first round draft picks, Miro Heiskanen is having a strong start to the season after returning from a concussion, while Jake Oettinger had a forgettable weekend. [NHL]

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Around the League

I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that with the season well under way, I can no longer link you draft advice for your fantasy hockey league. The good news is I can now link you waiver wire advice instead! [NHL]

More good news: Eddie Olczyk is going to be back behind the booth this Wednesday. [NBC Sports]

Here are some upcoming storylines this week to keep an eye out for:

It’s rapid fire power rankings time: first up is Scott Burnside, who was kind enough to take the Stars out of his bottom five. [NHL]

Adam Gretz isn’t so nice, though at least we’re the best of the worst. [NBC Sports]

And DownGoesBrown gives his second rankings, as well as giving a shout out to Tyler Seguin for his Gordie Howe hat trick. [Sportsnet]

Here are the NHL’s three stars of the week:

The first star, Nikolaj Ehlers, is finally starting to get the attention he deserves for his outstanding play writes Nick Ashbourne. [Yahoo Sports]

Auston Matthews, meanwhile, is on his way to being a true superstar for the Toronto Maple Leafs, perhaps even their greatest. [The Hockey News]

Erik Karlsson is back, and his coach has some bold words to say about the NHL’s best defenseman:

Monday night had only one game, where the Tampa Bay Lightning edged out the Detroit Red Wings 3-2. [Raw Charge]

Nikita Kucherov scored two of the goals, slotting him alongside some good company in the record books:

How long should a team hold onto a goaltending prospect? Ryan Kennedy investigates: [The Hockey News]

The Southern Professional Hockey League has adopted a non-traditional method of deciding playoff matchups:

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Finally...

Here’s a little something to brighten your day, courtesy of the Dallas Stars: