Dallas Stars Daily Links: The Evolution of Tyler Seguin

Happy Saturday everyone! Are you excited for some primo 3-on-3 hockey this weekend? Watching guys shoot pucks hard or do breakaways against goalies that are totally giving it their all? Yeah, me neither. At least it’s better than the Pro Bowl, right?

Tyler Seguin has never really had any issues on the offensive end of the ice. He’s been a consistent point producer throughout his career, especially since his arrival in Dallas in 2013. When the Stars (re)hired Ken Hitchcock this past offseason, one of his biggest priorities was turning Seguin into a “200 foot player,” much like he did with Mike Modano in the late-90’s and early-00’s. So far, the results have been promising:

“He’s become a way more competitive player,” Hitchcock said. “His compete level at the puck, his attention to detail; he’s made huge strides as a 200-foot player. I always use that term, but when you ask a guy to go from killing no penalties to being a prime-time guy, you ask a guy to block shots, you ask a guy to be out there at the end of games, important minutes and then you ask him to play against top players; if you haven’t done it your whole life, it’s a big adjustment.

”He’s made those adjustments in half a season, which, to me, is terrific.”

While it would be reasonable to assume that an increase in defensive focus would cause a decrease in offensive effectiveness, that hasn’t really been the case with Seguin. He has 43 points in 50 games on the year and his 23 goals tie him for 9th in the league. Most importantly, his mindset has significantly shifted. He understands that his value to the team isn’t only goals and assists (although those are nice):

“I’ve always known I could find ways,” Seguin said. “But I’ve always felt I’ve been the guy that if we’re looking for that goal, I am going to get that goal and, if I am not scoring, it’s a bad game. This year, I am still getting some goals, but it’s changed in the respect that the goal is about one faceoff, or the goal is a big kill or something like that. They are out of character things that I haven’t had as a part of my game in the past that Hitch has given me the opportunity for this year.”

See more at Mark’s place. [NHL]

Stars Stuff

This isn’t really news, but I think Taylor would be upset if it was left off of here:

I know this was already talked about here on DBD, but just in case you missed the news:

You’ve got questions, Sean Shapiro has answers. His weekly mailbag includes trade deadline talk and a few q’s from some of your wonderful DBD friends. [The Upset Sports]

This is a good stat:

Don’t wear him out before he gets here, Finnish team!

All Star stuff (trying to muster enthusiasm)!

League News

I don’t really care about the All-Star Game (ed. note: gee, we couldn’t tell) but I figured this wouldn’t be too difficult...I was wrong:

Here are some top highlights from Thursday night’s action in case you need a (real) hockey fix over the next few days:

The Sabres have a permanent sad Charlie Brown thing going on this season:

Down Goes Brown’s Friday Grab Bag is yet another classic:

PK Subban does a lot of really cool work in the community, both in Montreal and Nashville:

Senators stadium drama update (with a very brief Alex Radulov cameo):

Our old friend Patrick Eaves is looking as dapper and marvelously bearded as ever: