Dallas Stars Daily Links: Behind The Scenes With Klinger’s Kids

The Dallas Stars are missing John Klingberg on the ice, but it’s a good time to measure his impact off of it.

Sean Shapiro of The Athletic DFW has devoted a feature to John Boy’s community charity, Klinger’s Kids, and to the brave children it serves:

Twice a month Klingberg sits down with a committee from the Dallas Stars Foundation, which has a list of children with life-threatening illnesses. The child and their family come out to watch the morning skate, get a tour of the locker room from Klingberg, and then receive four tickets to the game. Each child also receives a mattress from Levitz Mattress, which has combined with the Stars defenseman to donate more than $14,000 to the organizations that support each child’s specific ailment.

“It was important for me to give back,” Klingberg said. “And I wanted to bring out all the families as well, I want this to be for them and their kid. Now that I’m in a position to do something, I wanted to figure out something like this.”

You can imagine how much the kids love spending time with Klinger, but it may be even more special to their families:

“It’s priceless,” Andrea said. “When we can have a moment where Jacob, like right now we are in the hospital, you can hear the beeps in the background. Anytime my son can not be in the hospital it’s a blessing, and any time he’s here in the hospital it’s a blessing too. But just to have a day of normalcy, we don’t get them very often. To have what John did for us, that means so much.”

Read more behind the paywall. [The Athletic DFW]

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Stars Stories

Now recovered from the concussion that delayed his NHL debut, Gavin Bayreuther will play tonight against the Boston Bruins.

Anton Khudobin took his turn in the chair yesterday, and the results were both informative and hilarious. [Dallas Stars]

Learn more about how the Victory Green gang bonds behind the scenes in the latest episode of “Open Ice.”

Around the League(s)

#Murder Was The Case

• Mikko Koivu racked up three points and six different Minnesota Wild players scored as they rolled over the Vancouver Canucks, 6-2. [Hockey Wilderness]
• A Jason Demers GWG and a 44-save performance by backup goalie Darcy Kuemper sealed the deal as the Arizona Coyotes shocked the Nashville Predators, 2-1. [On The Forecheck]

The Central not only is (arguably) the toughest division, it has the toughest barns for visiting teams, according to an NHL players’ poll. [NHL]

But it can’t help that the Perds are missing both P.K. Subban and Viktor Arvidsson – and that probably looks pretty ominous right now.

Sidney Crosby is out of the Pittsburgh Penguins lineup with an upper-body injury that is not a concussion.

The injuries keep coming: The Tampa Bay Lightning have lost Andrei Vasilevskiy for an as-yet undetermined number of games.

But there’s some good news for the Toronto Maple Leafs as Auston Matthews returns to practice ice.

What’s the fantasy impact of all these injuries?

Greetings From Scenic Cedar Park

Once again it’s Star Wars Night with the Texas Stars, and you know what to do.

Finally

The Willie O’Ree Hall of Fame celebration continues as one of his former teams, the San Diego Gulls, plans a theme night for the ages. Enjoy.