Dallas Stars Daily Links: Grading The Captain

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope your week is getting off to a great, or good, or just not terrible start. There was some good playoff hockey yesterday with a few extra sides of controversy and the second round is looking like it’s going to be a compelling one. Have a great week!

Jamie Benn is the captain of the Dallas Stars. He’s certainly not the most vocal leader (at least in public), but he seems to be a man who would rather have his actions speak than his words. He had somewhat of an up-and-down season; his overall numbers were pretty good, but he sometimes took penalties at inopportune times and he was much more visible in some games than he was in others. He is one of my top three favorite Stars of all time and this next year is a big one for him:

He is a superstar. However, his teams have won just one playoff series in his nine-year career, and he has to find a way to correct that. It’s not all on Benn, but he is the captain of the Stars, and he has to be able to help push this team to new places. A lot will be expected next season.

Even though it is only the second round of this year’s playoffs, my Stars wounds have mostly healed already (still incredibly upset there were no playoffs but by February I didn’t think they had much of a chance to advance) and I’m pumped for next season. See the full grade over at Mike’s place. [SportsDayDFW]

Stars Stuff

Slow day on the news front...

Dear God!:

Three guys I never thought I’d see together in a photo:

Around the League

Playoff update:

• The Washington Capitals were able to take one of two at home and even the series against the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 4-1 victory. [NHL]
• Holy mackerel was the end of the regulation crazy in this one. Pucks, refs, and players were flying all over the ice until noted Stars’ assassin Mark Scheifele scored his eighth(?!?) goal of the playoffs already. In the end, however, Nashville pulled out a 5-4 victory in double overtime to even the series at one. As much as I despise these two teams on a Central Division foe #MDK level, they are really fun to watch play against each other. [NHL}

Here’s Greg Wyshynski on the aforementioned controversy. I have no idea what goalie interference is — the Parallax effect is something that is way out of my pay grade — but I don’t think Tom Wilson was headhunting from behind, it was just an unfortunate situation. TL;DR: I would definitely be upset if I was a Penguins fan:

I don’t want to imagine how catfish-tainted Bud Light tastes:

These guys all possess the CLUTCH GENE. Especially #6 on the list: