Dallas Stars Daily Links: Shore-ing Up His Game

Happy Sunday everyone! I won’t be touching much on last night’s game here in the Links given that highlights are very difficult to come by. Have a great rest of the weekend!

Devin Shore is a fairly polarizing figure in DBD-land, and deservedly so: his numbers don’t necessarily match the opportunities he’s been given (including a minus-30 +/- last season), and coaching staffs seem to find more value in his game than much of the fan base. However, it’s important to remember that he’s only 24, and he’s often been shuffled up and down the lineup without really having a chance to get comfortable in any particular spot. He’s taken both his inconsistency and the team’s overall lack of success personally:

“I just try to focus on the day to day,” Shore said of his usual strategy. “Try to earn a spot on the team. Try to earn as big a role as you can on the team. Try to help the team win. Just do your best. I think any extra motivation comes from not having a whole lot of success as a team last year.”

Shore said he took both team disappointment and the need for personal improvement to a new level this summer. He worked hard on every aspect of his game so that he can have a bigger impact.

Coming out of college and the minors, Shore earned a reputation as a strong two-way player. Some will argue that he hasn’t lived up to that reputation in Dallas, and there are certainly stats to back that up. Fortunately for Shore, his new boss shares a similar backstory with him:

New Stars coach Jim Montgomery was also a high-scoring center in college and the minors and then had to try to find a different role when he was promoted to the NHL. He said it’s not an easy transition.

See more from Mike Heika at his usual spot. [NHL]

Stars Stuff

Mark Stepneski dropped some lines about how tough of a match-up Radek Faksa is for opposing teams’ top dawgs. [NHL]

Matthew DeFranks has some notes on several players, including on how Julius Honka and Gavin Bayreuther have impressed this preseason. [SportsDayDFW]

In case you missed it, there was quite the National Anthem band singing prior to last night’s game:

Here are the fellas in Tulsa before the game:

This is progress, I guess:

If you’re wondering where to get your Stars on sports radio this season:

Around the League

I’m loving the photo they used for this tweet:

Ehh..:

Speaking of the Devils, Mike Woods inked a 4-year deal with them at a $2.75M AAV:

I suppose it’s probably fair that there isn’t a Star on this list (in the top-10):

Down Goes Brown’s Friday Grab Bag is BACK baby! Also, it’s on The Athletic now: