Dallas Stars related news this late in the off-season, barring the eventual schedule release, which could come this week, is relatively hard to come by and rightfully so. Just 56 days remain until training camp begins in Ft. Worth and fewer still until the Traverse City prospect tournament up in Michigan.
Still, the official site brings us some good quotes on the events of the summer.
Over and over again the thing that keeps coming out is how connected Jim Nill is, and how it translated directly into player acquisition…
“There was very little defense available in free agency and Gonchar was the best of the bunch, we thought,” said Lites. “And Jim, because of relationships he had, went right out and got him. He went right to the agent, who he knew really well and right to the player directly. He didn’t hesitate and mess around. We think we got the jump on that.”
Tom Gaglardi is particularly excited about the high-end talent Jim Nill acquired.
“We got two players that are likely elite. Those guys are hard to find,” said Gaglardi. “We’ve got great prospects and great depth, but to add what Nichushkin could potentially be and we already know what Tyler Seguin is and what he can be having played three years in the league, that’s what is so exciting about it.”
Read the whole thing over Dallas Stars.com. Good stuff by Mark there.
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Here’s a must read long-form post over the main SB Nation NHL page about Seth Jones telling of his beginnings in the game. It’s a pretty cool story, if you can get over the fact that he’s in… yuck. Nashville now. [SB Nation]
How much are the Toronto Maple Leafs the Dallas Cowboys of the NHL? You know, poorly run, crazy, unsuccessful for decades but receiving a disproportionate amount of fan attention in spite of it, for some reason? Their president is publicly talking about how he has a Stanley Cup Parade route mapped out [Bloomberg], and Forbes says they’re one of the 50 most valuable franchises in the world. [Forbes]
Justin Bourne over at “The Score” rank the NHL cities in terms of desirability to free agents. Dallas just makes the top half of the list and Edmonton is ranked a little high, while New Jersey and a certain Canadian city… uhh… [The Score]
Via Puck Daddy, here’s yet another list where the Stars are smack-dab in the middle of the pack: “Luck”. Yes, HockeyAbstract.com has a statistical breakdown of the luckiest and unluckiest teams in the league last year using PDO, one-goal games, etc… Apparently Nashville was really “unlucky”. [HockeyAbstract.com]
Brenden Morrow, Mark Fistric and Jaromir Jagr are still out there. Mike Heika discusses the former Dallas Stars that do have new teams, and asks which one will be the most successful. (Ribeiro…) [Dallas Morning News]
Jagr’s being coy about his destination, and making cryptic videos through social media? He’s old. Isn’t this like having your Dad on Facebook? [Puck Daddy]
We season ticket holders don’t have our schedule and can’t plan out the next 10 months of our lives because the NHLPA and the NHL and the Olympic committee are going around and around on an agreement. It should be over soon. [The Score]
Eyes On The Prize is doing a summer-school advanced stat series. If you’re lost when we say “CORSI” or “FENWICK” you might check it out. [Habs Eyes on the Prize]