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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Fourth Line Desires

Posted on by Adam Gaston

The battle for the fourth line hasn’t necessarily been a major talking point this offseason, but it hasn’t been an insignificant story either.  Jim Montgomery is still figuring out who will start the season on Team Grit, but he has some (business speak voice) Key Performance Indicators that he’s looking for:

“They got to build momentum for the next people coming over the boards,” Montgomery said. “That’s true for every line, but it’s so important that they do it. If they have a great shift in the offensive zone, they’re being relentless, they’re creating turnovers, they’re getting opportunities and pucks to the net, creating offensive zone faceoffs or drawing penalties, that’s what a fourth line needs to do.”

We hear a lot of platitudes about roster construction and player usage from front offices across the league, but what makes the Stars’ situation interesting is that there are so many candidates to fill the role and each man brings something different to the table.  Evidently Devin Shore is a shoe in for one of the spots, which leaves quite a selection for the last two spots:

Ritchie brings the promise of his big frame, second-round status and strong AHL stats. Smith brings his speed and solid numbers per 60 minutes. Elie has his physical play and heavy forecheck. Hintz, at 21, flashed potential during the AHL playoffs last year. And Dickinson has first-round pedigree but has bounced from Dallas to Cedar Park.

See more from Matthew DeFranks here.

Stars Stuff

Two weeks to go!:

Jim Montgomery chatted about what the roster will look like tonight against the Wild:

Here’s an abbreviated written version of what Montgomery said in case you’re at work and can’t watch/listen:

Sean Shapiro dished on Gemel Smith getting through arbitration and focusing on the on-ice stuff:

Congrats to Stars’ #1 pick Ty Dellandrea:

Josh Lile examined the impact that John Klinberg and Miro Heiskanen will have on the rest of the roster. [SportsDayDFW]

This is a wild story:

Around the League

This is….something:

I’m pretty sure Erik Karlsson would be liking the fit at any of the other 30 NHL teams better than in Ottawa:

I think having a star Chinese player would really help grow the game in China, a la Yao Ming in the NBA:

Hey, an award list actually has a Star on it!:

You want referee talk?  Stephen Whyno has referee talk:

Like father, like son (joke stolen from Down Goes Brown):

Talking Points