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Dallas Stars Daily Links: What Does Julius Honka Have To Do To Stay In The Stars’ Lineup?

Posted on by Kathleen Tibbetts

Julius Honka scored the Dallas Stars’ first goal against the New York Rangers last night, and it was good – really, really good. And it wasn’t even his first notable play; with less than 13 minutes of ice time, Honka stood out in plenty of good ways.

So it may sound odd that head coach Ken Hitchcock is already describing conditions under which he will send the 2014 first-rounder back to the press box. Mike Heika of The Dallas Morning News reports that Honka will “definitely” be in on Wednesday against the New York Islanders, but that Hitch will be watching for mistakes – including that of keeping the puck for longer than three seconds:

Hitchcock said that Honka needs to show what he has learned on a consistent basis to stay in the lineup. He said Honka needs to move the puck quickly in order to avoid mistakes.

“First play option, make it, and then move,” Hitchcock said. “He’s like a skill guy in that he wants to find ‘that play,’ and that play sometimes in this league gets you checked. If it’s on your stick as a young player and you’re past the count of three, you’re usually in trouble. We want him to move the puck and join the rush because he’s so mobile.”

There’s more at Mike’s place. [SportsDayDFW]

As for Honks, he’s glad to have gotten that first goal of the season and is “excited” to be back:

More Stars

Fan Rag NHL’s Carolyn Wilke brings a little perspective on Honka’s 12:21 in TOI:

Jason Spezza scored the shootout winner on Ondrej Pavelec, and it was Spez-nasty. (Watch all the way to the end to hear Razor bust out all the adjectives.)

Before that, Alexander Radulov brought his version of Vernon Fiddler’s favorite move. If you listen carefully, you can hear the moment the MSG crowd’s hearts broke.

Kari Lehtonen made several clutch saves during his latest road win, including this stop on a breakaway by J.T. Miller:

I’ll just leave this here.

The New York fans took some issue with the Stars’ clean PIM sheet, according to Scott Burnside:

Around the league(s)

Last Night, In #Death:

  • Jonathan Bernier stopped 40 shots as the Colorado Avalanche bested the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1. [Pensburgh]
  • And even with Dustin Byfuglien on IR, the Winnipeg Jets opened fire on the Vancouver Canucks to win 5-1. [Arctic Ice Hockey]/

Good news for the Vegas Golden Knights: Starting G Marc-Andre Fleury is returning from concussion and expected to be in net tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Bad news for the Anaheim Ducks: They may have lost Corey Perry during their 3-2 win over the Canes last night. The fractious forward is being evaluated in the hospital for a lower-body injury he sustained in the first period.

What are the odds, really, of Erik Karlsson leaving the Ottawa Senators? Elliotte Friedman takes a close look in his latest 31 Thoughts – in which he also discusses what might happen after Matthew Tkachuk’s upcoming meeting with DoPS director Ray Whitney. [Sportsnet]

And how will the St. Louis Blues deal with the six-week loss of Jaden Schwartz? Ryan Kennedy takes a look at how Ivan Barbashev, Sammy Blais and Dmitrij Jaskin may contribute.

Team USA (including San Antonio’s Jen Lee) took the first step toward defending its 2014 Paralympic sled hockey gold after winning its fourth straight title at the 2017 World Sled Hockey Challenge.

And in the absence of an NHL presence in PyeongChang, Sam McCaig compiles a multi-nation all-star lineup that includes John Klingberg and Esa Lindell (and hey, this is one U.S. team that doesn’t snub Phil Kessel).

Greetings From Scenic Cedar Park

The Texas Stars used their day off to visit local school kids, and Mike McKenna, Gavin Bayreuther and Sheldon Dries were there.

Finally

Fidds may have found the Stars’ newest good-luck charm. We’ll find out the next time he wears his George Strait hat to the game. Enjoy.

Talking Points