This past season wasn’t very kind to the Dallas Stars’ goal scorers. Both Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov had a lengthy scoring drought (twice for Seguin). Pretty much every skater was on pace for their lowest point total in at least recent memory.
But for Mattias Janmark, the scoring struggles aren’t new. Assuming the regular season has finished, he will have finished with six goals in 62 games after scoring six in 82 the previous year:
“I try to look at it that it’s more frustrating if you don’t have the chances,” Janmark said. “I know I can work on finishing. It’s hard during the year, but it’s something I can fix. Right now, you have to work for that next chance and when you get that, you have to execute it.”
Janmark takes solace in the fact that he know he can score — he had 15 goals his rookie year and 19 his second full season. But just as Seguin had been saying during his droughts, it’s a lot easier to score goals when you’ve done it recently:
“It’s like I said, when you score goals, everything comes natural. And then when you go through a tough stretch, then maybe you make the wrong decision,” he said. “I think everything comes easier when you have confidence in those moments. You’re going to make the right decisions when you have confidence.”
You can read more from Mike Heika here.
Stars Stories
Here’s a cool story about how Jamie Benn almost went the NCAA route instead of joining the WHL:
“I drove through a rainstorm, and I think he had a hat trick in the first two periods. He was big-time. He was dynamite. This was a no-brainer, and I phoned one of our assistant (coaches) that we have to go after both brothers, not just Jordie.” https://t.co/QKp2qvIsPq
— Sean Shapiro (@seanshapiro) March 23, 2020
(Note: for any non-subscribers, The Athletic is having a 90-day free trial.)
Also from Sean, little nuggets from road trips across the Western Conference team:
Diners, moonshine and dives: Stars-adjacent stories for every Western Conf. city https://t.co/1Ac9rTRMtL
— Sean Shapiro (@seanshapiro) March 24, 2020
What will happen to the Stars’ season? Honestly, who knows?
Rinky Dinking returns! 🎙@Razor5Hole & @MikeHeika discuss what they’ve been up to since the NHL pause, what should be next for the league and much more.#GoStars https://t.co/5i8d5fNZpW
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) March 24, 2020
For the first time since it’s debut in 1919, the Memorial cup will not be awarded this year as the CHL cancels the rest of it’s season:
The #CHL and regional leagues have made the difficult decision to cancel our 2020 Playoffs and @CHLMemorialCup.
We look forward with hope that next season will provide new opportunity to celebrate and that the #MemorialCup may be presented.
FULL 📰: https://t.co/Jq67zZGpDv pic.twitter.com/K1VfeLdzN1
— CanadianHockeyLeague (@CHLHockey) March 23, 2020
COVID-19 has also led to the delaying of the 2020 Summer Olympics:
To safeguard the health of the athletes and everyone involved in the Tokyo 2020 Games.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games will now take place no later than summer 2021.
— #Tokyo2020 (@Tokyo2020) March 24, 2020
Here’s everything we know right now about the fate of the NHL season:
Lots of great information in here, including some new reporting on the state of NHL events and what teams (and third-party brokers) are doing about ticket refunds. https://t.co/eWLTjrfjW6
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) March 23, 2020
Miss hockey? NBC is doing a marathon of memorable NHL games:
Psst.
Tell a friend.
A week of amazing hockey memories begins tomorrow on NBCSN. pic.twitter.com/7CHvCx4Ilw
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) March 23, 2020
Finally, Down Goes Brown takes us back 27 years to parody what everyone was thinking about the 1992-1993 NHL season around this time of year:
Weekend rankings: Due to the lack of current NHL action, this week’s rankings are a rerun of a post that originally ran on March 23, 1993. https://t.co/XRwbDTcUPa pic.twitter.com/sXymHBXzHk
— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) March 23, 2020