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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Fun with Finns

Miro Heiskanen and Joel Kiviranta played hockey with some kids the other day — ball hockey, that is. Plus, NHL Awards news, who might get taken in the Expansion Draft, and more.

Ever since arriving in Texas, the Dallas Stars have done their best to try and grow the sport of hockey. That starts with public outreach towards kids, which most recently took the form of fellow Finns Miro Heiskanen and Joel Kiviranta playing ball hockey at St. Philip’s School and Community Center in Dallas:

“It’s great for everyone, it makes everyone feel good, so it really is good,” said Heiskanen... “We actually had something similar in school. We had players come to our school and say ‘Hi,’ and that was great then. Right now, in this situation, it brings back memories, and it’s a lot of fun for me. Lots of smiling and everyone is happy.”

This is nothing new for the Stars — they’ve interacted with St. Philip’s in the past, and many Stars players have engaged in community service and outreach programs over the years. That includes Stars legend Marty Turco, who still works with the organization via the Dallas Stars Foundation:

“There’s a reason why sports is so important, maybe now more than ever,” Turco said. “It allows you to connect with other people. We’re deepening our roots in the community, we’re connecting with people, but bottom line, we’re just having fun. I think when you boil it down to that, the rest of the stuff just happens.”

You can read more from Mike Heika here.

Around the League

The Tampa Bay Lightning out-defended the New York Islanders last night, winning a tight 2-1 game to take the series lead:

This Stars season wasn’t “successful” by any means, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t have enjoyed it along the way:

After signing an extension yesterday, Rod Brind’Amour celebrated by winning the Jack Adams. How will he celebrate that?

Speaking of the Carolina Hurricanes, should Dougie Hamilton stay or should he go now?

And while on the subject of awards, the finalists for GM of the Year were... surprising, to say the least:

Finally, who might the Stars lose in this year’s NHL Expansion Draft? Well Riley Tufte is exempt, but the other two choices are possible!

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