We’re about three weeks into free agency, which means most teams in the league have finished making their offseason changes and are more or less ready for the next season to start. For better or for worse, the Dallas Stars seem to fall into this category, although there is still a possibility of an eventual Erik Karlsson trade.
But even though the roster is more or less set, there are still plenty of questions up in the air heading into the new season. For instance, what is the status of Tyler Seguin’s contract extension? Should Stars fans expect Jason Spezza to bounce back next season? How will Jim Montgomery adapt to the NHL?
Mike Heika discussed all of these topics and more last night on the NHL Network:
.@MikeHeika talks about the @DallasStars‘ new coach, their pursuit of Erik Karlsson, and Tyler Seguin’s pending unrestricted free agency. #NHLTonight pic.twitter.com/HOawSNYQDs
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) July 23, 2018
Stars Stories
Looks like Tyler Seguin has been enjoying his summer outside of the rink so far:
Hey @tseguinofficial, your legs tired, Lil buddy? pic.twitter.com/rh1YbU83dW
— Bob Sturm (@SportsSturm) July 22, 2018
Early-round picks always get most of the draft and development buzz, but it’s also worth keeping up to date on potential late-round gems:
Liam Hawel and Brett Davis weren’t selected early in last year’s draft. But both Stars prospects have taken steps forward lately and are working hard to establish themselves.
By @SaadYousuf126https://t.co/NZo7WfoqtV— The Athletic (@TheAthleticDFW) July 20, 2018
Sad news yesterday, as former Stars scout Jim Pedersen passed away. All of us at Defending Big D send our condolences to his family:
Sad day in hockey world & family of Jim Pedersen. He was a long time scout with @DallasStars & had a big influence in @theSJHL & SK Midget AAA. In words of long-time NHL Exec Les Jackson; “Jim was a great man & had a tremendous influence on many young people with his work. #RIP
— Craig Button (@CraigJButton) July 22, 2018
Around the League
The Allen Americans of the ECHL have a new NHL partner, switching from the San Jose Sharks to the Minnesota Wild:
NEWS: The Allen Americans join the #StateOfHockey and partner with the @mnwild and @IAWild! pic.twitter.com/Rd0bV2lgjJ
— Allen Americans #RockYourRed (@AllenAmericans) July 21, 2018
Speaking of the Wild, they locked up Matt Dumba for the next five years with a $6 million AAV contract. [NHL]
Dumba wasn’t the only RFA defenseman to get a new contract this weekend: Jacob Trouba got a one year, $5.5 million deal with the Winnipeg Jets. [NHL]
The difference with Trouba is that, unlike Dumba, he went through arbitration. The Jets were looking for only $4 million while Trouba wanted $7 million, which led many hockey fans to roll their eyes when the arbitrator’s decision was announced:
NHL arbitrators have the easiest job in the world. Punch two numbers into a calculator, divide by two, call it a day. https://t.co/G3rO4ljO7E
— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) July 22, 2018
When a team goes into arbitration with a stupid-low price (ie. $4 million for Trouba), players should just counter with a stupid-high price (ie. $10 million)
The system’s clearly broken, so why not right? https://t.co/e7eHWQVLOC
— Ian Tulloch (@regressIan) July 22, 2018
Does your favorite team have a true “Number One” center? Well, of course the Stars do, but what about your other favorite team? [The Hockey News]
On that note, the Pittsburgh Penguins are currently facing a rather peculiar problem — they have too many centers on the roster currently. [NBC Sports]
Hindsight is 20/20, but honestly some of these were bad calls at the time too:
Say, you want something to get your hockey passions stoked?
I went back and looked at 20 years of NHL Awards, and chose 10 that I would rip away from the winner and award to someone who should have won it. (Plus, Puck Headlines!) https://t.co/1OZJ9q9yQk
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) July 20, 2018
Down Goes Brown proposes a pretty radical change to five-on-three power plays in his latest Grab Bag. [Vice Sports]
Here’s a pretty cool thread — hockey fans across the internet discuss stories from when they’ve played beer league hockey with professional players. [Reddit]
With the Columbus Blue Jackets looking to maybe trade Artemi Panarin, here are some of the top potential landing spots for the young forward:
Five destinations for Blue Jackets’ Panarin if no deal reached before ‘deadline,’ from @THNJaredClinton https://t.co/IcWh3tqChi pic.twitter.com/XfhhI0upo6
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) July 22, 2018
Finally…
Monday blues got you down? Here’s a twitter thread from last week that might brighten your day, courtesy of the Dallas Stars:
Today is Take Your Dog to Work Day at the Stars Executive Offices. Here are some of the office pups. 🐶
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) July 20, 2018