Hello, DBD! Let’s start the week by thinking about training camp. It’ll be fun.
The Dallas Stars deserve daily coverage. We all know it’s true. Yet the Dallas-Fort Worth media environment has been steadily gravitating away from it. What’s a brand-new startup to do?
The All-City Network seems determined to pick up the Stars coverage slack left by The Athletic and others. They’ve certainly made a large enough financial investment to bring in Craig Ludwig, Owen Newkirk, and Sean Shapiro. And beat writer Sam Nestler will get paid to cover the Stars, and only the Stars.
You can get a taste of Sam’s work with his first post, taking on the issues to watch during the Victory Green Gang’s 2024 training camp. First up, the question of finding a replacement for Joe Pavelski on the erstwhile Avengers line:
The options are there. The process will simply be about finding the right fit while not taking away from other effective lines. That second part is most important….
If one of [Tyler Seguin or Wyatt Johnston] is chosen to slide up to the top line, their replacements will have to find similar chemistry on lines two and three. Could young Mavrik Bourque grab a roster spot and fill in down the middle with [Jamie] Benn and [Logan] Stankoven? Is it time to split up [Roope] Hintz and [Jason] Robertson? Maybe Evgenii Dadonov fits the mold?
The defense gets attention, too:
Dallas lost veteran blueliner Chris Tanev to free agency. That left a mark. They brought back Nils Lundkvist, kept their core of Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, Thomas Harley (restricted free agent awaiting a new contract), and added right-handers Ilya Lyubushkin and Matt Dumba, along with veteran Brendan Smith….
Are the Stars hoping that Dumba can fit in the top four? Is Lundkvist going to finally step up, get himself out of the dog house and grab a full-time role? Can Alexander Petrovic replicate his solid play from the Stanley Cup Playoffs? And of course, what about 20-year-old Lian Bichsel? If he is NHL-ready, or even if not, Dallas has some serious decisions to make on the backend.
There’s more, including Sam’s take on the young talent looking to break camp with the big boys. Check it out. [DLLS]
Stars Stuff
Here’s the schedule information you really wanted. (You’re welcome, I’m sure.)
Around The Leagues
- Alert the media! Québec hasn’t given up on getting another NHL team. Adam Proteau continues his series on league expansion by examining the case for Nordiques v2.0. [The Hockey News]
- The 2026 Winter Olympics will be here before we know it. Lucas Aykroyd takes a look at the national teams battling to qualify for a trip to Milano Cortina. [IIHF]
Finally
Just mascots, doing mascot stuff. Enjoy.