Dallas Stars Daily Links: Seguin Trying to Find His Groove
He hasn’t missed a game yet, but Seguin still doesn’t feel 100%. Plus, Paul Maurice resigns from the Jets, rising concerns about COVID-19 outbreaks, and more.
After coming back from major surgery and rehabilitation, Tyler Seguin knew he wouldn’t be 100% right away. But the road back has been longer than anticipated, and he naturally can’t help but feel a little frustrated that everything hasn’t clicked yet:
“I’ve had people close to me tell me it could take a little bit just to get it all back. I didn’t believe them and I still haven’t fully until the last week or two. Realizing there’s things that I’m still trying to find, still get back.”
That’s led to a subpar performance so far this season — Seguin’s been catching criticism from both his coach and the media. Then again, that’s nothing new for the Dallas Stars forward, who has learned to take the criticism in stride:
“It doesn’t really bother me anymore,” Seguin said. “It used to definitely fire me up a little bit. Been through so much here that it is what it is. I know my body. I know when I’m going through stuff, and when I’m not and when I need to be better and when I know I just have little areas to improve.”
You can read more about Seguin and how Rick Bowness is working to improve his output from Matthew DeFranks here.
Stars Stories
The Stars look to break their four game losing streak tonight with a rematch against the St. Louis Blues:
Another opportunity.
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) December 17, 2021
🆚 St. Louis Blues
⏰ 7:00pm
📍 Enterprise Center
📺 @ESPNPlus/@Hulu
📻 @DFWTicket@Toyota | #TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/tz7GXG4rre
It’ll be difficult, however, with the team missing star defenseman Miro Heiskanen among othehrs:
From Bowness: Miro Heiskanen (non-COVID related illness) and Joel Kiviranta (upper-body injury) will not accompany the team to St. Louis. Neither practiced today.
— Kyle Shohara (@kyleshohara) December 16, 2021
That also means we’ll see some new faces in the lineup:
Rick Bowness said they need Harley to replace Miro Heiskanen and need Tufte's size against St. Louis. The return of Hintz and Radulov mean that Delandrea and Damiani are not the right fit. Said both did great in their call-up. https://t.co/4lVs7T1lcn
— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) December 17, 2021
Around the League
It was a relatively quiet Thursday night for the Central:
- With both teams coming in riding five game win streaks, something had to give — the surging Nashville Predators took out the Colorado Avalanche 5-2. [On the Forecheck]
- That puts them in second place in the division, not too far from the Minnesota Wild, who lost 3-2 to the Buffalo Sabres in the shootout. [Die By the Blade]/
It was not a quiet Friday morning, however, as Paul Maurice shockingly announced his resignation as the Winnipeg Jets’ head coach:
— Winnipeg Jets PR (@WpgJetsPR) December 17, 2021
The Athletic got a panel to provide feedback on fan-proposed rules. The suggestions are... interesting.
Hear ye, hear ye!
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) December 16, 2021
NHL Rules Court is in session.
You, the readers, submitted ideas for new or adjusted NHL rules to be considered by a jury of @seangentille, @ian_mendes and @DownGoesBrown.
Did any of your rules pass? Let's see what you came up with ⤵️https://t.co/WnwKJMbfGa
Does the NHL now have a 3-on-3 OT problem? Greg Wyshynski discusses:
NHL 3-on-3 overtime was like pizza, in the sense that even bad pizza is still pizza. Then the coaches changed the recipe ... and now it's gross.
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) December 16, 2021
The problem with OT, and how to fix it, in this week's ESPN column: https://t.co/RFmMvN0CsS
Gary Bettman reduced Jason Spezza’s suspension to four games, which just so happens to be how many games he’s already missed. What a crazy random happenstance:
Commissioner Bettman upholds suspension of @MapleLeafs forward Jason Spezza; reduces length from six to four games.
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 17, 2021
Complete ruling: https://t.co/3qvuhuPsO3 pic.twitter.com/E6YLxjYKOr
As COVID-19 continues to wreck havoc on the league, Jonathan Drouin expresses concerns about playing teams dealing with positive cases:
"I'm not really comfortable playing against a team that has so many cases of COVID."
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 17, 2021
Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin spoke out about the prospect of Montreal playing Boston on Saturday night with the Bruins facing a COVID-19 outbreak. https://t.co/vspyV1JyNT
Finally, a nice dive here into how NHL teams are continuing to invest in goaltending scouting and coaching:
Roberto Luongo (@strombone1) was lucky to have a part-time goalie coach when he entered the NHL. Today, there’s a full support staff.
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) December 16, 2021
✍️: @THNRyanKennedy https://t.co/rL3zVanSx9 pic.twitter.com/FlNT7XcUCd