Dallas Stars Daily Links: Victor E. Speeches

Well, the weekend is over, and I hope you enjoyed it. The Stars did, as they had their Icebreaker on Saturday, and the lines to meet players were insanely long, which means that people care about hockey in Texas. Or that lots of people at the Galleria got lost and assumed those lines were for the valet desk.

I am quite fine with Mr. Green. He will do mascot things, and we will all probably smile (or roll your eyes, you grinch people, you) before turning back to the game or our smartphones and instantly forgetting about him. After all, it’s just a fun bit to engage (primarily) younger fans at the game, right? Nearly ever single NHL team has a mascot, so I don’t think this is going to suddenly delegitimize the Stars’ impending dominance in the league. If you disagree, send me your long, hateful responses at my email address, thanks.

Speaking of hate, let’s turn to Boston, a city which has nothing better to do while their baseball team’s putridity permeates their pastures than lambast the Stars’ new mascot as “ridiculous“:

That’s Victor E. Green, some kind of cross between the Phillie Phanatic and Big Bird, with a pair of horns [sic] thrown in for good measure. Stars fans did not hide their disapproval upon the mascot’s introduction Saturday morning.

Then they embedded a few tweets from random people who started to proclaim the end of Serious Hockey in Dallas as we know it. Because I guess it’s easier to just do that instead of actually asking anyone who was at the Icebreaker. Journalists can now prove what a fanbase thinks by searching for “dallas mascot stupid” on Twitter instead of actually asking a diverse range of people for opinions. This is called supporting the narrative. (and honestly, “horns?” Come now.)

Also, I’m not sure what the point is in calling a mascot “ridiculous.” Of course, let us all remember that Boston can talk, because their mascot is obviously exclusively targeted at promoting hockey according to a veridical representation of their namesake, or whatever the converse of being ridiculous is. Wait, did I just get suckered into arguing about which professional hockey team’s big, stuffed mascot is less ridiculous than the other one? Aww, man.

I enjoyed this take from The Sporting News a bit more:

Victor E. Green is his name and he’s the combination of leftover Muppet clippings and the recycling bin round the backside of the Easton factory. Ol’ Vic’s supposedly an alien according to his team biography, which lists his relationship status as “Alienated” which sort of puts a damper on the whole thing knowing the poor guy is all alone.

This is the correct response. “Weird” is what the Stars appeared to be going for, and I’d say they did that pretty well. I had been picturing something more squat and round when I saw the big sweater teaser, but this mascot is much better-proportioned for actually doing hockey things, which we are all looking forward to. “Muppet clippings” should probably be getting more play as well.

Lastly, Puck Daddy had one of the better one-liners:

Say hello to Victor E. Green, the latest addition to the pantheon of NHL plushies. It’s the first time Dallas has had a mascot since the trade of Steve Ott.

Plushies…wait, they are going to be selling plush dolls of this thing, aren’t they! How will I possibly be able to resist putting one of them on my desk for the rest of my life? Talk about an instant conversation topic when I get in trouble for sleeping at work! But yeah, the Steve Ott line is funny, if a bit hackneyed. Do you think Mr. Green signed any autographs on this exact spot?

Well, whatever. Victor is ours now, so it’s time to tear up those sublime Starboot-themed character sheets/illustrations/flipbooks we spent all month making and start pre-ordering the biggest (and I’m sure reasonably priced) version of our new mascot that we can find. Just stay away from this black hole of internet reactions while you do it, or else you might forget how to love ever again.

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Get your Monday links here!

Brett Richie says he “just jarred” his finger “a little bit,” and he’s still confident that he’ll be making a push for the team at training camp. As long as he did not literally jar his finger like in an actual jar or something, everything should be fine. [NHL.com]

Here’s a writeup from August looking at five of the most intriguing games of the upcoming season. I will be at that November 13th game in Los Angeles, for the record. I can tell you about secret free parking, too. Please, anyone, be my friend. [In the Crease Dallas]

And here is a different takes on five can’t-miss games. Oh, the conflicting opinions. What game(s) do you all have your eyes on? [Rant Sports]

Not sure I agree with the “The Minnesota Wild and the Dallas Stars are just a goaltender away from being a contender” line. Having a top-10 goalie isn’t good enough? Better scratch off the Hawks for this year, then. Oh, right, it’s a Preds blog. Wonder if their amazing goalie will actually play 40 games this year. [Section 303]

What is Nathan MacKinnon going to do in his sophomore season? Probably be really good, I would guess. Saved you a click, no I didn’t. [THW]

The Jets have some prospects in action, too. Nic Petan is one of them, and he is adorable and little and apparently good at hockeying. I’ll still take Val. [Arctic Ice Hockey]

Somebody in the comments posted this link to the Canucks’ historical scouting incompetence, but I can’t find it. Please, whoever you were, step right up and claim your renown! This is an awesome demonstration of how much better off Vancouver would have been if they had just drafted mindlessly according to the players’ point totals in juniors. This is sad. [Canucks Army]

Here are some much more heartwarming Ovie things than the gropefest media hubub was last week. [Russian Machine Never Breaks]

Montreal Canadiens legend Guy Lapointe will finally have his #8 retired. In The Game, Ken Dryden talked about how Lapointe was always called “Pointu,” usually after he had just pranked someone hard. Good to see him get some love. [THN]

Sean Mcindoe has a heated debate with the Down Goes Brown guy about the merits of NHL expansion. [Grantland]

And finally, here is a top 10 list extolling the former glory of the move so crazy that even the NHL rules appended “o-rama” onto it. [Puck Daddy]

Hey, speaking of that spin move, here’s something I saw live that was the best: