The Dallas Stars grand experiment of 7 p.m. starts is over before it began.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Stars announced that 21 weeknight home games, which had originally been scheduled to start at 7 p.m., would be moved back to the more traditional start time of 7:30 p.m. There are still five weeknight games with 7 p.m. starts, but those are required to start outside a national-game-time window.
To his credit, Stars president Jim Lites gave a fairly detailed explanation of the change.
“I take full credit or blame,” Lites said. “It seemed like a great idea at the time, but then when the announcement was made and we heard from many groups who had problems with the change. First of all, the building people like the synergy of the same start time for the Mavericks and ourselves. I think you’ll look back and see the Mavericks switched their start times in the past, and then decided to go back to 7:30 because it didn’t work for them. In addition, Fox I believe likes the later start, and so does our radio partner (1310 The Ticket). And, most important, we heard from a lot of fans who said that it would be a problem getting to a weeknight game by 7 p.m., so we decided to switch.”
After the jump, catching up with Mike Modano, Jaromir Jagr is having the best summer vacation trip ever and Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin have a mysterious third brother.
- Mike Modano knows he’s going to be involved with the Stars in some way as the years go on. He’s just not sure quite how yet. Given the description from Mac Engel in this story, it sounds like the role Craig Ludwig is in right now might be one he tries to emulate. [Fort Worth Star-Telegram]
- I don’t have an ESPN Insider subscription, so I can’t tell you the conclusion Neil Greenberg comes to in this article. But given the sub-head, I suspect it’s not a positive one. [ESPN Insider]
- I’m not sure I agree with the premise that the Stars might still be on the market for a free-agent forward, but it is an interesting exercise in thought. [The Hockey Writers]
- If the Stars look within to fill that final forward roster spot, then Alex Chiasson is a prime candidate to make the big-leagues this year. [DallasStars.com]
- The change in the start times won’t matter if the NHL goes into Labor Wars, The Return, this summer. And Mike Heika has a, well, interesting plan that he hopes will end the standoff sooner. Again, I’m not sure I agree with his premise, but it’s’ an interesting take. [DallasNews.com]
- I am so, so jealous of Jaromir Jagr, who is currently taking in the competition at the London Olympics. Also, he has a backup plan in case of labor strife. [@dchesnokov/@dchesnokov]
- One of the biggest battles in the CBA negotiations might be among the owners over how to make revenue sharing work for every team. The current system, while well intentioned, is convoluted to the point where it almost hurts as much at it helps sometimes. [Puck Daddy]
- When I heard there was a Swedish badminton player who bore a striking resemblance to a Sedin twin, I was ready to giggle at some silly beard with red hair. But holy smokes, y’all, how creepily close is this? [Backhand Shelf]
- I may or may not have spent most of my week Olympics-ing myself into oblivion like I do once every two years. For those of you who might be new to many of the Olympic sports and need a primer on what you’re watching, though, I have a helpful guide for you. [Down Goes Brown]
- Modano, who you may or may not be seeing soon on a Top 20 list near you, stopped by recently to chat with his new buddy Dale Hansen to discuss his new charity initiative.