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Saturday Links: The Stars Are Aligning With The Return Of Patrick Sharp

Posted on by Shawn Ladd

Thursday night saw the return of Cody Eakin and tonight the Stars will have Patrick Sharp back in the lineup to face the Oilers.

He’s got speed, and that’s been missing from our attack a little bit,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said of Sharp. “The speed of our game should get better. That speed inside of a small area, from center ice to the blue line, gets better where we’re a threat to take somebody wide to help create that extra offensive chance.

Sharp who has been out since Mid-October with a concussion called the experience the worst one of his career.

Scary is a good word,” he said “You hear some scary stories from guys around the league, talk to former teammates, current teammates, guys who have been through the same situation, and get as much information as you can. It’s a helpless feeling.

The rest of the story. (DMN)

With Sharp back in the lineup meant forward Gemel Smith was returned to the Texas Stars.

Tonight at the AAC the Stars host the Oilers. Edmonton got off to great start with an  8-2 record, but have now lost 5 straight games. Mark Stepneski with the preview. (Stars)

Sean Shapiro held a mail bag session where he discussed both Texas and Dallas Stars. Topics included: Prospect Denis Gurianov, whether John Kilingberg should be benched, the Jamie Oleksiak situation and goalie trades. (Wrong Side of the Red Line)

Defending Big D’s own Ann Atkison will be a guest today on the BS3 Sports Show:

The Stars goaltending tandem is not to blame for the team’s slow start as they are helping keeping them in most games. (Blackout Dallas)

Gemel Smith had a goal and the Texas Stars scored two 3rd period goals to get back into the win column 4-3 over the Grand Rapid Griffins (Detroit). (Texas Stars)

Only one game last involved a Central Division team:

Marian Hossa tallied a late 3rd period goal to break a 2-2 tie in the Blackhawks win over the Flames. (Second City Hockey)

Blue Jackets forward Matt Calvert took a puck to his face, got 36 stitches, and came back and scored the winning goal against the Rangers. (SB Nation)

Another team battling injuries in the MDK division is the Winnipeg Jets and meetings this summer between them and their AHL affiliate the Manitoba Moose has helped the Moose players make a smooth transition when called up to the NHL. (Winnipeg Sun)

With points in their 7 of their last 8 games the Predators are overcoming their slow start to move up in the Central Division standings. (SB Nation)

Sharks defenseman Brett Burns is in the final year of his contract and his next one should net him a bigger payday. (FanRag Sports)

Last season the Red Wings barely made the playoffs to keep their NHL, current longest streak, of 25 straight seasons of playoff appearances alive. As the injuries pile up for them that streak could be in jeopardy. (NBC Sports)

Failure to consistently score has been one part of the Canucks problems this season. Now their interest in the Sabres Evander Kane is just one more notch of things wrong with the team. (The Province)

Already this season has seen some great performances by NHL rookies. Who had the greatest rookie season? (Sportsnet)

Down Goes Brown had his weekly look at the state of Hockey. (Vice Sports)

Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic had a good laugh and the NHL’s proposal to extend the CBA for 3 more years to allow NHL players in the 2018 Olympics. (CSN)

How bad do things have to get for the NY Islanders before any kind of changes are made. (Sportsnet)

The “Great One” Wayne Gretsky will become the first NHL player to appear on an episode of the Simpsons. (NHL)

Some nice aerial footage of the construction on the Las Vegas team’s practice facility. (Sin Bin)

If Desert Knights turns out to be the official name of the Vegas team when they make the announcement on Tuesday November 22. It will be the worst kept secret as it was leaked by Robin Leach (Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous guy). (Yahoo Sports)

Finally Devin Shore took over the Dallas Stars Twitter page yesterday to field questions:

Talking Points