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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Seguin Must Be ‘The Man’ This Year

Posted on by Tyler Mair

For fans of any sports team, it hurts to watch the end of a season when you know your team has already missed the playoffs. It’s even worse for the players who continue to suit up each night, knowing they have nothing more to play for than the home fans for the rest of the regular season.

But that doesn’t mean that those games aren’t important, that you can’t learn from them and figure out ways to improve, as Tyler Seguin learned this past offseason.

“It was a miserable last 10 or 12 games knowing we were out,” he added. “You don’t want to lose that feeling. And individually, there were lots of points you look back and say next year, ‘I’m going to be better here’ and ‘I’m going to be even more consistent here’ and ‘I need to think more defensively there.’

Despite such a rough ending to the 2016-17 season, Seguin remains optimistic going into the new season. A large part of that has to do with the Stars’ offseason acquisitions, such as Ben Bishop and probable line mate Alexander Radulov. But perhaps the biggest addition for Seguin personally is the return of Ken Hitchcock to Dallas, who will focus on improving Seguin’s game as a two-way player. Contrary to what one might assume, however, that doesn’t necessarily mean focusing on Tyler’s defensive game.

“When I looked at all of our clips, our teaching clips, Tyler stands out more than any player on our team defensively,” Hitchcock said. “He’s on the highlights defensively of a high percentage of our teaching clips. Where I want to work with him is to be better offensively.”

You can read more on what Hitchcock expects of Seguin in Scott Burnsides’ piece here.

Thank goodness it’s only the preseason; the Stars dropped another game to the Avalanche last night. [NHL]

Jamie Oleksiak has once again impressed Ken Hitchcock:

Shapiro gives his insights to the preseason loss, focusing on what this means for the young guys still fighting for a roster spot. [Wrong Side of the Red Line]

Here are some postgame quotes, courtesy of Mark Stepneski. [Between the Blue Lines]

The Texas Stars announced their 2017 training camp roster on Monday. [Texas Stars]

That list includes several players who were sent down by Dallas yesterday and cleared waivers:

Mike Heika discussed how stricter slashing enforcement might affect the Stars when answering some live chat questions yesterday. [Sportsday DFW]

Hitchcock doesn’t want Jamie Benn to be the leader in name only; the captain is being involved in almost every major team decision. [Wrong Side of the Red Line]

Around the League

It seems like the Stars and Jere Lehtinen started a trend: Vincent Lacavalier joins the list of players getting their jersey retired this year. [NHL]

If you’re a newcomer to fantasy hockey and haven’t drafted yet, here are some “big name” players to avoid drafting too high. [Sportsnet]

With protests of the U.S. national anthem dominating the NFL this weekend, NHL players have decided to chime in on the issue as well. [NBC Sports]

Here’s what commissioner Gary Bettman has to say about it:

Despite the many complaints, the harsher rule enforcement on faceoffs and slashing is here to stay, and the NHL believes players will learn to adapt. [Sportsnet]

Shayna Goldman breaks out the “fancy” stats and discusses three second-year players who might experience the dreaded “sophomore slump.” [FanRag Sports]

Finally, the Vegas Golden Knights are honoring their inaugural season ticket holders in a very cool way:

Talking Points