Dallas Stars

[NoWayOut]

After the last 48 hours we can give Curtis McKenzie a new nickname, yo-yo. He was called up Sunday afternoon, sent back Monday morning, and recalled again today. Not to worry though, he made $58K for the Sunday call up. That ought to cover the gas and mileage on the car. The reason for the call up, Val Nichushkin is dealing with a groin/hip issue that has bugged him since training camp. Val will be scratched for tonight's game and Mike Heika is reporting that Val is back in Frisco, Tx being evaluated by team doctors.

Here's the morning skate line combos, also courtesy of Mike Heika....

Jamie Benn-Tyler Seguin-Colton Sceviour

Patrick Eaves-Jason Spezza-Ales Hemsky

Antoine Roussel-Cody Eakin-Ryan Garbutt

Shawn Horcoff-Vernon Fiddler-Erik Cole

Alex Golkigoski-Trevor Daley

Jordie Benn-Brenden Dillon

Kevin Connauton-Patrick Nemeth

Kari Lehtonen <---You can relax now blayze


Lots more goodies from Mike at this link

[MarmotKing]

I need Lehtonen to give me a win tonight... with maybe a shutout... and a couple of assists! lol

Just kidding. I'd like a couple of wins this week though.

Patrick Eaves on the 2nd line?

[NoWayOut]

Eaves skated with Spezza and Hemsky in the opener while Cole served his one game "suspension". He wasn't bad in that spot even though the line never really generated a lot of chances. So far neither of the top two lines have done anything of note as far as generating offense. In a couple of articles Ruff is hinting at changes ahead if they don't start showing improvement.

[NoWayOut]

Another interesting article out today. The Allen Americans of the Central Hockey League are part of seven teams from that league to join the ECHL. It's significant for the Stars as Allen is a suburb of Dallas and currently their ECHL affiliate is the Idaho Steelheads. Both Jim Nill and Tom Gaglardi have stated their preference for having as many of their minor league affiliates with in driving distance as possible. It gives Nill and his staff easy access to pop in and evaluate players and in general be more hands on in the process of bringing prospects along.

Here's the link to the announcement.

[NoWayOut]

Naturally I screw up on the start time for the game and miss Benn's goal. At least I got to see the last :45 seconds of the first

And my twitter feed is not easing my pain....

Mike Heika ‏@MikeHeika 30m30 minutes ago
That's a Jamie Benn highlight reel goal right there. Make it 2-0 Stars in 1st.

DefendingBigD ‏@DefendingBigD 31m31 minutes ago
WHAT A GOAL!! Jamie Benn with the snipe after the takeaway over Bobrovsky's shoulder. 2-0, Stars.

Dallas Stars ‏@DallasStars 31m31 minutes ago
WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW @jamiebenn14 WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW

Chris Peters ‏@chrismpeters 32m32 minutes ago
Jamie Benn is a bad, bad man.

I need a drink!!!! And a link to a highlight please!!!!

[NoWayOut]

Alright I saw it on the intermission report. That was just sick.

[rainydrinkwater]

Here's the Benn goal for anyone who may have missed it.

[MarmotKing]

Saw that goal in another thread. Benn is a beast.

[NoWayOut]

Looks like we may get to see McKenzie soon....

Nichushkin to sit for about a week

And as I type this Benn completes the Gordie!!!

[forumname]

Looks like we may get to see McKenzie soon....

Nichushkin to sit for about a week

And as I type this Benn completes the Gordie!!!

He completed the Gordie a while back did he not?

[NoWayOut]

He did, my bad. I missed the first so I thought that last dime was his first.

[forumname]

He did, my bad. I missed the first so I thought that last dime was his first.

Ok good The jokers on tv were just rambling about it recently, so I thought maybe his first assist got taken away or something....

[Bomm Bastic]

Hey NWO, what's your opinion of Ruff thus far? I think his style ultimately stifles productivity. But I am curious for an other's perspective.

[NoWayOut]

Hey NWO, what's your opinion of Ruff thus far? I think his style ultimately stifles productivity. But I am curious for an other's perspective.

I never really paid a lot of attention to him while he was in Buffalo so wan't sure what to expect. Thus far I don't know that he's really going to stifle them. I think he's savvy enough to realize these kids are pretty good on the speed side of the ledger so he'll tweak things to get them going up tempo and push the action rather than sit back and react. He nailed it in his comments to the media yesterday and today when he said they needed to start getting the puck off the perimeter and into the center of the ice to create second and third chances. They did it tonight and the results showed.

They still need to do a better job on handling the pushbacks from opponents when they have them down. You saw it tonight in the second and in the third in the home opener. They do seem to get a little on the back foot once the other team starts to fight back instead of continuing to pour it on them and keep them down. Not all together unexpected as they do ice a fair number of younger guys and it's something I think they will be able to coach them through.

So far I don't see any reason for some of the doom and gloom that accompanied Ruff. I actually wonder if he had stayed so long there in Buffalo that maybe the message got stale. The fresh start with a good crop of young guys in the system plus the acquisitions Nill made may have given Ruff a spark.

[NoWayOut]

No big line changes from what I've seen online today. The only change reported so far is Cole swapping spot with Eaves, Cole going from RW on Fiddler's line to LW on Spezza's and vice-versa. I will admit to being curious what McKenzie can do skating LW with Spezza and Hemsky, but it makes a certain amount of sense to get McKenzie his first NHL action against an easier opponent.

For the first time this season Ruff isn't rotating his all-rookie third D pairing. It will be Nemeth and Connauton again tonight. Nemeth has skated in all three games so far and has looked right at home, while Connauton and Oleksiak had swapped through the first three. Nemeth isn't one to wow you with offense but his work on D has been very good overall. It's not to say that there's no offense there at all, there may be a few scraps of meat on that bone, but it isn't his calling card. He does good with his positioning and is good at making passes to help exit the Dallas zone quickly.

And to ease blayze's mind, Kari is the starter again though you may want to look away. He could bring home a W, and we all hope he does, but the final score may look like last night's 'Yotes/Oilers goal fest. Of course the Pens do make it rather nerve wracking to watch your favorite, or fantasy, teams goalie face them.

For reference here are the reported lines from the morning skate via Mike Heika....

Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Colton Sceviour

Erik Cole - Jason Spezza - Ales Hemsky

Antoine Roussel - Cody Eakin - Ryan Garbutt

Shawn Horcoff - Vernon Fiddler - Patrick Eaves


Alex Goligoski - Trevor Daley

Jordie Benn - Brenden Dillon

Kevin Connauton - Patrik Nemeth


Kari Lehtonen


Before I wrap up here's a link to an article from Defending Big D, for those of you who don't read that blog, or maybe haven't gotten there yet today. The subject is how the teams have done over the last decade or so with their picks from the third round on in terms of NHL games played...

Late round NHL draft prospects success