Retired - Dallas Stars

[Ballsakic]

Stars Blog >> Stars starting goaltender Kari Lehtonen out at least three weeks buzztap.com/-m9Q8Ce

[guthey]

Vernon Fiddler seems to be fine and had an assist last night against Colorado.

Raycroft

Seeing Andrew Raycroft's calm confidence and sound play in crease last night for the Stars was refreshing to say the least, especially knowing the rocky road Raycroft has been on since the Calder Trophy in 2003-2004.

Raycroft was economical and where he needed to be on nearly every shot. He because of his strong positional and mental focus there were few rebounds as well as little panic in his play.

The one Colorado goal did come off of a rebound from a shot with tons of traffic in front. Raycroft made the initial leg save in the butterfly but it was nearly impossible to dull the rebound. The rebound was scooped up by the Avalanche's Kevin Porter for his first goal of the season.

This game does not vanquish all of Raycroft's demons as he has had good stretches prior only to fall back into the struggles that have made the once promising goalie into a career average backup. One stretch that comes to mind is the period of a few weeks in 2009-2010 with the Canucks, where Raycroft played very well and than seemed to be lost again in net.

A lot of credit should go to Dallas Stars goaltending coach, Mike Valley who has been with the team for three years. He came from the Nashville Predators organization, where the renowned Mitch Korn has brought out the best from his goaltending talent. Valley has helped resurrect Kari Lehtonen's career and now attempts to put Raycroft on track. On a team that demands alot of its goaltender these days, Raycroft likely will never become a starter again but if he can spell a good starter like Lehtonen for awhile his value will go up again. It is too early to tell but thus far Valley and his pupils have not let the Stars down.

[Face]

Great game last night. This third line is just simply outworking the other team on a nightly basis. Fun to watch.

Was it just me or did it seem like Raycroft was flailing quite a bit? He made some great key saves but there were a couple of instances where he was way out of position.

I'd like to get everyone's take on the PP as well. Minus the goal last night Dallas has been atrocious with an extra man. A ton of it can be chalked up to Goli's injury but even so it seems a bit outragous. Can we seriously not find anyone better to man the point other than Toby Petersen? Early in the season it seemed the mantra was get it to Sourey and let him hit it as hard as he possibly can and for the most part they where going in every now and again. It seems his blasts are not occuring as frequently or they are ending up in the shin pads of the defending forwards. With the current injury situation I'd like to see Benn on the point with Sourey. The kid has got enough poise to set up plays and a hard enough shot to generate rebounds. I know he's not the best defensive option but he skates hard and he's always chasing back on rushes. What's the opinion in here?

[guthey]

Sorry for the brief response but I am on my iPod. Yes Raycroft did have more moments in his second start post-Lehtonen injury but he regained form in the third when they really needed him completed with a dazzling glove save finalee in the final seconds. I expect Raycoft to have more nights like this as opposed to his previous start but overall his play has been very satisfactory. A bad start here or there may be on the cards for Raycroft but as long as it isn't for a prolonged stretch, he'll be fine.

As for the PP, I don't see Benn as a pointman because he is a better player than most in traffic and players like Ribiero are better pure playmakers. Benn is best served off the halfboards on the cycle where he is great at opening up space, it is possible Benn could be elsewhere on the PP buy I'd rather see someone else on the point though maybe trying Benn there is worth a shot.

[guthey]

I don't mean to make this just about the goaltenders for the Stars but Jack Campbell has to be talking about both as a point of hope and concern.

Campbell has all the athletic talent in the world it seems with great reflexes and the ability to make any save. However, many of his issues that have led to his inflated OHL numbers is his inability to consistently read plays properly.

The promising 2011 Stars' 1st round pick was recently dealt by the Windsor Spitfires to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, showing that they ran out of coaching strategies to attempt to resolve some of Campbell's shortcomings.

Perhaps Campbell shouldn't have decommitted from the University of Michigan or maybe this trial by fire is exactly what he needs-- it is hard to tell and cases can be made for either argument.

What this means for poolies is to sell Campbell if someone treats him like the star goalie he was drafted as, Richard Bachman and Kari Lehtonen are road blocks, especially for a young goalie who has underwhelmed, to put it mildly, since being drafted. However, if you get a completely "low-ball" offer, you might not want to settle because Campbell still has a lot of time to turn it around and has enough value that he could be dealt to another organization if his issues cannot be remedied by the Stars. An offer that is "fair" is up to your discretion, since Campbell does have tons of upside and even though he has a two goalie-stacked roadblock that isn't the worst situation, considering Bachman is unproven and Lehtonen reaffirmed the injury issues recently. My advice is if you have to settle for a notch lower in upside but you much more certainty than do it; since a notch below Campbell's upside is still great. In all likelihood, Campbell would be offered in or for a package which makes it a much more complex and case-by-case assessment.

Do I see Campbell as the future in Dallas or elsewhere in the NHL? Like so many things in life that is uncertain. However, Campbell is even more uncertain because unlike most people who put on the goalie pads, he has all the tools to be an NHL starter but will he put it all together is really the question. There are some many variables to say one way or the other is just mildly informed guesswork at best right now as far as I can tell.

[Ballsakic]

Stars Blog >> Tuesday practice update _ Goligoski might play Thursday buzztap.com/-8E7byx

[Killer67]

Yuck.............

[Ballsakic]

ESPN Dallas >> Richard Bachman a 'good possibility' in goal Saturday buzztap.com/-WPeyUj

[horrorfan]

Hey guthey,

I posted this in the 'general chat' section, but thought it would be worth asking you directly as well:

Goligoski has played two games since returning from injury, and he hasn't produced on the scoresheet yet. However, I don't get to watch him, so aside from the numbers, how is he looking so far?

[guthey]

Not a problem horrorfan. Goligoski while I wouldn't say rusty, seems to be a bit off-balanced as does the rest of the team. Much was made of how Goligoski's presence led to Souray's hot start and the Stars as a whole. I think the lack of consistency with who starts in net each game for the Stars does play a factor. I feel that the Stars defenders have been playing more defensive as a whole since Andrew Raycroft and youngster, Richard Bachman don't inherently inspire alot of confidence at this point; making team defense a priority.

Goligoski isn't going to be a healthy Kris Letang any time soon but once the goalies start finding extended periods of confidence, I expect the confidence for the team to come back. The lack of scoring from Souray is a bit worrying but he is a bit of a hot and cold guy offensively anyway. Goligoski once they get rolling should be getting points here and there like he did before but I don't anticipate a significant jump very soon for Goligoski. Good question.

[horrorfan]

Thanks - appreciate your insight.

[J_Blu3Jack3t]

Newy has mentioned twice this week that the Stars were scouting the NY area teams as per the 4 game trip.

Any likely candidates coming or going?

Locally we have heard Bobby Ryan & Igilna rumors.

[Ballsakic]

Dallas Keeping Bachman and waiving Raycroft.

[Ballsakic]

Jordie Benn will make his NHL debut on Tuesday.

Benn is expected to join Mark Fistric on the third defensive pairing. Benn has 15 points in 31 AHL games, but we don't expect him to have any fantasy value in standard leagues this season. Jordie, who is 24 years old, is the older brother of the Stars' points leader, Jamie Benn.

[Shake]

Jordie Benn will make his NHL debut on Tuesday.

Benn is expected to join Mark Fistric on the third defensive pairing. Benn has 15 points in 31 AHL games, but we don't expect him to have any fantasy value in standard leagues this season. Jordie, who is 24 years old, is the older brother of the Stars' points leader, Jamie Benn.

Looks like he had a solid game. I didn't see, but here is a nice recap write up of his debut.


http://starsblog.dallasnews.com/arch...t-nhl-gam.html