Dallas Stars

[larrylintz]

Man, i took Daley AND Goli to cover all my bases on Stars PP and now ur telling me a 20-year-old string bean could take over top PP unit? Seriously? At least spezza was blunt in saying there's only one karlsson, but since i'm an ottawa fan i'm intrigued. pls keep me posted on this kid's progress and especially if he gets the nod on the top unit tonight.

[NoWayOut]

Man, i took Daley AND Goli to cover all my bases on Stars PP and now ur telling me a 20-year-old string bean could take over top PP unit? Seriously? At least spezza was blunt in saying there's only one karlsson, but since i'm an ottawa fan i'm intrigued. pls keep me posted on this kid's progress and especially if he gets the nod on the top unit tonight.

I don't think Klingberg will knock Daley off PP1 tonight or the near term. Over the next few weeks if he continues to play as he has then I see it happening. I see you read Mike Heika's article what with the Karlsson reference. Remember he quotes Ruff as saying they won't force Klingberg to do more than he's ready for. In just his second game though he's already seeing as many minutes as Daley and Goli so their not exactly coddling him. At this point if he continues to see big minutes and starts putting up points then I see him getting the chance. Even though it was just a morning skate, yesterday in practice Ruff did put Goli and Klingberg out as the top pairing. Interesting to see if he does that this afternoon.

The Karlsson comparsion in Heika's article just makes me cringe. You don't do that after just two games. It's not fair to the kid. But either way Klingberg has opened eyes in Dallas.

[larrylintz]

It may have made you cringe but that was a no-brainer by Heika in terms of finding an obvious angle to the story that would spark reader interest! (I'm in the biz). when you say top pairing do you mean when they were practising PP, or just as a unit. That "top pairing" line for even strength doesn't mean much to me for fantasy purposes, there are many top pairing d-men who rarely crack 20 points.

[NoWayOut]

The top pairing as far as even strength goes. Not sure how they lined up on PP work. For me I see even strength pairings as good indicator of how minutes will be portioned out. If Goli and Klingberg are the top pair I'd expect to see them leading in TOI when all is said and done.

[larrylintz]

Is he really 6 foot and 158 pounds? Karlsson is listed at 180 and despite appearing quite skinny i noticed that in his t-shirt he has some pretty impressive pipes, yet he still gets manhandled frequently. It sounds like this kid is quick enough to evade people when he's on offence but if he tries to "play the man" or even block someone out of the crease i assume he'll be squashed or bowled over. Then again, Stars kind of desperate so makes sense they'd try this.

[NoWayOut]

Let me add to the Karlsson comparsion thing. I get the why, I just think let's get through the season and then talk about that.

[NoWayOut]

Is he really 6 foot and 158 pounds? Karlsson is listed at 180 and despite appearing quite skinny i noticed that in his t-shirt he has some pretty impressive pipes, yet he still gets manhandled frequently. It sounds like this kid is quick enough to evade people when he's on offence but if he tries to "play the man" or even block someone out of the crease i assume he'll be squashed or bowled over. Then again, Stars kind of desperate so makes sense they'd try this.

He's definitely bigger than 158. The Stars list him as 6'2", 180 on their site which sounds about right. He's not going to be the type to bring the pain but from what I've seen he's not shy about trying to root opponents out from in front of the net.

[NoWayOut]

And once again the third period demons rear their ugly heads, at home. So much of this is right between their ears. I can't explain it but their heads are not in the game at times and opponents are taking full advantage.

Brendan Dillon's horrid turnover and subsequent bungling of the 2-on-1 was the tipping point. He never looked at Oleksiak standing wide open on the right point and instead tries a lazy turtle of a pass to the boards on his side that's picked off. Then once again as he's dropping back to cover he never looks over his shoulder to see if he has support. I guess he just assumed Oleksiak was there. Instead he stays with the puck carrier and leaves the cross ice pass open. Goal. Here again this is an ongoing issue, a total lack of awareness of the ice around them.

Compare that with Klingberg's awareness. The rookie found himself in a similar situation and had the poise and smarts to see he was alone so he lays out and takes away the cross ice pass and leaves Kari one-on-one with the shooter. Save Kari. Here you have a rookie in only his third ever NHL game has better vision and awareness of the ice and where everybody is. Watch him sometime, before he ever touches the puck he's had his head up and surveyed the ice and cataloged his options and knows what he's going to do. Very few of the other D-men for the Stars do this. A couple of other notes on Klingberg while the subject is up, he led the Stars in TOI at 25:29 and in another sign of their confidence in him he was out there for the final 90+ seconds with the extra attacker instead of Goligoski.

Another example of the lack of awareness was Daley and Jordie on Granlund's goal. Neither one paid him any attention, totally ignored him. They just let him drift right into Kari's grill while he's fighting to regain control of the rebound. Easy score.

On the plus side, once again Eakin's line was the spark of life for Dallas. All that I said about them yesterday applies again today.

[NoWayOut]

Mcgoo, let's bring our discussion of Klingberg over here and let the other thread stay on Nichushkin.

I'll say this for Klingberg and it's what is for so many observers is the most impressive thing, he doesn't panic. Period. When the cameras are in tight where you can see his face, and the pressure is coming at him, he doesn't have that deer in the headlights look. Calm and collected whereas a guy like Dillon still has those moments where he looks lost or indecisive. Just the way they each handled their 2-on-1's speaks volumes about their hockey IQ. Dillon stayed laser locked on the puck carrier, never even tried to see if he was 2-on-1 or 2-on-2 and left that crossing pass open. Klingberg quickly looked, realized he was in a 2-on-1 and made the smart play to take away the pass and let Kari take the shooter. Totally different approaches and results.

All from a rookie. The points aren't there yet, but I don't doubt they will come. Led the team in TOI and was out there in the pressure cooker in the final minute and made some heads up plays to keep pucks in the zone and the pressure on.

[mister_mcgoo]

Mcgoo, let's bring our discussion of Klingberg over here and let the other thread stay on Nichushkin.

I'll say this for Klingberg and it's what is for so many observers is the most impressive thing, he doesn't panic. Period. When the cameras are in tight where you can see his face, and the pressure is coming at him, he doesn't have that deer in the headlights look. Calm and collected whereas a guy like Dillon still has those moments where he looks lost or indecisive. Just the way they each handled their 2-on-1's speaks volumes about their hockey IQ. Dillon stayed laser locked on the puck carrier, never even tried to see if he was 2-on-1 or 2-on-2 and left that crossing pass open. Klingberg quickly looked, realized he was in a 2-on-1 and made the smart play to take away the pass and let Kari take the shooter. Totally different approaches and results.

All from a rookie. The points aren't there yet, but I don't doubt they will come. Led the team in TOI and was out there in the pressure cooker in the final minute and made some heads up plays to keep pucks in the zone and the pressure on.

Yeah I watched most of the Wild game and parts of the LA game and he plays with a lot of poise and seemed to have no trouble being thrust into the role and logging big mins, that's why I was curious, because I didn't know much about him other than what I saw from him on the ice, hopefully this continues and his offense blossoms

[Instant Karma]

Yeah I watched most of the Wild game and parts of the LA game and he plays with a lot of poise and seemed to have no trouble being thrust into the role and logging big mins, that's why I was curious, because I didn't know much about him other than what I saw from him on the ice, hopefully this continues and his offense blossoms

i'll second that, but I've seen so many Stars defensive prospects not pan out over the past few years that I'm frankly going to have to see it to believe it.

[NoWayOut]

Yeah I watched most of the Wild game and parts of the LA game and he plays with a lot of poise and seemed to have no trouble being thrust into the role and logging big mins, that's why I was curious, because I didn't know much about him other than what I saw from him on the ice, hopefully this continues and his offense blossoms

He is true offensive defenseman with plenty of tools in that area. He would have more SOG and who knows maybe a couple of markers, but the Stars have spells where they have a hard time creating shooting lanes. Klingberg has had a fair number of shots blocked or deflected on the way in. Once they can open some lanes he can rip 'em. I don't know that his shot is elite, but it looks pretty damn good. And he knows when to pinch down and give himself better angles and chances.

I know I tend to gush over him, but he's been quite the revelation for Dallas and it's not often you see a player as inexperienced at this level as he is that has veteran levels of poise, vision, and instincts. All the things you just can't teach and that usually take years to develop and he has them now. And he was only a fifth-rounder. Say what you will about the Nieuwendyk years, they had a knack for finding these prospects late in drafts.

[NoWayOut]

i'll second that, but I've seen so many Stars defensive prospects not pan out over the past few years that I'm frankly going to have to see it to believe it.

The thing is I can't think of one that has looked this unflappable. That's why he's so easy to get excited about. It's usually the mental breakdowns that doom prospects or take them years to overcome and he looks past that. Still early in his career but lots to love here so far.

[NoWayOut]

I've been sitting here thinking once again about the Karlsson/Klingberg comparison. Upon further contemplation, Mike Heika actually had a genius stroke with that. That comparison while pretty lofty, steers Stars fans away from one closer to home. Think back to the glory days of the late 90's, early 2000's. I know you have often, longingly. He had played for the Rags, Pens, and Red Army. He put up an insane 89 points for the Rags. Less than 10 years ago he racked up 71 for Dallas in the twilight years of his time in Big D and career. He's the last truly good offensive blueliner for the Stars. One of the players some people whisper his name asking will the Stars ever find someone to play that sort of role. I know you know who I'm alluding to. I bring his name up in the most reverential manner, with the utmost respect for what he did, and what he meant to those Stars teams....

Sergei Zubov

Good tack by Heika to try and steer the conversation away from that conclusion. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only Stars fan who had that name drift through his head. With Modano still a big part of the franchise, seeing him brings those days back and fans long for that sort of thing again. I'm not here to start that conversation about Zubov/Klingberg. That's an even more combustible comparison, but I think it explains where he may have been thought-wise in invoking Karlsson aside from the fact that they are contemporaries. Keep Stars fans tempered a bit. I get giddy thinking about it and I know it's probably even more cringe-worthy then EK.

Now that I got that out of my system.

[mister_mcgoo]

I've been sitting here thinking once again about the Karlsson/Klingberg comparison. Upon further contemplation, Mike Heika actually had a genius stroke with that. That comparison while pretty lofty, steers Stars fans away from one closer to home. Think back to the glory days of the late 90's, early 2000's. I know you have often, longingly. He had played for the Rags, Pens, and Red Army. He put up an insane 89 points for the Rags. Less than 10 years ago he racked up 71 for Dallas in the twilight years of his time in Big D and career. He's the last truly good offensive blueliner for the Stars. One of the players some people whisper his name asking will the Stars ever find someone to play that sort of role. I know you know who I'm alluding to. I bring his name up in the most reverential manner, with the utmost respect for what he did, and what he meant to those Stars teams....

Sergei Zubov

Good tack by Heika to try and steer the conversation away from that conclusion. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only Stars fan who had that name drift through his head. With Modano still a big part of the franchise, seeing him brings those days back and fans long for that sort of thing again. I'm not here to start that conversation about Zubov/Klingberg. That's an even more combustible comparison, but I think it explains where he may have been thought-wise in invoking Karlsson aside from the fact that they are contemporaries. Keep Stars fans tempered a bit. I get giddy thinking about it and I know it's probably even more cringe-worthy then EK.

Now that I got that out of my system.

Simmer down nah