Dallas Stars

[blayze]

They just keep digging, grinding, and chipping away at it. There's still some roster tweaks coming before the deadline. But you do see them starting to settle into the role of the hunted. The Oduya signing and the trade for Sharp have paid huge dividends already both on and off the ice. And Niemi is proving worth the gamble so far. They were poised to take a step forward this season, but those guys pushed it two steps forward.

It's time to kick your feet up and wait to see what Nill does next to improve the roster. It's coming, but who's headed out and who's coming in?

Personally, I think the verdict is still out on Niemi, but he's serviceable.

Oduya helps, but the defense is still porous. In my opinoin what they need to take that leap to the elite level is a solid, blue chip defenseman - like a Keith/Seabrook/Doughty/Weber type, but obviously that's not gonna happen this year, so as a temporary fix they should add more depth to the blue line. Also a physical, grit player like Simmonds/Backes wouldn't hurt either... other than Benn, this team is generally soft.

I see these Stars as the modern version of the old run' n gun Capitals (who always lost to the more disciplined teams like the Rags). Except in the West, there's a lot more Rag equivalents - Hawks/Preds/Blues/Kings. All teams that will give this squad trouble.

[NoWayOut]

Meh, I'd be a liar if I said I was surprised by this outcome. Young team coming off of their toughest 5 game stretch of the season, by far, finishing it 4-0-1 and fresh off a dominate shutout of their arch nemesis, and you draw the worst team in the league. That all adds up to overlooking your opponent. Even though Columbus is riding tail-end charlie in the standings you can't take them lightly, or you get what happened tonight. Heck when your running in the rarified air that Dallas is in now, you can't afford to take any opponent lightly.

Re-rack and take care of business on NYE.

[stotan]

Meh, I'd be a liar if I said I was surprised by this outcome. Young team coming off of their toughest 5 game stretch of the season, by far, finishing it 4-0-1 and fresh off a dominate shutout of their arch nemesis, and you draw the worst team in the league. That all adds up to overlooking your opponent. Even though Columbus is riding tail-end charlie in the standings you can't take them lightly, or you get what happened tonight. Heck when your running in the rarified air that Dallas is in now, you can't afford to take any opponent lightly.

Re-rack and take care of business on NYE.

Hey NWO, just curious of your thoughts on Klingberg the past month. He has really slowed down in production. Got an assist tonight, which is great to see, but was a -3 too. Has his play changed at all? Bad puck-luck, or just a phase? I unfortunately cannot watch the DAL games so I thought I'd ask you. Just a bit worrisome as this "phase" has been about a month now with very limited production.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

[NoWayOut]

Hey NWO, just curious of your thoughts on Klingberg the past month. He has really slowed down in production. Got an assist tonight, which is great to see, but was a -3 too. Has his play changed at all? Bad puck-luck, or just a phase? I unfortunately cannot watch the DAL games so I thought I'd ask you. Just a bit worrisome as this "phase" has been about a month now with very limited production.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

I think it's a bit of a phase. Teams are game planning even more to try and neutralize him and he's going through a bit of transition on how to counter that. Plus he got quite a bit of that early production off of his time on the first unit PP, and that group hasn't been as lethal of late, not compared to the first two months of the season.

[NoWayOut]

After last night's bed shitting, Mike Heika delivers a good piece about patience with the Stars goalie time share....

http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dall...bjections-fans

[NoWayOut]

Radek Faksa has been called up to Big D after Hemsky's injury. Ritchie has looked great since his return, but Faksa was also pretty damn effective as the fourth line C during his earlier callup. Figured this one was a pick 'em on which one would get the nod.

[NoWayOut]

Been sitting here thinking about the Faksa call up and the more I think on it, the better I like it. Hemsky has been used a lot in the bottom six, a role he's not fit for. Faksa is a solid defender, reasonably big body center. With him up the Stars can then kick Fidds or Eakin out to the wing and let Faksa work up the middle. That really improves the balance of the bottom six and Ruff loves to roll four lines as much as he possibly can. Ritchie would also have a good call up as a 3rd line RW, but I guess Jim Nill wants to see a bit more, and Faksa has been up recently and performed good.

I'm not saying Faksa alone was the reason, but when he was up earlier the Stars were playing some of their best all-around hockey of the season.

[NoWayOut]

Lines from the morning skate, per Mike Heika:

Benn-Seguin-Sharp
Janmark-Spezza-Nichushkin
Roussel-Eakin-Sceviour
Moen-Fiddler-Eaves

Was kind of hoping to see Faksa draw in, but he skated late so it looks like Moen gets the nod. No changes on D, and Niemi in net(no surprise there).

[NoWayOut]

It's hard to conceive, the team that got schooled at Columbus is the same one that's gone toe-to-toe with the Central Division's heavyweights and gone 3-0-1 over the last four division games. And not just toe-to-toe, but equal too and better than those three, outside of the final few minutes in STL. Talk about playing down too your competition. This time last year the Stars had 39 points, now 59, tops in the NHL.

Yes, I'm drunk, and I'm having the time of my life enjoying the ride that is the 2015-16 Stars. Who knows where the ride will end, or how, but in the meantime, I'm lovin' it.

[STONE.]

Waiting on the feedback from Nichushkin's big game!

[NoWayOut]

Waiting on the feedback from Nichushkin's big game!

Maybe the secret to Val having a breakout is me not watching. I was busy and intended to tape the game for later and completely whiffed on setting the DVR.

[NoWayOut]

Something that was talked about last season but never came to pass is back, splitting up Benn and Seguin. Mark Stepneski tweeted out these lines from practice:

Benn-Spezza-Nichushkin
Janmark-Seguin-Sharp
Roussel-Eakin-Sceviour
Moen/Faksa-Fiddler-Eaves

As go Benn and Seguin, so go the Stars. There are plenty of areas that need addressing right now, but maybe a bit of a shakeup at the top will snap them out of this funk. They look like a tired bunch, just coasting along and still basking in that run 4-0-1 stretch heading into this road trip. We'll see if Ruff takes 'em out back and knocks some sense into 'em. They've got two more games to go and then they get a 5 day break where they can work on things.

The things that stood out to me over this road trip were centered on poor decisions with the puck, trying risky passes, cheating offensively and getting caught on the wrong side of the puck by turnovers, and a lack of effort. During that 4-0-1 run they were a much better team at the one-on-one puck battles, the passes were crisper and more on target. Last night alone I lost count of the numbers of passes that were behind the intended targets or if they were on target were promptly mangled by the recipient. A lot of what ails the Stars can be fixed but the players have got to be the ones to take it on themselves to make the adjustments.

And I'll go out on a limb and make a bold prediction, it will be Jim Nill that breaks the trade malaise that is currently going around. I don't know that he'll do anything in the near term, he is Mr. Patience, but his next move I think will be a big one and will open the gates. Just a random thought that came into my head a while back and now seems like as good a time as any to have a little fun and speculate.

[blayze]

They broke up Bennguin?!?!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[JagrBomb]

can we all stop and remember you guys got Jason Spezza for ****ing Alex Chiasson? LOL

[NoWayOut]

So far it's just one practice, so take a deep breath. But it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world to try it out for a game or two and see what happens. Plus given Lindy's track record his lines are written in disappearing ink anyway.