Rush to the Deadline

So the trade deadline has come and gone, and a lot happened the past few weeks. So much so, in fact, that I'm going to tell you straight up I'm not here to cover it all. That's why I'm providing you with the link to the NHL Trade Central page on NHL.com.

That said, I do want to go over some that I find interesting, key, important, or odd. First and foremost, Your Dallas Stars, of course.

Mattias Norstrom
Mattias Norstrom comes to us from the LA Kings, in fact he was their Captain until today. What does he bring to us? Well Armstrong says Leadership, but I'm not entirely sold. It's not that I don't think he has it, it's that I don't know that our Defense is where the leadership was needed. Our 3rd and 4th lines need leadership, not our D. Also they say he brings defensive depth ... well looking strictly at this year, he's a -20 ... for a DMan that can't be good. In fact, that's 12 points lower than any of our guys. But don't worry we have a stronger team. A MUCH stronger team - their team has 20 guys in the minus column, 6 of them are -10 or worse. With the 4th highest minutes per game average I'd expect him to be on the higher end of things. I could harp more on his performance this year, but I don't think it's worth it, the Stars brought him in (like Nagy) for potential, not current performance. Norstrom has 2 All Star games and 3 Olympics under his belt, he has a career +3, with a season high of +22. All in all, he's a welcome addition to the team and I think will help us through the playoffs, beyond that, I don't know for sure.

But the question is what'd we give up for him, and was it a smart trade? Jaroslav Modry is now a King. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. Modry was our +/- leader with +10, he had 10 points and is highly seasoned at 600+ games (600th played against San Jose on December 21st). He wasn't the star play maker, but he was definitely a strong DMan. Also give up by Dallas were the rights on Johan Fransson, a Sweed that the stars had the rights to but hadn't brought to Dallas yet, the 2008 1st-round pick and the 2007 2nd & 3rd round picks. We did walk away with young-in Konstantin Pushkarev, a right winger sent directly to Iowa, and a 3rd and 4th round pick for this coming draft. My thoughts? Even trade. Pushkarev for Fransson: neither Pros nor Cons to mention ... the draft picks worth while (we're not building for 5 years from now, we're building for next 3) ... Modry for Norstrom: could swing either way to be honest ... but I'm going to trust in our leaders choices on this one.

Now onto some other interesting trades:

Keith Tkachuk
Tkachuk was expensive, and the Thrashers are going to need him, but I think they outspent themselves on this one. He's worth it but they gave up Geln Metropolit and their 1st and 3rd round picks for 2007 and their (conditional) 1st and (definite) 2nd round picks for 2008. The biggest problem is he's a rental, as many of the trades this time of year are. If he doesn't stick around afterwards I'm gonna say that they got ripped off in the deal. St Louis - smart cookies right there. Very smart.

Philadelphia Flyers
Yes the Flyers rate as a full trade right now. In the final 10 days to trade deadline they made 4 moves. First and foremost Peter Forsberg for Scottie Upshall and a rookie Ryan Parent as well as a 1st and 3rd round pick for this coming draft. Forsberg is great, but it was time for him to move on and the team to get all they could for him, and they did. Second on the 24th they trade Alexei Zhitnik for Braydon Coburn, I'm not sure this was a fair trade however it shows the Flyers' goal: bring in the youth, start fresh, get moving again. Then on Monday they traded Kyle Calder for Lasse Kukkonen and another 3rd round pick for this years draft. Calder was not what they expected and it was looking like they were going to lose him anyway, why not get something for him; and Kukkonen is an up-and-coming DMan that brings, you guessed it, youth to the much stagnated Flyers bench. Next they took advantage of all the draft picks they've been getting and gave up their 2nd round pick to the Sabres for Martin Biron. Honestly, this was a smart move for them: the Flyers needed to shore up some long term goal tending and they see this as a trial period for Biron to see if he works out. I can't see it not working out too, as backup goalie to Ryan Miller, Biron, a former starter himself, is 12-4-1 in his 17 games, including the Sens v Sabres game last week where he squared off on Center ice against Ray Emery. I can't see Biron not becoming a full time goalie for the Flyers, if nothing else at least splitting time with Nittymaki or Esche if either of them can stay healthy enough to contend for the spot.

Bill Guerin
Mr Guerin was one of the most welcomed All-Stars this past month in Dallas receiving a very loud applause from the fans, which I think backfired for Dallas fans as we'll now be seeing much more of him. San Jose, Guerin's new home, paid a much deserved hefty price for the star too: winger Ville Nieminen a winger with nearly 1 point for every 3 NHL games, and 1 for every 2 playoff games, as well as a prospect in Jay Barriball and the teams 1st round pick this coming year. Guerin deserves to be on a contending team and in San Jose, I hate to admit, he has found it. St Louis needed to move on and start rebuilding, and Guerin was the right bait for the future. Personally I look forward to seeing Guerin in Dallas more often, I think we'll be ready for him.

Georges Laraque
Pittsburgh has been out proving the the world that they are ready to contend for the Cup, and with a set of moves this past week they have shown further their desire to bring it home (even if home moves to Kansas City!). Along with a few other key moves (Gary Robers & Joel Kwiatkowski) the Penguins are off with experience, and plenty of recent wins, to make every team think twice before planning their game-time strategies. The question on everyones mind isn't why did Pittsburgh make the trade, by what about the Coyotes? Well, here is another team struggling to find a future, and that's exactly what they went for. AHL Prospect Dan Carcillo, who seems to be little more than a loud-mouth problem child, and 3rd round pick for 2008. I'm giving the advantage to Pittsburgh on this one. On the surface I'd say that the 'yotes did what they had to in order to get what they could for the past, but the Penguins helped solidify their run for the cup for this year, and with everything else they've been doing, the next few years as well.

Ryan Smyth
No you do not need to adjust your monitor, no you are not alone. I think Smyth getting traded by the Oilers may have been one of the more shocking trades this past week. Lets get this out of the way: Smyth was traded for 2 prospects (Ryan O'Marra & Robert Nilsson) and a 1st round pick in 2007. Here's another one I'm going to say flat out, one team made out like bandits and the other one, well, we'll have to see if it works out for them. Both teams are fighting for playoff rights, though the Oilers should be just about giving up as they're now 9 points behind with no games at hand catching the 8th place team. The Islanders, on the other hand, are 1 point out of 8th, 1 point out of 10th, and only 6 points out of 4th in their division (not that I'm suggesting they can make it, but they're not far out). Smyth has the possibilities of really turning things around for this team, in desperate need of his abilities. Earlier this year the Islanders shocked the NHL with a record-breaking 15 year contract for their goalie, and now they do the same with the trade, probably the most surprising trade, of the season. I give them the edge in the trade, and if I were Atlanta, Montreal, Carolina or the Leafs, I'd pay special attention to how the Islanders use this new force.

Were there more trades? Were there other interesting trades? Am I retarded? HAH - the answer is likely yes to all three questions, but I'm done for the night. Drop me a line at the Dallas Stars Podcast blog though, and give me your opinion on my thoughts ... I'm no expert, I'm just a fan with a big mouth!

--the wall

"The Eh Factor"

First off I would like to thank Scott & Jay for inviting me to blog and welcoming me with a segment on the podcast. "The Eh Factor" is a blast to create and a great chance to talk hockey and about the Stars. First a little about me: I have been a Stars fan since my first game in 1979. I am living in Alberta, Canada right now but I am originally from Vancouver BC. I am a proud Canadian and therefore love watching and playing our national sport. One of the jobs I have is working at one of our local ice rinks, and yes I drive the Zamboni! Both Calgary and Edmonton are an hour away from me but I stay true to being a Stars fan.
" The Eh Factor":This segment is all about the game - the rules, the names, the numbers, the stats, the history, trivia and above all enjoying watching the Stars.
I look forward to the coming months and years of being able to share my knowledge and excitement for the best team in the NHL – The Dallas Stars!

Darren Morley

Why 6th place is not so bad!

Okay, call me crazy but I think 6th place is the best place to be. Sure, I would love for the Stars to win our division and the conference, heck I would love them to be the best team in the NHL, but with this team this year, 6th place is fine with me. We probably won't be able to catch Anaheim even though we play them three more times and San Jose continues to win plus we only play them once more. But looking at the standings today, we are in better position going into the playoffs facing any of the three possible Northwest division teams being Vancouver, Minnesota or Calgary then we would be facing Detroit or Nashville. If we faced the Sharks in the first round, I would feel comfortable that we could handle them without a problem. Anaheim would just be a long hard series. So, save it for the second round and let the Northwest division bottom two seeds knock out or knock up the top two seeds in the conference (as long as it is not us) and give us a greater advantage in round two!
-Scooter

A Quick Welcome

For the first time Scott and I welcome a 3rd voice as a regular contributor to the podcast. Darren Morley, a hockey fan through-and-through, is from Alberta Canada and will be joining not only the Blog Team here at DSPNews.blogspot.com but also as a semi-weekly contributor with The Eh Factor!

In his first appearance on the show Darren corrected Scott and I on our bad habit of not putting enough energy into learning proper pronunciation of player names. We both took the lesson quite seriously and look forward to future The Eh Factor! where Darren will not only bring us in depth coverage on rules, regulations and players, but also a very important Canadian point of view to a team followed by, and podcast run by, southerners (if you can call me that)!

So please, help me give Darren a big welcome to the blog, and the cast! I hope you enjoy his addition the show as much as Scott and I think you will!!!!

Smarter Hockey = Winning Games

Did you realize that Dallas has not given up more than one power play goal in a game since before the All Star break? How about only allowing four power play goals in the last 37 attempts by the opponents we have faced since the break? Turco and now more importantly Smitty are a big part of why that number is as low as it is. You would think we would have the top penalty killing unit in the NHL right now and maybe we do, but we still sit 11th overall. And it doesn’t start with goaltending, credit the rest of the team for stepping up to block shots, lift sticks and heavy pressure on the teams who get that man advantage at least twice in a game. Also notice that in the eight games we have played, we have only been penalized the 37 times which comes out less than four per game. Two of the seven contests we only gave up two minors so also credit the team for not taking those mental penalties in the games.

That brings me to my next point which is why I think the Stars are playing better hockey now then they have been all year. Look back at the Anaheim game when Jussi scores the lone goal on the power play, then at the Colorado game when we have seven different goal scorers and eleven different assisters not counting the multi-point players like Halpern, Ribeiro, Boucher and Lehtinen. Then look at the difference between the two teams. I sat and watched the Colorado Anaheim game last night and Colorado won the game 2-0 on 29 shots while Anaheim threw 39 at Budaj and couldn’t get one past, much like the 32 shots thrown at Smitty on Saturday. We know when we play teams like Anaheim that it is going to be a close game. The three games we have played Colorado have also been close but have been higher scoring. We had an offensive rush for the first time in a long time and I hope it continues for the rest of the season. 30+ shots on net, physical precedence, smart passes and great offensive rushes resulting in goals will excel this team to the top and past the first round of the playoffs! Keep it up boys, you’re looking good!!

NHL Ads, New Players and what goalie controversy?

I haven't had time the past 3 weeks to really post as much as I've wanted to. I've had plenty of ideas, but the job that pays the bills has had me too busy to actually make the posts. So here I am with a quick summary of what's been going on in my mind.

NHL Ads
This year the NHL has been pushing their "Just like you, and really good at hockey" campaign. In their troubles they've really come up with some comical ads - here's a couple of the recent ones that have made me laugh (one even includes Marty):

New Player(s)
I say this in the plural form because between contract extensions, injuries & actual new players the team seems to be growing. First and foremost, we obviously have a few guys off injury, namely Modano, making a difference. Second we got a great contract extension, 2 years worth $2m for Mike Smith. Smitty has been great when he's played this year, and now that he's healthy again as well we'll be seeing more of him. I'm glad to see next year we go into the season knowing who our goalies are. Lastly, and certainly not least, we had a trade.

Tippett and Hicks showed their hands early this year, as they have done in the past, and made a trade for the Playoffs ... Mathias Tjarnqvist has played well in the few games he was up in Dallas and shown that he's going to be a worthy player in the NHL. However, it won't be for us. Tjarnqvist was traded to division foe Phoenix for an offensive player who, on his new line with Modano & Lehtinen, is sure to help us get more goals ... and seeing Dallas Sunday with 7 goals? Yeah, I have confidence in the playoffs this year. For those of you concerned, this was the right move for Tjarnqvist too. I don't think he had his heart set to be in Dallas, so I don't think there is any love lost, and in Phoenix he has the chance to become one of the stars on a (going to be) young and growing team. As for the concerns over Nagy, and there are many of them, I say screw it. He has the history of being a +20 goal scorer twice in his career, and with the right team can be again. Jere & Mo are a great combination, and with another goal scorer by their side this line is going to be very dangerous.

Goalie controversy
Bugger off. This is a media story, and only a media story. Marty has a history with this team of being a strong player ... one of the best honestly. He just played 23 straight games before Smitty rescued him in 2 of these last 3 games (some would argue he rescued him in all 3). 23 straight games of 80 to 100 mile an hour pucks flying at his head. We're lucky he took it as well as he did. Yes, Smith has a LOT of promise, but he's still a rookie. He will be here until Marty retires, and then he'll be here after that. This isn't about who is the starter, as Tippett has said, if the playoffs started today against Detroit Turco would be in goal. So big media, stop pestering our boys with your headline news that means nothing. Let them concentrate on playing the game. Cover them, but don't pester them. Goalie controversy ... bah!

We play great games, but we don't win.

How many games have we out played, out shot or deserved to win this season instead of the other team? A lot! It kills me to sit and watch a game on television as the Stars fight so hard to score a goal to cut a lead in half, tie a game or to at least avoid a shut out. Granted St. Louis needed to stop their 3 game loosing skid, but come on. The only goal we scored was when we had one player in the box, Turco on the bench, and six players on the ice…yes, we were on a four on four with six players on the ice as we score the goal, the refs finally figured out that the Stars had too many men on the ice.

So write this one off? Forget about it? The Ducks lost too…but, the Sharks won. We can’t keep playing 500 hockey. Sure, that is good enough to get us into the playoffs but we don’t have a playoff team, at least I haven’t seen a consistent play off team. Sure they show up like the game against the Sharks last Thursday, but they surely didn’t have the offensive drive we saw Thursday night last night against the Blues. So, whatever the Stars had in their system in the third period Tuesday which carried over to the game on Thursday needs to be found again. Key games this week and we have already dropped two of them.