Dear Mr. Lites & Armstrong; What are you doing in the off-season…ANYTHING?!
I don’t know about the rest of you fans but I am getting frustrated with the inactivity of our business leaders in the head office. In Jim Lites letter to the fans http://www.dallasstars.com/homeNewsDetail.jsp?id=9812 he talks about the signings of players from last season…LAST SEASON! Talking about the success of the upcoming season and referring to what was done last year and in seasons past is a transparent way of trying to appease us. Do you think that we are really that naïve?! Lites answer to the question of what is the team going to be like next year is: “I think it's going to be a good one.” You think?.....You THINK?! It sounds more like he is hoping. Now the justification that he tries to sell us for the stagnation of the front office is that they have: “Mattias Norstrom replacing Darryl Sydor, Joel Lundqvist replacing Eric Lindros, and Todd Fedoruk replacing Matthew Barnaby.” Give me a break!
Mattius Norstrom – in 76 games last season he posted 11 points and a -18. So that means that he was on ice for more than 18 goals against us. And you’re going to tell me that a player that is standing there on the ice watching us get scored on is the one to replace Sydor?! Sydor is irreplaceable, no debate! And he left us for a raise that will see him make just over 2 million a year. Do you think out of the 4 million we have left over that we could have bumped his salary to keep him?!
Joel Lundqvist replacing Eric Lindros – 49 games played and 5 goals. Are you really trying to sell me on the idea that this guy needs to have a replacement?
Todd Fedoruk replacing Matthew Barnaby – ok, just stop right now. You want me to believe that in today’s NHL that we need to have another player that takes dumb penalties and is chronically injured? Geee, I am sure glad that we have a replacement for him.
Maybe I need to remind the both of you Mr. Lite and Armstrong. To win a hockey game and a championship you need to put more pucks in the net than your opponent. Lites also states that “we'll sign free agents to contracts that will help us win hockey games.” I guess that to him this means adding more grit. Another excuse that Lites has put forward for not doing anything and in my eyes this is an excuse for a possible bad upcoming season (trying to protect your job at all costs are ya Jim?) is: “look around our division and our conference and ask yourself has anyone gotten better? None of the playoff teams have.” So are you basically saying that everyone sucks so if it turns out that we do too that it’s not a big deal because we have company???
Now I am not asking you to mortgage our future. Just to plan for one! I am not a believer that you have to go out and sign players for over inflated contracts but hey…DO SOMETHING! There are still many players out there that can do great job. But we’ll never know if we spend the off season sitting on our hands. Stop trying to pacify me and the rest of the fans by telling us that “The Dallas Stars have been the second-most successful team in the entire NHL over the last 11 years.” Sure we have been good in the regular season but in sports there is only 1 goal – the Championship! Don’t try to tell me that you’re not going to make mistakes like were done with Turgeon, who by the way hasn’t played here for more than 3 seasons. You may not remember that but I do. And don’t bother trying to make me feel good by saying that we have struggled through the adversity of injuries. What team hasn’t?! Sure we won 50 games and earned 107 points last season but you know what – I don’t care anymore! That was last season. And to tell us we should be proud of the past?! Do you think the Senators are sitting around this summer patting themselves on the back saying Wow! did we ever do great this season. NO. There is no award for coming in 2nd. And neither is there an award for losing in the first round and doing nothing in the off-season.
So the question is Mr. Lites & Armstrong…what are you doing this summer?
Darren Morley
