News in the Stars' Camp

Hey, did you know the season is over? Of course you do, you don't use us for your weekly news breaks, you use us for random bits of knowledge and opinions.  In continuing with that tradition, here's a bit of news from the Stars' camp:

Matias Norstrom officially Retires

"The last game against Detroit was my final one," Norstrom said, adding he now intends to focus on his family and get an ordinary job.

Norstrom told a Swedish news paper that he is officially out of the NHL, and out of professional hockey if the rumors of him saying it's Dallas or no where.

Stars sign Toby Peterson

Said Co-General Manager Les Jackson, “Toby is a consummate professional on and off the ice, and he played a key role for us during our playoff run this spring. We look forward to his continued contributions to our club.”

In a two year, one way contract worth $1.1 million dollars the Stars have shown that this boy has what it takes.  Don't forget he played more post-season games then regular season: 16 vs 8.  More importantly than his limited performance in Dallas is his time in Iowa this year: MVP of Iowa for 07/08 with 21 goals and 30 assists in 63 games.

Stars sign Dan Jancevski

Two years, two ways.  Dan will spend much of his time in Iowa wherever Dallas has it's minor leaguers, but his 575,000 to 1.05 million dollar contact will give him plenty of money (and time) to develop into what the Stars see in him.  As a reminder, Dan came back to Dallas in a trade for that red-headed step child Junior Lessard to Tampa; completely separate from the trade that lost us Smitty, Halpie and Jussi ... Dan has a terrific opportunity here - expect him to turn it on this year.

2007 & 2008 at a glance

Before I actually get to the schedule, allow me to reflect a bit, in no great detail, about this years Dallas Stars:

• Marty Turco continued to prove that he is a clutch goalie and that he has it in the playoffs. While he had a rough bout against the Wings, he not only pulled the team 3 rounds deep, he finally got his first win at the Joe ... ever ... in the playoffs.
• The freshmen are AMAZING. Who would have expected a group SO chock full of rookies to make it as far as they did. Barch, Erikson, Grossman, Fistric, Niskanen, Peterson, Stephan ... I know we saw more guys, but these guys really impressed me this season. I can't wait to see what happens with our backup goalie situation next year - and how about Grossman with his first career NHL goal being in the Playoffs ... no ... in the Western Conference Finals??? Nuts I tell ya, nuts!
• Oh captain, my Captain. When the "C" was abruptly and rudely taken from Mike Modano many people questioned the move, and also the choice of Brendan Morrow as the replacement. If there are ANY doubters left, allow us to reflect, without me digging up the stats, how well Morrow did this series. First and foremost, if we had made the finals, he would have, in this bloggers opinion, won the Conn Smyth this year. Second, was there a player with more heart, more drive, and better to model the rest of your team after this series? How about his injuries? (yeah, we'll get to that in a moment). I admit, when I first saw Morrow I questioned him as Captain. I knew there had to be a reason, but I wasn't sold. I will never question him again after this year.
• Shoulder surgery, sports hernia, torn shoulder, bum leg, concussion. And this is just the list of players who PLAYED WITH THESE INJURIES this playoffs; for the Stars. We knew about Boucher, Zubov, Barnes & Fistric, but how about Morrow & Norstrom? That's right, for the entire Playoffs Norstrom did everything he could to ignore a sports hernia; and it was, in my opinion, the most alive he has been as a Dallas Star. As for our Captain, he was "basically laying on one leg" since the final game against the Sharks, not forget the partial tare in his shoulder.
• Mike Smith was an amazing backup goalie; Jussie Jokinen a clutch on the breakaway/Shootout; Jeff Halpern a quiet leader; and we saw all of them leave this year. It was a sad day for everyone, not a single fan I know was happy to see all 3 of these players leave, and I'm certain the team had a rough time of it too. However, Brad Richards and 3 years of contract came to Dallas. This will be HUGE in the coming years as we see some of our vets retire. It was huge in the playoffs as he was tied for second in points and led the lines of not only Mike Modano but also the rookies at different times. B-Rich will be a major player next year, the year after, and going forward.
• Brett Hull and Les Jackson were placed into the first ever co-GM experiment in the history of the NHL. They relieved an unspoken pressure between the players and their concern for job security; they relieved a similar unspoken pressure of Dave Tippet and his team of coaches, who just hadn't proven themselves in the playoffs (don't believe me? Look at San Jose's head coach; oh that's right, they don't have one anymore). They placed a few minor pickups in Iowa; and they tailored the deal that got us Brad Richards without giving up our entire future (can anyone say Marion Hossa to Pittsburgh?). Rumor has it that Tom Hicks is actually trying to convince the two to stick around together another year; wow.
• Fabian Brunnstrom; this years hottest free agent; a supposed #5 overall draft pick, without the draft pick and without the ramp up time in Iowa. Need I say more about next year?

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boy and Girls, it's time to look at 2008/2009. Hold your heads up high because the Dallas Stars were a team to be proud of in 2007/2008 and will be a team to reckon with next year.

GO STARS!
--j

Stars get #5 Overall Draft Pick - without the draft?

It looks like the Stars have signed Fabian Brunnstrom to start with us next year. Speculated at a $2mil entry-level contract Fabian comes with plenty of press, as many as 15 NHL teams were making offer sheets, and only a month ago he was rumored to have signed with Vancouver, a deal that fell apart because of the firing of management.

Fabian, another Swede (the balance has shifted, yes?), is a forward, a winger, and a play-maker. Last year in the Swedish Elite leagues Fabian had 39 points in 57 games. His speed has been compared to Daniel Alfredson, his play-making abilities to what was expected of Louis Erikson, and his grit to that of Brendan Morrow. He has also been said, had he gone through the NHL Entry Draft, to be a #5 overall pick. To a team with who's #1 pick is non-existent, and who wouldn't be better than 26 in this year draft, that's a damn good pick up.

The question is how will he fit in? With contracts for Hagman and Norstrom coming to a close, and the hefty pickup of Brad Richards this year, it looks like it's time to start thinking about that salary cap, which is expected to go up $4mil+ this next season. Will the two headed Jack-Hull beast bring back Hagman, a depth player who had a breakout year? Is Norstrom going to play in the NHL next year? Will Mittens & Daley become part of a trade package next year to further clean up what inconstancies still lie in the Dallas lineup? All questions that our interim GM's have to answer in the coming months - heck, will the 2-headed interim GM experiment continue into next year ... and lets not forget the small matter of the Western Conference Championship & Stanley Cup Finals (we can only hope)!

What do you think? Assuming it's a 3 year US$2mil/yr contract, was Fabian a good pickup? Should we keep Hagman? Norstrom? Holmqvist (the rental goalie backup that was packaged with Richards)?

Not a time to lament the past

it's time for the 'couver fans to gloat. They deserved that win, and we didn't. There were plenty of bad calls against us, heck there were even some bad calls against the Nucks, but the biggest thing is our boys didn't come to this game with the same intensity that they brought to the previous two :(

On the other hand, we saw fairly solid leadership out of Morrow, amazing goal tending out of Turco, and even a strong push by the big E in the post season ... so there is hope for next year.

The question now is who do we let go of this summer. Were Nagy & Nordstrom all they were expected? I'll say I was happy with Nagy's integration before post season, but during post season he and Matty (excepting much of Matty's play last night) were no more than a weak link on the team during this series. What about Anti, Robi, and some of the juniors down in Iowa? I think it will be a very interesting summer, to say the least.

Luckily we have a strong enough set of veteran leadership up top to keep whatever rotation we have over the summer in check come next season.

I'll hold my head up high as a Stars fan though ... When we were down 3 to 1 we had the strongest goalie of the round across all 16 teams, we had a team with more heart and determination than any other, and we fought our way back to Game 7. I say GO STARS GO ... 07/08 is only 5 months away.

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