Injuries/ lousy netminding ground Stars

[yave1964]

  It was not supposed to be like this after a 50 win season and a postseason series victory, the Stars entered the season hoping to build upon it and push the envelop even further. Instead the season has begun as a nightmare. They currently sit at 3-4-2 and are falling further behind daily.

  First Nichushkin walked away from the team and returned to Russia because Coach Ruff was too mean to him. Then the injuries set in especially among the forwards to an absolutely ridiculous degree.

 I am not going to point out the types of injuries, no other sport is as deliberately vague as the NHL when it comes to injuries but as far as man games,

Alex Hemsky after the opener went down and will miss four months or so.Jiri Hudler has appeared in 4 games and appears brittle. Patrick Sharp who was key last season also has only appeared in 4 games. Spezza has been beat up and innefective when he has played as he attempts to adjust to the wing. These four were supposed to team with Seguin and Benn to form one of the leagues best top six but instead they are nearly toothless so far. And middle six forwards Eakin and Janmark who key the third line and fill in usually when there are injuries are out as well. So the anticipated top nine is down to Seguin, Benn and Roussel and a bunch of bandaids.

  On defense, Dan Hamhuis who came in to replace Gologoski and shore up the back end, has been old and slow and the last game was a healthy scratch. Klingberg who was a beast on the back end last year is scoreless as other teams are pushing the Stars back into their own zone as often as not. The one thing that GM Jim Nill does have is cap space unlike many other clubs the Stars can make a move to add a forward or a blueliner if need be.

  That leaves the netminding combo of Niemi and Lehtonen, also known as the arson squad, as in pouring gasoline onto the fire.

 

Both goalies have had their moments of greatness, but after nine games the Stars rank 24th in goals against average at 3.22 and 24th in save percentage at .893. That’s a huge reason for a 3-4-2 start.

“Those are concerning numbers,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “There’s a lot of tough chances in the game, and you have to get big saves. Those two guys know they need to be better.”

 

   So that is where it all comes down to, IMHO, do the Stars add a veteran back end guy to shore up the defense, do they add a forward or two or do they go after a Ben Bishop to fix the net?  Even at 3-4-2 they are still in it as other teams out west are stumbling out of the gate but don't wait too long.

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Well, the injuries part is most disappointing for Stars fans.

They certainly put themselves on the map after a fantastic season last year....marred only by the very mediocre (and sometimes downright awful) goaltending.

 

And so the Stars being grounded by injuries is understandable...but the goalie situation?

No one should be surprised by this.

Both Lehtonen and Niemi have long enough track records where people can see these guys are what they are and having them onboard for another year won't make them any better.

 

That said, the Dallas Stars themselves, I am quite sure, see and understand this.....problem is, they are pretty much "stuck" with this tandem until either one of them gets injured and they can possibly look for a replacement, or worse, their contracts run out (which, I believe turn THROUGH the 2017-18 season!).

 

Stars management or even the other players on the team would never publicly throw either goalie under the bus, but the fact remains that until the Stars get some quality, consistent NHL netminding, they are wasting some prime years of some of their players and some of the solid vets they have on the team may no longer be that in about 2 more years' time.

 

Lots of money tied up between two subpar goalies, but not much Dallas can do about it right now.

[hf101]

Add Spezza to the list.  He left Saturday's game with a LBI and didn't return.

[Buffalo Rick]

Boy did they get smoked by Winnipeg last night to the tune of 8-2!!!!!  Unreal.  I guess they have problems and Hemsky is out for a stretch