yave1964 Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Dallas Stars offseason report.... FINAL RECORD 2017-18 42-32-10 92 POINTS 3 POINTS OUT OF A PLAYOFF SPOT HOW??? HOW IN THE HELL DID THIS TEAM MISS THE PLAYOFFS?? The Stars loaded up in the offseason adding Radulov to ignite the offense and Bishop to fix the net woes that had plagued the team. Marty Hanzal was added for secondary scoring, the team ON PAPER looked stacked with Coach Hitchcock on another farewell retirement tour back for another run of magic. It didn't work. Radulov was indeed lights out hanging and banging with big boys Seguin and Benn, all three had 72 plus points, defenseman Klingberg had 67, the problem was.. well the problem was everyone else. Hanzal sucked, Spezza looks as if he is done, kids Ritchie, Roussel and Elie look like busts or close to it. They were a one line team that was exposed whenever they split the big three up, the top line scored 103 goals, the rest of the forwards COMBINED scored 98. Bishop wasn't very good, old 'Letfourin" kept ending up with stretches where he was the better goalie and he was not very good. FREE AGENTS: Quite a lot here. Hamhuis, aging but serviceable defender. Pateryn Played almost every night on the third pair by default. Lehtonen. Long time goalie for the organization is probably a goner. Roussel Agitator had poor year but still young. All four played significant minutes for the team, including two of the regular six defnesemen. TOP PROSPECT Fadek Raska broke into the lineup last year and was actually by default quite decent on the second line, he has solid upside. Brett Ritchie has had multiple chances and has not carved out a role and the word bust is being whispered..Defenseman Julius Honka will almost certainly claim one of the two available defense positions and they are very high hoping he can be a top four and second power play guy. Miro Heiskanen was a high first rounder a few years ago slated to come to North America, they are hoping he claims the other blueline spot and runs with it. Enormous upside. Valeri Nichushkin who left Dallas because he didn't like the way former coach Ruff was treating him is eyeing a comeback but frankly he has bust written all over him. A couple of very solid defense prospects but not much to prop up the very weak forward group behind the top line. OFFSEASON QUESTION MARKS CAN YOU AND DO YOU RESIGN TYLER SEGUIN? He is quietly an UFA at the end of next year, so far the team and player are saying the right things, there seems to be no doubt that he will demand the same type of money as Benn (7 years at 9.5 million per). Do you put that much into two players? The Hawks did it and they are in big trouble, the Penguins did it and won a couple of cups. Do you sign Seguin for Benn money or trade him for a Kings ransom? WHO THE HELL IS JIM MONTGOMERY? He is the new coach, after two straight retreads in Hitch and Ruff, the Stars went with the up and comer, he has coached five years at the U of Denver restoring the college to prominence. Supposedly he is an offense guru. WHERE WILL THEY FIND SECONDARY SCORING? In the past they broke up Seguin/Benn when they needed offense but the supporting cast after the big three was so dreadful that it didn't work last year. Montgomery has hinted he is not against splitting them up again. Nichuskin will probably return and may provide something, Spezza is in the last year of his deal and playing for his next contract, Hanzal cannot be that bad again, Faksa really is a solid young player and will be better next year. The real hope is that Klingberg with two new kid running mates on the back end will free wheel from all three pairings and push the puck. IS BISHOP AS BAD AS HE LOOKED? He really was very ordinary last year and with two kids set to go through growing pains on the back end he needs to step it up. I have always felthe was a product of his organization in Tampa where discipline and structure on the back end were a must. I think what we saw last year is who he is. An average goalie making too much for too long. CAN THE STARS CONTEND? Absolutely, they have enough top end talent, look at Pittsburgh and Chicago, even up against the cap they always seemto find a way to build an ever changing supporting cast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxpin Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 3 minutes ago, yave1964 said: IS BISHOP AS BAD AS HE LOOKED? He really was very ordinary last year and with two kids set to go through growing pains on the back end he needs to step it up. I have always felthe was a product of his organization in Tampa where discipline and structure on the back end were a must. I think what we saw last year is who he is. An average goalie making too much for too long. Frankly, yes. The product of organization, discipline and structure is dead on, I think. I also think you and I both predicted that...at least in fantasy discussions. And even in the "discipline and structure" setting of Tampa, he was really only average the last year he was there. He was hot for stretches and then quite average if not a liability for other stretches. Quite possibly one of the most over-rated goalies in the game. He could put some decent numbers on a team with more structure, but I wonder about that being Dallas in the near future with Montgomery. 15 minutes ago, yave1964 said: HOW??? HOW IN THE HELL DID THIS TEAM MISS THE PLAYOFFS?? The Stars loaded up in the offseason adding Radulov to ignite the offense and Bishop to fix the net woes that had plagued the team. Marty Hanzal was added for secondary scoring, the team ON PAPER looked stacked with Coach Hitchcock on another farewell retirement tour back for another run of magic The bolded is largely the answer, honestly. I thought he was a horrible idea given the makeup of that team, and while there were some other issues, I think this defeated them out of the gate. That and they threw in with some players on the decline (Spezza) and used in ways that didn't play to their remaining strengths. And losses of players like Sharp hurt them (he is too much on the decline that his staying would have helped, but they missed what he was). To be honest, I didn't think Radulov was a great move for them. I'm not a huge fan. He's sufficient offensively, I suppose, but I wasn't sure he was a great fit there. He was better than I thought he would be, but I'm still not so sure about fit. 6 minutes ago, yave1964 said: CAN YOU AND DO YOU RESIGN TYLER SEGUIN? He is quietly an UFA at the end of next year, so far the team and player are saying the right things, there seems to be no doubt that he will demand the same type of money as Benn (7 years at 9.5 million per). Do you put that much into two players? The Hawks did it and they are in big trouble, the Penguins did it and won a couple of cups. Do you sign Seguin for Benn money or trade him for a Kings ransom? I think you have to resign him, don't you? They don't seem to be a team ready to throw-in for a rebuild, so I don't see him going for picks and prospects. It would have to be a blockbuster where something huge is coming back. But if that something huge comes with a big cap hit, you might as well just stick with Seguin. Of the bunch, he probably adjusted best of them to Hitchcock, so he's shown a willingness to do what's asked. I keep him. 8 minutes ago, yave1964 said: WHERE WILL THEY FIND SECONDARY SCORING? I like Faksa, but I think we see about what we're going to. That's good enough, I think, but they're going to need a lot more than that. I don't see much more coming from Spezza nor Hanzal. I'd like to see Spezza return to center or you've removed what's left of his value. I think Hanzal might have also been a use issue when he played, but that remains to be seen. In any case, if he gets .50 PPG, you're in bonus territory. This is not a well-constructed team. It's top heavy with not a lot going on beyond the star players at the top. Because of that... 12 minutes ago, yave1964 said: CAN THE STARS CONTEND? Absolutely, they have enough top end talent, look at Pittsburgh and Chicago, even up against the cap they always seemto find a way to build an ever changing supporting cast. I really don't think so if you mean for the Cup. Can they challenge of the playoffs? Possibly, if they make some changes and some other teams (Minny?) come back to them. They need to restructure their defense to better support/protect Bishop to stand a chance, because they no longer have the overwhelming offense that they did a couple of years ago to compensate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 I too was surprised to see the Stars miss the playoffs this season due to what, on paper, looked like a team that should have not only made the playoffs, but possibly contend for the division. That said, and upon closer inspection however, it seems this iteration of the Dallas Stars is like a car built from parts from varying manufacturers...all with varying degrees of quality (from top of the line down to standard parts). Nothing working coherently, nothing optimized, nothing that takes FULL advantage of the available capabilities. Add in a coach whose playstyle philosophies clashed heavily with what the team is actually good at (defensive clog n check coach vs. some really outstanding offensive players), AND the Stars playing in the toughest division top to bottome in the NHL and it's not hard to see why the Stars didn't quite get the formula right and instead of a race car, ended up with a nice hot rod with some serious deficiencies. Yes, certain players didn't play up to expectations, but I have to wonder if the players available were set to play in a different manner, if Dallas perhaps meets a better fate after 82 games. Well, now Coach Hitchcock is done and if the Dallas Stars truly know anything about the kinds of players they have, then they will get a coach that can cater to those abilities AND continue their search for good defensive type players, maybe look into getting a decent backup when Ben Bishop has his bouts of IR time. They certainly have the cap money to play with...just gotta uses it wisely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Math Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 57 minutes ago, yave1964 said: CAN THE STARS CONTEND? Absolutely, they have enough top end talent, look at Pittsburgh and Chicago, even up against the cap they always seemto find a way to build an ever changing supporting cast. Absolutely not IMO. Stars' defense is too weak, and Goaltending, even with the addition of Bishop remains just average. I really laughed when they signed Hanzal after being totally useless during his stretch with the Wild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted June 1, 2018 Author Share Posted June 1, 2018 @ruxpin @TropicalFruitGirl26 I see the eventual whereabouts of Seguin tied in directly to John Tavares. The Isles didn't move him and he didn't resign, they missed the postseason, if he walks, signs with someone else and the Isles lose a superstar for literally nothing I could see Nill aggressively shopping Seguin if a deal isn't reached by early summer. If the Isles poor asset management costs them a superstar for zilch, IMHO no way no how does Seguin begin the year in big D without a deal. I would say the priority is to resign him but the next priority would be to determine IF he can be resigned. Nobody with half a brain wants to be the next Garth Snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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