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Roster

Will This Ship Go Down Without A Captain?

by Damien Franco on November 22, 2008

Wow, so imagine my surprise to see my email inbox full of Dallas Stars news all reporting the worse thing that could have happened this season. Brendan Morrow is out. For six freakin’ months?!

Okay, deep breath.

Here’s the press release.

FRISCO, Tex. - The Dallas Stars announced today that the left wing Brenden Morrow is out indefinitely with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that will require surgery. He is expected to miss up to six months. The club also recalled right wing Landon Wilson from Grand Rapids (AHL).”We are obviously very disappointed to hear the news about Brenden’s knee,” said Co-General Manager Les Jackson. “As our captain, he will obviously be missed, but we have every assurance that he can and will come back from this injury at 100 percent. There is a lot of hockey left to be played this season, and we are confident our team will rally together and keep pushing.”

Morrow, 29, has skated in all 18 of the Stars’ games to date, recording five goals and 10 assists for 15 points with 49 penalty minutes. He placed tied for second on the club in assists and points, second in penalty minutes and tied for fourth in goals.

The native of Carlyle, Sask., is coming off a 2007-08 season where he led the Stars in goals (32), power play goals (12), hits (260) and plus/minus (+23), and was second in points (74) and game-winning goals (7). Morrow added 15 points (9 goals, 6 assists) and 22 penalty minutes 18 Stanley Cup Playoff games last spring, as the Stars advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

Wilson, 33, has skated in 15 games with AHL Grand Rapids this season, earning eight goals and seven assists for 15 points with 37 penalty minutes. Among Griffins team leaders, he was tied for first in goals and tied for second in points.

The 6-3, 226-pound right wing has skated in 348 career NHL games with Colorado, Boston, Phoenix and Pittsburgh, collecting 111 points (50 goals, 61 assists) and 331 PIM. In 13 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, Wilson has earned a goal and an assist with 20 penalty minutes. His most prolific NHL season came in 2000-01 with Phoenix, when he collected 31 points (18 goals, 13 assists) in 70 games.

I can’t really imagine the entire impact that this will have on the team.

Let’s try to be optimistic here for a sec.

Here we go with some local fandom kool-aid.  We can still salvage this season!

The younger Stars that will have to come in and fill ice skates could blossom as this season may end up becoming a rebuilding year.

Here is some stuff from Mike Modano.

“You look at last season when Zubov was out, and people just stepped up,” Modano said. “Robidas stepped up, and the kids on defense really just played over their heads. I think we have to pull together as a team and look for something like that happen.”

And now, back to reality.

My biggest concerns come with the knowledge that some of our best and most consistent players are our oldest as well.

  • Mike Modano - 38
  • Sergei Zubov - 38
  • Daryl Sydor - 36
  • Jere Lehtinen - 35

These are some of the guys I want to win the cup with.  How much longer can we expect to see them around.  Another couple of years?  I can only hope.  I’d love to send Mike Modano and the rest of these guys to retirement with their names newly etched into the Stanley Cup.

The season is still young.  There are 64 games left so we aren’t without opportunity to turn this around.

I just hope that there is some wind left for these sails.

Onward ho!?

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Another New Star In Parrish?

by Damien Franco on November 4, 2008

My knee jerk reaction goes something like this:

Mark Parrish is a veteran scorer with a right handed shot and we need that.

His defensive side has much to be desired, but at a low, low price we can fill holes with him on the offense.

He’s played with Mike Modano before in All-Star games so at least there’s some chemistry already there.

He says he’s fit and hungry to play so that works for me.

I do feel that we needed to look more on the defensive side of things because scoring isn’t necessarily our biggest concern.

I’m interested to see which line he’ll be on.  I see him fitting well with Brad Richards more than on Mike Modano’s line, but he could do well on either.

I guess I’m still waiting to get Jere Lehtinen and Sergie Zubov back before a real assesment of the Dallas Stars can be made, but dealing with key injuries has to be a big concern for a team that was picked pre-season to be a Stanely Cup contender.  Maybe this is the kind of spark that this team needs.  We’ll see.

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Allas: The D has Gone Missing from Dallas

by brent on October 26, 2008

In the three games since my last post the Stars have continued the infuriating trend of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In the win versus the Rangers they played stingy team defense giving up a lone goal. In the other three games, one of which was a win, they have given up a total of 14 goals. They are last in the league in goals against and close to the bottom in penalty killing.

This is not the Stars team that we all know and love. My hope is that this is a consequence of all of the new players in the forward lines. If this is the case, only time and coaching can cure the problems. If not the Stars have a major delima on their hands. If the players are the problem they will have to be benched and the front office, specifically Brett Hull and Les Jackson are to blame. If it is lack of coaching then the current staff will have to be fired. Dave Tippett has the highest winning percentage of any active coach and yet he could be in trouble if the team doesn’t get this turned around.

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