Are The Stars Still Hunting?
By Josh Clark
Alright, so, what a day July 1st was. Are you off cloud nine yet? Me neither. Are you done praising Jim Nill yet? Me neither. Have you bought season tickets yet? Me too! (If not, 214-GO-STARS).
Within one day, Jim Nill found a way to create an offensive juggernaut of a team with a hefty netminding arsenal, though a questionable defense still remains. So the question remains:
Should the Stars still be hunting?
Offense:
Jamie Benn-Tyler Seguin-Valeri Nichushkin
Erik Cole-Jason Spezza-Ales Hemsky
Ryan Garbutt-Cody Eakin-Antoine Roussel
Colton Sceviour-Shawn Horcoff-Rich Peverley
Talk about a 1-2-3-4 punch?! Just reading that gets me giddy (everyone’s using this word now, including Mark Stepneski and the Dallas Stars Twitter account, thanks to my friend Nick for introducing me to the word before it was cool). With the Spezza trade and the Hemsky signing, the two former Senators will look to be the second dynamic duo on the squad. The Stars are also bringing back talks with Vernon Fiddler, for a possible re-signing after Fiddler’s name went silent on Day 1 of the free agent market. So, overall, what an offense. Shawn Horcoff and Erik Cole are the two names that have yet to be mentioned by the Stars and there is no official word yet of if they are staying or going. But when you look at these amazing lines, should they be dealt? I don’t think so. But either way, no hunting needs to be done here!
Goaltending:
If Jim Nill had any motive yesterday it was this: To end the drought of bad backup goalies and find someone to help the mostly reliable Kari Lehtonen. And boy did he end that drought.
Nill signed Anders Lindback to a one-year deal yesterday shortly after the Spezza trade was made. Lindback, 26, was the former backup of the Nashville Predators and spent the lockout season last year as the main starter for the Tampa Bay Lightning. This past season Ben Bishop took the job and Lindback was renounced to backup once again. But his numbers are some of the best you’ll see for backups and his skill set is what the Stars have longed for over the past few seasons for their #2 netminder. With this huge signing, the Stars will no longer need to hunt for a backup and won’t have to worry about calling up Campbell or Nilstorp. Hunting here? Not in the slightest.
Defense:
I’m not 100% sure how to explain this. The Stars went silent yesterday in terms of defensemen and are still currently looking for a quality player to fill the sixth spot. The current names on the Dallas Stars’ roster sit as so:
Alex Goligoski
Trevor Daley
Jordie Benn
Sergei Gonchar
Brenden Dillon, though a new contract has not yet been reached with the RFA. But he will most likely be receiving a new contract very soon, same goes for Antoine Roussel and Cody Eakin. But all three names are still in the Stars’ possession.
?
The Stars NEED a sixth defenseman, preferably a veteran that will be able to contribute heavily to an ailing defense that can’t seem to help themselves, nonetheless their own team, every time they step on the ice. There is also a rumor that has started up about the Stars once again thinking about buying out Gonchar’s contract and sending his old bottom into the FA market. Don’t be thinking that will happen, though.
Nill was highly impressed with the blue-liners from the Texas Stars in their Calder Cup run this past season, so is he planning on calling up a few names? Nemeth and Fortunus would be the key names if he were planning on taking this action. But with no more big names on the free agent list in terms of defensemen, the Stars may have to take this route. This won’t bring any leadership, but it may bring enough skill to oversee the necessary leadership. So do they still need to hunt? I’m gonna say they can, but they probably won’t find anything halfway decent. Now trading… anything could happen!
But I like the Stars moves and think that if they hit the brakes right where they are, they’ll be VERY successful come next season. Jim Nill has made an MVP caliber team in just 2 years, now let’s see it put into action.
Comments below on how you think the Stars should play out their next few weeks! GO STARS.