Morning Skate Notes and Quotables on Dillon-Demers Trade
By Josh Clark
The Dallas Stars morning skate this morning included a few key notes that should be brought to attention. Here are a few updated notes that will help get you prepared for tonight’s game:
John Klingberg Doing It All
John Klingberg continues to improve the Dallas Stars blue line, and he is being rewarded for it. He was spotted playing the sole defenseman position today on the first power play unit, lining up with Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Antoine Roussel, and Jason Spezza. Klingberg also looks like he will play on the first pairing tonight with Alex Goligoski, with Trevor Daley shifting down to the second line to match with Jason Demers.
Kari Starting
Kari Lehtonen left the ice first, leaving everyone to assume that he will be the starter in net tonight. Lehtonen is 7-5-4 on the year with a 2.92 GAA and a .906 SV%.
Jordie Benn Assumes Scratch Role Again
Jordie Benn stayed on the ice late and skated with the lines as an extra, which most likely means he will be the healthy scratch on defense tonight, along with Colton Sceviour as the offensive healthy scratch.
Here are some quotes from around the locker room regarding the Brenden Dillon-Jason Demers trade:
Jason Demers:
“I know we already have a lot of talent here, and I’m just hoping I can add to it starting tonight.”
“Hopefully I’ll just do what I do, play my game, and help the team out in any way I can.”
“It is different, yeah. It happened pretty quick, and I know it’s the same thing for Brenden Dillon. It’s a different feeling, but the guys have been great and I’m sure I’ll adapt here as quickly as I can.”
Trevor Daley:
On Brenden Dillon:
“It’s always sad to see guys go, I mean we’re with each other every day. Now Demers will become one of those teammates as well. It’s obviously upsetting, but it’s the business we’re in and that’s a part of it. It happens. Nothing will change in our friendship, we wish him the best.”
“It’s a team sport, and obviously we were sad to see Dillon go, but it all works out for both teams.”
On what he expects from Demers:
“He’s (Demers) been great. He’s a great puck mover, he skates well, he’s a right handed shot. He’s a good kid and I’ve talked to him this morning and gone over our plan tonight. He’s a guy that can be in your top four and eat up a lot of minutes, so that’s what he’s gonna bring to us and it’s gonna be exciting.”
On the multitude of defensive changes through the season:
“Well, there’s been a lot of mixing and matching and rightfully so. I mean you look at our record and it’s not very good so we’re trying to get better.”
Lindy Ruff:
On the new look, right-handed defense:
“Well, if you look through the league you’ll see that the best defensive pairings are lefty-righty. It’s always easier to make the cross-ice pass on the forehand. Even in the offensive zone it’s always easier to receive the puck on the forehand, regardless of what side you’re on.”
On the four-forward power play system regarding which defensemen will rotate:
“I just think we have options. Klingberg will get some time on the top unit, and on the other unit we can always mix our options, whether left or right handed.
On what to expect from the Kings:
“A tough, physical game. We get a lot of chances and need to capitalize. They are a good team around the net and they go hard to the net. Every line plays the same for them and we have to be ready for the defensive game.”
On Demers defensive play:
“I like his game and his puck-moving ability. He reads the game well. Most people seem to think of him as good on the offensive side, but I think he’s a good defender watching him play.”
Jim Nill:
On why he traded for Demers:
“Well we needed to get better in our back end. It’s a fast game now and we had to get pucks out of our zone better, which Demers does really well.”
On if he had planned to trade for a right-handed defenseman or if it evolved over the past few games:
“It’s something we’ve talked about for a while. It’s something we’ve focused on for a while, and all the great defensive pairs are lefty-righty. It’s something we knew we would get to, but it was just a process.”
On Brenden Dillon and the left-handed strength the defense had:
“Brenden is a great young player and he was a big part of our team over the last couple of years. But we have other similar players coming up, like Patrik Nemeth and Jamie Oleksiak. So we have a lot of those types of players in the system. To get something, you have to give up something good and Brenden was a good, young player for us with lots of development ahead of him, but we needed to fill this void.”
On whether the Stars record accelerated these trades or if they came along regularly:
“The deals come when the deals come. You gotta be careful and patient in this business. But Doug Wilson (Sharks GM) and I were talking about this since the beginning of the season and we were in opposite situations, us with a bunch of lefties and them with a bunch of righties, so we talked and found a good solution for both of us.”
His evaluation of the season so far:
“Well, we’re obviously disappointed. We’ve had a tough slump and that’s what is hurting us the most. The league is tighter than it has ever been and there’s about five to ten teams that will get away from the pack a bit, but I think everyone else has fallen right around .500.”
On Modano’s Hall of Fame recognition tonight and what it means to build on tradition:
“It’s very important. Especially when you look at Dallas, not having hockey and all of a sudden Mike Modano comes along and everybody knows who he is now, he put hockey on the map. It’s important to recognize those people and the tradition is very important, and to let our players know it’s important is kind of our ultimate goal.”
Leave your comments and questions below, and as always, thanks for reading! Stars take on the Kings tonight. Go Stars.