Dallas Stars: Exit Day Interview With Ales Hemsky

The Dallas Stars held their exit interview day this past Friday in Frisco. Before heading out for the summer, we got a chance to catch up with Ales Hemsky. Catch coverage of the entire interview below.

It’s been five days since the Dallas Stars cleaned out their locker stalls and parted ways for the first time since October when the 2015-2016 regular season began.

This past Friday, the Stars hosted their annual exit interview day. This gives the media one final chance to talk to players, coaches, and general manager before each goes to their own respective offseason dwelling spot.

You can catch some of the bigger names in the organization (Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Jim Nill, etc.) on the Dallas Stars website with video-recorded interviews (there is also a post on Blackout Dallas with all the links stashed inside it. Just click here).

But we decided to get a little more intentional and talk to as many different players as we could in order to gain multiple different perspectives on the season and offseason as a whole, as well as personal outlooks from each different member of the team.

32-year old winger Ales Hemsky finished his second season with the Dallas Stars organization and his 13th season overall in the NHL this year. After a lopsided performance last season in the first year of a three-year contract, Hemsky put on a wonderful second act. In 75 games this season, he scored 13 goals and tallied 26 assists (13-26-39), along with a +3 on-ice rating in 13:06 average skating time.

He also chipped in during the Stars’ postseason run. While skating primarily with Antoine Roussel and Radek Faksa, Hemsky scored one goal and notched three assists (1-3-4) in all 13 games while skating an enhanced 15:24 per game.

I got the chance to catch up with him on exit interview day about this past season, the offseason ahead, and his future with the team. You can read the interview below.

How his second season in Dallas compared to his first season

I think it was very better. I felt more comfortable and figured it out. Then in the end with those last few weeks playing with [Radek] Faks and [Antoine] Rouss and we were playing really well. It was good.

His thoughts on the team’s performance overall throughout the year

Well, we had a good season and won the division, which is a hard division to win. Just some stuff we set out at the beginning of the season to do better, we did better. Offensively and winning at home and just being at the top of the division. We had everybody buy in and do a better job. It’s disappointing to go out in a seventh game like that. It’s probably the most disappointing.

But we can learn from that and use it to help us prepare for next season. It just shows us how hard it is to make the playoffs and even make it to the second round, as well as how hard it is to win the Cup. It’s not easy. So everybody can learn from that. There’s not a lot of guys that had played a lot of pro hockey or been to the second round, so that experimenting is good for us.

More stars: Stars' Exit Interview Day Coverage

His favorite part about playing with Radek Faksa and Antoine Roussel down the stretch

We just clicked, and it was fun. We hit a roll and I think we did pretty good. We just knew what to expect from each other. We didn’t try to do anything too much and just focused on our own stuff and what each one was supposed to do to help the team. That was probably the most fun part.

Offseason plans

No, not really. I’ll be here. I have to do medicals tomorrow. So I’ll see what I’ll have to do and what I’ll have to fix, and deal with that before I make any plans.

Ales Hemsky will serve the third and final year of his current contract with Dallas next season. After a rocky start in year one that was attributed to him trying to get acquainted to the area as well as a hip injury, Hemsky came back strong and put on an entertaining second year. It will be interesting to see what he does in his final season.

Next: Should The Stars Sign Vernon Fiddler For Another Year?

We’ll have exclusive coverage of interviews with Patrick Eaves, Antoine Roussel, and Mattias Janmark as the week goes on, so stay tuned for more updates.