As our off-season plights continue, we here at Blackout Dallas struggle with you all. The free agent frenzy ended abruptly after a very active first day and since then it hasn’t showed signs of picking back up. But, what’s a better place to start this edition of the Off-Season Update than rumors? I’m not above that sort of stuff… don’t lie, neither are you.
Rumors: We can all hate Eklund together!
As far as the current free agent market goes, the Dallas Stars name is being whispered in a few places. Kyle Wellwood and Martin Gerber are both the top on the list and the best bets for the Stars to out-offer the competition, or at least that’s how it seems. Sadly, none of the defensemen left are on our radar. That means we are likely either done and happy with the state of our blueline as is, or looking to trade someone like Fistric and a forward or prospect for a bigger name. I would lean toward the first at this point.
Looks like management are hoping that Goligoski can continue to grow and become the next P.K. Subban, Souray will show at least half of what he used to be and Robidas will clean up the mess if it all falls apart. But, to be fair, there wasn’t a whole lot to pick from this off-season without dealing some players the other way anyhow.
Texas Stars: No Longer Coachless
Unlike the floundering New Jersey Devils, the Stars AHL affiliate in Austin is no longer coachless. After Gulutzan was named the head coach for the big league franchise, it left a natural hole in the staff to the south.
You can check out the official press release HERE.
With the hiring of Jeff Pyle which we will cover more in depth in the next couple of days, the Texas Stars look to keep moving forward as one of the more successful teams in the league after only 2 years in existence in the AHL.
While the writers around the league seem to think the Texas Stars are still in solid shape despite losing a lot of veteran talent on the back end and goaltender depth. I am inclined to believe them, but we won’t know for sure until the next season starts and we learn how Jeff Pyle’s pedigree for winning carries over into his new position with the Texas Stars.
Adam Pardy is delighted to re-unite with old coach.
ADSP over at ESPN.com had a nice bit on new defenseman Adam Pardy. You can find the whole article HERE, but here are a few excerpts:
On Head Coach Gulutzan:
"“I know him, I know what kind of guy he is and we had a great relationship,” Pardy said of Gulutzan during a conference call with Dallas media on Thursday. “When they made an offer, I jumped at it.”“He believes that you’ve got to be happy coming to the rink every day.” said Pardy. “You can’t worry about the stress of everything. If you lose a bad game you’ve got to wake up the next day and play again. If you don’t have to play again then find a way to get over it and you’ve got to get over it really quick. He believes in that. He believes in having fun, playing an exciting game and playing hard. He expects a lot, but he expects everyone to have fun doing it. It’s always good when you have a coach and a leader like that.”"
Joe Nieuwendyk on Pardy:
"“We talked to Gully about Adam Pardy,” said Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk. “Pardy has been on our radar for quite some time. We see him as an up and coming player, with the arrow pointing up.”"
Enforcer Eric Godard added to the roster.
There is little question as to whether Eric Godard is good at his role as a designated fighter in the league. Playing a moderate amount in Pittsburgh for the last few seasons has seen his games played go down, but his persistence in punching people in the face never faltered. We will discuss whether or not this acquisition makes sense in a different entry all together, but one thing is for sure – he’s a solid fighter if nothing else.
Learn a bit more about Godard with the following links:
I tried to find a Twitter account, but it doesn’t appear that he has one; which is unfortunate since he seems to be Krys Barch’s replacement next year.