News & Notes

Wednesday, July 07, 2004

It appears Brett Hull has discussed a possible return to Dallas with the Stars. Plus, we have the results of our line combinations and defense pairings survey, and the Stars may be close to reaching an agreement with a new minor league affiliate for the 2005-06 season.

Hull talks

The Dallas Morning News reports that the Stars and Brett Hull have had "preliminary talks" about the right wing possibly returning to Dallas, where he played three seasons and scored the goal that gave the team the Stanley Cup in 1999.

"We have expressed interest, and it's a question of economics," Hicks told the Morning News. "It's early in the process. I think Brett's going to look around, but obviously he has ties to Dallas."

Hull's brother, who is also Brett's agent, told the newspaper that the third leading goal scorer in NHL history might play for less than $5 million, which is what he made last season in Detroit.

Once the Stars are finished signing their unrestricted free agents and fulfilling their plan of adding another defenseman, their payroll could be near $60 million heading into next season.

"We have pretty significant limitations considering where our payroll is," Hicks told the News. "He needs to get a sense of where his market value is, and we can make a decision if it's in our best interest."

Survey results

If the majority of readers who responded to our poll on line combinations had their way, Brenden Morrow, Jason Arnott and Bill Guerin would make up the Stars' top line next season, while Sergei Zubov and Don Sweeney would be the top defensive pairing.

Here are the results of our survey asking readers to pick line combinations and defensive pairings for the season based on the team's current roster. Seventy-six people responded.

Line Combinations

First Line

Brenden Morrow	73.7%	Jason Arnott	51.3%	Bill Guerin	52.7%
Jere Lehtinen	36.8%	Mike Modano	47.4%	Brett Hull	15.8%

Second Line

Antti Miettinen	32.6%	Mike Modano	51.3%	Jere Lehtinen	57.9%
Brenden Morrow	22.3%	Jason Arnott	47.3%	Bill Guerin	44.7%

Third Line

Jaroslav Svoboda	38.2%	Pierre Turgeon	68.3%	Stu Barnes	48.7%
Antti Miettinen	27.6%	Steve Ott	26.3%	Junior Lessard	30.1%

Fourth Line

Steve Ott	55.3%	Niko Kapanen	71.1%	Rob DiMaio	76.3%
Jaroslav Svoboda	21.1%	Stu Barnes	39.5%	Mathias Tjarnqvist	28.9%

Defensive Pairings

First Pairing

Don Sweeney	48.7%	Sergei Zubov	97.4%
Jon Klemm	8.3%	Philippe Boucher	44.7%

Second Pairing

Trevor Daley	73.7%	Philippe Boucher	51.3%
Don Sweeney	22.4%	Jon Klemm	35.5%

Third Pairing

John Erskine	86.7%	Jon Klemm	56.2%
Trevor Daley	25.0%	Don Sweeney	28.9%

Stars nearing deal with new AHL affiliate

The Stars could be close to reaching an agreement with a new AHL affiliate for the 2005-06 season. The Des Moines Register reported Tuesday that the Stars and Des Moines' new AHL franchise could have a deal in place by the end of the month.

"You never want to say something will happen until it does," Stars president Jim Lites told the Register. "But we are very interested in being in Des Moines. These are serious negotiations, and we hope to have them completed very soon."

Howard Baldwin, who owns the Des Moines franchise, told the newspaper he has known Lites and other members of Stars management for a long time. He believes both organizations would benefit from an agreement.

"I am interested in Dallas and think it would be a great thing for Des Moines," Baldwin told the Register. "They would be a great club for us to match with because they are believers in developing young players."

The Stars recently ended their AHL agreement with Utah, which had been Dallas' farm team for the past four years. This next season Dallas has secondary agreements to send players to Houston and Hamilton of the AHL.