Watching Iowa Stars, Sturm Blog

As I write this it is in between periods of the Iowa Stars and Omaha Knights AHL pre-season game. I'm watching via the web through the AHL web site. It costs $6 per game. I don't mind the money and it will be a great way to watch some of the Iowa games this season and keep tabs on the Stars players in Des Moines. "GLU" will be happy to hear that Janos Vas scored a power play goal in the first period.

Nothing surprising in the Stars roster moves today. I went out to practice this morning and it didn't take long to figure out who wasn't out there. Some of the guys left are going to get one last look before the season opens next week.

If you didn't know, Bob Sturm of The Ticket is one of the bloggers over at Eklund's new hockey site.  In his latest entry Bob has this to say:

Now let me voice my concern.  I admit that clutching and grabbing in the neutral zone has been a problem in this sport.  Sure, I want to see my skaters in full flight through the zone as much as the next guy.  But, if battles in the corners and in the crease are a thing of the past, and this former contact sport is now one that resembles soccer, then let`s get Cammi Granato a sweater and play co-ed hockey.  The announcers (who must sell this sport to continue to get paid) assure me that they love the product, but so far, so bland to me.  The contact is almost nonexistent.  The venom is, too.  I realize it is September and previous September games had no emotion either in other years, but now I am paying a lot more attention.

I hope I am wrong.  I hope next Wednesday the venom and violence of hockey returns.  I want intimidation to be the same portion of the sport it has always been.  I don't want to watch hockey robots play technically perfect hockey and skate back to their benches without a nasty word for anyone.  Let's hope that in an effort to fix a game that might not be broken on the ice, they didn't screw it up.  Stay Tuned.

I think this plays off the comments made by Bruins president Harry Sinden last week. I share Sinden and Sturm's concerns. There are some physical elements of the game missing. Some of those nasty battles in what Ken Hitchcock likes to call the dirty areas of the ice (in front of the net, for example) are seldom seen these days. 

Tom Benjamin, who is one of the best hockey bloggers out there, had some interesting thoughts on this issue last week. Tom saw four possible outcomes of the new rules enforcement:

Time will tell. As Bob Sturm said, stay tuned.

29 September '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Odds & Ends

During last night's Stars-Blues game my eight-year-old son Nick had this to say: "This game is boring." I think he thought it was boring because his favorite Star -- Sergei Zubov -- wasn't in the lineup. I just thought it was a boring game. There were a few decent pockets of action, but not many.  Maybe it will be a better tilt tonight.

I figure the Stars will make some cuts after tonight's game as they get ready for Saturday's final pre-season contest against Colorado. Of the group competing for the final four spots at forward I like Oliver, Jokinen, Hagos and Lessard. That's if the Stars decide to carry 14 forwards and there are no injuries that keep one of the ten locks for spots out of the lineup for the first part of the season.

Tjarnqvist has been hurt by the injury factor and so has Garrett Burnett.

Of course, my picks or opinions don't matter. It will come down to what Dave Tippett and Stars management think.

Plan on buying tickets to two Stanley Cup Finals games in 2006. That's because the Stars will be meeting the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2006 Final according to a simulation put together by NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2005. The simulation says the Stars will beat Calgary in seven games in the Western Conference Finals before being swept by Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby and the rejuvenated Penguins.

You can read the Canadian Press article about the simulation here.

28 September '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Stuff

I'm back to the blog after taking yesterday off due to having new floors put at the house. They are still working at it today, but at least I have access to a computer before 8 pm here at the house on this day. Anyway....

The roster is now down to 29 players and it should be down closer to 23 after these next two games against the Blues. I am still not sure how the forwards are going to shake out when it comes to the opening night roster. Injuries are going to play a role. Mathias Tjarnqvist may not make it to start because he has been out with an ankle injury.

I am not really sure who makes it to start the season is all that big a deal. Guys aren't getting cut. They are just being reassigned. There are going to be changes as the season goes along. Players who were great in camp or the pre-season may fizzle and end up getting sent down. There will be injuries.

That's why I think if Tjarnqvist starts in Iowa he'll still end up playing a role in Dallas at one point or another. That said, it is still interesting to see who are the guys the Stars will have on the roster to start the season.

John Buccigross of ESPN is picking the Stars for 7th in the Western Conference.  Buccigross writes:

The Stars have two very good lines, and they hope some young players can emerge to give them depth. I love the Mike Modano-Bill Guerin-Brendan Morrow line. It represents just about every key component and skill in hockey. The defense is certainly a question. If Trevor Daley and Shawn Belle can step up as the season goes on, Dallas could be a force come playoff time. It's no secret I'm a big fan of goalie Marty Turco and have great faith in him.

I don't how much we'll see of Belle this season and I am not sure how much we'll see a Modano-Guerin, Morrow line, but fans should be happy that someone is picking the Stars to make the playoffs.

Buccigross is going with a pick that is becoming somewhat popular -- Nashville to win the Central. I like the Predators. I think they have done a nice job building a team.

I still haven't even thought about trying to put together picks for the upcoming season. I'll probably do that late this week. I could put names in a hat, pull them out and probably do just as well as I could trying to analyze everyone's roster at this point. There are just too many unknowns.

27 September '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

NHL ad campaign criticized, Sinden raises questions

In my last post I said I was trying to figure out the woman in the NHL's new advertising campaign. The league has helped my understanding with this comment from spokeswoman Bernadette Mansur, who explained it this way to the Toronto Star: "The woman is the spiritual and physical trainer for the 'Warrior' and is his mentor."

Ok. I get it now I guess. I have hard time with some of this stuff. A lot of those perfume commercials confuse me too. That's another story.

Now, the reason Mansur is having to explain the role of the woman isn't because I was confused, but because the ad is coming under fire from Martha Burk, the chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations. You may remember Burk from the stink she threw over women not being allowed at the Augusta National golf club, the home of The Masters.

Well, now Burk has a problem with the NHL campaign. Her comment: "The woman is dressed provocatively and when she asks the player if he's ready, it's a double-entendre in my view. She's in the ad as a groomer, a sex object.

"The commercial is clearly selling sex and violence and the last image in that commercial is a young boy watching this, so he's clearly the customer they're after, or it's a misguided attempt to draw in families. The ad is just gratuitous."

All I have to say is thank God the women didn't offer the warrior a scouting report on the opposition goalie and mention a wide open five-hole. Talk about your double-entendre.

Anyway, you can read the Toronto Star article on Burk's beef with the ad campaign here.

Boston Bruins president Harry Sinden has raised some interesting questions about the NHL's new crackdown on obstruction. Here's an excerpt from a Boston Herald article.

"There's a degree or level of interference that, in my own personal opinion, has to be allowed, or else you're going to get a totally different game,'' he said. "If you ever try for zero tolerance, you're going to get one of two things: You're going to get constant penalties. Or you're going to get the players abiding by that zero tolerance and you're going to see a game of hockey you've never seen before.

"They have to be allowed something. You can't just let people fly past you. You just can't play that way. I've never seen the game played that way, so I don't really know for sure what it would look like. But if they enforced every play to the absolute letter of the law, it would be bad."

An obvious example: Is a defenseman now supposed to allow an attacking forward simply to stand untouched in front of the net?

"I understand the standard of enforcement should be a lot stricter, when you put your arm out and wrap up a guy, for instance, or put your stick around him,'' Sinden said. "But in front of the net, how much are you going to be allowed there? My contention with the league has this been has been this for many years: When a referee looks at a call that could go either way, whichever way he goes, penalty or no penalty, is right, you know? It's right for one half of the rink and wrong for the other side. So if you've got that choice, don't call it."

Damien Cox, writing in the Toronto Star, has an answer to Sinden's comment about the game changing. Cox writes: "Uh, I think that's the idea, Harry."

I think what Sinden is pointing out that there could be a dramatic change that people didn't intend. I think he's worried that some of the physical aspects of the game could be lost.

I think if the NHL's crackdown helps eliminate some of the physical elements hockey, then there is a problem. Hockey is a tough, physical game. If it turns into guys skating around guys who are afraid to touch them, the game is going to lose part of its appeal at least in my eyes.

Sinden may be overreacting to the first week of pre-season games, but I think his concerns are worth raising and keeping in mind as the season moves forward.

23 September '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Odds & Ends

I'm still not getting too worked up about pre-season games. It's hard to get a sense of things with all the penalties being called. Not that I have a problem with that. It's a necessary evil as everyone adjusts to the new enforcement standards.

I caught a little bit of tonight's Detroit-Colorado game on Fox Sports Detroit and parts of it were highly entertaining. There were stretches with no whistles and good action. For the most part, that hasn't been the case in pre-season games. I'll wait until things settle down before deciding what I think about the new crackdown on obstruction. 

As for the rules, I really like the tag-up rule for offsides. I think that really can keep things moving. The red line being removed for the sake of two-line passes makes things interesting. I think the changes in the size of the offensive zone is good as well. Still don't like the goalie restrictions on handling the puck, but I'll learn to live with it. The shootouts are fun and I think people are enjoying them for the most part. They are like fights. You may not like them, but you probably watch them when they happen.

The league gave a preview of its marketing campaign today. You can view the presentation here. It includes a few spots and some behind the scenes stuff. I'm still trying to figure out the woman in the spots. Maybe it's an ice girl or something. Seriously, they look good. Some of the imagery is great.

21 September '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Game tonight, NHL standings, Datsyuk

The pre-season home opener tonight. There will be more of the big names in the lineup tonight than kids, but that is standard. Most fans want to see the big names and the home teams usually deliver.

Some of the key younger guys will be in there, so it will be interesting to watch from that perspective as well. The Stars should make another round of cuts before the week is out because Iowa will be starting its training camp this weekend.

There will be three columns when it comes to the NHL standings this season. They will be for wins, losses and a third one called OT for overtime and shootout losses.  Goaltender records will carry the same three columns. The Canadian Press has an article on the standings formula here.

It looks like Pavel Datsyuk could play with the Red Wings after all. I guess time will tell. If he does, that's great news for the Red Wings and the NHL in general because Datsyuk is a fun player to watch.

It's been an interesting saga. I found this comment in a Detroit Free Press column today pretty humorous:

According to Wings general manager Ken Holland, Datsyuk has decided he wants to play hockey in Detroit. Wonderful news. It doesn't really explain why Datsyuk keeps signing contracts to play in Russia, but Datsyuk is still new at this celebrity thing. Maybe he just gives his autograph to everyone.

20 September '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Odds & Ends

Well, two pre-season games down. I don't read too much into the actual game results. Wins or losses aren't that big a deal to me.

I see it as a chance for the coaching staff to get a look at some of the younger players, especially those who are competing for roster spots, and some others the Stars may need to call up during the season.

I still don't have a good read on which of the guys competing for roster spots have pulled ahead of the pack. I think Yared Hagos has to a degree. I think Junior Lessard's stock has gone up the past few days.

I think David Oliver has a good shot to stick around. Mathias Tjarnqvist has been solid as well.  I'm not sure either Garrett Burnett or Mike Siklenka has stood out much at all so far. But one of them could still land a spot if the Stars determine a need for some toughness.

I think both Jussi Jokinen and Vojtech Polak have shown that they can be effective, but I have doubts if either would benefit starting the season on the third or fourth line in Dallas. Both those guys could be good call ups if the Stars need some offensive skill for whatever reason.

Too bad they can't keep Polak around as a designated shootout guy. He's something to watch on those. Anyone who saw him at the development camp probably noticed his shootout skills even back then.

19 September '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Camp: Day Four

Another pretty good crowd at this morning's scrimmage, which means the Stars did a good job getting the word out about the schedule change. It's getting to be that time where the guys fighting for roster spots need to step it up and a few of them did it Friday. Junior Lessard had a very good scrimmage. So did Yared Hagos, Jussi Jokinen and Loui Eriksson.

Roster cuts should start coming next week after this weekend's games. The players from juniors like Fredrik Naslund, James Neal, Richard Clune and John Lammers should end up going back to their respective junior teams.

Mark Fistric will be in that group, but he is worth a mention. He's looked pretty good in camp. He's still playing junior hockey, but he doesn't look out of place at an NHL camp. I believe he's going to be a very good defenseman for the Stars not too far down the road.

I've been watching a lot more with an eye on the guys competing for roster spots, but I should mention that I've liked the play of guys like Niko Kapanen and Steve Ott. They are two players the Stars are counting on to assume bigger roles and both have looked good in camp so far.

Tomorrow, the pre-season starts with the game in Denver against the Avalanche. I believe it is going to be broadcast on the radio. The station is www.am950thefan.com and you can listen online. You do have to register before you can listen, so you might want to take care of that before the game.

16 September '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Camp: Day Three; pre-season shootouts

There was a pretty good crowd at today's scrimmage. A lot of people in the bleachers and several more standing around the glass. By far, the biggest crowd for a scrimmage so far. The Stars are going to hold another one tomorrow, which will be the final one before the pre-season opener in Colorado.

I didn't think there was much earth-shattering out of today's stuff outside of Brenden Morrow finally taking part in the scrimmage. He looked good.

Of the guys who are supposed to be competing for roster spots, I still don't see any major breakthroughs.

I finally got my Hockey News Yearbook. I went through the Stars stuff and some other material. Mike Modano was ranked as the 25 player in the league heading into 2005-06.

Right behind him at No. 26 was Sidney Crosby. Not bad for a guy who has yet to play a regular season NHL game. He has been getting rave reviews at the Penguins training camp though.

Get ready to see a lot of shootouts during the pre-season. Every pre-season game is going to end with a shootout regardless of whether the game is tied. This way the league can showcase the new wrinkle in its product.

You can read the news release from the league here.

I don't have a problem with that. I think everybody enjoys the shootout drill at the end of the Stars' scrimmages and I see doing it at the end of a pre-season game as basically the same thing, except it will be more structured.

15 September '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Camp: Day Two

It's a good thing they aren't calling penalties during the scrimmages at training camp. If they were there would be a lot of whistles. If you haven't seen it yet,  this video on NHL.com explains the new crackdown on clutching, grabbing, hooking, holding and so on.

There are a lot of those no-no's you see explained in the video happening in camp, so the adjustment process is still a work in progress. It could be for quite some time.

After seeing the video, and watching a couple of scrimmages, I think this crackdown is going to be interesting to watch. It could be messy for a while.

And don't think it is just those slow, grinder types who are in for a tough time. Being a responsible defensive player takes hard work and some very skilled players don't always like to work in that area. So what do they do? Hook, hold, clutch and grab. What do all players do when they lose position? They usually try to hook, hold, clutch and grab. It will be an adjustment for everybody.

As for day two of camp, I liked what I saw out of Jaroslav Svoboda. I thought he looked pretty good. I liked Dan Jancevski's performance as well. I'll be honest, I just like Jancevski. So mark me down as a Jancevski homer. Of course, Antti Miettinen was sharp again. I think he has been the best player on the ice in camp so far.

I haven't really paid a lot of attention to the goaltenders so far. I'll probably watch them more closely one of these days, but I am still trying to keep tabs on all the forwards who are competing for roster spots.

In that regard, I don't think anyone has jumped out in front. Miettinen and Svoboda are two guys who are basically locks. But among Yared Hagos, Junior Lessard, Garrett Burnett, David Oliver, Jussi Jokinen and those guys, I don't think anybody has really stood out. Maybe Janos Vas saw his stock rise a little bit in today's scrimmage. He played well.

14 September '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Camp: Day One

The first day of training camp is in the books. The player I liked today was Antti Miettinen. He looked very, very good playing on a line with Jason Arnott and Bill Guerin. I thought Mathias Tjarnqvist looked pretty good as well. Those are two players the Stars are counting on this season and both made good impressions on day one.

As for the big name regular players, they all looked fine to me. The only guy I am remotely concerned about is Jere Lehtinen. That is only because he has had back issues and, as someone who has dealt with back problems, I know they can be extremely tricky and difficult to deal with. Anyway, Lehtinen looked good Tuesday.

I had to chuckle at Marty Turco at one point. He went to chase a puck in the corner and then realized he can't do that under the new rules.

Speaking of that rule, they had the lines on the ice to mark the area behind the net where goalies are allowed to handle the puck. I was talking about it with Geoffrey Ussery (GLU on the message boards) and we both agreed this is not an earth-shattering change. It just keeps Turco from going after pucks in the corners behind the goal line. Geoffrey made a good point that the goal line is now closer to the endboards, so there is even less of an impact. Turco should be able to adapt and he'll be just fine.

To be honest, I didn't pay much attention to the goaltending equipment.

There was a pretty good crowd on hand for the scrimmage. It wasn't standing room only, but it was still a good crowd. The scrimmage was entertaining. A few good hits here and there. Big media presence as well. No surprise there since it was the first day of camp.

I'll probably be blogging about this time of the day during camp. It will probably be the easiest time to do it.

13 September '05 - - default| one comment - § ¶

Messier, camp

Mark Messier calls it a career today and what a career it was. Five Stanley Cups in Edmonton and one with the New York Rangers. A Conn Smythe, a couple of Hart Trophies and a pair of Pearson Awards. Throw in all the All-Star stuff and, of course, the leadership as well.

Even though the Stars coming to Dallas for the 1993-94 season was great, the thing I remember most about that season was the Messier led Rangers winning the Cup. I happened to be home in upstate New York during the annual summer vacation and it was fun. There was a group of us that got together to watch the games, and it was me (the Bruins fan) and some guy from Vancouver rooting for the Canucks amid a bunch of Ranger fans. It was fun.

As the TSN headline this morning says about Messier: Next Stop: Hall of Fame.

Well, training camp is here with physicals and medical tests today. The practice sessions begin tomorrow. It should be an interesting camp. Most of the focus will be on who is going to get those roster spots at forward. Time will tell. Should be able to get a better read on that in the days ahead.

12 September '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Odds & Ends

It looks like things are set for the Stars training camp except for the final, official schedule and any last minute changes to the roster. I'll put together some brief sketches on the non-roster, camp invitees for tonight's update.

Since I didn't blog yesterday I didn't get to mention Scott Stevens and his retirement. He's another guy I am going to miss. He is another one of those players I think makes a game worth watching. Not only was he a great defenseman but he was always capable of pulling off one of those classic open ice hits.

I remember Stevens trying to line up Hatcher for a big hit in Game 6 of the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. He missed. That was after Hatcher had taken out Petr Sykora with a hit in the first period of that game.

If you go to TSN.ca and you are registered, there is a video with Stevens' 10 best hits including the one on Eric Lindros.

Vincent Damphousse called it a career too. Anyone remember back several years when Mike Modano was in contract talks with the Stars and Dallas management tried to compare Modano to Damphousse for contract purposes?

The Red Wings signed Henrik Zetterberg, but Pavel Datsyuk appears to be staying in Russia for now. That's a big loss for the Red Wings.

08 September '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Datsyuk, Theodore

It looks like Pavel Datsyuk could be playing in Russia this season. Datsyuk signed a contract to play with Avangard Omsk of the Russian Super League, but there are still questions about whether the contract has an out clause that would allow him to return to the NHL if he agrees to terms to the Red Wings.

Datsyuk wants big money as in a $6 million per year deal. But the Wings aren't offering it. They can't. Don't have the cap space to offer that because they have about $7 million left and need to sign Henrik Zetterberg as well.

I've seen reports that the Wings have offered $5 million, but those appear to be bogus. The Red Wings apparently went as high as $4 million, which would have made Datsyuk the second highest paid guy on the team behind Nicklas Lidstrom.

News reports say the contract does have an out clause, but that is all Wings GM Ken Holland has to go on -- news reports. Until he knows for sure he knows as much as the rest of us.

Losing Datsyuk would be a big blow to the Wings. Big loss for me too. I love watching the guy play. He's one of those players who on his own makes a Detroit game worth watching.

Moving on to the Jose Theodore contract. He signed for three-years and $16 million. I look at this one as another benchmark to consider if Marty Turco hits the free agent market next summer.

The important part of Theodore's deal, in my opinion, are the last two years of the deal. In the first year they basically went with his qualifying offer for this season. Years two and three are what the two sides negotiated for what would have been Theodore's first two years in unrestricted free agency. He got $5.5 million and $6.0 million in those two years, or an average of $5.75 million.

That's not to say that Turco will get $5.75 million, but the Theodore deal and the Nikolai Khabibulin deal both show a strong market for top goaltenders.

06 September '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Making predictions

I had to do a double take yesterday when opening the advanced copy of the McKeen's Hockey Yearbook I received in the mail, and saw that my old pals at that publication had picked the Stars to finish 12th in the Western Conference. Yikes!

I'm curious to see what some of the other major publications have to say about the Stars chances this season. I always enjoy reading how outsiders view the Stars. Don't always agree with it, but I like getting the outside perspective to balance against my own.

When outsiders look at the Stars I believe a lot of them see a team that really didn't do much to upgrade a 2003-04 team that collapsed in the playoffs. They see little depth beyond the top two lines and a set of defensemen, when taken as a group, may be a little above average at best.

As for prognosticating, someone said on the message board said trying to make predictions this season is a "crapshoot." I agree. With all the player movement it's hard to predict how a lot of these teams are going to take shape. What may look good or not so good on paper may have little to do with how it plays out from October to April and beyond.

That includes the Stars. I think there are a lot of questions surrounding the 2005-06 team. Questions such as how Mike Modano bounces back to Jere Lehtinen's back problems to how well the younger players perform, just to a name a few of them.

All I know is that it's going to be fun watching how all this plays out this season. Factor in the roster changes, the long layoff, the rules changes and it's going to be an intriguing season.

01 September '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶