Andrew's Dallas Stars Blog

Monday tidbits

*ESPN Dallas’ Richard Durrett has an update on Mike Modano, who continues to talk to the Detroit Red Wings as he considers whether to play next season. You can read Richard’s story here.

*International Scouting Services mailed out it’s review of the draft today and here’s what it had to say about the Dallas Stars, who received a grade of C+ for their work at this year’s draft:

The Stars wanted to turn the page and turn the page they did with their selection of Jack Campbell.  Campbell just wins at every level and really falls into the cornerstone goaltender description that the Stars were seeking.  Patrik Nemeth, whom the Stars took in the 2nd round, is a fantastic competitive defender who can play in every situation and against almost anyone and will be a player that the fans in Dallas grow to love.  The selection of Alexander Guptill seemed a bit of a stretch, considering the players that were still on the board at that point.

*Both the Columbus Dispatch and Windsor Star are reporting that Bob Boughner is going to be joining the Columbus Blue Jackets as an assistant coach. The reason I mention it is that Boughner has been the head coach of the Windsor Spitfires, the team Stars first round draft pick Jack Campbell will play for next season. Windsor has won two straight Memorial Cups under Boughner, who will be replaced by associate coach Bob Jones according to the Windsor Star. 

Sunday development camp videos

Here is some video from Sunday's development camp in Frisco. I just put four clips into two videos. You can find all the videos on the site channel, which is here. I'll keep that channel active even after I move to ESPN Dallas, which is probably going to happen later this week. More on that later.

Saturday development camp videos

Here are some videos from today’s on-ice sessions at development camp in Frisco.

Coyotes stock up on ex-Texas Stars

The Phoenix Coyotes announced several signings today and among them were three guys who played for the Texas Stars last season.

One of them was goalie Matt Climie. That wasn’t exactly news since his agent put out on Twitter yesterday that Climie agreed to a one-year contract.

The Coyotes also signed defenseman Garrett Stafford, who had been under contract with Dallas, and right wing Mathieu Beaudoin, who had been under contract with Texas.

The Coyotes press release is here. 

Development camp videos

I shot a few more videos today at Stars development camp. Got some stuff of Jamie Benn and Brenden Morrow skating around and shooting some pucks in a break between the two on-ice sessions and I got some stuff of the prospects during a shootout drill. Here are the videos.

All these videos are in one place on a channel I set up on YouTube, which you can find here.

Friday morning stuff

Spent the morning out in Frisco at development camp. A couple of notes from there:

Les Jackson was around and talking about some of the prospects and where players might end up next year.

He expects the the Texas Stars to be a much younger team next season, especially at forward. Among the new faces are guys like Tomas Vincour, and Ondrej Roman. Tristan King is a strong candidate for Cedar Park. Mathieu Tousignant, who spent time in Idaho last season, will have a shot at being in Texas on a regular basis.

Jackson said Dallas was very impressed with the play of forward Travis Morin, who was under contract with the Texas Stars last season. He said Dallas is talking to Morin.

The Stars did qualify Perttu Lindgren as a restricted free agent, but Jackson thinks Lindgren go back and play in Finland, where he signed a contract with Lukko of Finland’s top league a month or two ago.

Jackson said he expects Tyler Beskorowany to start off in the ECHL. I don’t think that is a big surprise.

Among the players out in Frisco today were Brenden Morrow, Jamie Benn, Kari Lehtonen and Brent Krahn. All four of those guys took the ice after the first session of development camp.

The Stars announced training camp in Prince Edward Island. Here’s the release:

The Dallas Stars announced today that the National Hockey League club will open its 2010 Training Camp in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada. PEI is the home province for both Brad Richards (born in Murray Harbour) and Steve Ott (born in Summerside).

“We’re very excited to start our 2010 Training Camp in Charlottetown, PEI,” said Stars Assistant General Manager Frank Provenzano. “Clifford Lee and Wayne Long worked very hard to put this deal together. We are really looking forward to bringing the Dallas Stars to PEI.”

“This is a wonderful opportunity for our city,” said Mayor Clifford Lee. “Charlottetown is an award-winning and internationally recognized event hosting destination. Today’s exciting announcement further reinforces our position in the event attraction market place. Our community looks forward to welcoming the Dallas Stars and extending our warm hospitality.”

The Stars will hold their physicals and testing in Frisco early on the morning of Friday, September 17, before departing for PEI. Dallas’ first practice in Charlottetown will be Saturday, September 18, with on-ice training sessions held at the MacLauchlan Arena at the CARI Complex, which features two sheets of NHL-regulation size ice. All practice sessions will be open to the public (times to be determined).

The team will skate for three days in Charlottetown (September 17-20), and will also hold an intersquad scrimmage on Sunday, September 19, at the Charlottetown Civic Centre. Tickets will be available beginning July 12 through the Civic Centre.

The Stars will return home to Dallas on the evening of September 20, in time to begin NHL pre-season play that next evening when the Tampa Bay Lightning come to American Airlines Center.

The Stars’ 2010-11 regular season schedule will begin on Oct. 8 at New Jersey.

Thoughts on Burish, Raycroft

Well, the Stars made a little noise on the first day of free agency after all. I wasn't surprised they got a goaltender. I thought they needed a guy with some NHL experience and Andrew Raycroft is a good netminder for that role. He's been a backup and he's been a starter. It will create some competition in camp with Brent Krahn for the backup job to Kari Lehtonen. So, that's a good thing.

Adam Burish was a surprise. I think the Stars have wanted to upgrade the bottom 6 forwards and Burish is someone they think will help them do that. He's abrasive, gritty, energetic and he's got some good speed.  Plus, he's been on a team that's won a lot the the last two seasons, including a Stanley Cup this season. He's not going to bring a ton of offense, but he'll bring some other qualities a team needs. Teams need good role players and he's shown he can do that on a successful team.

As for the roster and money, they've got 19 likely roster players now at $40 million in salary costs and their budget is about $45 million. The restricted free agents include James Neal, Nicklas Grossman, Matt Niskanen and Fabian Brunnstrom. And they still haven't ruled out signing unrestricted free agent Jere Lehtinen.

You do the math. They can't fit all those players in a 23-man roster and they aren't going to get everybody signed without going over $45 million in salary for the roster.  In other words, they are going to have to do some tweaking or somebody is going to end up going to the minors and getting exposed to waivers.

Of course, it's a long summer and there's a lot of time between now and the beginning of the season. There could be deals to be made. It's still a work in progress.

Here's a look at the players and their 2010-11 salaries and not their cap costs. The players are basically listed in order of payroll and not in any kind of line combinations or pairings. Raycroft's $700,000 salary is used for the goaltender calculation.

Likely Roster Players Under Contract for 2010-11
Forwards
Brenden Morrow $4,100,000	Brad Richards $7,800,000	Loui Eriksson $3,200,000
Steve Ott $2,100,000	Mike Ribeiro $5,000,000	Adam Burish $1,000,000
Brian Sutherby $850,000	Tom Wandell $700,000	Toby Petersen $750,000
Krys Barch $825,000	Jamie Benn $635,000	Brandon Segal $550,000
Forwards Total: $27,510,000
Defensemen
Trevor Daley $2,500,000		Stephane Robidas $3,250,000
Karlis Skrastins $1,650,000		Mark Fistric $1,000,000
Jeff Woywitka $700,000
Defensemen Total: $9,100,000
Goaltenders
Lehtonen $2,700,000		Andrew Raycroft or Brent Krahn $700,000/$500,000
Goaltenders Total: $3,400,000
19 total players (12 forwards, 5 defensemen, 2 goaltenders): $40,010,000
Free Agents
Restricted
James Neal, Nicklas Grossman, Matt Niskanen, Fabian Brunnstrom
Unrestricted
Jere Lehtinen

Development camp notes

I spent some time out at development camp in Frisco today. It looked like development camp. Players went through several drills. Did get a chance to talk to Philip Larsen, Scott Glennie, Jack Campbell and Tyler Beskorowany. Talked to goaltending coach Mike Valley as well. More in the days ahead from all those guys and some observations. Plan on talking to some more of the players in the next couple days.

One thing I did notice today concerned defenseman John Klingberg, who was taken in this year’s draft. The word was he had some of the same attributes as Philip Larsen. I’d have to agree. When you watch him on the ice you have to do a double take to make sure it isn’t Larsen. The similarities are striking.

This was the first time I got an in person look at RW Alex Chiasson, the second round pick from 2009. He’s a big kid.

Saw Jamie Benn out there. He watched a little bit of the camp. Brent Krahn was out there today too and worked out with the goalies just before the main session.

There have been some adjustments to the roster, but I haven’t received a new copy yet.

Anyway, there was a lot of stuff going on today, so I didn’t watch a lot of the on-ice stuff. I’ll watch tomorrow morning and then a lot over the weekend. I do have a little pocket camera I am trying out and took a few test videos while I was out there today. Nothing elaborate, I was just testing it out. Here they are.

Stars agree to terms with Burish and Raycroft

Here’s the release:

The Dallas Stars announced today that the club has agreed to terms with center Adam Burish and goaltender Andrew Raycroft each on two-year contracts. Burish’s contract is worth $2.3 million ($1 million first, $1.3 million second). Raycroft’s contract includes the first year as a two-way deal worth $700,000 /$105,000 and the second year is a one-way deal worth $600,000.

Burish, 27, was a member of the 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, where he played 13 games last season, collecting one goal and three assists. He skated in 15 playoff games for the Blackhawks last season, accruing two penalty minutes.

The Madison, WI native’s 2009-10 season started with an injury in the pre-season when he tore his ACL on September 21 against Minnnesota, causing him to miss the first 64 games of the season. Burish has played in 169 NHL games over four seasons, all with Chicago, posting 11 goals, 10 assists and 323 penalty minutes. He was drafted in the ninth round (282nd overall) at the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by Chicago.

“Adam is a character guy who has been known as a solid teammate in Chicago and we expect him to be the same here in Dallas,” said Stars General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk. “We want to be a team that is hard to play against and Adam definitely fits that mold. He’s played in 32 playoff games over the last two years, including 15 in Chicago’s Stanley Cup run this past spring.”

Raycroft, 30, played 21 games for Vancouver in 2009-10, posting a 9-5-1 record with a 2.42 GAA and a .911 save percentage. He collected one shutout with the Canucks last season. The native of Belleville, Ontario, was the starter for Toronto in 2006-07, when he played in 72 games going 37-25-9 with a 2.99 GAA and a .894 save percentage.

The 6-0, 173-pound goaltender has played in 251 career NHL games, posting a 103-101-27 record including seven shutouts with a 2.87 GAA and a .900 save percentage. Raycroft was drafted in the fifth round (135th overall) at the 1998 NHL Entry Draft by Boston.

“Andrew Raycroft is a veteran NHL goaltender that will add depth to our club,” said Nieuwendyk. “He’s played in over 250 career NHL games and has been both a starter and a back-up. We expect him to come in and compete for a spot on our roster.”

Training camp in PEI

The Dallas Stars expected to make an announcement soon, possibly tomorrow, that the first part of this season's training camp will be held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Word is they will skate up there for three days - September 18-20 - before heading back to Dallas for their first preseason game. Again, more information is expected tomorrow.

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