Andrew's Dallas Stars Blog

ESPN Dallas: Modano disappointed

ESPN Dallas' Richard Durrett talked to Mike Modano, who said he is disappointed he was disappointed that the Stars won't be offering him a contract for next season:

“I always thought there would be an outside chance of something happening here,” Modano said Tuesday afternoon. “The dialogue that Joe and I have had going on for about a month and a half led me to believe I needed to prepare for things not happening. But when it’s here and reality sets in, it’s disappointing. I didn’t think it would happen. I was told some years ago that I’d be able to decide when I wanted to stop playing. But that was verbally and things change.”

You can read more of Richard's interview with Modano here.

Stars won’t offer contract to Modano

From the team’s web site:

The Dallas Stars have decided not to offer center Mike Modano a contract for the coming season.

“We have the upmost respect for Mike Modano,” Nieuwendyk said. “He will always be a huge part of this hockey club. He is a great teammate and a great person. Mike is the face of this franchise. That’s what makes this decision so hard.”

Nieuwendyk and his hockey staff have had many meetings internally over the last few months about the team, roster and identity – for now and moving forward. He has also met with Modano several times to discuss his future since the season ended.

“Mike is unclear on whether he will retire or not, and still may decide to play next season. After assessing our roster and where we need to go as a hockey team, we have decided to not offer Mike a contract and allow him to explore free agency on July 1. If Mike decides that he would like to play with another team, we support his wishes. That’s part of the reason behind the timing of this announcement; we wanted to be up-front with Mike and give him the option to explore playing for other clubs on July 1 if he chooses.”

Full story here. 

Barch update II: Two years, $1.675 million

An update to the Krys Barch story I put up a little while ago on the main site, The contract is two years, $1.675 million ($825,000 & $850,000) according to ESPN Dallas.

NHL revenues expected to top $2.7 billion

From Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal:

The NHL is projected to collect more than $2.7 billion in leaguewide revenue for the 2009-10 season, setting a record and extending a five-year streak of annual revenue increases.

The total is a 3.1 percent increase from last year, and a 28.6 percent increase in the five years since the 2004-05 lockout. The projections were shared with NHL owners at last week’s board of governors’ meeting in Los Angeles.

The increases this year were driven primarily by an increase in league revenue. Increased sponsorship sales, Winter Classic revenue, international growth, and online and NHL Network revenue increased the league’s earnings by 6 percent to 7 percent in 2009-10. Meanwhile, gate receipts across the league were relatively flat as paid attendance decreased but average ticket prices increased.

The rest of the article is here. 

ESPN: Turco turns down offer from Flyers

ESPN's E.J. Hradek reports that Flyers GM Paul Holmgren received permission from the Stars to talk to Marty Turco, offered the goaltender a contract but Turco turned it down. Here's an excerpt from Hradek's report, which you can find here.

Holmgren offered Turco a three-year deal worth roughly $6 million (or a bit more than $2 million per season). The 34-year-old Turco, who confirmed the offer via text message, politely declined, opting to test the market on Thursday.

Draft tidbits: Stars get high grade in draft

ESPN’s Gare Joyce is one guy who thinks the Dallas Stars did pretty well in the draft, giving them a grade of A- and listing them among of the “Cream of the Crop” as far as draft performance.

The Stars were the first lottery team that can afford the time to wait for a goaltender to develop—and they landed the best G prospect in several years, USDT’s Jack Campbell. The grade here is for Campbell alone, really. It’s hard to work up enthusiasm for soft Swedish defenseman Patrick Nemeth, their second-rounder. A more interesting play was the University of Michigan-bound Alexander Guptill, who tore up Junior A with Orangeville; Guptill was good for a few exceptional shifts most games but would take a shift or two off. Needed a challenge that he didn’t get. Might be better served in Brampton of the OHL than waiting until 2011 to go to Michigan.

The rest of his article is here.

I know a lot of people think the Stars missed an opportunity to take a defenseman who was ranked in the top five when they took Campbell, but let’s not forget that Campbell was considered a top 5 pick as well. Both McKeen’s and North Amercian Central Scouting, which is run by the respected Mark Seidel, had Campbell ranked third overall in the draft behind Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin. And on day two they were able to add some defensemen to their prospect pool. All are projects and time will tell if they work out, but they’ve got some guys in the system now along with a guy like Mike Bergin, who had a pretty good season at RPI.

Stars’ 3rd round pick (77th overall) Alex Guptill did an interivew with a Toronto website called A Foot in The Crease minutes after he was selected. He was pretty excited, especially since he went a lot higher than projected. You can listen to the interview here. It’s about 50 minutes into the podcast.

Guptill, Campbell and a lot of other Stars prospects will be in town this week for Stars development camp. The schedule and roster should be out soon. 

Stars take D John Klingberg in 5th round

Here’s a quote on him from the Stars:

“He started to come on in the second half last season. His attributes are a lot like Philip Larsen.” - Kari Takko, Stars head scout in Europe.

“He’s a two-way defenseman and he has some bite to his game. He’s a good skater, mobile and moves the puck with ease. Big guy that needs some time to fill out.” - Rickard Oquist, Stars European scout

Stars pick D Alex Theriau at 109

He played for Everett of the Western Hockey League. He’s 6-2, 189 pounds. Here’s what International Scouting Services has to say about him:

“His skating ability is above average. To make the step up to the next level, Theriau needs to further develop his physical element to his game. With the movement to the Silvertips last season it looks as though he has found a comfortable home with them. Theriau is a responsible two-way defender with good vision. He makes smart plays when given time to execute. He is a good skater and has good defensive support instincts as well as good anticipation skills. He can be very calculating to his defensive approach which can lead to passive pressure and loose gap control at times. Theriau often stays in the safe areas of the ice and doesn’t take too many risks.”

Red Line Report:

“Raw and plenty to learn, but with lots of upside.”

Quotable: Bernhardt on Guptill

Here’s a quote from Stars Director of Amateur Scouting Tim Bernhardt on LW Alex Guptill, the team’s third round pick (77th overall)

“He is a big winger with a lot of natural skill. He is a young guy and needs some time to develop but he will get that time at Michigan.”

Stars select LW Alex Guptill at No. 77

He’s 6-2/180 pounds.

Here’s what Stars scout Jimmy Johnston says: “Guptill is big and strong, one of the most talented guys that comes out of tier two. He has good hands. He’s going to the University of Michigan. Alex really does not lack anything, he just needs to continue to play games. He was injured a bit last year.”

Here’s some tidbits from International Scouting Services.

Good offensive upside
Nice mix of speed and skill
Very good skater
Good shot, can score

Red Line Report: “Jr. A scoring machine is rather one dimensional.”
Good size/solid frame
Needs to improve defensive game

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