Andrew's Dallas Stars Blog

Local kids at development camp

Reader Cody Eastwood sent me an article on some of the local kids who attended the just concluded Stars development camp. Needless to say - but I'll say it anyway - they are all influenced by Mike Modano. So, here's Cody's article.

Fruits of his labor
by Cody Eastwood

After losing arguably their most notable talent in the history of the franchise this past week, Mike Modano’s exit calls attention toward the new hometown flavor amongst the Dallas Stars’ development roster.

The camp’s roster is filled with future prospects from hockey-hotbeds such as Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary. But there seems to be another frozen-pond trend – Dallas area talent. Out of the 36 players participating in the just concluded camp, eight are from the United States. Half of those eight are from the Metroplex. There were only a total of four DFW natives over the previous two developmental camps before this summer.

Forwards Armond DeSwardt, Austin Smith, Locke Jillson and defenseman C.J. Ludwig are carrying the Metroplex hockey torch. Interestingly enough, all but one was born after Modano was drafted on June 11, 1988 (Locke Jillson was born May 11, 1988).

“My first time ever to see hockey was in Valley Ranch and he (Modano) came over and said ‘Hi’. I’ve been hooked ever since," said DeSwardt.

In his first NHL camp, DeSwardt moved to the Dallas area in 1998 and saw his new role model and the Stars win the Stanley Cup a year later.

“Modano has been my hero ever since I started playing hockey,” he said. 

As the tallest (6-foot, 5 inches) skater at this year’s camp, DeSwardt has shown tremendous progress at the junior level through two seasons. He increased his point production by 26 and scored goals for United States Hockey League’s Wenatchee Wild last season.

He did have some advice for DFW youth hockey players.

“You don’t need to move out of Dallas to make it to the next level," he said. "We have a lot of great coaches and programs in the area.”

As for Modano’s departure, he said: “It’s tough to see him go. We love Mike here in Dallas. If I had to see Modano in another jersey, it would probably be Anaheim.”

A fifth round draft pick (128th overall), Austin Smith is known as the first Dallas-born player to be drafted by the Stars back in 2007. The Coppell local began his passion after taking part in a Stars youth camp and eventually suited up for the Jesuit College Preparatory School in Dallas for two years. Smith has been an offensive machine in his young career, tallying 139 points over 133 games through one season in the British Columbia Hockey League and the last two seasons at Colgate University.

“He is certainly a talent I’m proud of and most Stars fans think he could be the first Dallas product to skate in the NHL,”  said a devoted Stars season ticket holder and Dallasite of nine years while watching the camp unfold. Entering his third straight development camp with the Stars, would Smith be where he is today without Modano’s influence?

Locke Jillson, who is from Highland Park, got hooked on hockey after seeing it for himself at Valley Ranch.

“My dad decided we should make the twenty-minute trip out there just to see what the heck it was,” said Jillson.

From there, Jillson looked up to who most Dallas-based hockey fanatics wanted to be – Mike Modano.

“He was a major reason," said Jillson. "He made it look so fast and fun. When I first started playing there was no way (my jersey) was going to be untucked.”

The former Dallas Stars Midget Major Triple-A club team member headed for the United States Hockey League in 2007, and then moved on to Cornell University. When he came back to the area, Jillson thought he had conquered every rink in the Dallas area…or at least he thought he had.

“I come back and there’s three more (rinks) that I haven’t played at," he noted. 

Jillson recalled the effect Modano had on his hockey career with one word, “hugely”. When asked if he had to see Modano in another sweater, he joked, “for some adult league team.”

C.J. Ludwig, who is in his first development camp with the Stars, moved to Little Elm when he was five years old and interacted as well as admired Modano around the locker room with his father, former Stanley Cup-winning Stars defenseman Craig Ludwig.

“I’ve learned things from him (Mike). He kind of led the way for me and my older brother,” said the 19-year-old Ludwig.

After suiting up for the Dallas Stars Midget Major Triple-A club from 2006-2007, Ludwig began honing his skills for two seasons with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers where he improved his stats as well, jumping from 8 points over 54 tilts in 08-09 to 24 points over 58 games last season.

During the Friday morning session, fellow Dallas Stars Midget Major Triple-A club teammates Locke Jillson and Ludwig shared a memorable moment, battling battled in the crease of Dallas’ 2010 first-round draft choice Jack Campbell.

“All three of us played in the USHL,” said Ludwig.

Campbell played for U.S. National Team Development Program, which played in the USHL.

“It is a reunion of sorts,” expressed Jillson.

The plan for Ludwig includes college at the University of Marquette the next four years. As C.J. looked up to Modano, he’s beginning to have more youth hockey players in DFW marvel at him as he paves the way for area talent.

“I’m doing hockey camps with a bunch of kids and everybody is looking up to me as of now,” said Ludwig.

Ludwig never tucked his jersey in like the majestic Modano.

“I was never like that like that pretty Mikey Mo,” Ludwig quipped with a grin.

Speechless at the fact Modano may throw on another sweater this fall, “there’s no way he is putting another jersey on.”

Every Stars fan will miss Modano on the ice, but his effect on the Dallas-Fort Worth hockey scene will never be lost. Without the red, white, and blue’s greatest scorer in Dallas, who would have inspired Armond, Austin, Locke, or C.J.? Let the Modano legacy live on.
 

Hutchinson a Penguin

Not exactly breaking news, but worth a note. Defenseman Andrew Hutchinson has signed a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He joins G Matt Climie (Phoenix), D Garrett Stafford (Phoenix) and C Warren Peters (Minnesota) as key members of the Texas Stars who have signed elsewhere this summer. All those players were under contract to Dallas. RW Mathieu Beaudoin, who was under contract to Texas, signed with Phoenix as well. C Perttu Lindgren is expected to play in Finland, where he has already signed a contract. 

Moving to ESPN Dallas on Thursday

My move to ESPN Dallas (more details on that are here) is set for Thursday and hopefully everything will up and running by around noon or so. Once it’s set the main site domain name and the main blog link both will redirect over to the ESPN Dallas blog where I’ll be posting. The message board will be redirect to the ESPN Dallas forum for the Stars.

I believe a lot of the material I’ve done over the past few years should still be on this site in an archive. I’ll have to wait and see. I’ll post any updates on the Stars forum over at ESPN Dallas.  If you have any questions, you can contact me. There should be a contact link on the ESPN site for that and many of you probably have my email anyway. It will still work.

Unless there is breaking news between now and early in the morning, I won’t post anything until the move to ESPN Dallas. See you over there.

Wednesday development camp videos

Here are some videos from today’s development camp in Frisco. It was the final day and there was kind of a skills competition and a little bit of scrimmaging. Not everybody was out there. I saw Ondrej Roman watching from the bench for example. Don’t know what was up with him and I didn’t ask.

Matt Tassone did take part. He’s been at the camp and basically been working out prior to the sessions along with Luke Gazdic, who is coming off a shoulder injury. You may recall that Tassone is coming off an injury as well. The Stars didn’t offer him a contract this summer, but we’ll see what goes on with him going forward. 

Talked to Reilly Smith and Curtis McKenzie, who are teammates at Miami, after the session today. Smith claimed McKenzie was head hunting toward the end of the scrimmage. McKenzie denied it, saying if he was then Smith wouldn’t have a head. Those two guys are roommates at Miami and are quite the pair. More on them in the days head along with some of the others at camp - Jack Campbell, Philip Larsen, Scott Glennie, etc, - after the move to ESPN Dallas, which I’ll have more on later tonight. 

Anyway, here are the videos. There are a couple of audio glitches here and there. My apologies. Like prospects, my video is a work in progress.

Modano: ‘It’s totally up to me’

Mike Modano spoke to ESPN’s Richard Durrett about his meeting with the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday. Here’s an excerpt:

“It’s totally up to me,” said Modano, 40, who was told by the Dallas Stars last month that they were moving forward without him. “We talked about my situation, what it would be, how I would fit in and the logistics of it all. It was good. We talked about playing at home and having a chance to go deep in the playoffs. I have to figure out what I want to do still. They haven’t pressured me into making a decision. But I know the sooner the better for everybody so they can get their financial situation resolved and figured out.”

Modano said he still doesn’t know what he wants to do and will take a few more days to sort it out. He said he wasn’t sure what other teams may call, but at this point “it seems like Detroit or retirement, but we’ll see.”

The rest of the story is here. 

Modano says he’ll only play for Detroit

At least that’s what Mike Modano told the Detroit News. Modano is in Detroit meeting with the Red Wings. Here’s an excerpt for the Detroit News story:

Forget about the Blackhawks or any other NHL team. If Westland native Mike Modano decides he wants to play hockey next season, he is going play for the Red Wings.

“There isn’t any other team,” said Modano, standing outside Tigers and Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch’s suite at Comerica Park Tuesday night. “It will be here or I’m not playing. I think it’s narrowed to that.”

Modano, the highest scoring American-born player in NHL history, spent the day with Ilitch, Red Wings general manager Ken Holland and coach Mike Babcock.

“This is kind of intriguing,” he said of the opportunity to finish his career in his hometown. “It’s a great team, a great situation as far as coming home. There are a lot of positives to it.”

The rest of the story is here.

Development camp thoughts

I don’t like to make too much out of how players do at these development camps the Stars hold. They really aren’t evaluation camps, but skills development camps. Still, it’s a good chance to get a look at players up close over the course of several days, meet and talk to some of them and come away with an impression.

A lot of these guys are very young and still pretty early in the development process, so I try to keep that in mind. They all need to work on something, probably everything. Some of these guys are still teenagers.

I’m more interested in watching the recent draft picks, the guys who haven’t been to camp before and see if anyone else among the tryouts seems to catch my eye. And there are always a couple of top guys - the ones that appear close to the NHL - that I will watch a lot as well.

In the latter category I would put defenseman Philip Larsen and right wing Tomas Vincour. I expect them to be more noticeable than the others and they haven’t disappointed. We saw Larsen late last season, so he doesn’t really need an introduction. He’s close to being NHL ready and will get a good look in camp. He could start in the AHL, but he’s not far off.

Vincour, a 2009 draft pick, turns pro this season and should start down in Cedar Park. But he’s got size, skill and a nice shot. The big Czech plays a physical, North American style game and he’s not far off from seeing some NHL time.

A guy like Colton Sceviour is someone I really like. Saw him a lot during the Texas Stars playoff run, so I don’t focus on him a lot. I know he’s a really good player and one of the team’s top prospects. He’s a versatile, good two-way player. I’ve seen him in a lot of highly competitive situations, so I don’t worry too much about what he’s doing at a skills camp. That’s just me.

Another guy who is obviously on my radar is Scott Glennie, the Stars’ first round pick (8th overall) in 2009. He was slowed a bit by injuries last season and he’s got a big season ahead. He’s looked good in this camp. You can see the skill and the speed. I am really looking forward to see how he fares at Canada’s World Junior camp later this summer and how he does this in his final season in juniors.

I saw Tyler Beskorowany at Traverse City last year and at Stars training camp and he was impressive in both cases. I’ve watched him some over the past few days, but I’ll be more interested to see him in those two settings and then look forward to see him when he starts playing in some pro games this coming season.

On the recent draft picks, Jack Campbell is the big guy since he was the first round pick. I’ll say again, it’s not fair to evaluate players on these camps and that’s especially true of goaltenders. I’ll just say I was on board with the pick of Campbell, met him, liked him and think he’s looked just fine out there. Great kid. More interested in seeing how he does at Traverse City and with the Windsor Spitfires this season. 

Patrik Nemeth, the defenseman in the second round (41st overall) is a big guy and he’s got a pretty good skill set. He skates well and even though he admits he doesn’t have a Shea Weber shot, he’s got a decent shot. In some of the competitive drills you could see the strong defensive part of his game.

Alex Guptill, the left wing taken in the third round (77th overall) is as advertised. He’s got speed and some offensive skill. Talked to him a little bit and he’s a good kid. He’s probably going to play in the USHL this season and then go on to the University of Michigan. He’s in the early stages of his development. 

Defenseman Alex Theriau (4th round/109th overall) is a smooth skater, moves really well, handles the puck well and has a decent shot. Pretty much as advertised.

Defenseman John Klingberg (5th round/131st overall) looks intriguing. He carries himself a little bit like Larsen on the ice. He’s listed at 158 pounds, but I’m not sure he weighs that much. So, he needs to bulk up. And his shot needs a lot of work. But he’s got some pretty good skill and he moves well. He’s only 17-years-old, so he could be a nice find.

This was my first chance to see Alex Chiasson, a second round pick (38th overall) in 2009 and there’s a lot to like. He’s big, has some good hands and moves well for a big guy. He plays right wing and he had a good freshman season at Boston University. He’s a promising prospect.

I saw Curtis McKenzie and Reilly Smith, who are both forwards drafted in 2009, during Miami’s run in the NCAA tournament this past season, but this was the first time I’ve had a chance to see them in person. Smith is an impressive player. He’s fast and always seems to be operating at top speed. He’s a very skilled player. I’ve enjoyed watching him at this camp.

McKenzie’s got some pretty good size, has a nice scoring touch and likes to go to the net. Seen flashes of all that over the past few days.

McKenzie and Smith were freshmen last season and are still early on in the process, but both look like good prospects.

Another college player who is a pretty good prospect is defenseman Mike Bergin, who is playing at RPI. He’s got some good size (listed at 6-3/200 pounds), skates well and has some good offensive skills. He was a 7th round pick (209th overall) in 2009, but he could be one of those nice late round finds. Still early in his development, but he’s got potential.

Ondrej Roman, a player I’ve always liked, has looked like the Roman I remember from a couple years ago. He missed most of last season because of a contract dispute in Czech Republic, which has set back his development a bit. He’s slick out there on the ice and he’s got a nice shot, although he’s more of a set up guy. He’ll play in Cedar Park next season. He’s a good prospect.

I saw Tristan King in Traverse City last season and liked his skill level then, and you can really see it in a camp like this.

Mathieu Tousignant is a player I liked at Traverse City last season. He’s an agitator, but he’s got a pretty good skill level too. Some of that’s been on display the past few days.

Among the tryout players, one guy who caught my attention was Mike Kirkpatrick, who played for St. John of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last season. He’s not big (listed at 5-10/175 pounds), but he’s got some nice offensive skills. He’s got a nice shot and just seems to find ways to put pucks into the net. Nice scoring touch and nice playmaker too.

The bottom line is that all these guys are works in progress. Some of them will make it to the NHL. Some of them will turn out to be good pro players, playing in the AHL or Europe. Some will bounce around. Some might just have brief careers. Some may not make it all. Time will tell.

If you go back to the development camp 5 years ago, which had 32 players on the roster, there are six players still with the Stars organization: Loui Eriksson, Trevor Daley, Mark Fistric, Nicklas Grossman, Francis Wathier and Ray Sawada.

Three others are still regular players in the NHL: B.J. Crombeen, Mike Smith and Dan Ellis.

Among the guys who saw time with the Dallas Stars but moved on: Joel Lundqvist, Junior Lessard, Vojtech Polak and Tobias Stephan. All of these guys played in Europe last season.

Guys like Yared Hagos and Marius Holtet played in the minors for the Stars, but eventually went back and played in Europe.

Defenseman Johan Fransson was on that camp roster, stayed in Europe, but has now signed with the Los Angeles Kings, who received his rights in the Mattias Norstrom deal at the 2007 trade deadline.

John Lammers continues to play in the minors here in North America.

Matt Nickerson has played in Finland, Sweden and saw some time in the AHL this past season.

It will be interesting to look at this roster in five years and see where everybody stands and how many of them are still with the Stars and how many are actually on the NHL roster.

Anyway, here’s a video from Monday’s session. Not a lot going on, so here’s some stuff from towards the end of the morning session.

Brunnstrom files for salary arbitration

The NHLPA released a list of 31 players who have filed for salary arbitration and Stars forward Fabian Brunnstrom is among them. If you want a good primer on salary arbitration, I suggest you check out this piece by Jamie Fitzpatrick.

Modano finds Blackhawks intriguing

Mike Modano still doesn’t know if he is going to play next season and the Detroit Red Wings are a possible option if he does. Modano wouldn’t mind hearing from the Chicago Blackhawks too, according to a story in the Chicago Tribune. Here’s an excerpt:

The Red Wings already have expressed interest in Modano, a Michigan native, according to various reports. Modano admitted he hasn’t heard from the Hawks directly yet but believed the salary-cap tumult that has occupied Bowman’s agenda took priority over filling the third and fourth lines.

“I’d like to see what kind of wiggle room they have left under the salary cap, if they can fill that third- or fourth-line void and see how I would fit in with those guys,” said Modano, the all-time leader in goals (557) and assists (802) among U.S. players. “They have a great nucleus of kids. So there is a lot of interest there. Obviously, coming off the type of year they’ve had there’s a lot of excitement for anybody who has Chicago on their list of options.”

The rest of the story is here. 

Modano on Fox 4

Mike Modano talked to Mike Doocy on Fox 4 Sunday night. Here’s the video.

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