Andrew's Dallas Stars and NHL Blog

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24 August '08 - - default| five comments - § ¶

Chelios close to returning for another year

It looks like Chris Chelios is close to returning for another season with the Detroit Red Wings, according to a Craig Custance report in this morning's Sporting News Today.

The update on Chelios, who is 46, also includes this quote from agent Tom Reich.

"He works like nobody I've ever seen," Reich said. "He really does want to play until he's 50."

23 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

A follow up

A follow up to the newest Turco item from earlier in the week. The new baby boy born to Marty and Kelly Turco earlier this week has been named Finley Vincent.

22 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Minor stuff

This isn't a big surprise but the Stars have apparently sent RW Lauri Tukonen to Ilves in Finland's top league. Tom Wandell is expected Timra in the Swedish Elite League as well according to our local beat writers, Mike Heika and Tracey Myers. The only change here is that they are going earlier than expected.

According to these latest reports both players will just start the season in Europe, where the leagues begin play well before the North American professional leagues. That means neither will be at training camp in September, or at least that's the report right now. On the other hand, the report from Ilves today still seems to indicate that Tukonen would go there if he fails to make the NHL. I don't see this as a big deal one way or the other. I had mentioned earlier that both were going to Europe and getting them there sooner than earlier would have its advantages.

22 August '08 - - default| one comment - § ¶

Searching for Sean Avery

Here's the latest tidbit to show up in my mailbox about our newest Star, Sean Avery. Latest tidbit that I thought worth of passing along here on the blog anyways.

As I've pointed out before, I don't throw everything about Avery out here. Some of the stuff is better left alone.

Anyway, on to this latest little tidbit. It's not really news, but rather some thoughts on Avery from a well known hockey writer. Stan Fischler, in his latest column for the New England Hockey Journal, offers this little observation on something Avery told Craig Custance of The Sporting News a couple weeks ago during Avery's introductory press conference here in Dallas.

Here's Fischler's take:

Speaking of bloated egos, Sean Avery couldn’t resist biting the hand that so generously fed him. The new season still is two months away but The Great Gabbo already is delivering gratuitous kicks in the derriere to his former employers. Sniping at the Rangers general staff for not re-signing him, Avery rips the Blueshirts newcomers Wade Redden and Markus Naslund. “They (the high command) turn around and spend it (big dough) on guys they shouldn’t have spent it on. I don’t think they’re going to live up to expectations.” (As always, time will tell.) …

And it looks like Stan was doing some ripping too, eh?

20 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Congratulations are in order...

... to Marty Turco and wife Kelly. I heard this evening that they welcomed a new baby boy into the world earlier today in Dallas. Don't have the youngster's name, but the baby boy weighed in at 8 pounds, five ounces. Baby, Mom and Dad are all said to be doing well.

18 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Zubov stuff

There was a brief blurb in The Sporting News Today on the Stars talking to Sergei Zubov about an extension some time down the road here.

That little tidbit came from Stars co-GM Brett Hull, who was quoted in the article.

"As long as he wants to be a part of the Stars, he will be," Hull said.

You can read it here. It's the third item in the article.

17 August '08 - - default| one comment - § ¶

14 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

NHL Salary Structure

The NHL salary structure has undergone some big changes since the lockout, and James Mirtle has kicked off a series of posts on his blog detailing the those changes. The first one is titled Youth pays off.

For those of you interested in these money matters, I'd highly recommend tracking Mirtle's posts.

13 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Searching for Sean Avery

Here's the latest little tidbit about Sean Avery that has shown up in my email inbox via Google News. By the way, I don't post everything I receive. I've passed on a few items.

Anyway, here's the latest one that I found interesting. It came in the way of a Gap press release. I put certain text in bold here.

Gap has tapped a diverse group of actors and style makers to launch its fall collection, the first full collection designed by Gap head designer Patrick Robinson. The campaign, launching this week, features Liv Tyler, Ginnifer Goodwin, Hugh Dancy, Edgar Ramirez, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Melvil Poupaud, Clemence Poesy, Nate Parker, Joe Anderson, Georgina Chapman, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Scott Schuman, Leigh Lezark, Sean Avery, David Benioff, Max Lugavere & Jason Silva, Cecilia Dean and Ryan McGinley.

Comprised of black and white images shot by acclaimed fashion photographer Mikael Jansson, the campaign features iconic pieces from Gap’s fall collection worn in unique ways by each individual. Liv Tyler relaxes in the boyfriend cardigan, Scott Schuman (photographer and blogger for The Sartorialist) accessorizes the oxford shirt, and actor Clemence Poesy tops off the new low rise bell jean with a tailored wool blazer.

As for Avery, he will be featured in a photograph wearing The Classic V-Neck, which sells for $49.50.

The Gap press release is here.

13 August '08 - - default| two comments - § ¶

Hull named to USA Hockey Hall of Fame

Stars co-GM Brett Hull was one of four people named to the USA Hockey Hall of Fame today. Brian Leetch, Mike Richter and Cammi Granato are the others.

Here's the release from USA Hockey.

12 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Stars article on Sporting News.com

The Sporting News has beefed up its hockey coverage by adding Craig Custance, who used to cover the Atlanta Thrashers for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Custance was at the Sean Avery introductory press conference last week and filed this story on The Sporting News' web site on Monday.

Here's an excerpt from Custance's piece:

The defending champion Detroit Red Wings got better by signing Marian Hossa. The San Jose Sharks are gaining momentum as the experts' choice. And the Chicago Blackhawks seem to have a weekly press conference to announce exciting developments in the Windy City.

But it just might be the Stars of Hull and Jackson who are best poised to make a run in the Western Conference.

In just two years, the team has gotten younger and faster, a necessity in today's game. Goalie Marty Turco looks at recent moves and sees a team better constructed for the playoffs. During this salary cap era of the NHL, a franchise has a distinct window of opportunity to be an elite contender, and Turco thinks these Stars are smack in the middle of it.

"I can't think of a team out there with a bigger window. We've made great strides the last couple years, and the losing is building up that frustration," he says.

The rest of the article is here.

11 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

America's most lucrative sports arena's

Forbes is out with a list of the ten most lucrative sports arenas and coming in at No. 4 on the list is the American Airlines Center, home to the Stars and Dallas Mavericks.

According to Forbers, the AAC generates $160 million a year in revenue or about $8,800 per seat.

Among Forbes' comments on the AAC was this: "The 7-year-old sports palace, which cost $420 million in public and private funds, has won numerous fan polls for experience and customer service."

The most lucrative venue is the Staples Center in Los Angeles and Madison Square Garden is second.

The full Forbes story can be found here.

11 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Carbonneau for the Hall of Fame?

Should former Star and current Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau be in the Hall of Fame. Brian Costello of The Hockey News lays out a pretty solid argument for Carbonneau's Hall of Fame credentials in a THN blog:

In an era when goal-scoring is approaching a 50-year low, when even star players are admonished for not backchecking, when assistant coaches are mandated to find ways to shut down the opposition’s top scorers, one defensive giant continues to go unappreciated.

Guy Carbonneau is one of hockey’s all-time great defensive forwards, yet the hockey authorities on the Hall of Fame’s selection committee continue to ignore his accomplishments.

Since first becoming eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2003, Carbonneau has created nary a ripple of interest among the 18 voters, 14 of which are required to give a thumbs-up for a candidate to gain entry.

Costello's full post: When will Carbonneau be recognized by Hall of Fame committee?

10 August '08 - - default| three comments - § ¶

Best players by nation

More rankings for The Hockey News. This isn't quite the big event of the logo rankings, but THN copy editor Ryan Kennedy has decided to tackle the issue of best players all-time by country.

His approach seems to be whether we've seen the best player from a country already. Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr are going to be hard to top for Canada. Nicklas Lidstrom gets the nod for Sweden. He thinks Alexander Ovechkin might be the guy for Russia, especially if you narrow it down to NHL players. It's Dominik Hasek and Jaromir Jagr for the Czechs. How about the USA? He's not ready to make a call on that one yet.

Here’s the most intriguing one, because it’s wide open. Evoking the Brett Hull rule (born in Canada, doesn’t count), who do you go with? Brian Leetch, Mike Modano and Pat LaFontaine are all good candidates, but I feel with the development of the game in America in recent years, we haven’t found the golden boy yet. Ironically, Phil Kessel was supposed to be the ‘American Crosby,’ but obviously he’ll settle for being a very good NHLer. Does Erik Johnson have the chops in St. Louis? Patrick Kane in Chicago? Elite youngsters such as Jeremy Morin and Jordan Schroeder are coming up over the horizon; maybe it’s one of them.

He didn't mention Chris Chelios, who is my pick for the best U.S.-born player to date. Anyway, it's an interesting approach by Ryan. If you think Modano is the best all-time U.S.-born player, do you think he will be the best we'll probably ever see?

08 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

More Avery

Here's a link to Sean Avery's appearance on Fox 4's Good Day program yesterday morning. Nothing earth-shattering, but the fashion quiz stuff was pretty good. Megan Henderson is always good as well.

08 August '08 - - default| one comment - § ¶

Avery on The Ticket & Live 105.3

Sean Avery was on The Ticket with Dunham and Miller this morning. It was pretty funny. If you missed it, you can listen here.

He was on The Jagger Show (Live 105.3) a little later. That interview can be heard here.

07 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

High on Brunnstrom

The Hockey News' pool guide is out to those who subscribe digitally and the publication has high hopes for Fabian Brunnstrom. THN has him ranked third among NHL rookies behind Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay) and Kyle Turris (Phoenix) and projects him to finish fifth on the Stars in scoring with 54 points. In case you are wondering, it's 14 goals and 40 assists as far as the points.

Brenden Morrow (80), Mike Ribeiro (73), Brad Richards (73) and Sergei Zubov (59) were the guys who were projected as the Stars' top four scorers. THN's pool guide didn't make any Stanley Cup picks that I could find. They did something called team Fantasy Impact standings and I wasn't really interested in trying to figure out what it meant. There wasn't much overall team analysis.

A couple of other notes on Brunnstrom. He's coming to Dallas at the end of the month and is expected to play for the Stars at the Traverse City prospects tournament. Strength and conditioning coach J.J. McQueen is going over to Sweden next week to work with Brunnstrom. J.J. will also work with Loui Eriksson and Joel Lundqvist, but Brunnstrom is supposed to be the main reason he is going over there.

07 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

AHL stuff

While I was at the Sean Avery newser this morning I got a chance to ask Les Jackson about the AHL situation for the coming season. Here's what he told me: The plan right now is to place players in Hamilton, Manitoba, Grand Rapids, Peoria and Des Moines. There's also a chance Houston could be added to the list, but that's just a possibility at this point.

A couple of players would end up in Europe if they don't make the Stars. Tom Wandell would play in Sweden (Timra) and Lauri Tukonen would go to Ilves in Finland if they don't make the NHL.

06 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Getting out the vote

I don't know if you've been following this Metrolpex's Most Valuable Player thing over at the Star-Telegram website, but I picked up an interesting tidbit on it at today's Sean Avery news conference.

I looked at the semifinals vote yesterday morning between Mike Modano and Dirk Notwitzki and Mo was pretty far behind. Yesterday afternoon when I looked at the Stars' website I noticed they were encouraging people to vote for Mo, and what to do you know: Modano ended up creaming Dirk when the final votes were tallied.

Anyway, I mentioned this to someone with the Stars and told him I thought it was a nice touch to turn the vote with the appeal on the web site. I was then told whose idea it was. It was Mikey Mo himself. He saw that he was trailing in the vote and thought the team should get out the vote. It paid off. Mike is now just a victory over Josh Hamilton of the Rangers away from being what the Star-Telegram will label as the Metroplex's Most Valuable Player.

06 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Avery in town

Sean Avery is in town today. He had a news conference at the AAC this morning and will throw out the first pitch at tonight's Rangers-Yankees game in Arlington. Nothing earth-shattering out of the news conference. It was a lot of the same stuff from the conference call he had a month ago. He was asked about his battles with Brenden Morrow this morning and had this to say:

"With hockey players we can have our battles and as soon as we come teammates that is all forgotten," Avery said. "If anything it's going to be exciting to get a chance to maybe play with him on the same line or just play with him on the same team. It's going to be great. You almost have more respect for guys you've battled, whether it is playing or actual fights or even in the heat of the moment with a guy like Steve Ott. It's certainly going to be a lot of fun playing with them. It will probably bring my fighting majors down a little."

Avery is supposed to be on TV tomorrow morning (Good Day) at 7:50 and on The Ticket at 8:50 a.m. as well. I believe it is then onto to 105.3 at 9:30 a.m. after that. So, you can catch more of the Sean Avery media tour tomorrow.

06 August '08 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Avery, Carcillo and the Coyotes

While I was looking up some stuff on the Phoenix Coyotes and their offseason moves late last week, I came across some reaction from Phoenix on Sean Avery coming to Dallas. It was a post (from early July) on newly signed defenseman Kurt Sauer, but turned towards a discussion of the Coyotes getting a little tougher this offseason and Avery's return to the West then surfaced.

An interesting dynamic was added to the Western Conference when Sean Avery, another agitator, was signed this week by the Dallas Stars.

“That’s gonna be fun,” Carcillo said.

Sauer is anxious to see Carcillo in action: “He’s not only a pest but a really good fighter. They (smaller guys) fight different than a heavyweight, have a little different role. They do whatever is needed. He’s a pest, and he can put the puck away. He’s a good fighter, a gritty guy, and you can’t give him too much.”

Louie DeBrusk, the Coyotes radio analyst and former NHL tough guy, preferred going after an opponent who stirred things up, adding that a lot of times a respect factor is involved – but there is a limit.

A DeBrusk hypothetic: Avery is bugging Peter Mueller of the Coyotes, trying to goad him into a fight, and Carcillo or somebody like McGrattan or Todd Fedoruk says, “You know what, either you fight me, or we’re gonna abuse (Mike) Modano,” or “If you don’t (fight), we’re not coming after you, we’re coming after (Sergei) Zubov.”

"It’s not barbaric,” he said. “There is sort of a method to the madness."

Full post from the Arizona Republic

04 August '08 - - default| four comments - § ¶

So what's Doug Armstrong up to these days?

Well, he's going to Ireland to play some golf next week. And what makes it interesting is the group of guys going along with him. David Pollak of the San Jose Mercury News has the details in his blog.

To steal a Sports Illustrated concept, this is either a Sign of the Apocalypse — or an indication that no matter how nasty and competitive things get on the ice, NHL rivals can maintain a sense of civility away from the game.

Consider:

Doug Wilson, Ken Holland, Dale Tallon and Doug Armstrong have spent a lot of time in recent years trying to outsmart each other. We’re talking about three NHL general managers — Wilson with the Sharks, Holland with the Red Wings, Tallon with the Blackhawks — and Armstrong, an ex-GM in Dallas who is now part of the Blues’ front office.

No matter. The four of them are heading to Ireland next week, leaving families behind to knock a golf ball around some of that country’s fine courses.

The rest of Pollak's post is here.

Thanks to Kukla's Korner, which is where I found this.

01 August '08 - - default| two comments - § ¶

NHL logo rankings

You know it's slow going in the offseason when people start ranking things. The Hockey News has ranked team logos and the Stars come in at No. 23. THN's comment on the Stars' logo is: "It’s a big star and it says ‘Stars.’" I think THN is knocking the Stars on the creativity issue here. Still, the Stars rank third in the Pacific, placing ahead of the Kings (No.25) and Ducks (No, 30). The Blackhawks take the No. 1 spot. You can read the rankings here.

01 August '08 - - default| one comment - § ¶