Well, I'm still a fan! And as long as Hockey is in Dallas, I'll always be a fan!
Anyway, enough ranting about the unsatisfactory treatment of the Dallas Stars by the "fans"! I'm here to update any true fans about recent developments in Dallas Stars Hockey!
How are the Stars doing right now?
Well with the Olympic break here the Stars hot streak has been put on hold...they have been playing well ever since mid January starting with a 3-2 win over Detroit. Since then they are 9-4-1 and playing with much more confidence then they have had all season! The NHL is taking a full two weeks off which means that the Stars will pick back up until the 2nd of March when they will commence a month and a week long stretch without more than a day between games. They will play every other day including two back-to-backs before finally having a couple of days in April before finishing up the season! That is going to be tough!
Where do the Stars sit now in terms of playoff positioning?
Currently they sit tied for 9th with Detroit only 1 point out of the 8th seed. In fact, the entire Western Conference is separated by only about five or six games. If the Stars won 7 or 8 games and a couple of other teams lost a few Dallas is looking at a 7th? 6th? or maybe even a 5th seed. The Stars currently are tied with Detroit, but Dallas has won 3 out of 4 against the Red Wings this year, giving them the edge in any tie breakers...in fact Dallas owns tie breakers against most of the other teams that are lurking right around those final playoff spots; they've beaten Calgary 3 out of 4, and Dallas also has beaten Anaheim 3 out of 4 times! So the Stars are actually in position to make a pretty nice run here the last month and a week of the season.
What have the Stars done to improve their game heading into the final month?
The Stars have insured themselves at the Goalie position. I believe (partly) in an effort to motivate Marty Turco, (who played very poorly for most of the season) Joe Nieuwendyk brought in a very good veteran goalie in Kari Lehtonen, he is young at 26 and has playoff experience under his belt. He's one of the best shootout goalies and has one of the leagues top save %'s. The issue is that the Stars already had a pretty good backup, so now they are stuck with 3 goalies...hmmm? But since Lehtonen came over from Atlanta Turco has played nearly lights out posting 2 shutouts in 4 games before the break! They also picked up a great young guy off of waivers in Brandon Segal. Segal is a guy that will be aggressive along the boards and give the Stars an energy boost on that 3rd line. It already payed dividends in the final game before the break where Segal had a goal and an assist in Dallas' 3-0 win over Phoenix. So heading into the final run Dallas seems to have given themselves an opportunity to play some of their best Hockey of the year.
What about the ownership...Tom Hicks is bankrupt right?
Well, Hicks is a terrible owner...we've seen that with the Rangers and now they are under new management. So obviously since Hicks has no money wont he be selling the Stars too? Yes! He is avidly looking for buyers who can help him with his financial problems. In comes...Mark Cuban? It makes a lot of sense...he already owns the other half of the American Airlines Center...why not own the whole thing? Wouldn't it be nice to have an owner who would do whatever it took to win games? Maybe if this happens the atmosphere around Dallas Stars Hockey will become much more Mav-like...hopefully!
So in conclusion to this all too rare Dallas Stars Hockey update I'll say that hopefully we can see some new ownership and possibly a better attitude around Dallas Hockey, hopefully the Stars can keep playing well after the break and find a way to get into one of those 6th or 7th playoff spots, and hopefully the city of Dallas will once again find the spirit of Hockey and support the Stars instead of jumping off the bandwagon when the going gets tough!
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