Defending Big D 18 hours ago
Why the Stars Should Call Up Denis Gurianov
The Russian rookie is perhaps the Stars’ best chance to fix the depth scoring issue barring a trade. First of all, let’s get the obvious out of the way: the Dallas Stars have a secondary/depth scoring problem. My colleague Rob McClay wrote about this yesterday, and while six games are still a relatively small sample size, it’s enough to tell us that scoring outside of Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Alexander Radulov, and John Klingberg is a real issue this team is facing. Unfortunately, while many fans are certainly daydreaming of a blockbuster trade for William Nylander, Artemi Panarin,...
Defending Big D Oct 18, 2018
Thursday Links: The Magic of the Benn-Seguin Duo
Do Benn and Seguin even need a competent winger in order to produce? Survey says no. Plus, Central Division updates, everyone decides to write about Nylander, and more. Many Dallas Stars fans would argue that it doesn’t matter who you put with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin on the team’s top line; they’re going to score regardless. So Matthew DeFranks decided to put this theory to the test and compared several lines containing the magical duo, and it turns out there’s some truth to it after all: No matter who the third player on the line was, all seven trios had positive possession...
SportsDay Oct 17, 2018
If Stars cornerstones Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin are together, does it matter who the third linemate is?
Jim Montgomery has one key decision facing him in his lineup construction, and it will likely follow him around this season until it's answered adequately: what does the top line look like?In five of the season's first six games, Montgomery's rolled out Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov on the top line. They've delivered by scoring 11 of the team's 18 goals. That's the good part. But, as detailed in the offseason and the preseason and now the regular season, the Stars are looking for depth scoring.So Montgomery may be better off splitting up Benn, Seguin and Radulov. He did for...
SportsDay Oct 15, 2018
Why Stars coach Jim Montgomery's decision to split one of the NHL's top lines didn't pay off in loss to Senators
OTTAWA, Ontario -- The hope was that the pieces would assemble themselves, that they would coalesce into a picturesque and deep forward corps capable of scoring beyond the excellence of the top line. Offseason acquisitions and improvement from rostered players would combine to erase a primary concern for new Stars coach Jim Montgomery.Some nights, including Monday night’s 4-1 loss in Ottawa, Montgomery does some of the work himself, splitting up one of the league’s best lines in order to diversify his offense a bit. For the first time this season on Monday night, Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin...
Defending Big D Oct 14, 2018
Afterwords: Stars Respond to John Gibson Robbery with Federal Offense
The Dallas Stars may have broken John Gibson John Gibson may or may not have been physically injured in the second period, but he most certainly was broken in a deeper, more psychological fashion. *** If you’re going up against one of the best goaltenders of the past two seasons, you’re going to feel unlucky. That’s about where the Stars were after 30 minutes, when a 3-0 lead had accumulated in spite of so much good work, so many chances. And that’s not hyperbole. Jamie Benn had a golden chance from the slot, Brett Ritchie had hit a post, Jason Spezza might have tipped a Radulov...
SportsDay Oct 12, 2018
Stars will tinker with lines before Anaheim, but won't try fixing what isn't broken
FRISCO -- Three games into the season, captain Jamie Benn is off to his best scoring start in three years and Tyler Seguin is coming off back-to-back four-plus-point games, something no Dallas Star had ever done.And the Stars' top line of Benn, Seguin and Alexander Radulov has scored nine of the team's 12 goals.It's little wonder, then, that after hinting earlier this week of changes across all four lines, first-year coach Jim Montgomery said Friday that the first line will remain unchanged for Saturday's home game against Anaheim, but that there will be shuffling among the other three...
Defending Big D Oct 12, 2018
Weekly Roundup: Polák and Honka, Kittens, and De Facto Captains
Let’s take a bullet train through some of the news over this past week Welcome to the Roundup. Every week(ish), I’m going to be attempting a quick tour back through the major and minor points of interest that I don’t get to in other pieces. It’s the rootinest, tootinest roundup since, like, every other roundup. Jamie Benn and “de facto” Captains Former Dallas Stars Senior Reporter Scott Burnside (or whatever his title was for last year) had a pretty odd aside in a column for The Athletic earlier this week: Folks in Boston couldn’t say enough bad things about Tyler Seguin...
SportsDay Oct 7, 2018
The Dallas Stars powerplay under Todd Nelson is a highly skilled work of art
If you watched the Stars during the 2018 season and wondered why the powerplay was so ineffective you weren't alone. It felt unconscionable that a unit with so much high end talent wasn't near the top of the league. Against the Winnipeg Jets the Stars showed they are capable of icing a high end powerplay unit that could be a key to carrying them comfortably into the playoffs.Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn both commented on it after the game.Seguin:"Just our movement, our urgency on the puck you know the battles we had. We had a lot more urgency on our power play than we have had in the past. You...
SportsDay Oct 7, 2018
What helped drive the Stars' power play to three goals against Winnipeg
If there's one warning the Dallas Stars fired to the rest of the Central Division and the NHL on Saturday night, it was pretty clear: don't take a penalty against us.The Stars went 3-for-5 on the power play in a dominant 5-1 win over Winnipeg on Saturday night, a big early victory over a popular Stanley Cup champion pick. Jamie Benn scored twice on the power play and Tyler Seguin added a goal of his own, highlighting a 10-point night from the top line of Benn, Seguin and Alexander Radulov.The Stars should have one of the league's best power plays. They have one of the NHL's top lines and a...
SportsDay Oct 7, 2018
Radek Faksa is the unsung hero in Dallas Stars 5-1 victory over Winnipeg Jets
The Dallas Stars tagged the Winnipeg Jets 5-1 on Saturday in what ended up being a largely dominant effort by the guys in green. The goal scoring effort was led by the big trio of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alexander Radulov. They scored all five goals plus, for good measure, tallied a total of five assists. They deserve all the praise in the world, but without the second line going yeoman work this game isn't a blowout.When you get past the Stars top two lines figuring out which line slots where is a bit of a coin flip at first glance. The kid line with Brett Ritchie is clearly the bottom...
CBC News Oct 6, 2018
Stars lean on Benn, Seguin to down Jets
Jamie Benn had two power-play goals, Tyler Seguin scored another and had a goal at even strength, and the Dallas Stars beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-1 on Saturday night.
Sportsnet.ca Oct 6, 2018
Benn, Seguin score twice as Stars crush Jets
Jamie Benn had two power-play goals, Tyler Seguin scored another and had a goal at even strength, and the Dallas Stars beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-1 on Saturday night. The post NHL appeared first on Sportsnet.ca.
SportsDay Sep 30, 2018
How Sunday's preseason finale offered a 'great way' to evaluate the Stars roster's fringes
DALLAS -- Forty-four hours after the Stars' preseason-ending 6-5 loss to the Avalanche on Sunday, Dallas will have its team. Its roster will have 23 names, entrusted with returning the Stars to the postseason. They'll be asked to begin the Jim Montgomery era Thursday night against Arizona.The core of the team is built on the backs on Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and John Klingberg. But the fringe of the roster is still up in the air. There are three fourth-line spots to fill and one disappointed Star to send to the AHL.And in an odd way, Sunday night offered a decent glimpse of the...
Defending Big D Sep 30, 2018
Stars Face Avalanche In Last Preseason Game Today
A 4-1-1 record so far in the preseason, Dallas has found some success. Can they finish on a high note as they approach the regular season opener? It’s the last preseason game today! The real ones start Thursday. Just four days to go, y’all. Dallas Lineup Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin -Alexander Radulov Matthias Janmark - Jason Spezza- Devin Shore Jason Dickinson - Roope Hintz- Brett Ritchie Tyler Pitlick - Radek Faksa - Blake Comeau Esa Lindell - John Klingberg Miro Heiskane - Julius Honka Gavin Bayreuther - Roman Polak With both Ben Bishop and Antoin Khudobin battling some injuries,...
SportsDay Sep 28, 2018
To get the Stars back in the playoffs, Jim Montgomery wants to invite more scorers to the party
When the Dallas Stars’ season ended prematurely nearly six months ago -- void of another postseason appearance and preceding another coaching change -- their roster construction was flawed and evident. On some nights, the heft of stars like Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn was enough to carry the team. On others, the shallow contributions from the bottom of the roster handcuffed the offense.In March, a lack of secondary scoring mixed with Ben Bishop’s untimely injury and served a cocktail too potent for the Stars to swallow, kickstarting an eight-game losing streak that buried any postseason...
