2021-2022 Regular Season Discussion Thread

[LT]

Since the season officially starts today, we can graduate to a regular season thread.

Click to read more...

 

[BG44]

They grow up so fast ....

 

[Captain Awesome]

From bfantz:

For instance , bishop said “ya I was close to playing but we figured why risk it” and in the same interview he says “ we’re still a ways away but the plan is to be ready for the season”. Like how were you close last season but not close this season ?

To continue the discussion we were having around that, I haven't seen the interviews, but the messaging has been very weird and inconsistent. I thought Bishop waiving his NMC for the expansion draft was the first red flag that he was done. Then the Stars spent so much over the cap in free agency that I was absolutely sure he couldn't come back. I was so confused when he was at camp, but he didn't play any games. Really, the signs are telling me Bishop might be cooked, but certainly the words and actions of Bishop himself muddies the waters on that front.

 

[BG44]

Yeah anyone that was previously saying it wasn't strange that he was a full participant in practice is not being honest.

Your timeline of confusion is the same for me.

1) Figured they shut him down for the year because they really weren't going to make the playoffs.
2) Mildly surprised about the waived NMC, but I also was at least skeptical it was a ploy like people were saying about Price.
3) Fully pretty much accepted he was done when they gave Holtby a contract.
4) I'm not surprised the team is more cautious and Bishop has been more optimistic, but a full participant in practice has always been the last step for playing. Johns was playing within a week or so (AHL) of his first full participation practice. He's not been limited or getting maintenance days either.

It's almost like he just agreed to hold off a bit so that Dallas had regular-season games to fully evaluate Khudobin and Holtby before making a trade. If you think about it, it honestly makes sense. You know you're fine with Oettinger in net (I'm not even getting into the discussion about whether he should be starting just saying he can play NHL games right now at a good to high level most nights). I think if you see Dallas roll for several games with Khudobin/Holtby for a handful of weeks, trade 1 and call up Oettinger and at the same time send Bishop to Texas for a conditioning sting, this absolutely was some minor/legal cap circumvention.

 

[Captain Awesome]

I would be pretty shocked if either of Holtby or Khudobin are even tradable at this point, especially if they aren't 'working out'. Khudobin with the 2nd year and his age , and Holtby being... Holtby makes both of them a rough proposition. You'd have to pray for a few teams to get some bad goalie injuries just to create a market. A lot of teams might find room for a depth piece in the right situation at forward or defense, but goalie spots are so limited, it seems like it would be a huge task to trade.

On top of it, you probably need to trade someone like Sekera or Glendening (or both) and maybe play games without any healthy scratches whatsoever to fit Bishop under the cap. I can't imagine a situation where we can orchestrate all these things mid-season. The other option being we waive Holtby and trade a more core player worth $4M+, which, again, would be very difficult to pull off while keeping the team intact. Faksa is the only obvious option I can think of to trade away without messing up the roster too much, and he still isn't enough on his own. This is all assuming that with a regular 23 man roster, we're something close to $4M over the cap and it isn't more. The easiest thing is to shrink to a 20 man roster, but even with that it's probably only around a $2.25M savings and puts you in a very awkward situation for road games.

 

[Kcb12345]

I still find it funny we sent down Peterson for playing the game at a slightly quicker version of Jamie Benn's pace

Also, I watched a bunch of old highlights from previous seasons before 19-20. It's just crazy to see how much Seguin's skating ability has changed. Sad to see injuries just nearly ruin a player like that. He used to be so fast and dynamic. Imo the biggest difference with the big 3 line isn't really Benn or Radulov, it's the fact that Seguin is slower than both of them now (combined with the Bowness system obviously)

In those highlights, Benn and Radulov pretty much looked the same, especially Radulov. Benn played at a slightly higher pace than he does now though obviously. Radulov looks the same pretty much. He hasn't really changed since then from what I can tell. Maybe thinking less sometimes before he passes but IIRC he has always done blind no look passes and spin-o-rama passes to no one at times.

 

[Smelling Salt]

Well look at that. Nill became conscious enough to do an interview.

Stars GM Jim Nill says poor defensive zone, puck management have contributed to slow start

 

[Troy McClure]

We'll look at that. Nill became conscious enough to do an interview.

Stars GM Jim Nill says poor defensive zone, puck management have contributed to slow start

Nill isn't wrong about the team being bad in their own end. It contributes to them getting hemmed in their own end with other teams dominating possession.

But ... To cite that as the main problem .. man.

 

[MrHeiskanen]

Yea guys, D and Goalies are the issue 100%. LUL

 

[Kcb12345]

Yea guys, D and Goalies are the issue 100%. LUL

So ready for the Stars to acquire more depth dmen at the deadline

 

[LT]

So ready for the Stars to acquire more depth dmen at the deadline

clearly what this team needs is another goalie

 

[serp]

If Harley sticks i think the team should try to find a trade partner for Sekera. Hanley is cheaper and Sekera as a veteran might find a taker as a third pairing PK specialist or something .

 

[Kcb12345]

Poor Roope, saw he hit another post tonight.

1 assist and no goals through 9 games

Dude can't catch a break.

 

[BfantZ]

Poor Roope, saw he hit another post tonight.

1 assist and no goals through 9 games

Dude can't catch a break.

Pretty sure he hit two .

 

[Kipper 17]

Pretty sure he hit two .

I think on the second one he hit the shaft of the goalies stick.

 

[starsfan86]

Poor Roope, saw he hit another post tonight.

1 assist and no goals through 9 games

Dude can't catch a break.

Gurianov has 2 points

 

[Kcb12345]

Yall ever just think about the fact that we get to watch Heiskanen for 8 more years after this one?

10 points in 10 games

 

[JesusNPucks]

Yall ever just think about the fact that we get to watch Heiskanen for 8 more years after this one?

10 points in 10 games

Yeah, it’s pretty nice. That contract is likely gonna look sweet for the next eight years.

 

[Spotty 2 Hotty]

Yall ever just think about the fact that we get to watch Heiskanen for 8 more years after this one?

10 points in 10 games

He's literally the only reason I haven't just dipped on this franchise after some of the shit I've seen from them over the past few years.

 

[The Tourist]

 

[Sports2]

If you play closer games which is clearly the Stars' objective, more games will go to OT- and theoretically by extension more losses will turn into 1 point games instead of 0 point games. If you win you still win nothing changes there. But this also guarantees teams in your conference you are competing against a loser point, too. If you're the better team and you play each other 4 times, and you set out to play a close game why are you handing loser points to the worse team and only gaining one point on them instead of two? The loser point literally exists for parity.

 

[Captain Awesome]

If you play closer games which is clearly the Stars' objective, more games will go to OT- and theoretically by extension more losses will turn into 1 point games instead of 0 point games. If you win you still win nothing changes there. But this also guarantees teams in your conference you are competing against a loser point, too. If you're the better team and you play each other 4 times, and you set out to play a close game why are you handing loser points to the worse team and only gaining one point on them instead of two? The loser point literally exists for parity.

Not that you're supporting the philosophy, but I've never really understood why anyone would build a team to play one goal games on purpose. Wouldn't every single team want to win by 10 goals if they could? That's not really possible, but it would make way more sense to want to build cushions as big as possible. Like you said, when you're only gaining 1 point on every team you play instead of 2, it's going to bite you in the ass when you inevitably lose as many games as you win trying to keep things that way, all while every other team is gaining 2 points on a regular basis.

 

[LT]

Not that you're supporting the philosophy, but I've never really understood why anyone would build a team to play one goal games on purpose. Wouldn't every single team want to win by 10 goals if they could? That's not really possible, but it would make way more sense to want to build cushions as big as possible. Like you said, when you're only gaining 1 point on every team you play instead of 2, it's going to bite you in the ass when you inevitably lose as many games as you win trying to keep things that way, all while every other team is gaining 2 points on a regular basis.

It's generally much easier to be good defensively than offensively.

 

[Troy McClure]

Not that you're supporting the philosophy, but I've never really understood why anyone would build a team to play one goal games on purpose. Wouldn't every single team want to win by 10 goals if they could? That's not really possible, but it would make way more sense to want to build cushions as big as possible. Like you said, when you're only gaining 1 point on every team you play instead of 2, it's going to bite you in the ass when you inevitably lose as many games as you win trying to keep things that way, all while every other team is gaining 2 points on a regular basis.

I don’t think they were built that way, but they are coached that way. Bowness coaches this team like they’re an expansion team playing for OTL points.

 

[FirstRowUpperDeck]

I think Nill is on board with the close games philosophy, and really, since most hockey games are close, it's not terrible. That said, he allowed Ruff era teams to try to outscore their problems, and actually brought in the players for Ruff to enact that, a la Sequin, Spezza, Sharp. I think losing to a bigger more physical Blues team sort of closed out that era of thinking for him.

There is a golf analogy to keeping it close early. Jack Nicklaus used to say all he wanted to be after the first round is close to the lead. I used to wonder why any golfer wouldn't have a strategy of taking the early lead and then adding to it each round, but taking the chances to get a big, early lead wasn't as efficient as moderately safe play to keep it close, and depend on your skill near the end to win.