|
Stars Preseason Gameday: 9/20/11 @ Montreal |
|
|
|
|
|
UPDATE 1:20 p.m. CST
Tonight's rosters/lineups
Stars
Morrow-Riberio-Ryder
Petersen-Wandell-Vincour
Barch-Dowell-Sawada
Wathier-Morin-Fraser
Tousignant-Schultz
Goligoski-Larsen
Grossman-Pardy
Dillon-Fortunus
Labrie-Coyle
Raycroft/ Beskorowany
Canadiens
Forwards:
Alain Berger
Michael Blunden
Michael Cammalleri
Erik Cole
Andreas Engqvist
Andrei Kostitsyn
Danny Masse
Aaron Palushaj
Tomas Plekanec
Ian Schultz
Brock Trotter
Brian Willsie
Defense:
Raphael Diaz
Hal Gill
Jarred Tinordi
Yannick Weber
Jeff Woywitka
Alexei Yemelin
Goaltenders:
Carey Price (starter)
Nathan Lawson
******
On the heels of the Stars' intrasquad game on Sunday in PEI, the team will begin its slate of preseason games with a visit to Montreal's Bell Centre tonight to take on the Canadiens. The game starts at 6:30 p.m. central time and will be broadcasted on SportsRadio 1310.
Following the loss of Brad Richards to free agency and various other departures, roughly one-third of the Stars' starting lineup this season -- not to mention the coaching staff -- will be different than last year's 95-point squad that came a final-day loss to Minnesota away from making the playoffs.
On paper, at least, I don't think this year's club will be able to come close to measuring up to last season's 95-point team that, for much of the season, was one of the NHL's more pleasant surprises. Talent has been lost and, for financial reasons, not equally replaced. The biggest challenge right now for Glen Gulutzan is to ice a respectable team (with a pared-down roster) and to keep morale high as the team goes through its bankruptcy process and sale.
Apart from losing its top-line pivot, forwards such as Jamie Langenbrunner and members of the defense, it's going to be extremely tough to come close to duplicate last season's league-best record of 9 wins and 22 points (9-21-4) when trailing after two periods. Coupled with the Stars' 24-0-3 record when leading after two periods, Dallas was one hell of a formidable third period club last year until the magic abandoned them in several crushing late-game collapses down the stretch.
However, just as he did last offseason, Joe Nieuwendyk quietly made some moves that will add to his team the sort of character players needed to keep most games close. Vernon Fiddler could be this year's Adam Burish type of addition that proves to be a vital role player.
Hopefully, Michael Ryder will replace a little bit of the lost offense in the top six. He is coming off a strong playoff run for the Cup-winning Bruins, but his regular-season offense has been in decline since leaving Montreal.
On the blueline, I am hopeful that some younger players such as Philip Larsen will step up over the course of the season. Now that Marc Crawford is gone, hopefully Mark Fistric will have a bounceback year. I am not too optimistic that the Sheldon Souray acquisition will be a good one for Dallas -- even offensively. Adam Pardy is perhaps passable as a 6th or 7th defenseman, but this club will miss the shot-blocking prowess and all-around character of the late Karlis Skrastins.
Until we line up a new full-time Stars' blogger here at HockeyBuzz, I will continue in my role from last season as the de facto Stars blogger as well as the Philadelphia Flyers blogger. As many of you know, I have a home near Tyler, TX, where I will be for stretches of about 3-to-4 weeks at a time in months where Philadelphia plays primarily a road schedule. During those times, I will be covering as many Stars' home games from the American Airlines Center as possible. Even when not in Dallas, I will be watching the Stars' games via NHL Center Ice and will try to maintain regular Stars blogs on this site.
Dallas Stars Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»