Five for Fighting

Pre-season tickets on sale

Tickets for all four of the Dallas Stars home pre-season games are on-sale now (214 GO-STARS or DallasStars.com).

Sept. 16 vs. TB (7:30 pm)
Sept. 22 vs. FLA (7:30 pm)
Sept. 24 vs. COL (7:30 pm)
Sept. 26 vs. STL (7 pm)

Single-game tickets for October and November Regular Season games will go on-sale on Saturday, Sept. 12 at 10 am.

_Mike Heika

Player Profiles: Jamie Benn

Hey guys, we're ending the player profiles series with Jamie Benn.

We'll have a rundown on the Texas Stars at some point and I'll be going up to Traverse City, Mich. for the prospects tournament, so the blog should he hopping as we near training camp.

As for Jamie Benn, how can you not be impressed with this guy? A fifth round pick coming out of the British Columbia Hockey League (a notch below Major Junior) in 2007, Benn has become one of the best that Canada produced in that draft season.

Last season, as a member of the Kelowna Rockets, he was a goal-scoring machine. After helping the Stars to the championship of the prospects tournament up in Michigan (he had five goals in four games), he went to Kelowna and scored 46 goals and 36 assists in 56 regular season games. He followed that up by leading the WHL in playoff scoring with an amazing 13 goals and 20 assists in 19 playoff games. He followed that up by leading the Memorial Cup (the national championship tournament in Canada) in scoring with five goals and four assists in four games. Kelowna finished second.

Oh yeah, inbetween, he had four goals and two assists in six games at the World Juniors, where Canada won a gold medal.

So what now?

It seems Benn would really like to push for a spot on the NHL roster. He will again travel to the prospects tournament, and that should be a nice head start for training camp. He will likely get plenty of chances in the preseason, possibly even playing with someone like Brad Richards or Mike Ribeiro. Could he be so good that the coaches have to keep him up? That's really unlikely. Brenden Morrow and James Neal look locked in on the left side, and Steve Ott and Fabian Brunnstrom can play there, as well.

The Stars just have some really nice top six wingers right now.

In my opinion, Benn's biggest challenge this year is to score goals when the expectations are very high to do just that. It's a hard thing to be able to deal with the pressure of being a goal-scorer, but if Benn lands in the AHL, he will be the star of that team. As such, he will be expected to carry that team at times. And that's a lot to ask of a young kid. But I think it's a step in the right direction of what Benn wants to become.

Brenden Morrow embraces that pressure right now. Bill Guerin loves that pressure. Brett Hull used to be the model of loving that pressure. Benn has to learn to hunger for goals the way that Hull used to.

Could he make the step in the NHL as a third or fourth line player and then work his way up? Maybe. But I think they want Benn to get in the mindset of being a superstar this year. That's something he'll probably work on in Cedar Park.

_Mike Heika

Player Profiles: Ivan Vishnevskiy

I am tantalized by Ivan Vishnevskiy...and a little bit concerned.

Vishnevskiy, to me, is the player who really could jump up and take over as a No. 1 defenseman...and possibly make the pursuit of that player in trade or free agency a moot point. He is a talented skater, he has a big shot from the blueline (especially on the one-timer), he seems to be acquiring a decent read of the game.

So, then, at what point do the Stars try to move forward with the kid? He is 21 and had played three years of major junior in Quebec and one year of AHL hockey. The problem with the one year of AHL hockey is he was an outcast in Peoria on a team that didn't really see him as a viable No. 1 defenseman (6 goals, 13 assists for 19 points in 67 games). Thus, you have to think that was a bit of a wasted season.

So...that means the plan for the Stars this season is to give Vishnevskiy a full year of AHL play (with a possible call-up or two) and see how he handles it. That's probably the smart thing to do, especially when they have other young defensemen ahead of him on the depth chart. It's also probably the fair thing to do when you consider that Trevor Daley has patiently worked his way into more minutes and is just now getting the chance at 25.

That said, I do wonder about the development of a top level defenseman. If indeed Vishnevskiy plays in the AHL most of the season, then does next season become another year of development? Does it become a year when he's not trusted to run the power play or skate the puck? Is the NHL trending toward handing kids more responsibility more quickly? Drew Doughty was the Kings' No. 1 defenseman at 18. Brent Seabrook stepped right into top minutes in Chicago. Couldn't Vishnevskiy handle that load right now?

He probably could. But do the Stars want to be the Kings from last season? Do they want to be the Blackhawks from a couple of years ago? Is that the price for playing a kid on defense?

I'm intrigued by Vishnevskiy and where he is going, and my guess is the Stars are making the right decisions with him by allowing him to take the next step and be the No. 1 defenseman of the Texas Stars this season. But I do wonder if he will feel the pull of the KHL and the possible opportunity to become a No. 1 defenseman overseas. I do wonder if the Stars can keep him happy and make him a better player all at the same time.

We'll see. There are a lot of questions that have to be dealt with on defense for the Stars, and Vishnevskiy as an answer to those questions seems at least a year away. We'll see what happens, but it's clear that a lot of people will be watching what happens to him this season.

_Mike Heika

Ivan Vishnevsky

Photo by Getty Images

Player Profiles: Tom Wandell

Tom Wandell's NHL opportunity might still be a year away.

When the Stars were forced to spread their prospects to several AHL teams last season, Wandell was sent back to Sweden to play for Timra.

When centers started to get hurt, the Stars decided to acquire Brian Sutherby from Anaheim.

So, now, when Wandell is back in North America and ready to compete for an NHL job, the Stars seem to have too many centers. With Mike Ribeiro, Brad Richards, Mike Modano, Brian Sutherby and Toby Petersen (and Steve Ott in a pinch), there just doesn't seem to be room for Wandell on the roster right now.

He could indeed prove to be versatile and talented, and he could be a nice fill-in at times, but I just have a tough time drawing up a roster where he is a regular. Sutherby and Petersen will battle for fourth line time with Krys Barch and Ray Sawada. Because the Stars will have a couple of left-handed centers already playing the left wing, Wandell doesn't seem to be the best choice there, either.

Now, with a new coaching staff and new GM, Wandell can force some changes with an outstanding training camp and preseason. He also could raise an eyebrow or two if he goes to the AHL and is one of the best players there.

But, looking at things logically, Wandell's big chance will come next season. With Petersen and Modano set to become unrestricted free agents, Wandell seems like a perfect replacement for the third or fourth line center spot.

At 22, he has a season apiece in the Swedish and Finnish elite leagues, and already has an AHL season under his belt in Iowa (10 goals, 9 assists in 53 games in 2007-08). Last season, he had 15 goals and 26 assists for 41 points in 51 games with Timra in Sweden. He also played 14 games in the NHL as an emergency call-up.

So Wandell clearly is a big part of the Stars plans for the future, and may even have the ability to someday play as a second line center on the big squad. He is skilled and yet defensively responsible, so he can fill a lot of roles for the Stars. Expect him to battle with Perttu Lindgren and Aaron Gagnon for top minutes, and that could mean a spot on a line with some very good wingers.

That might actually be the best thing for Wandell at this point in his career. We'll see.

_Mike Heika

Player Profiles: Raymond Sawada

Ray Sawada appears to be in the right place at the right time.

A gritty, big (6-2, 218), right-handed winger, Sawada is exactly what the Stars need at just the time it appears he is ready to challenge for a regular job in the NHL.

Sawada is an interesting study in patience and maturity. He played four years at Cornell and was a co-captain his senior year. He had a nice start in Iowa (AHL) two seasons ago when he tallied two goals and seven assists (nine points) in 19 games after leaving school. And last year, he had a very solid season with the Manitoba Moose, tallying 6-15_21 in 52 games before going on a 22-game playoff run to the AHL Finals. Sawada had four goals and four assists for eight points in the playoffs.

Oh yeah, and he also made his NHL debut with the Stars (scoring a goal on his birthday) and logged five NHL games.

So at age 24, Sawada is ready. And with only one other right-handed forward (Jere Lehtinen) as a regular, he is the perfect fit.

Now, there are some wildcards out there. Tyler Shelast also has four years of college under his belt (Michigan Tech), also is 24 and also is a gritty right-handed winger. However, he seems a little behind Sawada in his development (He had nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points in 31 games in the ECHL last season and added 2-1_3 in 17 games for Hamilton of the AHL). Colton Sceviour is making a big jump to pro hockey this season and is only 20, but he had 29 goals and 51 assists for 80 points in 69 games last season with Lethbridge (WHL). He has decent size (6-0, 200) and is a right-handed shot who can play center or right wing. And as much as Sergei Korostin is still a bit of a wild card after putting up 11-18_29 in 36 games with Peterborough (OHL) last season, he also is an interesting option at age 20.

So Sawada will have to earn his spot.

But if you're drawing up the lines right now, it seems pretty easy to put him in as the fourth line right wing next to Brian Sutherby. That would give you two players who have size, grit and still can play defense and possibly score a goal or two on the fourth line.

And that seems like a pretty good situation...both for Sawada and for the Stars.

_Mike Heika

Player Profiles: Andrew Hutchinson

Covering professional athletes for years, I've always been intrigued by the fine line between ``making it'' and not.

And one of the things I have found is that very skilled players who play at the highest level have to have a lot of talent and a little bit of luck. Because if you want to play at the highest level in the best league in hockey, you have to be very, very good, and you have to get the opportunity to show you are very, very good.

If you don't make it that the top level, you can slide down and try to become a role player, but there is a certain type of player that simply is made for the top level and his play doesn't translate well when he forced to play in reduced minutes. Jon Sim, to me is one of those players. And maybe Andrew Hutchinson is too.

There is no doubting Hutchinson's talent.

He had a stellar career at Michigan State University and has been a top-level AHL defenseman for several seasons. He helped lead Milwaukee to the 2004 Calder Cup with five goals and 11 assists in 22 playoff games, and he was named the AHL's defenseman of the year in 2007-08 when he had 18 goals and 46 assists for 64 points in 67 games with Hartford.

And yet he has not been able to break through as a top-level defenseman in the NHL. He was drafted by Nashville 54th overall in 1999 and appeared to be a sure-thing prospect with the Predators. They moved him to Carolina in 2005, and he was a nice role player there, picking up three goals and eight assists in 36 games in 2005-06, the year the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup. However, he did not play in the playoffs that year. He had another solid season in 2006-07 with 3-11_14 in 41 games and then was traded to the Rangers (he spent 2007-08 in the minors with Hartford and won the Eddie Shore Award that season).

He signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Tampa Bay Lightning last season, had an other great start in the minors with 1 goal and 12 assists in 20 games with Norfolk before the Stars acquired him Nov. 30 after Sergei Zubov had to leave the lineup to have hip surgery.

Hutchinson came in as a depth defenseman and basically did everything the Stars asked him to do last season. He played 38 games, averaged 14:20 a game, had two goals and three assists and was minus-4 on a team full of minuses. He was steady and quiet. Yet he also was a healthy scratch for 20 straight games, and when the Stars had injuries and the chance to really look at Hutchinson, they instead gave big minutes to Garrett Stafford and Ivan Vishnevskiy in short three-game tryouts.

So where does that leave Hutchinson?

Who knows, really. In addition to battling Stafford and Vishnevskiy, he now has to fight for ice time with Jeff Woywitka, a similar player who was signed as a free agent in the summer. The Stars have eight defensemen on guaranteed contracts, and it seems one might get washed out through waivers, a move to the minors or in a trade. Will that be Hutchinson? It might.

My guess is the new regime in Dallas will give him a pretty fair chance to show what he can do during the preseason, and it will be up to Hutchinson to prove he deserves to stick. That should make it pretty interesting in the next couple of months for the 29-year-old.

_Mike Heika

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Player Profiles: Jeff Woywitka

Jeff Woywitka has had a career of missed opportunities.

Drafted 27th overall in 2001, he was heralded as just what the Philadelphia Flyers needed. A smooth skating, skilled defenseman, he was supposed to help tie down the Flyers' blueline for years.

But two years later, with Woywitka not even having played a game for the Flyers, he was moved to Edmonton in the deal for Mike Comrie.

Two years later, after some time in the minors with the Oilers (but no NHL games), he was moved to St. Louis in the trade for Chris Pronger.

Well, at least you have to say he has a certain pedigree for trades.

Woywitka was hoping to have found a home with the Blues _ and, to be honest, he got some chances there. On a team where Erik Johnson and Jay McKee battled injuries, Woywitka became a player who had to be relied upon. He did a nice job at times, with three goals and 15 assists in 65 games last season, but he just didn't knock their socks off.

Two seasons ago, when Woywitka was called up from the minors, coach Andy Murray issued this challenge.

"Jeff Woywitka has been a solid offensive performer in the American Hockey League," coach Andy Murray said. "He's yet to do it consistently at the NHL level. I think part of that is feeling comfortable in your environment. He does have that potential. But first of all, he's got to make sure he establishes himself as a guy that's got credibility defensively."

Murray criticized Woywitka at times last season, and the Blues decided not to offer him a qualifying offer as a restricted free agent in the summer.

The Stars signed Woywitka as an unrestricted free agent to a two-year, one-way contract for $600,000 this season and $700,000 next season, so he is definitely expected to be on the NHL roster and likely won't be going back to the minors.

But what are they getting?

Well, he is talented. He's 6-3, 215 and can really skate. He was drafted out of Red Deer as a top-level skilled defenseman who can run a power play. He also will turn 26 on Sept. 1, so it's not like he's past his prime or anything.

But, once again, he will have to prove himself to earn minutes. Currently, the team has a pretty solid group in Stephane Robidas, Trevor Daley, Karlis Skrastins, Matt Niskanen and Nicklas Grossman. That means Woywitka probably falls into a group with Mark Fistric and Andrew Hutchinson, who also have one-way contracts.

The Stars are already paying Garrett Stafford and Dan Jancevski $225,000 each to play at the minor league level, so I guess paying Woywitka or Hutchinson ($600,000) full salary to play in the minors isn't that big of a stretch, but my guess is there will be some talk about trading one of the defensemen rather than trying to carry eight with one-way contracts. That said, the Stars could carry eight defensemen and only 13 forwards, knowing full well that they have a bevy of players who can be recalled and won't have to pass through waivers (or could possibly use one of the defensemen as a forward in a pinch).

The only other problem with carrying eight defensemen is that it pretty much means Ivan Vishnevskiy won't be getting any NHL time even if injuries occur.

Which brings us back to Woywitka.

Bottom line, he is walking into a wide open situation in which he's with a group of defensemen who have similar skills and are a similar age. While players like Fistric, Grossman, Niskanen and Daley all have the edge on him because they were drafted by the Stars, Woywitka still has a chance to jump ahead of them if he knocks the coaches over in training camp.

Will he get that opportunity in a fair competition? That's a good question. It might be to the point in Woywitka's career where he has to force the opportunity.

_Mike Heika

Player Profiles: Mark Fistric

Mark Fistric is a lot like The Karate Kid.

The Stars have asked him to wax the cars, he has waxed the cars. The Stars have asked him to paint the fence, he has painted the fence. The Stars have asked him to sand the deck...and, doggone it, he has sanded that darn deck.

And now he wants to know what all of that was for.

I think Fistric finds out this year.

At age 23, with three seasons of minor league hockey behind him, Mark Fistric is ready to become an NHL regular.

He was probably ready two years ago, but Matt Niskanen had a surprisingly strong training camp and took his spot on the team. He fought back to get on the NHL roster, but another interesting twist happened that season. Niskanen played enough NHL games to become a player who needed waivers. Fistric did not. Thus, when Fistric was probably the better defenseman to start last season, he was sent to the minors because he could clear waivers and not be exposed to another team. Niskanen probably could have benefited from time in the minors, but because he required waivers he would have been plucked by another team (the same way that B.J. Crombeen was).

So Fistric battled through and eventually earned his way back on the roster. In the final 25 games, Fistric played well and was ``even'' at a time when the Stars were struggling as a team. He felt he had proved that he belonged in the NHL, but then-GM Les Jackson asked him to make a playoff run with the Manitoba Moose.

Fistric could have declined, but it was probably one of the best experiences of his life. The Moose went to the Calder Cup Finals, and Fistric was a key component of the run. He got 22 games of high-level playoff experience, and he became a better player. It's similar to what happened for Niskanen when he played nine playoff games with Iowa back in 2006. Jamie Langenbrunner took a huge step forward back in 1996 when he led the Michigan K-Wings on a nice run.

A big minor league playoff season can do wonders for a player.

But now Fistric has to go in and make it mean something. Dallas still has four veteran defensemen on one-way contracts in Stephane Robidas, Karlis Skrastins, Jeff Woywitka and Andrew Hutchinson. They have another four youngsters in Trevor Daley, Nicklas Grossman, Niskanen and Fistric. Not only will one of those players not be on the roster, one will probably not be a lineup regular.

So it's up to Fistric to earn his spot.

That said, the waxing and painting and sanding have led him to a place where he's much more secure. Fistric signed a three-year, one-way contract in the summer that pays him $750,000, $1 million and $1.25 million. He must clear waivers to go to the minors, and he clearly is an important part of the Stars' going forward. So it appears he will either make it here or get a chance with another NHL team. His days in the minors appear to be over.

At 6-2, 232, he is the most physical of Stars defensemen, and with his minor league experience, he appears ready to tackle the toughest of tasks.

He's not much of a scorer (with six points in 73 NHL games), but he definitely could help a scorer excel. It will be interesting to see where he might fit. As a left-handed shot, he could play well off of Niskanen. As a stay-at-home guy, he could allow Daley to do some skating.

If we're sticking to the Karate Kid analogy, Fistric is entering the All-Valley karate tournament about now and looking to win a few rounds. It should be an interesting challenge.

_Mike Heika

Player Profiles: Nicklas Grossman

Of all the Stars' ``prospects,'' I think Nicklas Grossman is as close to a sure thing as there is.

That's in part because the expectations of his job are a little bit easier to attain on a consistent basis than those of the other prospects. But it's also in part because he appears to have all of the tools to fulfill those expectations.

Nicklas Grossman should be a part of the Stars' shutdown defense pair for the next decade or more. He is big enough (6-3, 214 and growing), he is skilled enough and he is smart enough. Grossman doesn't have the mean streak or the physical presence of Derian Hatcher (few players ever will again), but he has a very nice combination of talents that should allow him to play against the best players in the NHL.

He's already shown he can do it by combining with Stephane Robidas in the playoffs in 2007-08 and putting up very solid performances against Chris Kunitz and Corey Perry (Anaheim), Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Jonathan Cheechoo (San Jose) and Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit). He wasn't perfect, and he had a lot of help from Robidas in those playoffs, but he also rose to the occasion at the age of 23.

Now 24, and with 151 NHL games under his belt, Grossman appears ready to embrace the role of shutdown defenseman and take a hug part in making his team tough to play against.

Grossman has never had big numbers (even in 138 AHL games, he had only four goals and 11 assists) so I don't see those numbers going up significantly, even with Charlie Huddy in as the assistant on defense. I just don't think he's going to get much power play time. But I do believe Huddy and Marc Crawford can help Grossman become better at making the first pass out of the backend or in finding players off of the blueline at even strength.

That said, what Grossman really needs to work on this season is his edge. Like I said, he's not going to become Derian Hatcher, but he can get that attitude that Richard Matvichuk and Darryl Sydor played with. Those guys were quiet until you pushed them, and it would be nice to see that temper every now and then from Grossman. If we can't see that, then maybe some of that Mattias Norstrom confidence and intimidation that ``shenanigans are not going to happen while I'm on the ice.''

Grossman has it in him, I believe. He was captain of his World Junior Team in Sweden, and he has shown leadership skills. I honestly believe he is well on his way to becoming a very solid, very strong veteran defenseman. He will turn 25 on Jan. 22, and that will be a good time to really take stock of what kind of player he has become. I think this could be a big growing season for him.

_Mike Heika