Dallas Stars return to work; next NHL lockout to begin in 10 years

The battle between Wealthy Guys Who Use Hockey as a Toy vs. Rich Guys Who Play Hockey For a Living has ended.

The NHL and the NHL Player's Association reached a basic framework of a new 10-year contract early Sunday morning. The deal allows the league to avoid a second cancelled season since 2004-'05. 

This is a both sides won, both sides lost deal. Part of me wanted to see the whole thing cancelled again, just for sport. 

This deal should allow for roughly a one-week training camp and 48-game regular season. Do not expect to see any games between Eastern and Western Conference teams. Those specific details about the schedule, however, have yet to be worked out.

Some specifics as Dallas Stars fan, assuming there are any left, may be interested in:
* According to TSN.ca, the NHL salary cap will be $64.3 million next season. This is not quite as low as some of the owners, say Tom Gaglardi, of the Stars wanted but it's not in the $70 million range.
* Player contracts for free agents will be seven and eight years for team signing its own player. This will prevent the 10 to 15 year deals that are stupidly being handed out these days.
* The use of NHL players in the 2014 Winter Olympics will be made outside of the negotiation. Expect the league to participate in the Olympics, but the agreement will be between the IIHF and the IOC.

The lockout lasted 113 days and killed more than half the regular season.

The game returns, but how much damage has this work stoppage done? 
The league has become so niche based it's going to be hard to tell. The die hards will always come back, as will Canada, but every time you don't play your game you become even more irrelevant. With the sports calendar so full, it is hard to think hockey can be even more irrelevant than it already is, but it sure tries.

It's back so ... game on!

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Dallas Stars' Jamie Benn in a sauna ... in Germany ... yeeeah, baby!

With the NHL's lockout in full swing (well played, Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr), some of the players remain overseas playing a little hockey.

Among them is Dallas Stars forward Jamie Benn, who not only plays hockey in Germany during this lockout but apparently is also apparently a towel model on the side.

Both Benn and Vancouver Canucks center Brandon Reid are playing in Germany, and they recently posed for what has to be a first in the NHL - the shared steam room photo.

Big Benn macht Brandon big!

This article in a German newspaper has something to do with the fact that Jamie Benn is a really tall guy and Reid is not - no different than Bert and Ernie.

In all fairness to Reid and Benn, if I were in as good of shape as these two - and as hairless - I too would walk around all day wearing nothing but a blue towel.

 

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No NHL lockout talk: Mike Modano to be inducted into US Hockey Hall of Fame in Dallas on Monday

With the good taste of the NHL's latest lockout still fresh, it is easy to understand why this entire sport is so easily ignored. Rather than talk about the state of the game or the Dallas Stars' season, hockey fans are left to talk about how lawyers are debating how to divide their money.

On Monday, fans of the game and the Dallas Stars, and American hockey, have yet a reason to celebrate something other than a lockout.

Retired Dallas Stars center Mike Modano will be joined by Eddie Olczyk and Lou Lamoriello in an induction ceremony into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame that will take place in Dallas on Monday evening. Fans wanting to attend can click here for ticket information.

Modano's influence on the growth of the Dallas Stars is well documented, but he also is a reason why the NHL expanded to non-traditional markets.

"People do gravitate towards stars, and Mike was a star even before he became a pro," US hockey executive director Dave Ogrean said. "Coming out of Livonia (Mich.) he was so obviously talented early on. He was one of the greatest American players of all time. When he is not in the game he is missed. The American players in the game now, and we have some great ones, aspire to be Mike Modano."

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Dallas Stars not going the way of the Florida Panthers - no layoffs

The NHL's lockout is only a few day's old, but already teams are making some front office changes in light of a reality that may include no immediate revenues for a while.

According to this report by the AP, the Florida Panthers plan to have layoffs. Hope Don Fehr and Gary Bettman are cool with this.

A source with the Dallas Stars said today that the team has not had any layoffs, that everyone has been told to continue to do their jobs, and that the everything is status quo. Or as much as it can be.

When the NHL began its lockout in 2004, then owner Tom Hicks and the team laid off several employees almost immediately. The front office realized it was going to be a long time before the doors were opened again so it made several "staff adjustments".

New Stars owner Tom Gaglardi is one of the NHL owners who desperately wants to see some of the current NHL economic model re-structured, so he is not exactly in a rush to agree to just any deal. But he is also not going to layoff employees who, as of today, don't have a 2012-'13 season to sell. Expect this to change if this lockout goes into 2013.

Everybody with the Stars remains in a holding pattern until the league tells them when to start, or stop.

 

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What the stupid?! Dallas Stars reward goalie Kari Lehtonen with a 5-year deal

Why are the Dallas Stars rushing to hand out extensions to any player on this team other than forward Jamie Benn? 

On the eve of yet another NHL work stoppage where both the players and owners feel just terrible about what they are doing to the fans, the current league economic system is so broken that teams continue to throw around long term contracts.

Although his numbers have been solid and it would be very hard to argue he is the culprit of this team's struggles since he arrived in a deal with Atlanta a few years ago, Dallas Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen today has agreed to a five-year, $29.5 million extension. Ladies and gents, the goalie who has been between the pipes for the past two non-playoff seasons for the Stars is now signed through the 2017-'18 season.

The money averages to $5.9 million a year, which the way NHL revenues are growing and the salary cap is trending will not be a crushing figure under any new economic model the league and the union creates.

He has been good, reliable and a total pro since arriving to the team. The problem is the team hasn't been good enough to get into the playoffs in each of his first two full years with the club.

Everyone gets dropped into the mud when that happens.

Really hope you like Kari because, if you don't, you're stuck with him.

 

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Mike Modano in no rush to figure out what to do next with the Dallas Stars

It hasn't been quite a year since Mike Modano retired from the NHL, and so far neither Mo nor the Dallas Stars have pushed about what he should do next. Current Dallas Stars assistant to the GM, Bob Gainey, has long embraced the philosophy that retired players need about a year before making any decision about the next phase of their life.

That year, however, is almost up. Mo doesn't sound like a man who has any interest in playing again, but figuring out how he can be active with the Dallas Stars remains a priority. Or a loose priority.

"I did have a lot of talks with (team president) Jim Lites and (owner) Tom Gaglardi about where I would fit in and what position, potentially," Mo told me recently. "There are options, and we haven't narrowed it down yet. There is no time frame on it, and they know I'm not leaving Dallas. They have been good about it."

He has tried the broadcasting thing, and his initital reaction is not too different than any former player who does it. 

"There is way more preparation than I was expecting. The in-studio stuff is hard. You really have to know the entire league and study and watch games and know it," Modano said. "I do like the color aspect of (calling games)." 

I can't see Modano ever coaching. I don't think he would have the patience for it.
I don't see Mo trying the management, GM thing.
I certainly don't see him scouting.

I would imagine Mo will eventually land into a part-time, hybrid role that will allow him to be active in the community on behalf of the team, give his advice to and on players, and increase his role on the broadcast side. 

He sounds like he is no rush to do anything full-time, and it may be another year before he really grabs responsibilities with the team, but he is too valuable to do nothing.

 

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Jaromir Jagr, Eric Lindros & the Dallas Stars

When Eric Lindros signed a one-year deal with the Dallas Stars for the 2006-'07 season concussions had completely derailed his career and what was left was a big guy with great hands but little else. He was done, but the Stars were hoping maybe something was left. There wasn't.

In 49 games, Lindros scored 26 points. He left the team without even doing his exit interview. He was only 33, but it was his last season in the NHL.

The Stars' signing 40-year-old winger Jaromir Jagr is not going to Lindros sequel. Jagr could potentially be done and we don't know it, but he won't be finished for the same reasons as Lindros. Physically, and mentally, it was no longer there for Lindros.

The closer comparison could be the Stars when they signed a then-35-year-old Valeri Kamensky in 2001. He wanted it, and it was just no longer there.

At 40, Jagr has obviously slowed down and he is not the same guy he was with the Penguins when he sported that killer mullet, but he has something left. Jagr still has an awful tendency to turnover the puck, and he has never been known to be a huge fan of the two-way game, but defenders must honor his talent which creates space for others.

I like this signing at one year considerably more than the two-years the Stars gave 40-year-old Ray Whitney. 

Last season with the Flyers, Jagr's first season back in the NHL since 2007-'08, he scored 54 points with 19 goals in 73 games. Eight of his 19 goals came on the power play.

At the very least the Stars upgraded their wretched power play by adding Jagr and Whitney to the top six.

As long as the Stars and their fans keep their expectations appropriate for a 40-year-old man playing a young man's game, adding Jagr is a worthy gamble.

And he won't be another Eric Lindros.

 

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Dallas Stars moves address scoring, & suggest the owner isn't calling the shots

He was known more for his mouth than his play, but the Dallas Stars have finally let go of an "untouchable" when they dealt forward Steve Ott and d-man Adam Pardy to the Buffalo Sabres for center Derek Roy.

Steve Ott will be missed. He was colorful, funny, giving of his time and few players irritated opponents better than he can.

This continues the bizarre offseason of the Dallas Stars. They are getting rid of several of their better key parts that led to four consecutive playoff-less seasons in exchange for ... guys. The hope is a better power play (it can't be much worse), and increased 5-on-5 scoring. But this could be nothing more than an exchange of one set of problems for another set that sees very little impact in the standings.

Dumping Mike Ribeiro was addition by subtraction.
Adding Ray Whitney is a fingers-crossed move that maybe at 40 he can be a 70-point player.
Defenseman Aaron Rome should be OK.
Derek Roy is a hope.

From 2005 to 2010, Roy could play and score. Several years of more than 20 goals, including an 81-point year in 2007-'08. But in each of the past two years Roy has been limited because of injury, and when he has played he has not been the same scorer.

Perhaps a change of scenery and the end of a contract will be the proper motivation to find that scoring touch again. 

This is not the type of offseason impact Stars' fans were hoping for when Tom Gaglardi bought the team. These moves suggest the new owner is listening to his GM and not insisting he spend money he doesn't want to to make a splash.

The Stars should look vastly different than the previous seasons. Who knows? Maybe Jamie Benn will actually be on the power play.

 

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Bob Gainey's fingerprints are all over the Stars' trade of Mike Ribeiro

Bob Gainey did not return to the Dallas Stars as some senior advisor who would scout a little, help sell some tickets, and talk to GM Joe Nieuwendyk every few weeks. Bob hasn't been with the Stars very long, but he was here long enough to want Mike Ribeiro off of his roster.

The Stars dealt center Mike Ribeiro to the Washington Capitals for a second round draft pick and center Cody Eakin on Friday. The Stars have been trying for years to unload Ribeiro, and Gainey obviously forced the issue by suggesting, "Just get anything you can."

Don't be surprised if Cody Eakin is the second coming of Janne Niinimaa, and Gainey will be fine with that.

Bob has never liked Ribeiro. When Gainey was the GM of the Canadiens he dealt Ribeiro to the Stars just before the start of the 2006-'07 season for Niinimaa, who never did anything for the Stars, or Canadiens. 

People around the Stars laughed at Gainey for this deal, but as one coach told me, "Do you really think Bob Gainey would just give this guy away if he didn't know what he was doing?"

In Bob's thinking in Montreal, moving Ribeiro was addition by substraction. It had to be done.
It is the case with the Stars: Mike Ribeiro had to be moved. He had become a giant box of empty stats.

He drove coaches nuts because he wasn't regularly committed to a two-way game, wasn't a big fan of going to the hard places on the ice, relied more on his God-given skill than work and every now and then you would hear stories about off-ice stuff that wasn't ideal. It should be noted that when you miss the playoffs the way the Stars have recently, a lot of stories are going to be floated about certain players.

Yet in each of Ribeiro's first two seasons with the Stars the team made the playoffs, including the Conference Finals in 2008. That season he scored 83 points in 76 games. In his time with the Stars, Ribeiro was nearly a point-a-game player.

The statistics said this was a quality producer. And numbers wise, he was. 

All of his numbers helped produce a team that for four consecutive years has missed the playoffs.

Ribeiro may not have been the type of problem he was for Gainey in Montreal, but Bob knew Ribeiro was not going to be part of the solution in Dallas.

 

 

 

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How do you like me now? Former Dallas Stars coach & goalie in Western Conference Finals

So maybe the Pacific Division was not the very worst, or second worst, division in the NHL during the regular season.

How else to explain that the L.A. Kings will face the Phoenix Coyotes in the Western Conference Finals?

The five teams with 100 or more points during the regular season in the West - St. Louis, Nashville, Detroit, Chicago, Vancouver - are all out.

L.A. or Phoenix will play for the Stanley Cup. Wonder which one NHL boss Gary Bettman wants? He is looking at a possible L.A./New York Finals.

Former Dallas Stars head coach Dave Tippett & former Stars goalie Mike Smith have the Coyotes in the West Finals after defeating the Predators 4-1 in their West Semi series.

It is the second time Tippett has led a team to the West Finals; the other came with the Stars in 2008.

Perhaps even more remarkable is the fact the team is on the brink of being bought away from the NHL; the former Sharks CEO plans to buy the Coyotes and keep them in Phoenix.

How are the Kings and Coyotes here? Because they have the two best goalies in the game in the playoffs.

Mike Smith has two shutouts, a 1.77 goals against average and a .948 save percentage.

Jonathan Quick has one shutout, a 1.55 GAA and a .949 save percentage.

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