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.

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel

Vegas odds of Dallas Mavericks winning NBA title steadily dropping

Not that this should come as a giant surprise, but your Dallas Mavericks professional NBA basketball team isn't exactly inspiring a lot of confidence in Las Vegas these days.

According to Vegas.com, which features lines and odds on sporting events, Mark Cuban's toy probably won't win it all.

The Mavs opened the season as 8/1 favorites to repeat as NBA champions. Today, they are 25/1.

The Miami Heat remain the odds-on favorite to win; the Heat opened at 5/2 and are now 7/5.

The Spurs (7/1), and the Bulls & Thunder (both 3/1) are the other teams that feature the best odds.

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com 
Facebook Mac Engel

Former Dallas Stars goalie has Phoenix Coyotes on brink of second round

Funny how a franchise that has remained in ownership hell for multiple seasons manages to make the playoffs repeatedly, and now is on the brink of winning a series for the first time since relocating to Phoenix more than a decade ago.

The Phoenix Coyotes are up 3-1 on the Chicago Blackhawks in their first round Western Conference series thanks to former Dallas Stars coach Dave Tippett, and a former goalie of the same organization.

Considering how things played out, it's not as if the Dallas Stars were fleeced when they sent goalie Mike Smith and forwards Jussi Jokinen and Jeff Halpern in February of 2008 to Tampa Bay to acquire center Brad Richards. At the time, Smith was backing up Marty Turco in Dallas but the thought was he could be a legit No. 1 goalie.

None of the players involved did very much to help their new team do much of anything beyond that 2008 spring when Richards was part of a Stars team that reached the West Finals.

It wasn't until this past offseason when the Coyotes signed Smith as a free agent did he begin to win the way the Stars, and Lightning, projected.

Playing behind a set of defensemen and forwards that will grind, chip, bang and bore you to death this season, Smith has become arguably the finest goalie in these playoffs. This season, he went 38-18 with a .930 save percentage and a 2.21 goals against average. 

Because of the style of play favored by Tippett - close to the vest, very conservative, needing a lead - goalies that play for him tend to have favorable numbers. But Smith is clearly in the head of the Blackhawks. Every game in this series has ended in OT. He has repeatedly made big saves, and now has the "cash strapped" Coyotes on the brink of the Western Conference semi-finals.

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com 
Facebook Mac Engel

Former Dallas Stars GM Doug Armstrong has chilled out & has the St. Louis Blues in the playoffs

The greatness that is the NHL playoffs are upon us, and they began with a very entertaining Flyers' 4-3 OT win in Pittsburgh. Nice gag by the Penguins, who were unable to protect a 3-0 lead.

Even though the Dallas Stars are not in the playoffs (again), a slew of their former players and suits are. Most notably, former Stars head coach Dave Tippett and former Stars goalie Mike Smith have the Phoenix Coyotes in the playoffs again. Funny how a horrid ownernship situation in Phoenix has not prevented Tip' and the Coyotes from making the playoffs but the Stars can't get in ... sorry, that's another column.

The most notable other NHL franchise flush with Dallas Stars are the St. Louis Blues, who begin their playoff series against San Jose tonight in The Lou'.

On the Blues roster includes former Stars center Jason Arnott, Jamie Langenbrunner and B.J. Crombeen.
They are coached by former Stars coach Ken Hitchcock, and their general manager is former Stars assistant GM and head GM Doug Armstrong.

The St. Louis Stars finished second in the West with 109 points.

Army was with the Stars for 17 seasons before he was fired by Tom Hicks in the 2007-'08 season. The scuttle around that team was Army was so intense, so emotional that he was so uncomfortable to be around and it affected everyone in the organization. That may have been an easy out to fire a guy, but Army was a very intense man who had a hard time controlling his emotions during a game.

He and I had our share of "conversations". 

Armyy could be extremely emotional; not on the same level as Oilers president Kevin Lowe, but intensity poured from Army's personality.

It wasn't until former Dallas Stars PR guy and current Stars hockey ops guy Mark Janko had a discussion with Army did some of this change.

"You know how Mark is and he was so positive about it and he said to me, 'You are emotional and we understand it but you are uncomfortable to be around,'" Army recounted in a conversation we had on Wednesday. "Who wants to be uncomfortable to be around? When I took over in Dallas I wanted it to work so well and expectations were so high and it showed to the people I worked with. I wanted to win so badly and I didn't trust that people wanted to win as bad as I did. I hope I have learned how to deal with different personalities better.

"I would say I have gone to the far extreme now on the other side. I just sit there and try not to show the emotion. I know now slow and steady wins this race. I try to empower people because we all do want what is best for the organization."

Army's decision to hire Hitchcock was not the case of a friend hiring a friend. This was a case of hiring a very good coach. Hitch' may be full of it, but the man knows his craft.

"I told the players, 'Regardless of what you think, he is the smartest guy in the room right now,'" Army said. "When he says something it's easy for them to believe because all they had to do was just look at his resume."

And as far as what the Dallas Stars have become? 

"It was not comfortable for me, or Tippett or anyone of us who were there to go into that building and see it half full," Army said. "I will always have a soft spot in my heart for that team because everything I am I owe to the Stars. I want to see them do great, not at the expense of my team now. I think with Joe (Nieuwendyk) and bringing back Jim Lites they have it going in the right direction again."

 @MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com 
Facebook Mac Engel

Dallas Stars join rare company (not the good kind)

My optimism is finally gone, because so too are the Dallas Stars. A team that a few weeks ago had a decent grip on the third seed in the West is out of the playoffs with a 2-0 loss in Nashville on Thursday night.

On March 14, 2012 the Dallas Stars were 39-26-5 with 83 points and in 3rd place.
On April 6, 2012 the Dallas Stars are 42-34-5 with 89 points in in 9th place.

In this 11 game stretch the team was out-scored 40-22.

The reasons are many, but take a quick look at the power play. The Stars rank 30th in the NHL in this rather important statistic at 13.8 percent.

One other thing, by extending their franchise record playoff-less streak to four consecutive years the Stars are now in "elite" NHL company with five other teams. Here are the six teams to miss the playoffs each of the last four years:

* Dallas Stars
* Atlanta/Winnipeg Thrashers/Jets
* NY Islanders 
* Toronto Maple Leafs (how does this happen?)
* Minny Wild 
* Edmonton Oilers

 

@MacEngelProf
#BMB
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel

Mission Really, Really Impossible: The Dallas Stars into the NHL playoffs

The Dallas Stars' gag-job down the stretch is one of the more impressive stink jobs this town has seen since The Dallas Cowboys December Demise Vol. IX, Rangers' Game 6, Texas A&M's entire 2011 season, etc. Take your pick.

Since I keep picking the Stars to make the playoffs, and the law of averages will eventually see that I am right, I will remain interested until the regular season ends this weekend.

Tonight, the Stars travel to Nashville to play the fifth-seeded Predators in the hockey hotbed that is Nashville, Tennessee. The Stars may have the second-lowest payroll in the NHL, but they have only themselves to blame for this 3-7 stretch. They had a playoff spot in the bag.

Here is how the NHL Western Conference playoff scene looks; every team has 2 games remaining.

No. 3 LA Kings, 93 pts. 7-2-1 in last 10; at home & at San Jose
No. 7 Coyotes, 92 points. 6-2-2 in last 10; at Stl & home against Minn.
No. 8 Sharks, 92 points. 6-4-0 in last 10; at home & at LA
No. 9 Stars, 89 points. 3-7-0 in last 10; at Nash & home against Stl

Basically, the Stars have to get four points and pray.

This does give us the chance to watch the original Mission Impossible opener:

 

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel

Dallas Stars are 5 very difficult games away from a playoff spot

The Dallas Stars have five games remaining in the season, and they are coming off their last "guarantee" win of the year - 3-1 at Edmonton on Wednesday night. Stars v. Oilers is one of the biggest guarantees in sports.

This from the Edmonton Sun: the Stars are 55-13 in the last 68 games against the Oilers, and won five of six series in the playoffs.

Not that many people around the greater FW/d know this, but Stars' offseason free agent signee Michael Ryder now has 35 goals this season. He is ninth in the league in goals, one behind Washington's Alex Ovechkin.

Every other game they could be the underdog, or at best it's a tossup:

3/30 at Vancouver (47-21-9, 103 pts.). Stars are 2-1 against Canucks this season.
3/31 at San Jose (39-28-10, 88 pts). Back to backs are tough.
4/3 vs. San Jose (39-28-10, 88 pts.). Stars are 1-3 against Sharks this season.
4/5 at Nashville (44-25-8, 96 pts.). Stars are 2-1 in this series.
4/7 vs. St. Louis (48-20-9, 105 pts.). Stars are 1-2 against Fightin' Ken Hitchock's this season.

The Stars are somehow still in first place in the Pacific Division with 89 points. Phoenix sits at ninth in the Western Conference with 87 points.

This thing still very much feels like it could go either way. I'll say they get in.

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel

In case you missed this: Dallas Stars now in seventh

For those of you who could not stay awake until the later hours - your Dallas Stars allowed four second-period goals in Calgary to lose 5-4 on Monday night.

So .... the Stars are now in seventh place in the Western Conference and trail the Pacific Division leading Sharks by one point. And the Stars are a whopping one point up on ninth place. The Stars have dropped four of their last six games.

The Stars have three more games remaining on this four-game road trip, beginning at Edmonton on Wednesday. The Oilers are the only non-playoff team the Stars will face in their final six games of the season.

I'll stick with this prediction: The team's playoff fate won't be decided until the last day of the season.

UPDATE: Thanks to a well deserved ribbing from Big Mac Blog reader Bruce Levine about how lame that prediction is, I will ammend: I predicted the team would make the playoffs at the start of the season and I'll go with that. Of course, I think I have waffled on this subject more than a presidential hopeful meaning I will have covered nearly every potential scenario whatever the actual outcome.

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel 

Game 9 of the Dallas Stars push to relevance: vs. Vancouver

The Dallas Stars received a break from the "NHL selection committee": They host the second-best team in the Western Conference one night after the Vancouver Canucks lost in Chicago.

And it sounds as if Canucks forward Daniel Sedin will not play after he took an elbow from the Hawks' Duncan Keith.

The Stars are 11-3 in their last 14 games, and have points in 12 of those games. Get all of that? Good. A test is coming later.

Not that this makes a lot of sense, but four of the Stars' final 20 games are against the Canucks.

So far the Stars are 2-0 against the Canucks.
2/16: W, 4-3 shootout in Dallas
3/6: W, 5-2 in Vancouver
3/22: in Dallas
3/30: at Vancouver

The Stars have 85 points, good for first place in the Pacific, and are a whopping one point ahead of ninth-place. The Stars have one more home game - vs. Calgary on March 24 - before going on a four-game road trip that includes the Western Canadian swing.

 

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel

Dallas Stars 1-0 in their final 10 games to make themselves relevant & reach NHL playoffs

The Dallas Stars final push to break this embarrassing string of no playoffs that as of today is three years and counting began well with a 4-3 shootout win against the Coyotes on Tuesday night in Dallas.

Both teams desperately, desperately, desperately needed this. The Stars get both points, but the Coyotes should have had zero.

The Stars had a 3-1 lead in the third period but gagged away that lead, and a two-point division lead.

The Stars remain in first place in the Pacific Division with 85 points. The Coyotes are one point back.

Even though the Stars have the second-lowest payroll in the league, and have every reason/excuse not to make the playoffs, they have demonstrated despite their limitations there is enough on the roster to be a top eight team in the Western Conference.

The Stars have four more games at home remaining. Only one of their final nine games is against a team that is totally out of it: At Edmonton on March 28.

It comes down to this: Can they score enough? They're 2.54 goals per game ranks 19th in the NHL. They allow 2.61 goals per game, 13th in the NHL.

(BTW: The St. Louis Blues are behind the Stars in scoring at 2.53 goals per game, but first in the NHL in goals allowed, just 1.85 per game. The head coach? Ken Hitchcock).

The Stars broke a tw-game losing streak. A win tonight was rather large, but don't be surprised when the Stars' playoff fate is finally decided on April 7 at home against the Blues.

 

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel