1. The decision to first trade for Tanev, while not realizing the severity of the tax implications as a Canadian never residing in the US, was shortsighted. Dallas was actually never in the mix to keep him at that personal cost to him.
2. Then in hindsight maybe Nills should have tried to get a real second pair guy he could resign… quite a few were moved, many were signed, how would our second pair look with Hannifin???
3. Leaving Lundqvist, Petrovic, Bichell for 3rd pair.
Very disappointing overall, especially when you look at the aggressive moves their Central competitors made.
Wouldn't call it tanking but Jim Nill effectively just punted next season. We'll see how it shakes out but isn't that the ultimate problem with the Stars? Keep them good enough to compete and just hope for some playoff randomness and health? As it stands today, the Stars are not a cup-contending team and I guess that's fine with ownership as long as first round playoff revenue keeps rolling in...until it doesn't.
Feel like none of these moves needed to happen today. Take care of Harley and see what's left at the table afterward. This reeks of desperation.
I’m not a fan of the Dumba signing but if you compare this roster to the one that entered the 2023 season I can’t say we’re substantially worse. On forward we lost Pavelski and Dellandrea but added Bourque and Stankoven. On D we lost Suter and Hakanpaa but added Dumba and Lybush and might get to call up Bischel.
Nill needs to get under the cap and save some room for a trade deadline addition. But if you really compare this roster today to this time last year I could argue the D got better and the forwards have more upside. Last year’s roster was good enough to win the West with help of some mid-season tweaks.
Stars limited their ceiling in order to give the coaching staff comfort in playing non puck-moving defensemen who are “tough to play against”. Extremely disappointing.
Funny how this was the type the previous coaching staff liked but pdb was going to have a more fluid defense that was more offensive. It is offensive, just not in the points scoring way.
Great review on a very very disapointing day. Plan A went up in smoke and there was no other Plan it seems.
Does any of these 3 new D can play within PDB's system? If not, do we have communication between the 2 most important hockey guys in this organization?
Why did Lundkvist decided to come back? This I don't understand at all given his age and history in Dallas. He must really like nachos.
If you see you have no chance in getting a Roy, Walker, etc., why don't you keep the money, regroup and think of other ways to actually improve your D Corps? Why go desperate like this? You are allowed to trade in this league last I checked.
I actually would have been more OK with the sgning of Boqvist + Lundkvist than these 3 version of Suter.
Man, what a brutal summer so far. Hard to see them breaking through next season unless Nill’s able to swing another Tanev-esque trade during the season. Not a great feeling that re-signing Steel was the move I liked the best from today. It really seems like plan A was re-signing Tanev and plan B didn’t really exist until they realized it wasn’t going to happen. Incredibly frustrating the couldn’t get Gostisbehere or Walker instead, but obviously they were locked in on a type.
I do think DeSmith is an (on-ice) upgrade over Wedgewood, but I don’t see that making much of a difference in the team’s overall outlook.
Torn on Lundqvist. Glad they’re not giving up on him because I’m sure he’s a better option than Luybushkin and Smith, but also hard to see how he gets playing time with this depth chart. Also very frustrating to see them out more roadblocks in front of Bischel, though if he’s as good as he seems, he shouldn’t have a problem getting past them.
One silver lining regarding Dumba and Lyubushkin’s PK numbers is that those are typically heavily dependent on scheme/coaching and not very stable for individual players across teams or seasons. That really feels like grasping at straws though.
I agree about the PK numbers, but if that's true then why would they improve under Dallas? Their PK scheme hasn't exactly been elite, and they struggled in the playoffs even WITH Tanev.
I’m beginning to think dallas does not want the cup when they have a full house every home game and get extra dollars from the playoffs . Reminds me of too many other owners. Why spend the big dollars if they don’t have to.
At the end of the day it will still be entertaining
To be fair, Gagliardi spends to the cap each and every year on player salaries.
Now he could be criticized for scrimping on off ice things that could help the team be more competitive. Things like a robust analytics department. Elite support for the athletes off the ice (physio, training table, etc).
I think the just be competitive philosophy is ripe for criticism however. Rather than tanking & then building to win championships, Dallas ownership is totally opposed to “going for it” when it might mean enduring any lean years.
The philosophy is to be a playoff team year after year to keep ticket sales robust and then hope to get lucky in one of those years.
I think Nill has been reading the media press releases about how good he is. Between what he did in the draft and free agency this may be enough to cost him his job. If ownership is ok with this then it has Dallas Cowboys written all over it.
They didn’t have to get worse. They entered last season as a Cup favorite and I can’t see any way they do so again this year. It’s almost like Dallas wants to be an “almost enough” team consistently without having the conviction to pony up for the piece that will make them “enough.”
Bringing Lundqvist back is smart, he’s only going to improve and was capable of playing most of the regular season for us.
On Forward Bourque is pretty much replacing Pavelski and I’m okay with that.
On D we are going to be happy if Bischel cracks the lineup and we have cap space to add a guy similar to a Tanev at the deadline. It’s definitely good enough to get through the regular season and has some bottom pairing depth in case of injuries.
Many Stars fans were so adamant about having more right-handed defenseman and that’s what we got. I was always more open than most to plugging in lefties and making it work, but many wanted righties and even if they weren’t the best ones available, we loaded up on them and it gives us lots of possible D combos and hopefully we can save some cap space for an impactful addition at the trade deadline.
I think Stars fans really wanted good players that happened to be right-handed shots rather than simply players who happen to be right-handed shots. Unless they get rid of someone (Faksa being the obvious) they're not positioned to do anything at the trade deadline.
Thinking Lindell will be on the third pairing with Lundkvist. Dream scenario would be Bichsel getting RD, with Heiskanen on his strong side. Harley and Dumba second pairing shouldn’t suck too hard, not ecstatic about it though.
Also, regarding the physicality of the 3 new D… this coaching staff has a coaching philosophy against physical D play. They prefer a collapsing chasing D structure, with forwards responsible for net front protection.
So, will their benefit we’d all like to see, be coached out of them (See Lindell’s reduced physical play over the years)….
Lindell has NEVER been physical. He'll throw a clean hit here and there (dusted Nurse a couple of years ago), but he doesn't have the skating to line people up.
Not sure if yesterday was 1- "We Need To Be Tougher To Play Against" Nill, 2- "Like A 10 Year Old with A $50 Bill At Bucee's He Just Can't Control Himself At The Used Hockey Player Store" Nill, or 3-"Build Some Serviceable Depth At D So We Can Bring The Kids Along Carefully" Nill. I'm hoping it's 3. I guess we'll see as the season progresses.
There are a lot of people on other boards that are defending the moves made by Nill.
But nobody gave me an answer to one question: Does these 3 new D can play effectively under PDB's system? Not survive within his system, but play good hockey and contribute?
I am still waiting for an answer other than I should trust Nill "The GM of the year". That's not good enough.
And if the answer is no, then there is a profound misunderstanding between the two most important hockey persons in Dallas. And that would be pretty bad.
It would be like a CEO that does not provide the right assets to build the products that the COO wants to build. No organization can survive this.
I like the Dumba signing as a way to push Lundkvist. He needs to up the physical side of his game if he's going to have a sustained NHL career, and what better way to coax that out than to put him in direct competition for a job with Matt Dumba.
1. The decision to first trade for Tanev, while not realizing the severity of the tax implications as a Canadian never residing in the US, was shortsighted. Dallas was actually never in the mix to keep him at that personal cost to him.
2. Then in hindsight maybe Nills should have tried to get a real second pair guy he could resign… quite a few were moved, many were signed, how would our second pair look with Hannifin???
3. Leaving Lundqvist, Petrovic, Bichell for 3rd pair.
Very disappointing overall, especially when you look at the aggressive moves their Central competitors made.
Outside of Colorado re-signing Drouin, nothing much to report there.
Wouldn't call it tanking but Jim Nill effectively just punted next season. We'll see how it shakes out but isn't that the ultimate problem with the Stars? Keep them good enough to compete and just hope for some playoff randomness and health? As it stands today, the Stars are not a cup-contending team and I guess that's fine with ownership as long as first round playoff revenue keeps rolling in...until it doesn't.
Feel like none of these moves needed to happen today. Take care of Harley and see what's left at the table afterward. This reeks of desperation.
Yep. Like Plan A failed, so instead of having a Plan B, they settled for plans nobody else had in their alphabet for the sake of Doing Something.
I’m not a fan of the Dumba signing but if you compare this roster to the one that entered the 2023 season I can’t say we’re substantially worse. On forward we lost Pavelski and Dellandrea but added Bourque and Stankoven. On D we lost Suter and Hakanpaa but added Dumba and Lybush and might get to call up Bischel.
Nill needs to get under the cap and save some room for a trade deadline addition. But if you really compare this roster today to this time last year I could argue the D got better and the forwards have more upside. Last year’s roster was good enough to win the West with help of some mid-season tweaks.
Stars limited their ceiling in order to give the coaching staff comfort in playing non puck-moving defensemen who are “tough to play against”. Extremely disappointing.
Funny how this was the type the previous coaching staff liked but pdb was going to have a more fluid defense that was more offensive. It is offensive, just not in the points scoring way.
Great review on a very very disapointing day. Plan A went up in smoke and there was no other Plan it seems.
Does any of these 3 new D can play within PDB's system? If not, do we have communication between the 2 most important hockey guys in this organization?
Why did Lundkvist decided to come back? This I don't understand at all given his age and history in Dallas. He must really like nachos.
If you see you have no chance in getting a Roy, Walker, etc., why don't you keep the money, regroup and think of other ways to actually improve your D Corps? Why go desperate like this? You are allowed to trade in this league last I checked.
I actually would have been more OK with the sgning of Boqvist + Lundkvist than these 3 version of Suter.
Man, what a brutal summer so far. Hard to see them breaking through next season unless Nill’s able to swing another Tanev-esque trade during the season. Not a great feeling that re-signing Steel was the move I liked the best from today. It really seems like plan A was re-signing Tanev and plan B didn’t really exist until they realized it wasn’t going to happen. Incredibly frustrating the couldn’t get Gostisbehere or Walker instead, but obviously they were locked in on a type.
I do think DeSmith is an (on-ice) upgrade over Wedgewood, but I don’t see that making much of a difference in the team’s overall outlook.
Torn on Lundqvist. Glad they’re not giving up on him because I’m sure he’s a better option than Luybushkin and Smith, but also hard to see how he gets playing time with this depth chart. Also very frustrating to see them out more roadblocks in front of Bischel, though if he’s as good as he seems, he shouldn’t have a problem getting past them.
One silver lining regarding Dumba and Lyubushkin’s PK numbers is that those are typically heavily dependent on scheme/coaching and not very stable for individual players across teams or seasons. That really feels like grasping at straws though.
Overall an incredibly disappointing day.
I agree about the PK numbers, but if that's true then why would they improve under Dallas? Their PK scheme hasn't exactly been elite, and they struggled in the playoffs even WITH Tanev.
Ha, it's definitely grasping at straws on my part. The coaching staff hasn't done much to engender confidence on that front.
I’m beginning to think dallas does not want the cup when they have a full house every home game and get extra dollars from the playoffs . Reminds me of too many other owners. Why spend the big dollars if they don’t have to.
At the end of the day it will still be entertaining
Just a shame they can’t stop anyone
Reminds me of the NBA
To be fair, Gagliardi spends to the cap each and every year on player salaries.
Now he could be criticized for scrimping on off ice things that could help the team be more competitive. Things like a robust analytics department. Elite support for the athletes off the ice (physio, training table, etc).
I think the just be competitive philosophy is ripe for criticism however. Rather than tanking & then building to win championships, Dallas ownership is totally opposed to “going for it” when it might mean enduring any lean years.
The philosophy is to be a playoff team year after year to keep ticket sales robust and then hope to get lucky in one of those years.
I think Nill has been reading the media press releases about how good he is. Between what he did in the draft and free agency this may be enough to cost him his job. If ownership is ok with this then it has Dallas Cowboys written all over it.
They didn’t have to get worse. They entered last season as a Cup favorite and I can’t see any way they do so again this year. It’s almost like Dallas wants to be an “almost enough” team consistently without having the conviction to pony up for the piece that will make them “enough.”
Bringing Lundqvist back is smart, he’s only going to improve and was capable of playing most of the regular season for us.
On Forward Bourque is pretty much replacing Pavelski and I’m okay with that.
On D we are going to be happy if Bischel cracks the lineup and we have cap space to add a guy similar to a Tanev at the deadline. It’s definitely good enough to get through the regular season and has some bottom pairing depth in case of injuries.
Many Stars fans were so adamant about having more right-handed defenseman and that’s what we got. I was always more open than most to plugging in lefties and making it work, but many wanted righties and even if they weren’t the best ones available, we loaded up on them and it gives us lots of possible D combos and hopefully we can save some cap space for an impactful addition at the trade deadline.
I think Stars fans really wanted good players that happened to be right-handed shots rather than simply players who happen to be right-handed shots. Unless they get rid of someone (Faksa being the obvious) they're not positioned to do anything at the trade deadline.
Thinking Lindell will be on the third pairing with Lundkvist. Dream scenario would be Bichsel getting RD, with Heiskanen on his strong side. Harley and Dumba second pairing shouldn’t suck too hard, not ecstatic about it though.
Harley/Dumba at least maximizes the rest of the D at least. I also like the idea.
Why bring in 3 RHD just to have Miro continue to play his offside?
I can see lundkvist slipping through waivers (which is I think what they want to get him more meaningful reps to help his defensive acumen)
It's quite possible they don't. Heiskanen-Dumba/Harley-Lyubushkin/Lindell-Lundkvist? Just saying. If they really wanted to, that's the move.
Also, regarding the physicality of the 3 new D… this coaching staff has a coaching philosophy against physical D play. They prefer a collapsing chasing D structure, with forwards responsible for net front protection.
So, will their benefit we’d all like to see, be coached out of them (See Lindell’s reduced physical play over the years)….
Or, are they changing that D structure???
Lindell has NEVER been physical. He'll throw a clean hit here and there (dusted Nurse a couple of years ago), but he doesn't have the skating to line people up.
Not sure if yesterday was 1- "We Need To Be Tougher To Play Against" Nill, 2- "Like A 10 Year Old with A $50 Bill At Bucee's He Just Can't Control Himself At The Used Hockey Player Store" Nill, or 3-"Build Some Serviceable Depth At D So We Can Bring The Kids Along Carefully" Nill. I'm hoping it's 3. I guess we'll see as the season progresses.
There are a lot of people on other boards that are defending the moves made by Nill.
But nobody gave me an answer to one question: Does these 3 new D can play effectively under PDB's system? Not survive within his system, but play good hockey and contribute?
I am still waiting for an answer other than I should trust Nill "The GM of the year". That's not good enough.
And if the answer is no, then there is a profound misunderstanding between the two most important hockey persons in Dallas. And that would be pretty bad.
It would be like a CEO that does not provide the right assets to build the products that the COO wants to build. No organization can survive this.
I like the Dumba signing as a way to push Lundkvist. He needs to up the physical side of his game if he's going to have a sustained NHL career, and what better way to coax that out than to put him in direct competition for a job with Matt Dumba.