Breakfast Salvos: Reacting to the August week that was
Jeff Petry, Matt Duchene...there's a surprising amount to talk about this week.
I know the offseason sucks, but this week offered a surprisingly torrid (well, torrid for a second week of August) amount of news and topics. And all surprisingly relevant to the Dallas Stars no less. “Breakfast Salvos” is not gonna be my version of Daily Links (follow Defending Big D for that; shoutout to the always-wonderful Kathleen Tibbetts), but it is my way to have fun tinkering with daily-ish content.
If you’re anything like me, you could write, talk, and ponder hockey all day. You need your fix, and I need mine. So that’s what today is for. I’m still figuring out this place so bear with me, but feel free to be critical too. Anything worth being better is worth being honest about.
About those Jeff Petry to Dallas rumors
Chris Johnston is one of hockey’s better insiders. His sources seem more connected to Canadian teams, but he’s good people. No offense to other insiders, but as soon as they start talking about hockey, I tend to tune them out. CJ, on the other hand, seems to have a solid grasp of the game and unlike other insiders, he’s also upfront about what he doesn’t know. So naturally, I noticed when he mentioned Jeff Petry in connection with Dallas.
For the full monty, skip to 13:14.
Keep in mind, his comments weren’t about any imminent deal being made. He references Montreal’s willingness to retain half his cap (which would make him $2.3 million per) in order to attract buyers. And he mentions Dallas’ history with Petry, which I realize isn’t news to anyone following the rumor mill over the past couple of years. But CJ makes it sound like this is something to watch either now, or before the deadline. For Dallas, this makes perfect sense since they could use defensive help now and at the deadline.
Is Petry still that man? Thankfully, Travis Yost did a better job of explaining Petry’s existing value than I ever could. If you want the TL;DR version, here’s his last three seasons in terms of shift-to-shift impact on goals.
I know what you’re thinking. “Jim Nill and his ridiculous love of all things veterans.” And sure, it’s extremely unimaginative. GMs love a good resume. They’re easy to read, and they tell you want you already want to hear: This Guy Has Experience.
But Petry has been a solid player even in the twilight of his career. I mean, seriously: you don’t think Petry is an upgrade over Jani Hakanpaa? Nothing against Hakanpaa either, but Dallas has inexplicably embraced their defenders playing above their roles whether it’s Suter as a top pairing defender, or Hakanpaa as a shutdown top four. It’s kind of insane. I don’t care if Suter and Petry are on the same team as long as Petry can still play. Hey: baby steps.
However, just because there’s a good argument-for doesn’t mean there’s no good argument-against (that sentence structure checks out right?). Petry is gonna be 36 this upcoming December, and he hasn’t played a full season in four years. There’s absolutely a risk which makes whatever plan there is to fix the blueline all the more unclear.
D&D programming: Why Duchene vs. Domi still matters
As you may or may not know, I’m plugged into every facet of the Stars community: hfboards, reddit, DBD, here, Discord, Twitter, etc. Well, okay, maybe not all. I don’t use Facebook or Instagram. I am on Mastodon, which has all the assembled noise of a crypt. I’m not cool enough for Bluesky, apparently. Whatever-you get the point. And I was surprised by some of the reaction to my piece yesterday at D Magazine.
Here’s the thing. If Duchene is trending down, then Dallas is in trouble. Is he? It’s hard to say. Looking at Micah’s new model, he almost always has a bounceback year after a down year. Last season was a down year. The season before?
This is both reassuring and not reassuring. Judging by fan reaction, I think the gut reaction is that “Duchene is better than Domi, therefore Dallas is better.” But this is only true if Duchene doesn’t get old overnight. Or more to the point, if Marchment and Seguin can help carry him. The funny thing is that we still don’t know who belongs to that duo. It’s worth remembering that Marchment-Seguin-Domi was hardly a thing in the regular season, but because of the Pavelski injury, it was hardly a thing in the postseason too. So we still don’t have a full picture of what another offensive player can do for them.
This is why I’ve always advocated for a strong forechecking winger to pair with Marchment and Seguin; unfortunately that is not Duchene. (Go to the last box on the far right.)
So sure, there’s a lot to like. But this isn’t Tetris. Dallas isn’t getting a perfect player, and I’m not even sure they’re getting the ideal player. There’s a difference between production and performance. Duchene can always give you the former, and he can give you the latter too. But Dallas needs both in high doses and I worry they don’t have the perfect setup for him.
P.S. (Programming Notes)
You may have noticed I’ve been posting a lot of Mason Marchment clips on Twitter. I’m still working on a Tales From the Clipped piece for him. I’m glad there’s still a story there for fans. I got the impression that he was being written off after his playoff performance (specifically in the Vegas series). That doesn’t mean I’ve come to a positive conclusion about him, but it does mean there’s a lot to chew on for that upcoming piece.
Drop your thoughts on Marchment in the comments below.
Regarding Marchment, I just don't think we truly know what we have in him. He shows flashes then gets frustrated and disappears at times. I also think he is one of those players, like Roope was early on, that needs to be paired with the right guys to truly unlock him. Maybe I'm crazy or the post operative pain meds from knee surgery are messing with me. Just my 2 cents.
So are we already over the idea of lundkvist becoming a top 4 option? He’s still young and while I’m sure his fancy stats were probably ugly, I really enjoyed the way he played and moved the puck. Seems like they just completely lost trust in him. I probably missed things but it was confusing how we just gave up on him so fast last season.