I never really got why Lyboosh was the odd guy out… I thought he was critical to the PK… Cecil was clearly the targeted guy by Edm… yes others made errors and this wasn’t Lindell’s best series…
IMHO, taking Oettinger out fast like that and not getting him back in the game later, on top of blaming him is a lot of panic moves by the head coach.
The Stars played with the lead for less than 15 minutes in the entire series. Why not talk about that instead? Why this team is not ready to start games all season and all PO?
The ability of this head coach to go all the way also needs to be adressed in the off season. He is entering his last contract year.
The chance for the Cup was missed as early as the last off season when Nill panicked and signed Lyu and Dumba. And he doubled down in trading for Ceci.
How can you be GM of the year, and at the same time not able to build a SC D Corps?
Anyway, I wish the Cup to the Oilers for McJesus and their loyal and crazy fans.
It’s time for the Cup to go back to Canada.
PS Maybe now Bourque will see the ice if they decide to send him play with the Texas Stars. I wish him a beautiful offer sheet.
p.s. Bichsel & Petrovic will likely be joining the fight in Texas, but im not sure if Bourque is actually eligible to join the squad. His contract is slide eligible, but he was never on the AHL roster this season and didn't get the insurance send down like Lian, so I'm not sure he can actually join the team.
p.p.s. I could have sworn that was a 3 year deal inked by Pete, but apparently it was a 4 year deal.
This is something I'll talk about in the offseason. The difference is that these teams have players with more synergy with each other. Consistent speed on an entire line or duo, or consistent forechecking ability. So your observation is totally valid. What line on Dallas can you identify as fast, or cycle-heavy? None, really. It's just a bunch of dangerous players who are good on their own, but not necessarily perfect for each other.
David I have really enjoyed reading your columns all year. Sometimes we disagreed and sometimes we thought alike. I will continue to read your stuff and root for the Stars. Now I have to ask a serious but dumb question. I keep seeing people saying Dallas is cap strapped, I thought the cap was going up 7 or 8 million next year. If that is right the Stars should have 13 million or so in cap space.
PuckPedia and TheStanleyCap already have that figured into their calculations. So even with the increased cap, $4.5 million is all they have. The year AFTER, yes, you'll see some more room. Which is nice because that's Harley and Robo's RFA years.
The Stars have a little less than 5M$ of Cap space going in the next off season.
And they have only 8 F, 6 D and 2 G under contract.
That is mainly why I keep saying that it will be the most interesting and challenging off season of Jim Nill Era. He cannot cheat is way with UFA signings this year.
Best team won IMO ; closer in a lot of ways than it looked . Need a greater commitment to DEFENSE by both the forwards and the Dmen.
This Edmonton team was way better than last year’s Oilers group , especially TEAM DEFENSE . Dallas not better overall compared to last year ; Stars commitment to team defense ?? …. Not so good this year . Still , at least we are not mired in mediocrity like Buffalo , NY Islanders etc. All teams have warts …. Hopefully the Stars will be able to fix a few things . Otter was far from being a Hot Goalie in the Oilers series ; hopefully his EGO is not fragile , and he doesn’t take it personally . Maybe Miro should not have returned until he was 100% ?
next years' defensive core of Miro, Esa, Liam, Thomas is one that most teams would love to have and I think will be key for us. Maybe Lybushkin, maybe Lindvquist, maybe Petro? I agree on Ceci, Dumba for sure. Edmonton knew who they were playing against with Ceci and took advantage...
I never really got why Lyboosh was the odd guy out… I thought he was critical to the PK… Cecil was clearly the targeted guy by Edm… yes others made errors and this wasn’t Lindell’s best series…
Idk why we didn't play Ceci & Lyubuskin as interchangeable once Bichsel & Petro cemented themselves as the 3rd pair.
Esa was the dude running the second pair, why not give him a fresh set of legs to work with each night?
IMHO, taking Oettinger out fast like that and not getting him back in the game later, on top of blaming him is a lot of panic moves by the head coach.
The Stars played with the lead for less than 15 minutes in the entire series. Why not talk about that instead? Why this team is not ready to start games all season and all PO?
The ability of this head coach to go all the way also needs to be adressed in the off season. He is entering his last contract year.
The chance for the Cup was missed as early as the last off season when Nill panicked and signed Lyu and Dumba. And he doubled down in trading for Ceci.
How can you be GM of the year, and at the same time not able to build a SC D Corps?
Anyway, I wish the Cup to the Oilers for McJesus and their loyal and crazy fans.
It’s time for the Cup to go back to Canada.
PS Maybe now Bourque will see the ice if they decide to send him play with the Texas Stars. I wish him a beautiful offer sheet.
Pete's contract is up.
Give me Graham.
p.s. Bichsel & Petrovic will likely be joining the fight in Texas, but im not sure if Bourque is actually eligible to join the squad. His contract is slide eligible, but he was never on the AHL roster this season and didn't get the insurance send down like Lian, so I'm not sure he can actually join the team.
p.p.s. I could have sworn that was a 3 year deal inked by Pete, but apparently it was a 4 year deal.
Question for you David.
When I watch either Florida, Edmonton and even Carolina, there seems to be a complete buy in from the players into the game plan and strategy.
I did not feel that from the Stars. Is there some validity in this observation?
This is something I'll talk about in the offseason. The difference is that these teams have players with more synergy with each other. Consistent speed on an entire line or duo, or consistent forechecking ability. So your observation is totally valid. What line on Dallas can you identify as fast, or cycle-heavy? None, really. It's just a bunch of dangerous players who are good on their own, but not necessarily perfect for each other.
David I have really enjoyed reading your columns all year. Sometimes we disagreed and sometimes we thought alike. I will continue to read your stuff and root for the Stars. Now I have to ask a serious but dumb question. I keep seeing people saying Dallas is cap strapped, I thought the cap was going up 7 or 8 million next year. If that is right the Stars should have 13 million or so in cap space.
PuckPedia and TheStanleyCap already have that figured into their calculations. So even with the increased cap, $4.5 million is all they have. The year AFTER, yes, you'll see some more room. Which is nice because that's Harley and Robo's RFA years.
The Stars have a little less than 5M$ of Cap space going in the next off season.
And they have only 8 F, 6 D and 2 G under contract.
That is mainly why I keep saying that it will be the most interesting and challenging off season of Jim Nill Era. He cannot cheat is way with UFA signings this year.
He will need to be very creative.
Best team won IMO ; closer in a lot of ways than it looked . Need a greater commitment to DEFENSE by both the forwards and the Dmen.
This Edmonton team was way better than last year’s Oilers group , especially TEAM DEFENSE . Dallas not better overall compared to last year ; Stars commitment to team defense ?? …. Not so good this year . Still , at least we are not mired in mediocrity like Buffalo , NY Islanders etc. All teams have warts …. Hopefully the Stars will be able to fix a few things . Otter was far from being a Hot Goalie in the Oilers series ; hopefully his EGO is not fragile , and he doesn’t take it personally . Maybe Miro should not have returned until he was 100% ?
Matt Dumba for Shea Webber?
lol
next years' defensive core of Miro, Esa, Liam, Thomas is one that most teams would love to have and I think will be key for us. Maybe Lybushkin, maybe Lindvquist, maybe Petro? I agree on Ceci, Dumba for sure. Edmonton knew who they were playing against with Ceci and took advantage...