Stars Stuff: Logan Stankoven makes history, Dallas' AHL callups, Edmonton this weekend and Boston tonight
There's a lot going on in Texas.
Dallas looked fine on Saturday versus a scorching hot Edmonton team. It wasn’t a great performance, but broadly speaking, it felt competitive, if not something of a potential preview to the Western Conference Finals. It’s worth remembering that the Oilers were dominant even when they were losing games early in the season. Their problem was goaltending (and a slow start for Connor McDavid). They’re not perfect, but they have the best player in the world and Stuart Skinner looks like he’s back on track.
As for the Stars, the focus shifts back to the blueline. Granted, we’ve talked the defensive issues to death, but it’s kind of hard to avoid with Jani Hakanpaa and Nils Lundkvist both out. And so now the Stars will are playing with Joel Hanley and Derrick Pouliot in their top six.
This has always been my reservation with Thomas Harley and Miro Heiskanen on the same side. It’s not that they’re not great together, or that DeBoer is making the wrong decision. It’s that it creates the illusion of depth. Saturday’s telecast even made a reference to “like Devon Toews and Cale Makar!” No. Just no. Those are two elite defensemen who naturally fit given their handedness and because the depth below them can accommodate the pair. In Dallas, Heiskanen is forced to his weakside to play with Harley because otherwise both players would be saddled with anchors (Suter in Heiskanen’s case, and Hanley in Harley’s case).
It’s an odd time. On the one hand, Dallas is four points ahead of Winnipeg (lower points percentage though), and five ahead of Colorado. They’re on a 7-1-2 heater, and one of the best teams in the league. But their blueline is about to include three AHL-caliber players, which the recent news that they added two more. Things seem dire. And not dire. Instead of breaking our brains this early in the morning let’s focus on one thing at a time.
Who is Derrick Pouliot?
Pouliot never had much of an NHL career. It’s a reality that hurts Pittsburgh fans especially since he was picked eight overall in 2012, ahead of names like Filip Forsberg (imagine Forsberg playing with Crosby), Tomas Hertl, and Jacob Trouba. He played his first NHL game 10 years ago. Within that time, he only played 221 games, including a handful of games for the Kraken and the Sharks over the last two seasons.
Pouliot is kind of like Julius Honka if Honka decided to keep fighting in the Honka wars. Despite his profile, Pouliot was a net positive on offense (more red top left), and a net positive on defense (more blue bottom left).
For most of his career he profiled like a defender who deserved a much better fate. However, it’s the 2018-2019 season with Vancouver that deserves the most emphasis: that was the only year he nearly played a full season. In that season, he profiled like what he is now — depth.
Some of this makes Pouliot look good, but it’s important to keep in mind that he was getting cameos most years. When you look at “analytics darlings” in the NHL this is usually the common denominator for perception not being the reality: limited, sheltered minutes that players can crush…but we shouldn’t make many conclusions beyond that.
Even though I made jokes on Twitter about Pouliot being the one to get the call, Pouliot himself is not a bad player. (For me the reaction had more to do with the whiplash of replacing a big-bodied penalty killer with a small, power play specialist). He’s a modern day puck mover, who likes to jump into the play. Here he is, #5 along the left wall, activating and then lingering around the net.
It’s been hard to tell to gauge Pouliot’s game given that he’s played most of the season with Christian Kyrou. Kyrou has struggled. Even on routine plays there seems to be confusion between the two. Like here.
Honestly, I don’t think this is a good look for either player. They were perfect position to switch from strongside defender to weakside, and vice versa. Instead they let the Iowa forward get the shot off and don’t even particularly do a good job of protecting the inside pass had it happened. This is anything but an isolated incident. Especially for Kyrou.
And Alex Petrovic?
Petrovic has been Texas’ default number one defender, and he’s basically the AHL version of Hakanpaa. There’s not a lot to his game. He plays a lot of minutes because the coaches play him a lot of minutes. There’s nothing to note here, except that Lian Bichsel’s decision to return to Sweden really hurts here. Instead of getting a head start on his NHL career and maybe pulling off the Harley special, he’s playing for a non-playoff Rogle team while the Stars are left with also-rans. I don’t believe that’s how Bichsel drew it up — and it’s possible Dallas leaves him in Texas anyway — but here we are.
Matej Blumel gets the call
Meh. Listen. I get it. The forward Dallas called up will not play on this upcoming road trip. Ergo: Stankoven and Bourque don’t need to be there. Double ergo: they might as well being playing big minutes to help Texas reach the playoffs. (Texas has crawled their way back, now second in the Central, but they’re also sixth in the Conference — not the most ringing endorsement.) My response has do with Blumel the player. Whatever you hear about Stankoven and Bourque from people who clearly don’t watch them — don’t. The twins are not just Texas’ most productive forwards; they’re also far and away their most well-rounded. And that’s my issue with Blumel. He was on a point per game pace with the twins, and once Curtis McKenzie took his spot, he slowed down. To his credit, Blumel stayed relatively productive. 38 points in 46 games is solid. But his overall game is lacking. He has pro speed and a depth forward’s shot, but that’s about it.
Ergo/echo/etc: why didn’t they call up Freddrik Karlstrom instead? He’s cheaper, plays center, and has only seven less points in a depth role and less PP minutes. That’s the part I don’t get. (For those that want the Blumel verdict in mathese.)
Edit: As is my habit to write before thinking, Blumel was sent back down, and was only brought up in order to maximize cap. I’m gonna leave this here though for the historical record, and because some egg doesn’t wash out.
Logan Stankoven breaks Matt Fraser’s record
Remember when we thought Fraser was the next James Neal, and didn’t actively lament seeing him go the other way in the Tyler Seguin trade but figured he’d at least be something and thus had trouble seeing him go? I don’t. I wasn’t following prospects then the way I do now. But it’s easy to see why. Back in 2012, it was Fraser making history as the leading scorer among all Texas Stars rookies (all-time) with 55 points in 73 games — a whopping 37 goals among them.
Stankoven still has over 20 games left to tie the current record for most points by a Texas Stars rookie: Curtis McKenzie, who tallied 65 in the 2013-2014 season. I’ll have more on Stankoven tomorrow with our weekly Texas Stars report, but needless to say — he’s gonna do it. As is, he’s on pace for 90 points. I put together a quick and dirty highlight reel divided into four sections: his shooting, playmaking, rush offense, and a miscellaneous section on his general hustle. I’ll post it on Twitter when it’s official, but I’ll figure something out in terms of a little extra for paid subscribers. Stankoven is the truth.
Previewing Boston tonight
Believe it or not the big bad Bruins are in something of a rut — or at least what passes for their version of rut. They’re 4-4-2 in their last 10, and recently lost their first place spot in the Atlantic to the Florida Panthers (did everyone just forget that this team made the Finals last year? Seems like not enough people are talking about them).
Despite their pedigree, Boston is still something of a mystery. They routinely put up seriously results. Yet their top three centers are Pavel Zacha, Charlie Coyle, and Morgan Geekie (!!!). Unfortunately for them, Matthew Poitras, who was looking like a Patrice Bergeron starter kit early in the season, is on IR. The Bruins aren’t driving play the way you’d think despite their record.
When it comes to broad results, one thing about explaining extremes like Buffalo this year versus last or Arizona this year compared to last, is the oft-ignored penalty differential. This year Boston is taking a lot of penalties, and not drawing many. So if they seem a little more human than usual, that’s why. Shawn Ferris has more on this at his Stack.
Of course, Boston is still good on special teams. That’s really the battle that Dallas should be prepared for. If the Bruins are gonna take penalties, then you better punish them. Right now the Stars still have issues. The top unit is in a funk, and well — why is Jamie Benn still on that top unit anyway? I guess that’s a discussion for another day.
Micah Blake McCurdy’s model has Boston as the slight favorite, same odds as the Edmonton game.
Blumel is already sent down as his callup was to max LTIR so it is intersting that Stars are going with only 12 forwards and 9 D on road trip. It was said that Nils is in concussion protocol but Hakinpaa must also project to being out for a while.
It's time for Nill to do something serious to fix the defensive issues. Not some rental for this year but a long term move.