The Stars first quarter

The first 12 games have been a bit hit and miss and with the stars going 6-5-1 they have managed to just about keep their head above water. The contract negotiations with Benn, coupled with a few injuries to key guys caused a lot of problems for Gulutzen to deal with. So far we haven't had a single game with a fully healthy top 6. As a result there was a lot of line juggling and with 4 defenders in either their rookie or sophomore years the Stars have been outshot in almost every game. In fact through the first 6 they had allowed 40+ shots in every single game. Still with Lehtonen in net they were never out of many games, only one getting out of hand even managing to squeeze out a point against the super hot Blackhawks.

Still despite all that we are seeing some good signs. Since Roy came back from injury we have seen some stability on the scoring lines and it has allowed Benn to do his thing. It took a few games to get going but with 6 pts in his last 3 games he appears to have found his rhythm. A lot of fans were annoyed/surprised that Morrow was put on the top line when Whitney got injured as opposed to giving rookie scorer Reilly Smith a shot with some meaningful minutes as he was quite the goal scorer in the AHL but it appears Morrow has helped cool that. With Jagr and Benn the line has plenty of skill and size and is proving to be quite potent with Morrows added net presence.

So lets have a look at how things have gone.

Forwards:
Loui Eriksson clearly displayed a lot of relief when he scored against the Ducks. Usually super consistent, he had struggled finding the back of the net and it was obviously eating at him. Hopefully this releases the pressure and he can continue to give the Stars 2 dangerous scoring lines.

Jamie Benn has been superb of late and is really helping to carry the team. Even when he wasn't putting up points it was obvious he wasn't far away as he was making moves with the puck that looked so effortless.

Jaromir Jagr has so far given the Stars exactly what they wanted. He currently leads the team in points and from various reports has been a huge boost to the locker room. He was seen recently going through drills with Vincour at the teams practice facility on a 'day off'. It is the drive to succeed that will be vital for the rest of the team to learn from.

Ray Whitney went down for about a month to a broken foot which has proven to be quite a big loss. The soon to be 41 year old has been nothing less than superb so far creating great chances when the team needs them. It is amazing what he can do at his age. Also his 'photo bombing' players while they are being interviewed is hilarious!

Derek Roy has been very good so far, he got his first goal the other night and with 6 points is just shy of a point per game. If he can stay healthy (a big if it seems) then he should continue to give a good amount of secondary scoring.

Michael Ryder has been solid, tied for the team lead in goals but you get the feeling he isn't quite on the same level he was last season. It is still early days but he needs to get some consistency to his game as he goes invisible for far too long.

Brenden Morrow started off very shaky taking some bad penalties while playing on a checking line. Whitney went down to injury and Gulutzen gave him a shot with Benn/Jagr and he has repaid that faith by giving those guys room to work and getting to the net with regularity. Hopefully he can keep it up then fans might get off his back a little.

Cody Eakin who was picked up in exchange for Mike Ribeiro was one who caused a lot of worry for Stars fans. People were unsure why we gave up one of our best offensive players for a guy who struggled to stay with the Caps and did not perform that well in recent call ups. Man has he killed off all that worry. He has played all over the lineup and showed he can create offense when given the chance. He plays with a lot of effort and is really good defensively....and that is exactly why the Stars moved Ribeiro.

Antoine Roussel seemed to have come out of no where and has grabbed Stars fans attention in a big way. He scored on his first NHL shot and plays with an agitating edge, similar to that of a certain Steve Ott. He is a long way off being a replacement for Ott but it is a good start, he baits players into taking penalties and is not shy about throwing himself around.

Eric Nystrom/Ryan Garbutt/Vernon Fiddler/Tom Wandell/Reilly Smith have all not really had much going and the biggest worry has been how ineffective some of them have been compared to last season. Reilly Smith I would give a slight pass to as he has played fairly solid in minutes that don't allow him to do what he is best at but the bottom 6 on the whole needs to get better.

Defence:
Stephane Robidas, who has been nothing but solid over his career with the Stars, has continued to do so. Nothing flashy, not putting up a ton of points but adds a little stability to a transition year for the defence.

Alex Goligoski has not been himself. He came in to the Stars and performed extremely well giving fans hope he was what they had been waiting for but this season has struggled to find his form. He was a healthy scratch against the Oilers and came back against the Ducks scoring an assist. Still needs to get going consistently.

Trevor Daley has looked dangerous, jumping up into the rush with his excellent skating.....then not really doing anything with it. Has 1 power play goal but 0 assists. Needs to start putting up the points and his -5 is the worst on the team.

Brenden Dillon looked very good in his NHL debut last season and was one of the reasons the team decided to let Souray walk. He has given the Stars a real physical edge and is looking like he could become quite the leader on the back end.

Jamie Oleksiak/Philip Larsen/Aaron Rome/Jordie Benn Have all shown signs of promise while Larsen has taken far too many penalties. Oleksiak has been solid in his first 5 games as has Benn. The future on defense is looking bright, just a few growing pains to go through first!

Goalies:
Kari Lehtonen, what more needs be said. Proving every game that he should be considered among the elite in the league. Gets very little help and faces an insane number of shots yet gives the Stars a chance to win each and every time.

Richard Bachman/Christopher Nihlstorp have both been solid in their stints as backup. Nihlstorp has been a bit shaky since his come back from injury in the AHL but Bachman filled in nicely.

The long and short of this is the Stars are very much a team in transition. They are keeping games competitive while building for the future and we are already getting some looks at that in the rookies we have playing. If they can keep this up they should have a shot at squeaking into the playoffs.

mc_homer wrote:

Brenden Dillon looked very good in his NHL debut last season and was one of the reasons the team decided to let Souray walk. He has given the Stars a real physical edge and is looking like he could become quite the leader on the back end.

How's his nuts?

Haha doing just fine now, how are Perry's?

I think Nystrom and Garbutt must read your musings!

Tell me about it! That entire line really put in a great effort last night.

Well that was.....shit.

You won't have to wait long to get revenge though.

If we can keep scoring like that, then it won't matter that Kipper is injured!

2nd nights of back to backs just kill us we are 1-15-2 on the second nights of back to backs over the last season and a bit.

One amazing part of last night however.....

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=35&id=201677&cmpid=embed-share-video

mc_homer wrote: Michael Ryder has been solid, tied for the team lead in goals but you get the feeling he isn't quite on the same level he was last season. It is still early days but he needs to get some consistency to his game as he goes invisible for far too long.

He'll wake up if/when you reach the playoffs. He always does. That was the one thing that really irritated Bruins fans about him.