Sunday, July 11, 2010

Off-Season Notes

Howdy-ho hockey fans. I don't know about you, but all this World Cup soccer has gotten me in the mood for hockey. Despite financial issues, the Stars have made a few moves to improve the team. The only headline gaining much attention is the fact that Mike Modano will not be offered a contract by Dallas, meaning if he decides to keep playing, it will be with another team. Initially the Detroit Red Wings were the only team interested, but as of late the Sharks and Wild have joined the mix. (Keep in mind the Stars finish this next season yet again in Minnesota.) So that's the big news. Now for the lesser know acquisitions. To back up Kari Lehtonen, we now have Andrew Raycroft. Sound familiar? Probably not. He spent last year backing up Roberto Luongo, and before that bouncing around from Colorado and Toronto after breaking into the league with Boston. With a career goals against average of 2.87, .900 save percentage, and record of 103-101, he wont pose much of a threat to win the starting job but he at least provides a mediocre talent with some room for improvement. The next signing of note is Adam Burish. The Stars benefited from the Blackhawks garage sale of their Stanley Cup winning team by adding this gritty right wing. He wont win any scoring titles but his presence will be known. You almost get the feeling Dallas is putting together a scrappy team. Otherwise there have been plenty of assignments to the AHL affiliates and signings to minor deals, most of which will not see much fruition but if there's any advances you'll hear about it. No off-season is complete (except baseball) without the draft. Dallas used their first round pick (11th overall) on goaltender Jack Campbell. Initially I wasn't too thrilled with the pick considering many highly praised defenders were still in the pool, but this is what the Stars do. They find talent at the goalie position, groom them, and use them to either play or as trade bait. They finished the draft getting three defenders and a wing.

For those counting down, the regular season begins Friday, October 8th. This is Big D On Ice signing off until something happens.
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