Who Will Coach the Dallas Stars? Latest with Mike Heika | DLLS Stars Podcast
coming up today on the DLS Stars podcast we begin a new week here in the offseason with plenty to talk about and a very special guest makes his triumphant return mike Hikah in studio starts right now get ready boys [Music] [Music] [Music] we’ll see this is the DLLS Stars podcast our Stanley Cup playoff coverage is brought to you by Bud Light bud Light easy to drink easy to enjoy enjoy responsibly and by Happiest Hour your home base and the best place to catch the Stanley Cup final just steps away from the AAC the ultimate spot with 50 plus beers and 40 plus TVs for all the big moments every single game day happiest hour your favorite spot for the Stanley Cup final and before we welcome in today’s special guest let’s talk about the newest ball knower bonus here at DLLS and it has to do with the final and the finals and if you know you know well who’s going to win the Stanley Cup you could double your money you could win a gift card to the All City merch store merchandise store if you get your pick correctly here’s how it works start by picking who’s going to win game three of the Stanley Cup final tonight or game three of the NBA finals there’s important difference there then you browse our store make a purchase of at least $25 if your pick wins you will win a gift card for the same amount as your original order the most important thing though is you must click our link it’s in the chat or in the show YouTube description to bet and get your gift card that is the balln knower bonus and let’s welcome inside our studio for the second time making I believe his third appearance on the show second here once was out of the country that’s right very international you were our first Finnish connection mike Hikah joining the show along with of course Craig Lewig and our brand new producer Elijah Smith who is not new just for our show thanks for being here Elijah and keeping us afloat there he is first thing first thing out of hiker’s mouth when he gets off the elevator is can’t can’t figure out how to get here and he’s like “Well you normally you get paid for these kind of shows i’ve got to pay for parking to come on your show.” So you take that up with Ben but as you see Mike right we have Bud Light as a sponsor i like that we have Wendy’s as a sponsor i mean this is getting to be big time around here and we get free uh what are they called frosties we get free Frosties yeah we’re going to talk about Frosties in a little speaking of frosty is it kind of frosty around the Dallas Stars organization lately you know it’s funny that’s a segue um it was an interesting decision and like what I wrote in my column is Pete had the best regular season record in the last three years and took the team to three consecutive uh Western Conference finals final final Western Conference final right it’s only one final i know it’s semantic i know it is very much so but there’s a Eastern Conference final but this point being I always said finals before too yeah I did point being something must have been wrong and so the fact that Jim said that he interviewed all the players on their exit interviews and then this is a decision he came up with tells you something must have been wrong now all of that said they’re keeping all the other coaches so if there was a Isn’t that up to the new guy one would think yes unless the new guy is Jim Montgomery you know it’s the guy who Well it’s not gonna be him no no I’m saying though but the process of Jim Montgomery coming in is yes you’re a young coach i’m going to give you your coaching and Jim Nil actually said as much on Friday when he did his media availability kind of making the point because uh your former colleague Tim Kalashaw asked a couple questions and he actually Jim stopped his answer so wait I want to go back to your first question we feel that we have such an experienced coaching staff that it does not necessitate an experienced head coach being hired as far as NHL experience then we I I don’t know if you read Tim’s piece his most recent one he said that he basically mentioned that somebody inside the organization told him they’re not looking for a retread or a coach with significant NHL experience correct i’ I read that and so that’s good i haven’t I really I haven’t Isn’t this all pointing towards one guy i think and I think it’s the right choice to me it’s pointing to one guy i mean if you’re Well I don’t know if it’s breaking news i mean everybody’s looking at me i know nothing but I’m going it i don’t understand it if you’re keeping all the guys and you’re saying that you’re going to keep the guys it’s obviously guys that you’re familiar with and you know you have interactions with so and it’s not one of those guys apparently correct although it could be well I mean if you really wanted to do it Naz I think would be a great head coach and you bring in Neil Graham as an assistant to get him experience at the NHL level are we allowed to say Neil Graham you’re allowed to say any you don’t have to say the kid from Duke you can actually say his name maverick’s joke right there there you go uh but I think you know if you look at Neil obviously we’re all looking at Neil Graham’s history 14 years in the organization seven years in Idaho seven years in Texas he’s coached several of these players and at important times in their career i mean what Thomas Harley did down there and then that may have been more the defensive assistance than it was Neil Graham but I think Neil Graham played a huge role in helping Thomas Harley get to where he is right now and then you look at Aer you look at Robertson I just go down the list of players who played down there b even this year yeah Bishop yeah i have a hunch that if Neil Graham is promoted it’s not to be head coach right away it could be because you remember they did that with Derrick Laxl when he was associate coaches then uh assistant or Yeah one of those kind of things so it’s kind of like not having a captain no no no no no no they will have a head coach oh I thought you said he wouldn’t be that well he’s saying I like what if you promoted a lane now how many e outside head coaches would come in and take that job knowing the next guy is waiting right there exactly so then you almost have to promote from within correct it could be spotter it could be uh Well doesn’t that mean if you’re Let’s just say you’re a lane right and let’s say that that’s the case aren’t don’t you have a expiration date on you then yes and but you’d have to agree but do you say and then and then you know as soon as an assistant becomes a head coach he’s not sticking around the organization we we already know that he’s going backwards it’s you make a great point Leds because it’s always dicey when you take that job it’s the guy that takes the promotion mid-season drew Bannister does this with St louis you’re almost feeling like your clock is already ticking for to be expired but how do you say no to a chance to be a head coach here’s the example I’ll give you rick Bonis he waited 20 years to become a head coach it dropped into his lap he could have easily said no or let’s go do something else but he took it he was there for a year and a half yep couple then he became a head coach in Winnipeg so it can be this next step up to someplace else if you really want to be a head coach i think Rick Bonis really wanted to be a head coach and had waited 20 years for that opportunity so I don’t know it’s an interesting I don’t know what you would do i you you mentioned Misha Donskov i think he’s also a very wellthought of I mean you saw he was on the Hockey Canada staff um you mentioned Steve Spot jeff Merrick posted something that came across my Twitter feed yesterday and it’s part of his show i believe it’s called the sheet for daily faceoff and he was he did about a seven or eight minute clip what are you talking about again talking about Jeff Merrick no you’re talking about Steve Spot yes are you talking about Spotter i am oh you just wanted to see if Elijah would pop up the the Steve Spot laserized graphic or not yeah he’s testing the new guy he’s like I don’t even know where it is merrick made an interesting I don’t know there he is there we go i don’t know hikes if it was it had to have been intentional because he said it he he was making this statement and talking about the game five postgame and then the end of season media availability and he said you know as we all know that ultimately led to the demise of Pete Dbor and then he added and also Steve Spot that’s the thought process that they hit heard anything about it no I I asked and he said the coaching the assistants are coming back i remember when he you asked he may change that or maybe spotter will change it but like could it be that the new hireer changes that you know the the the guy they want comes in and says “I want so and so and so.” Do you believe that Pete’s going to get another head coaching oh of course so then the question becomes does Spotter want to stay here with a new head coach or does he want to go with his best buddy that he’s been with for the last whatever 12 15 years yeah and and maybe it’s down to the I’m with Pete except for I have a contract so I’m going to honor that if you say you’re no longer needed here they still get paid then right whereas if you say I’m I’m walking outre that probably breaks that deal so well and again I think it’s I don’t know anything i’m just speculating yeah we’re all speculating here but I’m saying from a coaching standpoint again do you feel you need that money or do you feel you want to be happy so then can you be happy here or would you be happier with wherever Pete goes and like you said they have been separated and you know and spotter will tell you that you know we it’s not like we’ve coached together every year for our whole lives no but it’s been a while now it’s been a while it’s been San Jose and Dallas that’s a better part of a decade so we’ll see i mean and again everything I know I think they’re both going to live in Vegas when they’re done so they’ll see plenty of each other as they go i think they spend the summer is Vegas their offseason spot i know Pete’s got a place up in Ontario they all have the cottage place right they all have the cottage place and Pete has a nice boat and I know that’s literally describing what Luds is going to be doing in about 3 weeks is up on the water up in be thinking about this conversation in three weeks do you have a Are you on the water up in Wisconsin we’re on chain of 28 lakes wow yeah largest freshwater chain in the world they say I don’t believe it but that’s what they say interesting nice place to spend the summer chain of lakes in Trevor City with um uh oh what’s it I can’t remember the name but it’s a one of the biggest lake one of the deepest inland lakes in the US 600 lakes no it’s inland Torch Lake Torch Lake 600 ft we have a Torch Lake it’s a casino lake casino we have casinos in Michigan too casino if only we could get one for Dallas uh stars we’re surrounded by casinos I want to go back to Dbor for a minute before we talk about You’re the only one that go wants to go back to the door apparently it’s my there’s two things one I want to say this pete’s an excellent coach my god he’s got an incredible resume he wins it’s not about him not being a good coach it’s it’s to me more about his expiration date or the the the answers that he had were for the stars solutions when he was hired or the problems and then new problems have come up and maybe it’s time for somebody else has a different set of solutions to be in the question I have to you guys is was that decision of does Pete stay or not for his final year for Jim Nil and and for Tom Galardi was it on the fence was it you know the obviously the Ager stuff kind of I think knocked it over but were they already leaning in that direction or do you think if if they had lost game five and he hadn’t said the things about Auter and then doubled down in the end of CD season media even though there’s other stuff building up which Jim basically said would that have not pushed him over the edge it would have depended on the exit interviews in my opinion because what would have because Jim said and we’ll we have to take him at his word i told these players to be honest with me and you know again there are players who aren’t even going to be here so like let’s say a Matt Duchain he I don’t think he has any problem being honest with Jim saying yeah I didn’t like this or I didn’t like that um the other interesting thing and this is just how life goes he didn’t give Lindy a contract extension that’s right so Lindy’s last year they were coming off after a really good year6 point season and he didn’t get the contract extension and he was not the same coach he was mad and so then the question becomes if Pete doesn’t get a contract extension is he mad right does it change how he coaches his fourth year and what’s your window how long do you have to win a Stanley Cup and if you’re going to mess this next year up how much of a punch in the gut is that to whatever you’re winning see that as a potential setback yes i So I I think there were other elements in there it would have depended on what the players told Jim and then two did he want to give him a two or three year contract extension did the owner say “Yeah I’m fine with that go ahead and spend my money.” And because I mean that’s what it would have been doing it would have been we’re going to bring this back we’re going to give him a two-year contract extension and then if we’re mad at the end of the year we’re going to have to pay two years off and not just one or just assume that he’s going to get another job how many coaches that are established coaches never or coached that last year without a contract very true not many well Hitch Hitch was fine with it he was the rare one but I do remember when when Lindy did it because Lindy was not that guy lindy believed that you needed to make him a priority it seems like the statement from ownership to management is basically saying we’re not sure if they want you or not then well I think that’s fair i or I think a lot of it might be and this is again it’s funny that Pete says to the players hey you got to earn your spot you got to earn your you gota so then if the co owner says to him hey you got to earn your contract extension he doesn’t really think that’s a good plan so we’ll see and again we’re all just assuming here that these are but it’s we’re searching for explanations and that might be one of did okay I can just see the wheels turning H you know I and I’m always not sure which direction you’re going to take us i’m never sure what direction I’m going but but the the point is is like Owen gave me this project the other day okay and he just said “Hey why don’t you pull some things about penalty killing in this series versus you know the other series something we want to talk about on the show this year something we want to talk about.” So I started looking yesterday and then four hours later I’m still looking and I’m getting more pissed off by the minute because I’m going there was no difference and this wasn’t just penalty killing there was no difference and I said this when they came I gave these guys credit when they came down this stretch of the year and lost seven or eight games in a row and I kept going “This isn’t like a light switch you don’t just turn it on and you’re going to automatically be different when you get into the series.” And then I said after one game I said “I was wrong.” Yeah they turned they turned it well you know what when I looked yesterday they didn’t turn anything because Jake was unbelievable okay the holes that that I see in I’m talking again dieszone things like that were there i told this morning I’m looking at this I’m going look at this three guys changing at the same time going off the ice when somebody’s coming down the ice and you ch So I’m to go back to what you originally asked about jim Nil’s been around since God’s a cowboy right i mean he’s been around for a long time jenko’s been he’s got he’s surrounded by that’s what those people are supposed to do i just think that they saw things in the first round and you got through the first round yes doesn’t matter how we got it we got there i think there were things that you got through the second round because the other dude couldn’t play on the road but and there were you know and again Jake was unbelievable and then when Ratnan started getting shut down a little bit you know he was obviously good it now them it pokes its head again yeah so I personally think that there were some other things prior to that and then everything that led that happened in that last thing was kind of like the top of it i mean it obviously when when those kind of things cuz I for Pete to talk about at the end of it to talk about the record of Jake and all this other kind of stuff that didn’t just come to him at in that interview well no but I mean it’s history all right hold that thought for a second because we’re we’re a little late let’s went on a lot longer than I thought up next wow more on this here on the DLS Stars podcast with every day because we come what’s up Stars fans it’s the off season so start stocking up enjoying the game should have been easy but let’s move on what to wear you know what to do throw on that rantin otter hey skinn throw your uh pizza jerseys in the sink and in the garage you’re not going to ever need those again not sure what to serve your friends that’s even easier pick up some pizza and grab some Bud Light and stock up the fridge i have these all these ones and these twos and Z’s here apparently I’m hitting buttons as I’m listening to you guys um because I know that’s not in the script see it’s that easy just like Bud Light which is always brewed with four simple ingredients for a clean crisp taste bud Light easy to drink easy to enjoy but remember do it responsibly as we all do up here annheiser Bush Bud Light St louis Missouri do you know what described audio is in Canada no they so they will actually tell you what’s going on like he John walks across the room and picks up a pencil and that seems like what they do for John that’s why we have a new producer all right now let’s talk about Wendy’s however if you love Wendy’s classic Frosty flavors we have some big news there are all new Frosty Swirl and Frosty Fusion flavors you can get in either chocolate or vanilla so it’s a the same creamy treat you’ve always loved now with a flavor refresh with what what are these new flavors well I’m glad you’re asking me that okay we’ve got the frosty swirl strawberry brownie batter and caramel or caramel if you prefer less caramel then we’ve got the thoroughly blended and mixed frosty fusions oreo brownie caramel crunch and pop caramel crunch and pop-tart strawberry not to mention that yes you can still get vanilla so try them to find your favorite are you going to be a strawberry swirl fan are you going to go with caramel craze brownie batter Pop-Tarts you name it they’re all there anyway whatever flavor you’re craving odds are we’ve got a Frosty for it so clock in your a for a sweet treat anytime including midnight or later with Wendy’s allnew Frosty FL flavors a refresh on a classic got to be Wendy’s at participating US Wendy’s hours may vary by location okay we’re here with Hikes and Luds i had to cut you off because we were getting very late for our ad break but go ahead and steer that back to the direction of the things that were that you were watching and getting upset about as it pertains to Okay well then let’s add in the comment that the owner Tom Galardi had made about going from an offense we were this kind of team now we’re more of an offensive team we need to get back to being a playoff kind of team so that well that to me doesn’t just fall on the head coach that falls on a general manager too right i mean he’s the one that buys the groceries apparently so I just think did they ever do that no and again we were a team that can win in the play or in the regular season playing a certain way anytime that you play against I say this these guys get sick of hearing this you play the same team every other night for 14 days you figure things out i figure out who pushes people out of the battle who can be pushed out who can’t be pushed out all those little kind of things and then there was a comment that Pete made earlier in the season about you know we got to get bigger down the walls and all that kind of stuff right so I don’t know if there were really any adjust adjustments made going into the playoffs because like I said as I’m watching that game and I’m seeing the holes in the middle of the ice and and guys are over here and guys are it’s so spread out in our own zone at times and I keep going back oh my god was Jake was great you know and again there were there were actually goals there were a couple I went he needed to make that save but there’s some that he should have never been put in that situation so you bring in a new coach whoever it’s going to be is there going to be a new team or different I mean there’s going to be different players here right you don’t roll this back yeah no well and I don’t mean to say like this is a bad team but if you want to get an identity that can get you past this stumbling block you got to bring in some different you know characters well okay let’s go back to last season they changed a bunch of that team so you’ve got Cody Cece you’ve got Labouchkin you’ve got Bishell you’ve got I mean like you almost changed the entire blue line and then uh Mirror was out for half the year so that changed it with Thomas changing who he was so you got that then you took little Elfin uh Winger and you bring in the Moose so does that change things you know so but but the when you mentioned Leouchkin and you know you mentioned th those guys and and Dumba and Cece are they were they heavy did did we get harder to play against they did but clearly those guys weren’t i think Cody Cece is a big burly player the thought process was that uh Leouchkin is a good defensive defenseman who will win battles in the corner i mean on the scouting report now because guys are big doesn’t mean they’re hard to play against i agree look at Essa i mean he’s a smart guy i don’t think he’s hard to play against i don’t think he Well he’s he defends guy it’s hard for an offensive guy to find space and he got tired yes he did he got tired and it’s just like Mero last year and again if you want to talk about Pete I think the fact that he played five defenseman for the first two rounds of the playoffs is something that stuck in Jim Nil’s craw because the guy he was scratching was a guy that Jim Nil gave a first round pickup so there’s I mean there’s all sorts of different parts working here to your argument if that is true then why wouldn’t they change the assistance and maybe they still will we’ll see I guess yeah it would be interesting in that regard of do you give I said this on our show on Friday typically when you hire a head coach you at least give them one assistant if not more because you have to have somebody on your staff that you can trust completely not saying that the guys that are there now are not trustworthy it’s just that you don’t know and and look those guys are professionals i’m not saying that any of the guys that are on this our staff aren’t you can’t be trusted but why Pete Dbor has Steve spot because he inherently knows that he has his back in every facet of the way and knows that you know and there’s package deals all over the NHL this guy always brings it because you know that they’re not gunning for your job correct and if you have any issues they will try to help you not try to undercut you so that’s under money what did they do right he got John Stevens john Stevens the guy he wanted they brought Rick Bonis in to work with Rick Bonis was ahead so Rick Bonis was the the Jim Nilhire to overlook Monty because he’d done it with John Cooper and Yeah and give him help and he coached he’d helped coach a young coach and now Monty’s like “Well yeah but what about my guy what I you know I want some I want my guy.” Wasn’t Was that when Stevens was the second year stu was Stu Barnes still there he may have been and when did he leave and then they brought Stevens in is that how that went i think the whole process was they were going to bring Stevenson no matter what it’s going to find a way all these coaches have how many years left uh one all of them have just one has won they were all tied to Pete now Jeff Reese has transcended coaches i don’t think that’s a big deal jeffree should not I mean that’s Frasier Crane he should he should be as long as ever yeah and he should be there as long as he wants i just wonder is there is there something about financially for you’re bringing in possibly this guy and those guys all stay if they all get booted their contracts go with them they get paid you got to bring in another three four guys get paid and continue to pay them the interesting thing about coaches is if they get a new job then you don’t have to continue to pay that’s right so then the thought process is without going with Pete are they going to get another job so I I agree with all that but then I so if I’m a guy who has that kind of money and I’m paying 90 million for my payroll you’re saying I can’t pay an extra 4 million three million for my coaching for alone no no I know but yeah another five six million well I’m just I’m just saying if you make a great point because there’s no salary cap on coaching salaries there’s no salary cap on what you spend for your practice facility where you stay i mean there’s a there’s a CBA mandate on hotels but you can there’s a difference right they weren’t the players complaining in Arizona about what hotels they were at versus some of the other and Ryan Smith the Utah owner was like “That’s not a problem.” Yeah right i know that Bill Foley in Vegas has weaponized the non-cap expenditures saying “We’re going to do everything we can to set ourselves up to win.” Why wouldn’t an owner do that i would think and have you heard about Florida florida basically stays overnight everywhere it goes which we don’t do which I don’t think a lot of teams do for performance purposes well that’s what their thought process is and then what are we talking 40 50 hotel rooms or whatever because everybody gets their own now and this is at a fivestar hotel so as when you add that up at the end of the season I’m guessing that’s a fairly large chunk of change does this mean that if this coaching staff with the exception of Pete come back what are they changing are they not going to play the same system and everything no I would think they would if it is well I guess it depends on the coach and that you go through the process and when you’re interviewing the guy saying “Are you okay with these assistants what is your style of play before they hire the guy?” I think you have to Well you made the comment on you said that it may not the style of play for the team i mean if Lane is going to be the head coach it might not be his system right i’m Well I mean if he’s been doing it for the last few years and but is that Do you think he’s been disagreeing with the head coach for three years and saying “Man we can’t play this way.” Or is it is it doing it the way the head coach wants and then fine-tuning it forward but he’s gonna be the head coach now and I mean Yeah yeah no okay let’s go back to let’s go back to Bonis he ran what I considered a much more defensive system i agree than uh Monty did so he took over the same people were there a couple of new and they got even more conservative and they got even more conservative so again as a head coach I think you can push buttons within the framework of what you’re doing see the conservative system doesn’t for me shouldn’t cut back on what you do offensively it’s just a a difference in coverage in your own zone so you don’t leave as much open space open that’s the only thing for me i mean you that’s not that should not affect how you’re going up the ice and doing what you do you’re just going to be a little bit more difficult to play against in front of your goalender and and there’s more number i mean just watch the way the two teams that are playing right now right not a lot of space out there and yeah they’re they’re great teams and a good play but they’ve all bought into it and they all go to certain areas and they make sure that there’s more numbers here to protect their goalie and with great players of course they’re going to get their chances but it’s not like being out in Wyoming in a desert or you know what I mean like where there’s all this open space to roam around well your team is the best example to me because we we’ve talked about it 100 times mike Madano was the most skilled player on the team yet he bought into the defensive system and that changed everything yeah and then now as a team you’re much different than Colorado because Colorado’s free willing and they’re all over the place and you guys are beating them because you’re making the right defensive play and you’re not giving up all the off yeah and you and ultimately when you play again you play somebody for 14 days possibly yeah you frustrate them and it gets to be frustrating and then what happens and what’s frustrating though that team will take a couple extra chances because we got to do this and then when they take the chances and like with our team we had guys that could hurt you they only need one or two chances to go down to the other end it just seemed and we’re seeing a that go on right now i mean as much as they have some offensive things there they’re all hard to play against in their home zones i mean they’re they’re difficult to play against and I’ll give you another interesting example and this will lead back to Neil Graham chris Knobblock came in and made that a much better defensive team in a year like in one year it’s just amazing yeah and I don’t think he really changed assistance there did he he tight things are tighter oh I know but whatever he brought in like just watching them you’re like “Oh my gosh that’s And you know what had to happen there Mike two guys especially had to buy in.” Yeah and say “Look we’re not going to win unless we do it this way.” And they did knoblock i I didn’t know a lot about him prior to that but he did have not just a history with Conor McDavid but he had a history of being pretty successful with Hartford the Rangers AHL affiliate for a number of years so he had a lot of head coaching experience it wasn’t like they plucked him out of completely nowhere he just didn’t have the NHL experience of a guy going through the second or third or fourth hire or something like that and Neil Graham we’ll go right back to it i mean he’s been in Texas for seven years yep so and seven years in Utah before that or wherever they were Idaho yeah he was with the Steelheads before that so uh let’s talk more about this we got a lot more to get to we’ll run out of topics very or sorry we’ll run out of time way before we run out of topics with Mike Hikah here on the DLS Stars podcast mike you’re going to see that there’s some kind of theme to the things I have to read rugged Road is dedicated to creating innovative and durable outdoor gear for adventurers who demand the best our products are designed with the highest quality materials and craftsmanship ensuring they perform in the toughest conditions whether you’re on land or water rugged road gear is built to accompany you on every adventure crafted to handle the toughest environments their coolers are built to last their coolers that is are built to last mike you hear we’re talking about coolers now ensuring you putting coolers light coolers figure that one out how do I get these two ensuring they can keep up with any adventure perfect for a variety of outdoor activities from fishing and tubing camping tailgating the coolers are designed to meet the needs of every outdoor or sports enthusiast so gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road coolers reliable durable and built to be used rugged Road is your ultimate outdoor companion head to ruggedroadoutdoors.com and use code DLLS for 10% off all right Luds let’s talk about Empire Today just like your favorite team needs a home ice advantage your home needs a home floor advantage and Empire Today can help you get it empire Today has flooring experts detailed flooring professionals who focus on flooring every single day we’ve all been to those big box stores you wander endless aisles then somehow you’re hauling all these materials home looking for an installer and coordinating everything yourself those big box stores might have a flooring department but the person helping you with flooring may have been doing sinks yesterday and could be stocking light bulbs tomorrow why is Empire today your best bet for a new floor well it’s simple because they live and breathe flooring and they will be with you every step of the way so it’s a whole new ball game their flooring experts bring the showroom right to your home you pick the right flooring the right colors for your space see how your furniture in your house looks and get precise measurements plus getting clear upfront and inclusive pricing so that you know exactly what you’re getting and you can schedule installation as soon as the next day cuz nobody likes to wait schedule a free in-home estimate today because some things are just better at home dlls DLLS listeners can receive a $350 discount when using the promo code DLLS yes you heard that right a $350 discount at D with code DLS restrictions apply visit Empire today DLLS for details pretty sure I added an extra L or two in there but we do that sometimes okay I have a Twitter question from this morning that I wanted to throw at LDS because I think it will lead to the general roster conversation you guys started having patrick says “If the cap wasn’t an issue which defenseman would Luds add to the roster and why?” Two-part question because then he wants to know if the Stars are truly shopping robo which he refuses to believe what are you looking for in return to bolster the roster right now he said “Rade Robo for Morit Cider one for one there’s no way Detroit is going to get rid of Morit Cider.” And then he added “Would LS be willing to play come play in my beer league sometime Friday nights at Parks Mall?” And then says “Loves the show guys keep up the great work sorry to see John go and that is not a shot at Elijah parks Mall is that the one out halfway to Kingdom yeah I think it’s on 20 yeah well if you got a helicopter I’m in uh so who would I if you could add a defenseman without worrying about salary cap available defenseman or just like I think probably available not just say can you go get Victor hat what about Keandre Miller saw his name yesterday yeah provar Orlav I do like Heg now they’re all left-handed okay yokihara or Haru yeah Yiharu is right-handed he’s He’s the only righty of all them all the rest are lefties right now we have four lefties and I I mean again I’m looking at Bishop Essa Harley Mural right so are we looking for two or are one of the new three going to still be here what’s your thought um well I think in my opinion I just I don’t know why I like the guy so much but I think Nils Lungquist needs to be in that mix he’s right-handed i think he’s bulked up if he’s healthy I think he learned a lot last year he’s what 24 23 he looked like he was taking a step forward before he got hurt okay so nothing against Nils did we just get harder to play against no okay but you got Do we need to get harder to play against well it’s an interesting question can you use forwards to do that what can you use fourth line forwards we already have forwards that play in front of our goalender and we got we got defenseman that are playing out of the tops of the circles that is part of how they do things okay so um but again you’re I mean yeah what about Seth Jones can we get You know what the funny thing is i did have conversations before that all went down i know and it you know it wasn’t doable it I mean that’s the fact i mean it I mean I hear it wasn’t doable so Yeah right exactly and you see how if you were able to and again I had Seth as a kid right i didn’t have him as a kid that’s not what I meant by that amy you said it i’m talking about anything there Amy i’m just You guys know what I mean so I always put myself off track he does elijah’s gonna clip that for later seth yeah so John would already have that out there in the universe have a drop ready um so when Seth was playing in Chicago he was not that big strong physical guy you have to be surrounded by those kind of guys because they drag you into the fight so that’s my thing about what’s going to be the makeup if we want to be a realistic hard to play against kind of team will some of the guys we know Bishop will right bishop that’s who he has to be i don’t know and when you talk about ESSA is not a guy that puts the fear of God in you he he defends well and but and neither does Mirill neither does Harley so Niels is not going to do that i’m just wondering can we find a guy or two out there that are right-handed that can come in and help you in that neighborhood and I do think that it doesn’t have to be individually strong you got to be team strong and so there needs to be five guys in there that you have to get through instead of being out here and out here which I go back to that whole dilemma do you think that defending in front of the net is more important than denying entries into the zone like the Stars do with their system yeah the problem is yeah they suppress entries right off the bat but as soon as there’s any kind of puck time you’re gone you’re done so I I’m more Look at McDavid i mean even what Florida’s doing to McDavid again not a bad play the other night so he can do those kind of things but for the most part you know look at look at the let’s let’s talk about the players that are effective for on both sides bennett Marian Perry now then you can add in three or four guys for Edmonton right that are kind of those kind of guys so they’re they’re creating battles there and where and again I I know that they’re having a problem with Bennett in front of Edmonton’s net a little bit well that’s because they meet Bennett at the net if Eklag or whoever it is not he wouldn’t do it because he’s on the same team but if it was if it was Nurse or Kulak or somebody like that if they will meet him five feet away from the net and slow his progress down you were going for Echol yeah echome that’s echol so he won’t he won’t get to the front of the net by the time the puck gets there so there’s things that you can do like if and again Elaine was a defenseman maybe maybe Elaine can teach that part of the game because if you can slow their progress down before they get there meet them if you could put five to six feet out in front of the crease okay put that out there and that’s where you start to meet them now by the time the puck gets there you’ve pushed him away from being where Bennett likes to be where Per likes Perry likes to be all those kind of We don’t do that we go to the front of the net we go “Come on in here and then we’ll we’ll figure it out from there.” I’m sorry it doesn’t work well it’s interesting and this is just you know it’s just sticks in your head they have spent what 20 30 seconds in their own zone hundreds of times this year where they get stuck in there and they can’t get the puck out and I always wondered why is that there’s no numbers it’s one-on-one all over the place okay if you have numbers you’re right because defenseman rotate out to the point to find did we not see Sam Steel and Brendan Smith collide this year because they’re staring at their guys that was Brendan Smith by the way is a defenseman yeah I know he can play forward but at that particular game he was a defenseman that collision helped out or happened on the on the outside of the tops of the circle because they were both looking back at their own guys their coverage and they ran into each other so and you look at a couple of the goals and people are wonder why do you go over by Conor McDavid way over there in corn why did you go over to Dry Cidle way over there it’s one thing to go over there and then you don’t do anything and then they just beat you back to the front of the net and there’s this big hole in front of the net because our two forwards that are killing penalties are at the tops of the circles they’re You watch these other teams that are killing penalties they’re they’re in shot lanes everywhere and they make it difficult to get to the front of the net as much as they can but until that last round they had a 90% penalty kill is that because of Jake that I was just gonna say I just got done telling you who was the penalty killer and in the first round I think seems to me it was number 29 or whatever the hell that McKinnon’s number is that was doing all the scoring on the power play yeah and and a couple of them should have been saved but when you look at the power play setup for the ABS it was like this it’s not in here it was all perimeter kind of stuff winnipeg the same thing winnipeg was a little different i mean Winnipeg as far as their power play you’re talking about yeah well no they had a couple more guys in front of the net and they were coming off the goal line they saw something they saw the coverage and you know when that actually paid off was it Eers that came off the goal line and and scored that one goal it was Eers because uh Kyle Connor kept doing it and Jake had him that was on a five on three I think yeah but but that was getting shut down and so they made adjustment the adjustment word they made an adjustment to the coverage and so then it ultimately paid off so did I just talk through that whole segment no you’re good i tell you no no elijah’s just messing with things the numbers I give you i bought you a lot of time Elijah we have a super chat to play so I was waiting for him to hit the bing bong but he was I told him we need to make the screen big enough so I could read said bing bong go ahead Elijah pop up that super chat because this has to do with our conversation bing bong uh the speaker’s got to be a little louder this is burned oils with a Lquist and year after the cup just like Sharks of 2010 through 2019 pretty boy team looks so good always complimented finished so high three Western Conference Finals it’s so funny but no compete and no contest in the playoffs elijah must have worked at uh one of them optometrist places where they was testing your eyesight there and as you were stuttering one or number two i don’t think anyone can see all that good it was pretty small uh do you think that the comparison to the San Jose Sharks teams that were good but didn’t get over the hump is fair compared to what you look at with this Star team they’re not alone i mean yeah Vancouver Ottawa they had teams that were right there and again what’s the missing ingredient now you can go back and say this team had this or this team had that i get it and I get the fact that there are fans who hate the fact that this is a soft team but they are i mean that’s it’s funny when we ask Pete and Pete says “Well we just we’re not that team.” And then we asked Jim same thing he goes “Well we’re not that team we need to score a power play goal to to make this team back down.” And that’s who we are and that’s who we’re built as so you got to make your choices on what you are it’s really hard carolina they’re not what you would call a good grinding team but and they’ve gotten close but they haven’t gotten over the top uh Edmonton wasn’t that team are they now what did they add to become that team because somebody there said “This isn’t good enough we got to change we have to change our identities and their two or three guys said “You know what i’m tired of this i’m going to drag this team over the finish line and we’ll see if they do it.” So yeah but I think they I mean like I mentioned earlier they added some they did they added you know I mean that’s just Trent Fedick Perry you know Coulson Kane like all there’s there’s they’re hard to play against now and you’re going into a fight and they’re going to push you out of that fight or and both teams are kind of built like that both team they’re both I hope this thing goes seven games i hate it that there’s going to be I think is it after game four there’s only one day in between or is it after No it’s after game four maybe it is there’s a It’s on a travel day because I kept thinking to myself well you know what if if somehow Edmonton comes out of this they’re going to have the advantage when this because there’s only one day in between travel between game four and five one day I should say one day off and they play a game that’s true yes so they I know and all the other ones have two days in between and I’m thinking well that’s kind of ridiculous but it’s probably because of building availability but anyway I just think whoever if if it’s Edmonton if it’s Edmonton they even if it’s not Edmonton’s down I believe they have an advantage coming back off of that it’s six hours somebody said it’s travel back to Edmonton for Florida it’s a disadvantage too so I think Florida has to come out of this even if they have a a a three to one lead I think Edmonton wins that next one and then whatever happens there i’m just saying that that travel and that that game but again I just go back to way these teams are playing against each other it’s awesome i want him to have as much rest it’s so entertaining it’s and it’s what playoff hockey should be it’s funny you say that because when the schedule first came out and I saw the three days between games I was annoyed because I didn’t want to wait that long but after watching game one and two you went give them as much time as you want because I want them to be see that again and remember Finland how annoyed we both were oh he’s got he’s not ready for the Finland drop he’s he’s new on this for these drops ls LS was ready to go i said ready for him now jumped up but uh Hikes we were complaining here that they played a backtoback when they were there a week because it affected the product for the This is an entertainment business that second game should have been two days it should have been better so that both teams could reload and go back at it i agree 100% that was I didn’t understand it all but you’re right and I I do think if you’re going to be getting to this point in the Stanley Cup playoffs you want them to be fresh one of the things that always annoyed me was the Sunday afternoon whatever NHL national game and the teams would have played on Saturday night yeah and you’re like you’re getting backup goalies in your national broadcast and you’re like does the league not understand this you know the coaches are going to do what the coaches can do to win they don’t care what the product is as far as entertainment value so you need if you’re going to showcase your games then you need to make your make it easy for the coaches to play their best players so let’s let’s I want to talk about what who’s going to go to make room for what you need to bring in forget about who you’re bringing in who can be moved well contracts will say a lot of that so one can you afford Matt Duchaine because that’s kind of up to Matt Duchain isn’t it it is a little bit but he also wants tenure so then they’re like okay would he come back at three would he come back at four if he comes back at three does he need three years of three and then so then that becomes an issue then you know all the other ones i mean I think you have to get rid of Granlin and Cece if they’re both three or four million players i mean at this time if you don’t trade Robertson you got basically what $5 million five million just under for six plays well you got to figure out some way to dumb money on either yeah and I do think that’s potential but then the the irony is the best way to get rid of Matt Dumba is to make him the rider on the Jason Robertson trade so then you trade Jason Robertson his 7 million does that affect what you get in return because you put that on there yeah because I mean like if you were to try and get buy out Dumba cost you money so isn’t this better than buying him out boy I think that’s a mistake to get rid of Robo like that i They wouldn’t be thinking you have to get rid of Robo you have to get rid of somebody to create space yes yeah and this is the lesser of three or four evils right what about Mason Marchman i’d be fine with that but again you want him to be tougher right so you know what i don’t necessarily think that that like I don’t know if he actually makes you tougher i I don’t you do you think he makes it i I don’t I’m going to respond to you in just a minute here on the DLS start all I know is I’m done i don’t have to read anything can we talk about beer let’s talk about being a DLLS dieard in a bunch of different ways first and foremost let’s talk about their newsletter it is free all you have to do is go to the alldls.com website go to the bottom scroll down type in your email hit hit submit and you will get the DLLS newsletter daily to your email address for free you don’t have to sign up for anything else piece of cake but you can scan the QR code right below Hikah there if you see that that’ll take you to our website and to our Die Hard page and there are so many things that benefit you for signing up to be a DLLS Die Hard let’s start with the Vegas trip that’s right our uh LS calls him a traitor our former producer now on the Cowboys show is headed to Vegas with the Cowboys podcast November 15th through the 18th for a Monday night football encounter between the Cowboys and the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiance Stadium there is a hotel accommodations with Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino travel meetups all sorts of fun you don’t have to be just from DFW to do it all of that is going to be a great trip we are immediately started berating our boss to try to get a stars trip to Vegas or anywhere frankly i mean I think I think LSDs would be okay going to Edmonton in the middle of the winter time or maybe not i don’t know um then check out our DLS website for the mock draft that Charlie O’Connor from our Philadelphia site PHLY he put up last week goes through a mock draft of the entire first round so if you want to see what Charlie has cooking for that go to our website for that and let’s talk about t-shirts i happen to be wearing the just received Wyatt Johnston 16bit you get a free t-shirt with your first year of your annual subscription for signing up to be a diehard there’s the Wyatt shirt there’s the Mo finisher you also have others like the Moose and the Captain yes we know Jamie doesn’t wear a visor but it’d be weird to have captain written across his face you also have the Finnish mafia shirt and which was my absolute favorite and I still like it but that Otter shirt that new one is also really good looking so sign up today get a free shirt of your cho choosing when you sign up for your first year at alldls.com all right guys let’s talk about roster i agree with you Luds when you asked me about Mason Marshman there is some toughness to his game but it’s not especially in this playoff run I felt like it was a bit of a struggle for him because he got caught up in the reputation that he has with the referees and that seemed to be a distraction i think if Mason Marchment was playing in Florida right now he would be exactly what they are they would drag him into play now you think he would absorb their shot i think I think what Marchman is now is a product of the way that this team plays east west and I think he does a lot of this and I think he and he’s he I mean he can pass the puck and he can make these nice plays but but I I I don’t want I don’t want him to lose that but I would want him to add some of that he needs to be more of that guy to play against because again that’s the way I feel about Marchman i want to switch to and this isn’t really switching because the guy that I think the Let’s talk about Jaime Ben it’s a good question what’s your thoughts on Jaime Ben i don’t know um just forget about coming back or not coming back can Jaime Ben come back the way he should or do you think that Well I’ll and I don’t want to say should you know what we’re talking about i’ll throw out a name from the past and he wasn’t the captain but Kirk Mueller like here’s a guy who went and became a fourth line a really good fourth line player who was a sixtime all-star game participant like he was top of the world and he really changed his game to fit in with what Dallas needed now should Jaime do that or you know I it’s really hard because I don’t like the other it’s funny so we talk about Mason and his reputation like I don’t think Jaime was going to answer Darnell Nurse or anybody like that because of what he did with uh Stone he couldn’t because if he would he’d get suspended and then you know then you’re like okay he’s gunshy yeah can Jaime do what Jaime did before can he sit on a player and laugh at him and I don’t know that he can anymore so that is a hard thing and that happens to everybody i mean you know Mike lost a step and then he wasn’t Mike anymore and so then how do you fit in if you’re that guy so I don’t know and again a lot of it comes down I will say this that the whole Mike thing with with Joe Newandike they never should have moved him like now the problem with that is so Noitzky did it with the Mavericks and they were terrible for two years so now are you willing to carry a very important guy who can’t do what he used to do and that that affects your ability to win games like if you’re terrible that’s one thing if you’re not and you really want to win I don’t know what you did see I don’t know how with the roster that’s here i I look at this roster and go for me just from what I’ve seen throughout the course of the year year and a half two year whatever it may be I think of like who could fit in to Florida’s team and into Edmonton’s team the way that they both played the way that we’re talking about you know who I come up with sam Steel and Colin Blackwell that’s who I come up with i none of the guys that are the foundation or players whatever are like that so what does that mean i mean again when go back to Tom Glardy want to be a playoff how do you revamp this lineup you’d have to make some how do you do it relative if you want to Well that’s the interesting thing can you add one in the back and one in the front is that enough well you got to add six probably and I mean that’s how many you got i mean you have Bishell back there and I think Bishell’s going to take another step yes I agree right so can you get another defense jacob again I was on a Jacob Trouba train earlier you know and again can Kandra again I know that you know he left you but can you add one of them kind of Eblad he’s he’s out there and you brought him up he’s not going anywhere exactly he’s going to take two million to stay there my Let me ask you this in that that theme we’ve saw this before with Jim Nil and Tom Galardi and I wonder if there is a contrast in vision and belief of the way forward from those two but they do coexist of course and usually pretty successfully because in the team that Jim built with Lindy Ruff in as Mike was talking about that 1516 team they were a high-flying high-powered offensive style that was one of the best teams in the NHL and if they had the goalending in the playoffs that they generally got in the regular season they might have won the Stanley Cup y I argued that if Ben Bishop was on that 2016 playoff team they would have beaten St louis and then I think they would have stormed past the Sharks and what was it penguins in the final I think in 2016 um the path was easier back then i they could have done it but then the argument was and Galardi was a big part in I think in getting Hitch to come back was we have to get tougher to play against we got to play better defensively and they turned and went a different way they lost some of their offensive flare but they became a grittier defensive style team until this kind of shift again with they brought in Dbor and they went out got Duchine Wyatt Johnson emerged you get a couple of new bodies and so is it a product of the players available at the time or is it nil saying I want to be a more dynamic offensive style and Galardi kind of saying let’s play grittier old school hockey and they’re kind of pulling the tug of rope back each way what do you guys think about that who are the last five teams to win Stanley Cups florida is St louis in there tampa Bay in there vegas is in there who am I austin maybe a few years back uh no cuz they didn’t win until 11 okay well but even when you bring upice when you bring up those teams you think of that kind of I mean St louis won by playing that kind of a game yeah they had good they got good goalending at the right time and other things but but they were plow ahead kind of teams we’re going to push you out of the fight and I just And again is that where Tom Galardi was going with his comments maybe i I I don’t know how much say Tom has in all this i don’t forget Colorado one thank you to the chat there you go uh but and even Mo said that they were a different team than they are now uh when he was he goes the team that we won with is more like our team which again he’s going to say that because he’s on the and I don’t think I put I don’t put that Colorado team in there like that no they’re not that right they’re not that kind of team so one out of five or whatever it is was able to and again I think they Jim is always trying to walk the line of balance and to do both yes and so that’s when he flipped from Lindy he used Hitch to get them more defensive then when Pete came in Pete said “I want to take chances.” I mean you look like the fact that Pete loves um oh god it’s a Russian forward uh my own brother oh Donov yeah Donov uh is interesting because if you watch him he’s a cheating guy they have like he leans toward cheating and then Pete loves him so then you’re like that’s an interesting message to send to your team that you didn’t love him enough to dress them in the last Well but again that was because those were the final buttons of your two guys too that you wanted all three of them in whether that well whoever they played on the fourth line were they playing well Jamie ultimately went down yeah down to the fourth line but Beck and Blackwell and Steel and those guys when they played together they were they had an impact so I it’s really hard to find that mix and then the other thing is is that okay if they win game three or game whatever when they’re one you know one shot one goal off then does that change oh look we got to the Stanley Cup final so we’re doing everything right and we’re bringing Pete back and everything’s great and so I think in my opinion Jim resists the urge to say none of this works that we need to change everything i think he thinks of tweaking now how do you tweak and again we’re all out here saying “Trade this guy get rid of this guy it’s not that easy.” No you know and again it’s Are you thinking that they’re thinking about minor tweaks versus major overhaul well I think there’s because that because of what Led said it’s not that easy there’s six players or five players you almost have to change right because of money right there’s only so many spots available now you go back to you got Mo you got Wyatt you’ve got uh Sean you’ve got Roe you’ve got Robertson is there robertson you’ve got um under deal we’ll see about Robertson well yeah but he’s still under contract right he’s still under contract but now you’ve got those guys in the core now you’ve got Miro now you’ve got uh Harley now you’ve got ESSA potentially if Jim likes him you’ve got no funquiz so now okay that’s kind of the core of your team so how do you change that with the perimeter players how how did Robo fall out of favor because I I didn’t hear any favors ago i think that it just seemed like all of a sudden Robo I think this idea came about online because he is do a new contract extension and you just paid a ton of money for ranting it but I don’t think that’s to me that’s the case honestly with what Robo showed at the last three games of the playoffs once he started to get the confidence going I went you don’t take that away and he’s a top 15 scorer in the league in his career during that stretch you don’t get rid of those guys the the thing that you have to have players that my opinion when when players can’t or aren’t scoring they have to be able to do something also they can’t just be a scorer you have to be able to contribute another way you have to show that you’re pissed off that they can’t score so you have to do certain things and so it’s like if it’s like with Robo if you’re not scoring I’m not I do think he’s gotten better yeah defensive and and winning puck battles and things of that nature but he’s not going to be ever be that guy he doesn’t have that makeup but I look at Tyler and I think Tyler’s really become a better all-around player over his career now he’s making nine million so that doesn’t help but I mean I think Robo’s doing that i keep going back to Mo like there is no way Colorado wanted to get rid of Miko Ranton but he needed a new contract well that he might leave they got the negotiation wrong now so Robo is a restricted free agent so you could technically push this and then trade him next summer they could resign him and then do something well not resign him I think but they could do it either way yeah right yeah depending and I mean they could Hold that thought for one second i want to keep this going we’ll do a few minutes of overtime next well I’d like to thank our television viewers today don’t forget to like and subscribe check out alldls.com okay so so my point on all this is last contract it wasn’t easy for Jim i think Jim likes the Wyatt Johnson and the the uh uh Jay Gotengers who just boom okay we’re done i want to be here whatever you think the right money is well they also got a lot of money for him well okay wyatt was decent money jake got huge money same with Miro same with Roe lots of money but it wasn’t hard robo got 7.7 and it was hard yeah so then what does he want now and I think that was the same tone with Mo in Colorado he wanted 13 and they’re like well we can’t do 13 and then from everything we heard Mo’s agent was very firm yes and so then he’s giving that message to the team look you pony up or else we’re leaving and I don’t want to put words into Robertson’s mouth but the last one was hard i don’t think Jim thinks this next one’s going to be easy so the difference is is that they were facing UFA versus RFA correct and I think that gives him a little bit less concern of we might Do you think that Robertson and his camp is any different do you think they look at RFA versus UFA because he held out last time i I don’t know the answer to that because I don’t know what that other than hearing that it’s hard i don’t know exactly how that is cuz not all of them are going to be easy i think it’s hard speaking of Robo it’s hard to give up on a 40 goal scorer 35 i agree 100% but I think that if you’re you keep on trying to play him with Mo and Hints for instance right i think if you played him with a Evander Kane or a Josh Josh Anderson or Wilson I think you play him with guys that can create space for him and they go in and all of a sudden pucks come to a guy and all of a sudden there’s two guys pinned up against the boards and one guy’s laying over here you can take advantage instead of trying to put Robo that that’s just my thing i I just think could you put him with Wyatt and then a bigger stronger winger on the right side yeah I I think if you do that then maybe Robo can be take advantage of things more well let me back it up to the center depth for a minute are you and now he’s not signed but are you content with your center depth being hints Duchain Johnston Steel i will just say if Matt Duchain decides that he’s not getting enough money here that he wants I’m okay and and I think now gives you an opportunity to Why well because I again he f he is another one of them guys that plays east west we have all these players that play east west and I’m trying to find some north south play to the game to be harder to play against and I I I think Matt Duchain had a great year i think it great since he’s gotten here but that that line Marchman Duchain Sean is the identity of why we’re not going to the finals better lines in the regular season but in the playoffs it didn’t there’s no space two years of Matthew Shane being like so 1.0 points per game during the regular season 2.25 25 or something like I mean it’s a huge fall okay so if you just decide and and and I like Duchain a ton i do too great let’s just say you say okay we don’t have the money we’re going to do it elsewhere we’re going to use this hence Johnston Steel Beck is that you’re okay with that well who’s played well in in the just got to the Western Conference you’re talking about Justin Movian yeah but see now my thing is we’re plugging in a younger player again right i want if you’re that close of knocking on the door go find that guy are you do that well to do that you’re not getting him unless you want to pay 8 million you go find the other You ain’t getting him the other guy who’s getting close to needing a new contract and wants to be Matt Duchaine wants to play on a team that has a chance to win the championship and whether that’s just to win the championship or to get to his next contract take advantage of that if you can find that guy that’s why it’s funny i always talk to James i think pro scouts are the thing that gets overlooked more than anybody because we always talk about the amateur scouts and amateur scouts and you’re drafting five guys and they’re not ready for five years give me great pro scout go find a guy who can make it we’re going to do a we’re going to cover the first round here Mike if you’d like to stop by we love to have you help us we’re doing the entire Vern Fiddler will be tuned into the first round that’ll be put Vern Fiddler in the middle of and put Robo on the wing hey I’ll give you one all right are you ready for this curtis McKenzie he’s 33 34 would he make would he be one guy who could play on your fourth line who could jump up on the power play like when you watch him in the AHL and it’s not that much lower than the NHL and he is a really good AHL player at his age i don’t know is that somebody you could bring in i don’t I don’t think it fits it doesn’t fit Pete’s ident oh well maybe i don’t know it’s always a possibility the big thing I wonder with Curtis now is because he’s in his 30s would this would it be the speed of the game yeah at the NHL level because he’s he’s a really effective age but Alex Tuck you’ve been talking about him for a year now i know but but again he’s not really driving he’s not the Tom Wilson kind of guy I’m talking about but he’s a little bit more very rare Tom Wilson’s out yeah I know i’m I’m I kind of go for the high Well like Okay so Steve O was he that he wasn’t good as Tom Wilson was no he wasn’t uh uh Brousel he wasn’t good at that but it’s really hard to get Tom Wilson this is a way better player than he gets credit for along well and again you can play with a great player and you can add and be physical yeah and I’m not saying it’s got to be a centerman i I’m saying it can be the winger on the other side i mean who’s ever out there that because what you ultimately are when you’re that kind of player playing against enough of those guys back in the day you’re always wondering where they are correct and your focus is not necessarily on the guy it probably should be sometimes because my focus has changed a little bit because okay I chopped that guy so I know that this guy’s coming for me at one time or another so now all of a sudden that’s what I mean by creating a little space for that kind of guy it’s a it’s a great position to have and even back in the day when was here they’d play him on the top line i thought he was great rousell would play on the top line i think again it’s hard to find that guy i wouldn’t I I’d take the captain of Winnipeg okay really let’s go do that take Lowry mhm yep interesting i would take him let me ask you this before we I mean we’re already out of time but we’re enjoying our overtime here mike’s not He’s not getting I’m good i got four hours on my car down in the parking lot it’s only like 350 three $345 or something when in the Was it if it was the regular season it might not be there though when you get back i’m just letting you know we hope hope it is when did you lose faith this year that the Stars could win the Stanley Cup was it hitting Edmonton and running into that Oilers wall or was it before that no it was not before that um U Daryl and I both talked on the podcast that we both thought they were going to win i thought seven games he was like six or five and I’m like “Yeah I don’t think about that.” The thought process was that Mero had was rested and he wasn’t rested last year and it was quite obvious and Harley became a much better defenseman because Miro had been out and so then I thought okay now you’ve got two you got you’re going to have one of those guys on the ice at all time and now you can move the puck now you can control the puck and then you’ve got Mo who can do this the other thing is funny is that and I was stupid about this but I kept thinking they had five or six guys who could score goals that any of them would was going to break out robertson uh Wyatt uh Donov even uh Granland they were like you just thought okay if two of these guys score in a game and you get two goals instead of one you know then they can win and I like Jake i thought Jake was fine and then I thought Jake was better than Skinner and so I thought well they could win this in seven games and then I probably thought they were going to lose to Florida because and I don’t mean this is being mean to Pete but I just thought the coaching matchup would have favored Maurice and you know it just it just boy they look two different teams in Finland didn’t they yes and again a long time ago now but and the way that Maurice has handled themselves has been spectacular he’s awesome he really is and so then I thought if they get to play Florida they would lose and Stanley Cup fine uh but I thought they would beat Edmonton i really did i I h I actually probably thought uh for a moment there i know I picked them but that was probably because I was got coerced into it but but I when I I didn’t realize that Edmonton was as hard to play against until I saw them right and when I watched them play in front of their own net I’m like they got five guys right there you know what I mean and there’s nobody penetrating that which again I take it for who you’re playing against but regardless is because I didn’t pay attention to a lot against the LA thing and you know all that kind of stuff Vegas all that I I had watched some games but I didn’t really get locked in pretty quick too and and each of those teams seemed flawed but they’re I’m like this team has got it’s a different team the way that they’re playing is different and and like I said I I know Jake was good in in the first couple rounds and I know Ratin was good when he needed to be good but when you sit there and you go back and you’re like “Yeah it’s even a little more spread out than what I actually saw and Jake was even better than I probably gave him credit for and in and especially in that first round.” Yeah is there anything before we let Mike go that you wanted to bring up that we haven’t already because you’ve got copious notes over there well these were kind of for myself i’ve got defenseman on here i’ve got coach I got like seven coaches on here that apparently there’s only one that’s coming here so it doesn’t really matter oh I I would be open to it and I think Jim might be open to it if you have a better I think it’s already done i think it should so I think it I do really yeah i think I think I think they they I don’t like I said I don’t think this all just happened i think there were things leading up whether it’s first round second round whatever and I think the nail and the part had to be part of the comments made and the exit thing and everything there and but I do think that they’re probably looking that this is if this should happen this is who it’s going to be and you guys seem to think that’s the right guy and now you’re telling me all the coaches are saying so I kind of agree with that because I just interesting maybe yeah i I wonder how you bring up i still think that they are going to and this is again just my thinking i don’t know any insight on this i think they’re gonna take a really big swing for David Carl as they should because I think he is I mean Jim even said he referenced Jim Montgomery’s hire i believe to this day that he thinks that was the right guy he was the guy Jim Montgomery and he’s proven to be a successful coach whether it was with Boston or now with St louis that if it weren’t for the requirement that he had to let him go back when the off ice issues happened with Dallas he’d probably still be the stars head coach i think you’re right about that now I keep going to our thing of uh what Knoblac did what Carbury did like we have examples of these young co quote unquote young coaches coming in and really being having immediate success if they have a good team so then the fact that Neil Graham knows so many of these players knows the coaches has been Did you ever go up to Traverse City and run that camp no he has been the head coach of that and like guys like Bishop that was huge for them and then guys like uh um oh god uh anyway a lot of the young players the first thing to go Mike I know it’s really hard Craig do are you having problems with it or not no I’m good i just ramble on and I don’t even know what I’m saying but it’s somehow No you’re good you recall stuff like I lose names liz can I may I throw a name out there that you guys haven’t brought up yet that somebody mentioned to me over the weekend and then I heard it from another person today Manny Malhotra they’ve been talking about him he’s the head coach of Abbottzford they kind of figured he was going to end up in Vancouver you think but he was not obviously i I heard he was the runner up to Adam Footed in Vancouver his team just beat Neil Graham’s Texas Stars they’re playing now in the college finals will happen if they’re retaining all the assistant coaches how can it happen it doesn’t make any sense jim Jim came here with them retaining all the coaches or whatever with a coaching staff already in place jim Montgomery yeah so again when you’re a young coach and you got a chance to coach in the NHL you kind of just take what you can take in my opinion I Are you gonna Are you going to say no to a job offer because you can’t name your assistants correct that I But it also could be just they’re under contract we’re waiting if they want to leave or if somebody wants to kick them out later that could happen yeah and I and I think if you’re that high up on a list that of a young guy you have other offers and and you could say you know what I can bring in guys nothing that there there’s nothing wrong with the guys that are there but in my first year or two I want to have guys I’m comfortable with correct you know what I mean like I It sounds scary to me as I would I want Maddie there you know what I mean again I know that’s a task in itself but you know what I mean i’d feel more comfortable with that than than walking into having three or four guys there that you know especially as a young guy yeah on the flip side of that are is the GM worried about losing a young coach to another organization would I mean like would the reason you get Neil Gra give an example of Neil Graham there of how how you think that would you would lose him to what to what job at this point not right but if you hire a coach you he’s here for three four years you think Neil goes to be a head coach or an assistant i think well he could do both could do either because you could lose you could always lose a guy like Carberry when off and coached in Toronto and then you hire him back as your head coach in my opinion and I could be wrong I think Bob might just have been tired of you but I think he was worried about losing Hitch back in the day when he promoted Hitch the thought process was you know if if if we just keep going down the same path we’re going to lose that guy and he thought he was special bob thought that he was special and Mike I I really think that Hitch was the right guy for us and for the groups that he had because Hitch don’t care well and the funny thing is Bob even said he does the things I don’t want to do exactly bob did not want the things he does the things and when Bob was in those meetings after games and things like that he’d just sit back and he’d listen to Hitch rant and he’d go go pick up his coat go whatever you want to do Hitch walk out you know what I mean he was a sounding board there was a chance that they were going to move him right and but cuz the players whoever they were kind of didn’t like Ken Hitchcock well yeah the the players they’re a different generation now and so they’re used they’re just different you have to treat them differently and so and the players as we know have more power than that you know if they’re not getting rid of seven players no you know so and Hitch was he’s hard he’s demanding and ask Brett Hull when he’s had a couple cocktails and he’ll admit it he goes “It wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be able.” Ask Tyler Sean yeah tyler Sean became a better he did defensive player with Hitch there when he was playing in the middle of the ice and Hitch was hard on him but you know he made him a better player and he does he says and does uncomfortable things and and he sleeps okay at night I’ve had enough conversation he goes I don’t I that’s why you got that’s why you were around and that’s why I have Wilson Derby and one of the one of the best quotes he ever gave me was he goes you know if they all hate me at least they’re united as a team yeah well yeah he really believed they all rally around me we rallied around it yeah exactly the interesting thing of this is we’ve kind of come full circle we started with coaching and we’re finishing with it is that there are a dozen plus names that we haven’t mentioned correct that I could argue for or against most of them glenn Gullson for example is a name that’s been thrown around coming back and again with a actual roster i mean no offense to when he was there but the team wasn’t exactly on its strongest footing when he was hired then they had a lockout during his second season and never fel really felt like he had a team at the cap ceiling they were at the cap floor at the time all sorts of different ones we could do this for another hour we’re not going to keep everybody around for this but it’s interesting because as this continues and I didn’t do that on purpose Luds but I I do absorb two things from hikes one is it’s interesting and happy to be here love that when people say “How you doing?” Happy to be here because genuinely I’m happy good job yeah but as we look at this I don’t think there is one right answer there are a lot of them and that’s the job of Jim Nil is to figure out which answer is the closest to being the right one right now how many years does Jim have left on his thing i don’t know it’s a good question i I kind of think like you’re there every day i know again he got an extension a couple years back i think they have a succession plan um I don’t know exactly what his timing is but I look at it like Gary Bman like we thought he was going to be out three years i I think and you saw him this week defiantly in hard to give up on like 30 40 million a year though well not just that because I think Jim is a very frugal man and I was talking about Bman oh Batman yeah but I’m just saying whoever these people are take care of stuff i honestly think it’s really It’s funny one of my favorite conversations was um Oh gosh what was the defenseman for you guys but he was he retired and he just looked at me he goes “I don’t know what to do.” And you’re just like like “Really you sure that wasn’t me it could have been you.” No you always had a plan no good ones the point The point being is like this is what you’ve done your whole life and if you just retire Yeah it’s hard yeah and I think Jim looks at it that the other thing is he hadn’t won see I think that’s the thing i think Jim has won he’s been part of obviously Detroit when he wants to win as the guy driving the bus correct you know and and he’s I mean he’s nibbling i mean he’s knocking on the door so he just has to very very call Luds and he’ll tell you what kind of players and what system to play and we’d be all good don’t use that as one of them can you be silly of yours either write that down assistant GM Craig Ledwick no I just want to be a like a defensive coordinator consultant you would have been good at that yeah Pikes he told me before you got here today he said I thought about it over the weekend i want to be the eye in the sky i want to be the coach that’s away from everybody but when there’s a problem I can help give them answers yeah I like that and I think you would have been good saying would you could still be good past tense stuff all the time with him like you told me about Larry Robinson and what he did for you and I think those players need that they need someone other than the assistant coach because the assistant coach has a hundred other things to do so they need a guy who can tell them kind of point things out and say “I don’t know this isn’t quite working well and we wouldn’t give up these kind of chances if we just moved over here a little bit and your your focus starts with keeping things to this area of the ice versus that really good area of the ice and your goalender will be really happy yeah trust me he’ll he’ll be very happy and your dynamic would be perfect with that because you just have a I see our GM over there saying throw Lewig under the bus with all these comments i see him saying that so we better wrap this up before we do have to do this again uh our show tomorrow is at 2 o’clock central time on which will be June 10th we’d like to thank Budlight and Happiness Hour for presenting our show today and of course Mike Hikah anytime and as you can see we have a lot of things we can cover we have We could do another whole show easily let’s go thank you very much Mike mike’s going to change his number as soon as this show yeah he’s gonna Don’t call me ever again and Elijah gets it done our producer Elijah Smith for Craig Lewig and Mike Hike Owen Newkerk thanks for joining us we’ll see you tomorrow here on DLLS [Music] [Applause] [Music]
New ALLCITY BALL KNOWER Bonus for NBA Finals & Stanley Cup! https://promotion.allcitynetwork.com/all
Join the DLLS Stars Podcast with Craig Ludwig, Owen Newkirk, producer Elijah Smith and special guest Mike Heika, who returns for his second in-studio appearance on the show. Heika is the senior writer for the Dallas Stars website and previously the long-time Stars beat writer for the Dallas Morning News. Craig, Owen & Mike will discuss all things Dallas Stars, from the recent firing of head coach Pete DeBoer, to the third-straight playoff run that came to an end in the Western Conference Final and much more!
00:00 – Intro
3:00 – The Latest On The Stars Next Coach
19:30 – Getting Back To Playoffs
32:10 – Roster Changes and Updates
38:00 – Stanley Cup Finals Talk
49:00 – More Roster Talk
Check out Charlie O’Connor’s latest NHL mock draft! https://alldlls.com/2025-nhl-mock-draft/
#dallasstars #mikkorantanen #jamiebenn #jakeoettinger
An ALLCITY Network Production
SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/@DLLS_Sports
ALL THINGS DLLS:
WEBSITE:
http://allDLLS.com/
BUY MERCH:
DLLS Locker
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL:
Twitter: @DLLS_Sports
Instagram: @DLLS_Sports
Become a DLLS Diehard and get access to premium content, our Discord channel, discounts on merch, and a free shirt! Sign up here: https://alldlls.com/join-diehard/
Bud Light: Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy. Enjoy responsibly
Happiest Hour: The ultimate spot with 50+ beers & 40+ TVs for all the big moments every single game day, just steps away from the AAC! Your favorite spot for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/dlls
Sleeper: If you think you have what it takes, NEW USERS can download the Sleeper app and use the code DLLSSTARS to get $55 in free entries when you place a $5 contest. Apply it to any contest – doesn’t have to be your first! Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details. Currently operational in over 25 states. Check out Sleeper today!
Gametime: Take the guesswork out of buying concert tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code DLLS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed.
Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: DLLS for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.
Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code DLLS. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/DLLS for details.
HelloFresh – Get 10 FREE meals at https://hellofresh.com/freestars. Applied across 7 boxes, new subscribers only, varies by plan.
Rugged Road: Reliable, durable, and built to be used– Rugged Road is your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code DLLS for 10% off!
FOCO: Check out FOCO for merch and collectibles here foco.vegb.net/DLLS and use promo code “DLLS10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items.
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
18 comments
What happened to producer John Anderson
He went to the DLLS Cowboys show
Graham would be an excellent hire.
The Avs knew Mikko wanted to stay. He himself said he was becoming concerned with his negotiations and he personally went to Avs top brass and made it clear he wanted to stay and would work with them to make sure that happenes. The Avs simply chose to go in a different direction. Whether that was wise or not we’ll see here in years to come.
Love the show…but the "Bing Bong" is SO annoying & so LOUD. Most times I skip the superchats, because its so annoying. Why do you even need a sound drop? Most YouTube podcasts I watch just read the superchats, w/no annoying sound " drop".
Agree.. Nils is a RHD we need in the lineup as well.. but need that 1 RHD to play that side and can be a force along with bish
Noooo to Steve Spott.
Fantastic show guys. The dynamic is great and the fewer filters the better.
Mush is the softest tough player in the league.
The Stars lack abrasive skill up front. Watch Florida’s 1st & 2nd lines tonight, finish ALL their checks and create turnovers and scoring chances. We just get pushed around imo.
Love Heika what a guy
I don't know what to think about Montgomery. I still think he would have been long gone by now no matter what. I go back to his first season, when he talked about the team's "Culture of Mediocrity" and his inability to affect change. To me it seemed like the players tuned him out almost immediately. I could be wrong.
Who is the current Idaho coach and would they move him to Texas Stars
Heika became a sellout ‘company yes man’
I used to like him
Number one pair miro who 2 Thomas And Koof 3 Bissell and Christian
On the DLLS Stars Spotify page the cowboys show from today is posted and no stars show
Miller Lite should be your sponsor.
It's been obvious to me for multiple seasons. The leadership group on the ice is phony. Benn has to go. There is a culture issue with this franchise that everyone thinks it's OK to lose when they get to WCF. I will say it again; look at McDavid after game 3 in the locker room in 2024. We haven't had that kind of leadership since Luds played. Major changes in personnel are needed. It doesn't matter who the coach is. If the players are OK with losing, nothing will change. The culture has to change.