Stars Make First Big Offseason Signing, Extending Matt Duchene Long Term | DLLS Stars Podcast
coming up on today’s DLS Stars Show another bombshell news moment for Dallas matt Duchain has resigned and we’re going to get into all of it right now here on a Thursday and it’s DLS [Music] boy responsibly and by happiest hour your home base and the best place to watch anything whether it’s the Stanley Cup final the NBA final or all the sports 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 to watch the Stanley Cup final and lots of other great sports now let’s talk about Big Brothers Big Sisters that’s why we’re wearing the shirts today because as part of All City Spirit Week we’re teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America an incredible group of life-changing mentorships for kids across the country we’ve set a goal of $10,000 for the week we’d love to smash right through that and we can with your help you can donate with a link in the video right here on YouTube 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morning when the Stars announced that they had extended Matt Duchain four years $18 million that’s a 4.5 million AAV average annual value that’s what his annual cap hit will be sam we’ll get into the details in a minute but the fact that the Stars did this and they lock up Duchaine we’re still a couple weeks away from free agency and obviously the draft before that this is a big one for the Stars to lock up a guy who’s become part of their leadership group pretty fast yeah a huge part of it and that that’s the two sides of this right is not just the player he’s a point- per game guy uh he’s been very consistent he’s played uh most of the games that he’s been around for with Dallas pushed through some injuries and things like that um he’s a productive player he brought a lot out of Marchment and Sean with that line but he’s also the veteran guy he’s a leader we know how much he how great he is at talking to media you got to imagine that’s how he’s able to get through to players younger players talk to guys like Wyatt Johnston uh lead by example with a group that is basically watching two different young cores come into their own so it’s a it’s a perfect balance to have him there um you know the question was he said he wanted security uh and the stars gave him that with the four-year deal and a pretty good four and a half million dollar cap hit so I think it’s a good deal for both sides and for Matt Duchain that’s great for him it’s good to see him you know he worked hard for it he deserved it and we we’ll talk about the playoff stuff but good for both sides and and happy for Matt Duchain yeah you know I think you said everything that I could add or there is really nothing more I would add about Matt but I but I look at Jim Nil um you know respecting the veteran guys you know Matt made it known that he wanted to be here um a lot of people do want to be here because of the way Jim Nil and Brad Alberts and everybody runs the organization so but I think what you do is you go out um you take care of him he they come to an agreement on a on a contract which probably fair for both sides um but again understanding that he’s a leader like you said a veteran guy has a family has made it known he’d love to you know eventually stay here so I think it’s the respect that management has for for a player like Matt and as you said I mean we we know what Matt does on the ice and we talked about this this morning is that he’s obviously a big big piece in that room you know and and I think it’s a good you have to have that leadership group whether they you wear a letter or not and to add with Jamie and you know Miro and Hint and all those kind of guys and your group just keeps on getting bigger when you have a veteran guy that has accomplished everything that he has and the other thing that we mentioned the other thing I think what what makes this a little bit easier for him too is to know that Matt has been relatively durable over his career you know he’s he’s played a lot of the games well let me ask you this we talked about this on the emergency pod but it we said we were going to flush this out a little bit more matt Duchain was on a one-year deal two years ago as he was bought out very surprised from him he was stunned that the Pres decided to buy him out came to Dallas on a one-year deal said he was dealing with it all year that year this past season the one that we’ve just put a bow on and now we’re moving into 202526 we’ll get to that later he signed another one-year deal the 24-25 season for pretty cheap money he’s getting paid a lot still by Nashville still is for a couple more seasons but at the end of this year he said in our media end of season availability which we didn’t even get to yet there’s been so much news i keep moving it back saying “Hey we’ll clip some of that time in August we’ll play that audio.” Right well now but he he said “Luds he goes I absolutely want to be here but I’m looking for a little security for my young family i don’t want to bounce them around.” Now full no move the next two years and then you mentioned this in the emergency pot and I think this was really astute there is an out for the Stars in years three and four it’s a very small one because it’s a five team trade two list not five team no trade you can trade me to one of the five teams that I pick what does that do from the the respect between the player the agent and the GM that’s clearly there and Matt said as much and the fact that there’s a little bit of let’s say leeway or wiggle room for the organization knowing that he’s going to be in his mid to upper 30s by the time this thing is over i I think it’s respect from both sides yeah you know and I think that what Matt had said and and he he didn’t say that to Jakeer he didn’t say that to Jamie Ben he said it publicly that I want a little bit of a raise here so and Jim hears that jim respects his comment jim respects what he’s brought to the team and like I said okay Matt let’s get it done i mean you’ve earned it you you definitely earn more uh money than we’ve been paying you for the last couple years and we expect you to continue that and continue everything that you’ve done so I again I as as good as Matt Duchain has been over his whole career and putting numbers up and being able to do all these kind of things I I just go back from the mutual respect between the players especially the veteran guys and and the guy that’s you know so to speak driving the bus at the top of the mountain up there talk talk to us a bit about the way this the contract breaks down because that was an interesting thing we I mentioned obviously the no trades the no full no move the first two years and then the five team trade two list so there’s a little bit of an out clause if they wanted to later but how does the money stack up as far as what we saw one thing on that five five team it sounds like it’s a small window right i just think that if Matt Duchain for any reason that it they have a parting of weight y it’s gonna be easy for one of those five teams to say “Yeah we’ll bring him in just because of everything he’s done the way he’s handled his business.” So I don’t I think for Matt I think he knows and his agent probably know you want a five teams here’s the five teams it’s not 10 it’s not right it’ll be easy because just you don’t think that was a big sticking point in negotiation probably not but I’m sure he picked a couple teams I’m sure he picked probably change them too right that are two years old and that are going to be cup contenders i mean he’s not he’s not taking the San Jose Sharks i’m going to guess they’re not on that list i don’t know three four years from now you never know well yeah you could but I mean you kind of look you look your your people do their research they do the work and they go “Okay well this team’s knocking on the door this team’s knocking on the door.” And I don’t mean knocking on the door from a 100 yards away i mean from 5t away so that’s my my opinion on that too and one thing with that well it’s very curious if you’re looking at that Matt Sheen has not won a cup right so that’s number one right now right if that let’s say Dallas wins the cup this year next year whatever while he’s here and then he does get traded two years from now does that change at all does he then think you know what I’d rather go to Sunrise Florida well I I think again I think that if if this team is in a position to win another cup I would say no he’d want to stay here but if he’s going to go someplace then I’m again of the five of the 32 teams or I don’t know maybe they’ll be 34 by then i have no idea but of the 32 one of those five is probably pretty close to to winning a Stanley Cup right and now if he does have a Stanley Cup why wouldn’t you want to bring in some more veteran leadership that has been there and done it that contract though guess what I didn’t say at the top that I probably should have i was wondering Matt Duchain is going to join us today in the fourth segment so about 1:45 central time live via remote he’s going to talk we’re going to actually get a chance to talk to the guy today so thanks to Stars PR for helping set that up we’ll get to to Matt and talk i mean he will easily have be able to fill a segment maybe a little bit more but we’re I’m excited to talk to him i’ve been wanting him on the show for a while i want him in studio before your deal i’m pretty sure we’re going to be able to figure that out we’ll get them yes so that means we don’t have to try to bombard him with every possible question training camp’s going to be a good time to sucker some yeah some of the current Stars players hey between the end of August and middle of September come join us in the in the studio a little bit luds let’s talk about the Oh no no salary numbers then we’ll get to the the positional breakdown of the for the forward group yep so as we mentioned it’s a four-year deal 4.5 million cap hit so we got for year one it’s a 3 million base with 3 million signing bonus year two is 1.8 million base with another 3 million signing bonus and then year three and four is 3.6 million base and then as you mentioned one and two no move clause three and four five team approved trade list so um you know I’d love to hear I think Sean’s got a lot of good stuff on this so I’d love to talk to him when we have on the show next to hear how they how teams use bonuses and things like that to to kind of change things up but the most important thing here for the stars in their situation is the four and a half million cap hit we talked about this in the emergency pod so if you’ve already watched that it’s not exactly the same but I wanted to just say we’re not just going to completely regurgitate that we mentioned last week Luds we were talking about Wyatt Johnston i brought up the potential that he can as he grows move up into that number two slot behind Roe Hence as center depth and then you have Sam Steel in your three and then does Maverick Bourke go to the middle because he’s a center does Oscar Beck do that and you said “No I really like Sam Steel in the four hole not because he’s not capable of playing up but because of what it does for your team.” So with Duchaine signing what does it do for your team well I mean you can talk about you know Hints and Johnson and and Duchain as your top three and and I look at a team that just won the Stanley Cup i don’t know if you can pick out the number one center on that team you know what I mean i think for a long time here this team has been able to just roll their lines so as far as where where you who you want to put in the two- hole or in the three hole I I don’t think it really matters but you know for me look at if they’re we know someone’s got to move i mean this they’re not squeezing all these guys in right what do they have 400 $500,000 right now so there’s going to be changes obviously there’s going to be there’s gonna be some changes here so and I’m expecting there’s probably going to be a forward that’s going to be gone there might even be two forwards that are going to be gone right so does that mean when when you have a guy that’s versatile like a Sam Steel you bring him up you can go ahead and plug him in the middle of the ice if you want i think he could go up and just let’s let’s just for argument sake that it’s Mason Marshman that’s not here and that was such been such a good line for the Dallas this year i think they had some speed bumps but I think a lot of that may have with injuries on both sides but but now what would happen if you took a guy like Steel and put him on a line with Matt that’s got that creativity but he brings that little jam he I I think every line needs some jam on it that that’s where I would love to see this this team get to and so Steel could be one of those kind of guys i’m not saying he’s a perfect fit for Matt but but I just think that whoever is going to be on who’s ever going to flank Matt Duchain is going to have ability to score 15 to 20 25 goals here when he was playing because he wasn’t every night you said Colin Blackwell should be moved up because he was pro providing some go net front okay for checking right and so but that’s because other guys weren’t so it was I mean yes it was about those but it was more about the guys who guys that can do it but I think that for for the way I think playoff hockey should be played and I think you do it for 82 going into that is I you get that out of steel you get you know I’m not going to say Oscar Beck is the same but he gives you up and down north south get to the front of the net and and so did Colin Blackwell look at the bite that Colin Blackwell has in front of the net and I think that stuff kind of rubs off you know who I thought it rubbed off on was Maverick Bourke at times because Bourke would get in there when Stank was here stanovven was one of those so I think those kind of guys and you can take those kind of guys and when you don’t have a line that’s playing that way you can take a a guy like Steel and just go ahead let’s just say Granland comes back but Granland’s not adding that to hints and and ranting it for some reason you can take a guy like Steel and put him up there and add him to that line and what that does is that basically pisses off Granland now you get him to go and then he gets back up into a spot so I think there’s a way you can move those players around to get a message across to the rest of the crew i actually like that idea of Maverick Bourke playing on the right of Duchain too because he did get some of that in his game because he learned that he had to otherwise he can’t just be he’s not a at least as of now he’s not a Wyatt Johnston type of ceiling he’s a middle six guy so he can if he can play like that he can earn himself some some more time in there what he’ll have to do though let’s just say for instance that happens if he did that he would have to learn to play a little bit like Tyler say Tyler can read off of where Matt we’ve talked all year long where I think Matt tries to get to is to that right hand side of the ice to be able to pull up make passes you know good passes obviously on his forehand side and Tyler’s easy you know he can read that and and so if you do put a young player like up there somebody has to be able to adapt to where Matt Duchain likes to go and I think I think you know Tyler and Matt are obviously good friends right so that’s the duo right there well they continually talk about things and they all do nowadays they talk about it they probably play video i don’t know if those two guys past that but now but I’m just saying you know there’s a lot of conversations that happen away from the rink and here I can go here you see that would they watch games and so that would be something that you could you’d have to find out if if a guy like Bourke can make those adjustments and make that read off of a player that plays like Matt Duchain yeah and the question is we’ll talk I’m sure a ton about it but if Mason Marchman is still on this team in October do you run back with that line again well don’t talk that now because we got to talk about that next here on the DLS Stars podcast can’t go 15 minutes without talking about alcohol or the grundle uh what’s up Stars friends well I’ll tell you what’s up we’re eight days away from the NHL draft right that’s next Friday next Friday eight days away and we’re going to be doing this for three hours live three hours plus three hours live however long the first round is better not be in here sweating hot oh yeah we are in the sauna but but here’s the deal with that is Dallas doesn’t really have a first round pick as of now in the first round so we’ll see what Jim Nil can pull off during the draft so we’ll move on from there enjoying the game should be easy so don’t overthink it what to wear well that’s pretty easy too just throw on your favorite Stars jersey not sure what to serve your friends that’s even easier pick up some pizza grab some Bud Light and stock up the fridge especially for next Friday it’s going to be a long one see just that easy just like Bud Light which is always brewed with four simple ingredients clean crisp taste budlight easy to drink easy to enjoy but remember always do it responsibly budlight St louis Missouri all right lads let’s talk about Wendy’s Frosty Shop because if you love Wendy’s classic Frosty flavors which I don’t know why you wouldn’t we have some big news there are all new Frosty Swirl and Frosty Fusion flavors that you can get in either chocolate or vanilla so it’s the same creamy treat you’ve always loved but now with a flavor refresh so as Sam likes to ask what are these new flavors well thanks for asking what are these new flavors so thankful for asking we’ll work on it we’ve got the Frosty Swirls strawberry brownie batter caramel or caramel depending on how you prefer that’s where you have the regular Frosty chocolate or vanilla and a swirl of flavor then they’ve got the fusions which is thoroughly blended and mixed oreo brownie caramel crunch pop-tart strawberry i had one of those yesterday during our musical chairs day it was delicious not to mention that yes you can still get in vanilla too it doesn’t just have to be the chocolate flavor although also very very good by the way the Pop-Tart strawberry with vanilla two thumbs up i thought it was great that’s the one that John ate the first day and it went right through his delicate system anyway whatever flavor you’re craving odds are we’ve got a Frosty for it so clock in for sweet treat time anytime including midnight or later with all Wendy’s or with Wendy’s all new frosty flavors a refresh on a classic it’s got to be Wendy’s at participating US Wendy’s hours may vary by location now speaking of Wendy’s we have to we’ll get back to the Matt Duchain talk in just a minute we have to do our frosty takes brought to you by Wendy’s and yes this is the reluctance that let’s point out how we’re not right on lots of things or everything or many things perhaps and unfortunately for this one yep we give it to Sam all right Wendy’s frosty take uh TC you have that graphic by any chance of the uh bracket let me pop that up there’s a lot of missing color yeah you’ll notice it’s the one that is all uh gray or darkened out so my uh my Stanley Cup bracket I I I didn’t do super well um I think I was in second to last overall we’ll get we’ll get to the standings the main part of that is that my Stanley Cup was the Vegas Golden Knights defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning just missed i just missed as the Lightning were out in the first round and Vegas was out in the second round uh my Western Conference final was Winnipeg against Vegas Tampa against Carolina in the East so I had one correct in the conference final better i had Ottawa beating Toronto as well not not so much didn’t nail that one close um it it just wasn’t a good run for me put up a little fight i thought they were going to pull it off but the Wendy’s frosty take is that turns out Vegas Golden Knights did not defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning for the Stanley Cup championship this year that could that could actually be a read for Mando too get rid of some of the stank wendy’s is putting a twist on a classic with all new frosty flavors find your new favorite flavor and clock in for sweet treat time anytime including midnight or later a refresh on a classic it’s got to be Wendy’s at participating US Wendy’s hours may vary by location okay more Matt Duchain talk mason Marchman and I’m glad you brought that up Sam because we saw a lot of stuff swirling about Jason Robertson over the last week week and a half it got cooled off a bit um Sean is on on the show today but his Elite Prospects colleague Cam Robinson actually tweeted something about this not that long ago basically saying there’s a lot of question marks about how the Stars are going to get all their business done with the cap space they don’t have leds was right about 455,000 cap space that’s nothing right that’s not even a minimum player contract well Cam’s reporting that according to a couple league sources he talked to Jason Robertson’s name is not out there right now but Mason Marchman is he has a 10 team no trade he makes 4.5 million on the cap so of 32 teams obviously subtract the stars there’s 31 potential trade partners 10 team no trade you’re down to 21 available suitors if you do that to open up cap space do you think mates and Marchment gets you what you want and you have to then fill that hole we talked about Duchain Sean being a pretty much dynamic duo if you’re not convinced that Jason Robertson is going to start the season with Hint and Rantin which I think they’re going to try that again especially if could you see Robo with Duchain and Sean what or or more importantly let’s start with Marchment yeah yeah the big one I know L’s going to say the same thing the big one I said when we talked about these rumors the first time they kind of popped out a week or so ago was I’m okay with the the Marchman Duchain conversations that were going on about you know finding a way to bring him in but my big point was I don’t think they should bring back Duchaine at the cost of Marchman and so far if we’re talking Mason Marchman’s salary cap Duchain is getting the same amount uh on his new deal jamie Ben still needs to be signed it just feels like there’s nothing nothing about Mason Marchman that says we need to deal this guy away i know and I agree he is has the highest potential to be the type of player they need that’s currently on this roster probably but it comes at a point where it’s a $4.5 million contract for a guy who is not producing very much in the playoffs and isn’t bringing that so the question is do they believe he can one become a top six producer in the playoffs or two can he become that type of guy with the grit and the greasy the Sam Bennett type of player that can bring that in the playoffs that’s the only way I see them thinking that’s worth it the question is now how else do you make room and there’s not a whole lot of options that that’s the problem there’s no I mean you don’t have any money left right now somebody’s got to go and I would say I mean this is kind of for for a lot of players when when you look at Mason obviously a big kid right he he plays well he he’s not afraid to you know get in and go to hard areas it should be easier playing that way than putting up 25 or 30 goals i mean because you just got to go to the hard areas you got to create some space for some guys you got to be an agitator you can’t take penalties i mean I think there if there’s a knock obviously that’s going to be the knock is the the penalty that he’s taken untimely possibly and in the offensive zone and sometimes playoffs yeah and Yeah exactly and at best cancel them out the good stuff that because it draws them too and especially like you say in the playoffs and and they’re not in games where you’re down by three or four goals they’re games that you’re in you’re in it or you’re up and you give a team the opportunity to climb back into it so I I mean for me that that’s the player and can he do that i don’t know if he’s had a steady diet of that um and I but I do think that sometimes when you play with guys that are like the again the Matt Duchaines and Tyler Seans you kind of get caught up in playing that way and then also go back to last year that line was their best line and and but again they’re their best line for 82 games and and they play that kind of style they score those goals and unfortunately they don’t come that easy in the playoffs so at some point there’s got to be some kind of mindset that changes a little bit but you know we can keep on talking about this all the and and to me it’s going to be more curious about which guys are not going to be here that that’s and then and then you can go ahead and say okay now which guys are going to come in and and give you have to create space to use that so okay so let’s talk about that i think we’re all in agreement that if they can move him without costing anything or much the first one would be Matt Dumba’s 3.75 million for this one more year right is that the one well that’s been that’s been obvious since January but isn’t isn’t that the one you if you say “Okay how do we create it’s not that easy.” That’s what I mean like that’s the one you would say “Okay we can we want to do that but how do we do it and can we do it without costing us other things?” Well it’s what you’re going to have to give up with it that’s what I’m saying that’s really where it comes and again that Dallas does not have anything in that first round and so that’s obviously not going to bring a first round pick back and and again it makes it even harder because he really never got his footing all year long and there were times when I thought Matt had played better than he whatever they were saying yes but then he gets pulled out so and could this just be a case of the coach you know maybe it was something that Pete Dbor and him didn’t have a they couldn’t come in and did that affect Dumba’s play and you can keep Matt Dumba i don’t know where they’re going with it but to me again I I I don’t think there’s a better guy to have to to be trying to squeeze what you want and squeeze something out of what you don’t have right now and that’s money than Jim Nil i mean he could have easily been a three-time repeater as far as GM of the year but we still don’t know right did they announce it i didn’t are we all saying let me say this is this going to be ZTO if let’s just say if they haven’t announced it yet and somebody else was there they can erase it and put Zitto’s name on it i’m just saying i mean come on if it’s not Bill Zto for winning back-to-back Stanley Cups and trading to get Seth and Brad Marawn like to me it’s a nobrainer i would think so so look at the free agents the Dallas Stars have right now meaning UFAs and RFAS jamie Ben we all believe he’s going to be back he said he wants to be the Stars said he’ll be you know nil basically said as long as he wants to play it’s hard to walk that back isn’t it jamie wants to be here and Jim said he’s going to be back he’ll be here as long as he wants to be one and I think he’ll sign for something that makes it doable i really do but still have to make space even if he signed a $1 million deal with some incentives if Genny Donov Mikuel Granland Wait what did he make to Donov what was he making was he making three i want to say he was in the three range cuz remember that was a contract um let’s see it was a two no it was 2.25 oh what four and a half was the total over two years two years two and a half there yeah 2.25 was his that was signed uh the off season of 23 24 after he was traded for from Montreal for Gurionov traded Granland Blackwell other UFAS up front Maverick Bourc RFA we actually have a super chat about Ma Maverick Bork so I’m getting somewhere near 8 million here because CC was somewhere around three wasn’t he well we got that too so um I mean TC if you can put Cory Dudley’s super chat up let’s give us a nice big bong a big bong cory Dudley with a Masterton 999 Cupier super chat one player not mentioned in the Duchine emergency pod but you guys already brought him up now because remember Cory we only had so much time and we had a show was Maverick Bourke will he be back next season i don’t see why he won’t be back right only thing I can think is if someone offered him uh but what if what if he’s part of a deal or he’s part of that’s interesting there’s no reason they won’t resign him is we know Maverick Bourke is a good player is he a great player is he a big player does he bring that element no so but I think because and again to say he’s dimminionive i don’t mean that he’s not a big guy not a big guy so are you trying to get bigger again I would love to to be in that room and here guys we got to get this we got to be bigger we got Okay so that’s an interesting question then you need young inexpensive contracts to fill as you can we already talked about there’s no space if you got rid of Bourke because you needed to trade a guy or you took Marchman and Bourke and package what would you get back if you had to do that is a guy like Justin Ritzovian who was the AHL rookie of the year is that an acceptable I I mean Bourke was the MVP like don’t you hold him as a higher so that’s what happened and he’s also a firstrounder everything that you just said now what did that do this year so we’re talking about everything that he did there what’s that going to do next year here yeah so he can be a firstrounder he can be the player of the AHL what did he do this year well he should have that made him that player at this level yeah yeah right he should he should have a higher ceiling but the point you’re making is that if there’s something that makes your team better that needs to be looked at and I agree with you 100% the the question for me is whether he gets offer sheetated because he’s he’s shown that potential he’s in that in between there of the you know I’m just thinking of the St louis Blues calling out and making those move it’s just but is the she going to is that offer going to be big enough to bring back a first round pick is he going to be the third round pick you know what I’m saying like yeah I mean what is he what is is I mean Army went out and grabbed those two guys and they were big right did Did he stay he didn’t even stay underneath the the largest one i believe Army went to the top and did they get three first round pick what did they get back they got they got a couple of compensatory picks but it was nothing crazy okay so he he didn’t it was a not a nutty that big he didn’t give him the one where it’s four first rounders no because the contract dollars weren’t high enough to hit that threshold uh before we continue this we will be doing a lot of Matt Duchain stuff still to go uh I love Missy who is always so generous has donated $100 to Big Brothers Big Sisters and in the chat just now our GM Ben just matched it so thank you to both of you love to see him do that i just love to see the look on you want to see the look well you stepped up that might be coming out of Sam’s travel expenses though probably much more to go but thank you to both AJN and GM Ben here on the DLS Stars podcast is it my turn it’s you oh heck yeah just like your favorite team needs a home ice advantage or yesterday on my Ranger show a home field advantage your home needs a home floor advantage and Empire Today can help you get it empire Today has flooring experts dedicated flooring professionals who focus on flooring every single day we’ve been to or seen those big box stores where you wander endless aisles somehow you’re hauling all the materials home looking for an installer and 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now that Luds can’t get enough of the FIFA Club World Cup that’s right yes luds can’t take international soccer it’s his favorite thing well you And the Gold Cup well and the Gold Cup is going on too so you have with Game Time you can get tickets to everything including exclusive zone deals for FIFA’s Club World Cup 10% off W for these matchups and there are some big ones now there are none in Dallas there are in the Gold Cup but for the FIFA Club World Cup if you are outside of Dallas or traveling somewhere where they will be hosting one of the Club World Cup games they’re going on daily right now it’s just the group stage and there’s a lot going on so check that out go to gametime.co or even better download the app you can get lastminute deals you can save up to 60% off by buying last minute sports concerts comedy theater you name it take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time Pick download the app create an account use the code DLS for $20 off your first purchase download Game Time today sam what time is it game time time coming up in 15 minutes almost time matt Duchain will join us live here on the show and I can’t wait so in the meantime guys should we just make this the Matt Duchain hour or do you want to We haven’t had a chance to talk about the Stanley Cup final at all wrapping up the other night it was a pretty good one i’d love to talk about You want to talk a little bit about that cuz you’re off tomorrow leah Simopoulos from the Dallas Morning News will be our guest in studio luds and I will be hosting her so we’ll talk about lots of stuff tomorrow but Florida wins its second straight Stanley Cup we’ll get back into Matt Duchain discussions here in just about 13 minutes or less we had the musical chairs shows yesterday so we weren’t all together to talk about it ls did the Cowboy show sam did the Rangers i did the Mavs sean was our representative with a bunch of other hockey writers and actually Luds before we do any more about that I have to bring up another super chat tc if you would find I love Misty 1985 with a Lwig Lewig congratulations on the 26 cupversary luds yes still remember huh did you remember that today was that day no what I’ll tell honestly I was I was on the treadmill today and I got a text message from Eddie and Eddie Belffor had sent a message to Maddie and I and it said hey love you guys happy cup something about that so Eddie does it every year though so anyway so then what happened is I thought well Eddie seems to be in a good mood so I’m not this is not breaking news because it is at Belffor but we may have both of those guys on a show next week so anyway DC do you have the tweet of the the Stanley Cup champion uh Dallas Star if you don’t it’s okay i just the team photo for the uh Yeah no all good i had the they post the Stars posted the picture of you guys celebrating it today yeah stars Twitter was saying “Hey 26 years ago today.” And it’s the picture of you guys all surrounding and for everybody that’s complaining about that these guys just need one and then you can forget about us their only reason they’re putting us up there it’s been 26 years i mean think about it if if you if they win one this year yeah we’re gone june 19th of the year before next year they’re not going to post about you guys you’re out of here exactly you just got to float you’re on your way if it wasn’t for Ed I wouldn’t even know about it again today uh let’s do a couple more super chats i promise we’ll do more on the Stanley Cup but I don’t want to have to do super chats when Matt is on yes uh Marshall first with a Madano and 99 Cup here most days work interferes with my live streaming live stream Samming i think he said “Yeah live streamming.” That’s when you watch Sam on a live stream here today thrilled about the signing lots of work ahead for nil but no one I trust more cannot wait i need a DLLS beer night somewhere soon amen yeah we’re going to do one this summer we will have to have a We’re going to have a a a DLS Stars meetup get together hang out you guys coming to Wisconsin we’ll watch some baseball well you have to come back we’ll do it before you It’ll still be warm when you get back to town Luds yeah uh another one red Skull 73 with a Canadian uh Bishell no Bishell’s six who’s five why am I Oh it’s Lquist lquist and Lewig any word if Gardenner McDougall is being looked at for head coach he’s like an older Canadian version of David Carl uh he’s definitely a name that’s out there and Jim Sean talked about him right yeah yeah and and he’s he’s in the uh Canadian juniors wait no that’s Canadian so that’s about 385 like who’s that like that’s You got to do the math canadian because they might not actually be talking about You’re right but it but I’ve been giving them if you’re doing it 503 you may have something else in mind especially when you write Canadian well I mean it’s what does it come up it’s Lwig and it’s 67 who’s 67 i bet you’re ready i bet you’re ready max the only one I got well what is trying to think of a stars what oh no it’s 63 i was thinking of Marshad no that would have been Riverl oh for stars yeah so and Donov um I would think Jim said this jim Nils basically said he’s gonna cast a wide broad net talk about everything look at everything i’m sure that Gardner McDougall’s name will be brought up whether or not he gets an interview is not something I know details of but I would imagine he’s considering all things and that’s the thing guys i don’t think and we talked about this a bit before I don’t think that the Jim Neil because it’s the only vacancy out there we’ve discussed the coaching stuff in recent pods that he has the urgency it needs to go fast right nobody he’s not competing with any other team for a hire at the moment i don’t think having the coach signed by the draft is necessarily important but free agency might be a little different just because if you’re trying to lure a somebody who’s not like Matt Duchain who’s not comfortable here already he probably wants to know who’s going to be coaching or maybe not you think i would imagine you would especially with you know the the way that things ended with Pete D’Vorah they want to make sure they know which direction the team is going that’s the most important thing right we talked it’s not necessarily who the guy is behind the bench it’s what structure are we going to be playing what uh what’s the the focus this season and where is our team looking to get better i think that’s the most important part so I would think that Jim wants something done here in the next two weeks thank you for the super chats keep them coming if you would like but let’s talk about that Stanley Cup final luds game number six was how it ended up um I was going to clip the video but we we had some producer juggling we had some Duchain news we all picked Florida except for Shawn we’ve had three different producers in the last four shows correct well I think they’re trying to tell us something yeah nobody likes us it’s all right part of part of Shawn getting it wrong was because he picked Edmonton because that was his preseason pick and he stuck with it but he said “I think Florida.” You guys both picked Florida and six somebody said Florida and six yeah yeah you got that right why do you think Florida was the better team because they clearly were in the final where you want to start i I mean again you can you can look at Forsling who goes in young defenseman they pick him up i think they picked him up on waiverss or something like that i don’t know but it just the the kid comes in and shuts down Conor McDavid what Florida did is they led all the time they teams were always chasing them i think I think it was NHL record they led the longest team in history all time in history so I mean you you can go ahead I think it’s easy to pick Edmonton apart right now um but when you know when your two top players in the NHL and that you can you can argue that but um in Dry Cidle and Conor McDavid when they’re not factors over the course of six games and I don’t care what round it is but when they’re not really factors and they’re frustrated it’s not because of one or two players on the other side it’s the whole team it’s the way that team was built it’s the way that team goes about their business um I think obviously the moves that were brought in you know bringing Marian in and you know we can go down that whole thing but the the thing about that team is it there is a there’s a buy in from 24 players or 25 players that’s there and they play a certain way they they have no concerns it’s it appears of what the score is at any point during a game they don’t change their game i I’d said to you guys in that last game in the first four minutes of the of game six Edmonton ran everything in sight they they outshot um Florida it was like four or five to nothing but Broski looked a little shaky to me on a couple of those saves florida doesn’t even waver they come back they score a goal and then Edmonton changes their game and and it’s like what you guys you guys were getting scoring chances and you were doing this and all of a sudden they didn’t touch anybody and then they never got to touch the puck the rest of the game so and this is more of a testament to Florida they just they they have their blueprint they stay with their blueprint and there is no panic if they get scored on first which they never did or they’re trailing at the end of a period which was very rare but there were games that they trailed in and they just keep on marching and they believe in each other and they believe the process and and probably a lot of that starts with Paul Maurice behind the bench you know I I think that he’s he’s done a heck of a job they’ve got some bigger personalities there but he found a way to to bring everybody into that to that group and even especially the new guys and and again you can I I can look at that Brad Marshon dude i mean he’s captain of the Boston Bruins and he won a cup with the Boston Bruins he comes to Florida he’s a third liner he plays 12 to 14 minutes a night he scores big goals he’s a factor he doesn’t do anything he doesn’t say anything wrong so that’s just the buyin it’s it’s about the it’s about what that they have a culture and and you could say is that is that I’ve heard people say it started with Matthew Kachchuck when he came there whether that’s true or not I think there were probably some things in place but there’s a culture there that that that whole group understands and why not look at where they’re at right now they’re probably still at the elbow room right now going on they had some reminding of of the uh Oh and they did a couple they put a couple dings in it already before it even left the ice it was broken i mean when you’re in the locker room you want to raise that thing it went into that that’s what happened i mean but it was it was on the ice oh the first one the big crack on the top was No no no i’m talking about the one on the bottom yeah yeah the bottom was dinged up in the lock that’s Here we go you got a picture of it oh yeah there you go i mean that that is on the ice that’s why they’re still celebrating they haven’t even left the ice i And I watched the whole thing i watched every player and every and the GM i didn’t see anyone drop it so I don’t know where that came from but the the thing that you you said everything perfectly i think the the three things that I noticed in that series was Florida just said here’s what Edmonton does well we’re not going to let them do that if they want to beat us they’re going to do it a different way and the other one was Babski and this is the way Florida’s been forever barski doesn’t have to be incredible he has to be good and when he wasn’t good like the nurse goal and those Edmonton won the games when he was good they they had no issue they won right yeah they won the games they they they’re confident that he’s going to make the save when they need him to make it and then the other one is what you brought up they those guys McDavid and Dryidle we know what they can do we also know that teams have found a way to shut them down somewhat shut them down and Florida did that the depth of Edmonton carried them through three rounds they dominated they were the best players on their team especially in the series against Dallas they were getting the goals from Perry and those guys those guys were kind of invisible evander Kane penalt penaltied himself out of the series basically and they they weren’t able to get those goals that they got and that I mean if you look at these teams I think someone said I can’t remember where I heard it someone was talking about Edmonton should look at this season as this was a really good season we were the second best team in the NHL but I think the second best by a good amount this this was a powerhouse Florida team that was going to win the Stanley Cup as soon as that playoff it probably wouldn’t have matter who they played yeah they were going to do that i think so there was a couple things that were very telling um for me and one the most important one for me was from you know their captain McDavid and he he made a statement and he said they’re making adjustments and we’re not and I’m like he said that out loud so I’m going is that directed to somebody in in your room right now um so and when you have the best player on the planet that that is making those kind of comments first thing that comes out is frustration but but when you make those kind of things it’s you’re saying it for a reason and and whatever that reason may be and he just happens to have only one year left on his contract i don’t think he’s I wanted to bring that up i mean he got asked that are the changes iname changes or they changes off the ice did they make when he said that i think there’s open interpretation there exactly they’re m they made changes and is he talking about adding players to the team that we didn’t Well you brought in Trent Frederick i mean you brought Keane i mean but different kind of changes they brought in a coach that he was very agreeable on and Chris Knoblock yeah well they I mean he’s had him since 14 years old if you’re saying changes I think it has to be in the crease because Oh that’s a no-brainer that’s a norain if if they had And look that’s not easy but if they had Stuart Skinner play the way he did against the Dallas Stars yeah he was terrible in that game too right i mean if if do they do they win the the Stanley Cup if if Skinner plays like he did in the third round i mean the fact they went to game six with this team with him not playing that way you got to imagine they at least pushed that to seven and have a much better chance he was because it wasn’t It wasn’t close he was much worse it’ll be really interesting and then of course as Luds is talking about contract extension McDavid has one year left on an eight-year hundred million contract can is eligible to do an extension starting July 1st uh some one of my buddies just sent me a quote from his end of season media availability where McDavid said “It’s too early i’m going to take some time i’m not going to rush in anything exactly what you’d expect he’s not a coon he’s not going to give away anything if negotiations have been no longterm thing either i’ll bet you he doesn’t do more than three or four but let’s he could be he could be a UFA in 2026 at age of 29 does he want to do that does he want to leave Edmonton is he looking for Does he want to leave Lyon that’s I think they’re I think they’re like this you think they’re too tight well well yeah i mean you shouldn’t I can’t say never but I but there’s no way he’s signing anything longer than three or four years because the cap’s going up to 120 million then he really screws himself you know when And if he signed for eight years then he’s saying “I’m going to be in Edmonton the rest of my career.” You know how much money he loses in the last four years that’s what I mean i mean he could play 10 to 15 years he’s had good representation they’re not going to let that happen no yeah especially when some of that money is going in there can you imagine the chaos though if McDavid decided he was going to go to the market to free that’s totally different i mean I don’t know and the fact that I’m saying next level rant in was a big deal and what you’re going to have to give up and think of all the teams that would start tanking or v dumping to try to set up to hey we could transform our team if we could get Conor McDavid yeah but then you’re getting Conor McDavid at what 30 you know just say just say signs a two-year three-year deal okay you get him at 31 32 years old he’s still going to be pretty good but what you have to give up and then by the time you build that team back up because you’re giving some pieces away he’s not just coming into Florida yeah you know what I mean and he probably doesn’t want to go to a team like Chicago right now not saying Chicago when they were a dynasty but just he doesn’t he’s not a player that needs the money anymore he’s going he needs to go someplace where he’s winning a championship that’s all there is to it okay moments away matt Duchain should be connecting uh in just a minute here on the DLS Stars podcast we’ll talk to the newest extender of contracts but first we have a lot to talk about um let’s start with the balln knower bonus this might be the last balln knower bonus of the final/finals okay what’s the ballnower bonus well I’m glad you asked thanks Sam boy you always know how exactly how to ask that it’s back here at DLS and we had a double challenge with the Stanley Cup final and the NBA finals however the Stanley Cup is done it’s been awarded it’s been won so now we have game six of the NBA Finals remember it’s plural in basketball so how do you do it first you start by picking the winner of tonight’s game six browse our store make a purchase of at least $25 or more if your pick wins you win a gift card for the same amount as your original order here’s the important thing you must click on the link in the chat in the show YouTube description either one of those to make your bet and then to try to win your gift card so who do you think will win game six of the NBA finals tonight is it going to be Indiana and Force of 7 is it going to be OKC and win it all make the pick get it right you get a gift card on All City that is the Balln knower bonus speaking of competitions I think now in the rest of our Die Hard Read it would be a great time for us to celebrate our first ever Diehard Discord Stanley Cup bracket challenge we have a winner his name is Alistair Minton we know him it’s not Sam as he c finished first because he was the only one that went with the Florida Panthers recently started playing hockey too and so Alistister Well he’s he’s the one over in over in England england yeah he got the win with 218 points socially Distant was second ryan Chambers third schmidy fourth with a Schmidt happens and Picklejar came in fifth what was the second place points uh second so two 2181 191 alistar jumped everybody because he got the champion right uh how about our show i finished in 11th place with 122 points almost 100 points behind the winner we had two DNFS we didn’t we should have tried to make let’s pick one out but we didn’t and Sean fil was ready to sign in and then forgot to fill out a bracket in my defense y I was sitting at Freddy’s a little hamburger place in the parking lot trying to get on the damn thing and I couldn’t get on it and I think I even sent you guys something by somebody and you didn’t respond now next time we will make sure that you get on it well the reason why I bring that up is because you’re lucky of the 36 people that signed up for our bracket challenge third one of them didn’t fill out a bracket sean actually didn’t even get to the signup part sam did not finish last yep producer John even better is Oh that is finished sam had 71 points john had 49 oh that’s awful that was the worst that’s awful it was a tough one and he’s that so thank you sign up to be a diehard go to alldls.com and we will continue to do fun stuff like that you know it right now the man of the hour time to bring on and welcome for the first time on the DLS Stars Show a guy that we have been clamoring for to be a guest at for for months and months and months and now we have four years to try to make an agreement and hit his rider but it doesn’t look like a Bud Light either his representatives are challenging speaking of a golf challenge look who it is it’s Matt Duchain hi Matt hey guys how you doing we’re doing great how are you doing after the news of this morning uh you had said at the end of season media availability you wanted a little security you feeling a little secure today yeah definitely i uh No it’s great i think you know anytime you’re working through this kind of stuff it’s stressful it’s tough and you’re trying to do the right thing for your career right thing for your family um everything and you know I think uh and you know obviously there’s a business side to it i think you know that’s always the toughest part uh we we had no intention of leaving Dallas and you know we wanted to try and make everything uh meet up and definitely getting four years out of it was big for us and you know it’s uh I’m motivated to play uh a lot you know even longer than that at this point we’ll see you know we’ll we’ll reassess once we get there but um you know I I I feel like I’ve got a lot left in the tank and um that was a big reason we wanted to do something long like that so um it’s great i’m very grateful to the Starless organization for uh believing in me and uh believing that you know I can keep doing my thing you know into being 38 years old that’s what I’ll be when this is up so um it’s it’s weird i still identify as being the young guy cuz when I came in I was 18 and I was the young guy basically until one day I woke up and I wasn’t anymore so uh most of my career I’ve kind of been that guy and now it’s like I’m the old guy so it’s uh you know it’s a it’s a little different feeling but uh like I said I feel great and um you know there’s no reason why I feel like I should slow down at this point matt can you can you pinpoint it to one thing why why this is the place that you wanted to get back to and stay here i mean is it I know it’s always hard to pick one thing but I’m just curious is there anything that sticks out in particular well there’s a lot of great places to live there’s a lot of great um you know there’s there’s a lot of great teams out there for me it’s this is the place where both really meet and are the best fit for my family and for myself on and off the ice so fit on the ice has been perfect um you know there’s always room for improvement and you know I’m always looking to get better i you know I go home in the summer with you know three or four things I want to improve on or keep you know enforcing every year and uh and then off the ice our family’s been you know it’s been the biggest blessing and when we when we uh found out we were leaving Nashville like we did which was abrupt and heartbreaking um you know uh another place that we still consider you know home we have you know a place there we’re actually heading up there on Sunday for a couple weeks but um when that happened we didn’t know if we’d ever find something that felt like that again and we found somewhere that I actually think at this point of our lives and my kids’ age is a better fit for us than than that than Nashville at this point so that was completely unexpected it was you know all God’s plan and we’re just very grateful and there was no way I was going to you know want there wasn’t I wasn’t going to try and upset that apple cart you know it’s when it’s such a great fit on and off the ice you know yeah matt uh the the management the coaching staff everyone’s made it clear that this team is close and you guys said it in your exit interviews you felt you could win the cup this year last year you’re obviously now considered a big part of that contending window what does that feel what What is your feeling for the team for the future and also how does it feel to be considered a big part of that yeah absolutely you know I I think I don’t think anything changes in terms of how I look at the team and and I guess my role in it i when I got here two years ago I you know I I expected myself to be at the level that you know I was able to get to and and like I said you know to even make an improvement last year versus the year before it it was great and you know um I want to hit the ground running again i I still I have a lot of things motivating me um you know it’s it’s even funny like you know you finish the season and you go h I don’t even want to go near a hockey stick i don’t want to go near the gym nothing like that and then I get about 10 days in and I’m like “All right I’m heading up i’m in I’m in Florida right now with my family and you know I’ve been up in the gym a few times just getting a sweat and getting moving again just because it’s you know a little bit of that fire burns in you even when you’re on vacation so I have to I’m the type of person has to make myself take time off if because if I don’t I I you know you you don’t quite have the the juice that you want to have when you’re you’re training in the offseason you know mentally so um I yeah I mean I’ve since I got here I felt like I really wanted to become part of this group and and and become you know a guy that has looked to to to you know help this team win and that’s what I expected myself all the time and you know you get you get bought out I guess and you know a lot of people think oh that means that you know you’re on the back nine and or near the you know near the end and you know for me I never looked at it that way it was it was just a new beginning for me and I felt like you know the two two the year prior to it I had my best career year so it was it’s kind of funny how that could happen a year later and I never you know I never once doubted what you know I could bring and um I want to keep like I said but I want to keep improving and and and I I feel like I still have you know some of my best hockey ahead of me and that’s my goal to help this team win a Stanley Cup that’s the number one and only thing that that’s really on my mind it’s funny because the Stanley Cup has now been awarded you had said I think on your radio hit last that you weren’t watching a second of it but I also really love the line you had i think it was end of season media availability where you said the day you win a Stanley Cup might be the hardest to come up with motivation as you’re talking about to get back in the gym and as you wear the the Masters hat there oh that’s a Texas one but it looks like the Masters colors look at that yeah his his but that made me think of of Rory Maroy winning the Masters and then saying I’m kind of having trouble finding motivation because I’ve achieved my dream my ultimate goal and we talked about how close you guys felt and then does it also feel like you’re acres away because you didn’t get past Edmonton i mean where do you guys feel that this team is knowing there’s going to be some changes whether it’s a new head coach we already know and with cap space being so tight there may be some other moves yeah absolutely i think at the end of the day you know that was a you know obviously a big conversation the cap part and my deal right um you know you go to free agency it could have looked a little bit different for me um but for me you know it’s it’s I’m I’m excited that you know we still should be able to keep a big chunk of this team together and that was that was big for me um I didn’t you know you don’t want to come back to a team that’s not as good and I I really believe that this we’re in our window right now and or this window could be long for this team because of the young talent we have and and our the older guys you know not really slowing down so um that that’s exciting and yeah you know I think to get back to your original question about you know the and kind of the Rory thing is I think and I think for him he’ll find this pretty quick but when you’re when you’re why do you why do you train why do you want to play why do you want to do this when you’re like I think when your why is to win you know you you know you’re pushing towards that what you can’t forget along the way is is how much you love the game and why you play the game and why we started playing this game in the first place and that was somewhere I got back I really got to in the last two years where I felt you know I and when I went through some slumping in the playoffs I think that was something I lost was my why was all about winning my why my why I I love this game you kind of forget about it at times right and it might that could affect your finish you know it’s it’s uh you do everything right and the puck doesn’t go in sometimes it’s because you’re so focused on the result you’re not focused on the the the process and the and and and your why why do I play this game i love this game i love playing it and I mean if getting back to Rory like that’s why he plays golf he loves it he’s a golf fanatic he he sleeps and breathes it and when he gets back to that he’ll start winning again so I think that is something that you know I think we kind of ran into maybe you know the last two years and I think we’ve got to and that’s when you watch the Panthers play i I didn’t watch a second eight of hockey after but when I watch them when I watch them play they they feel like and yeah after you win one you know you’re playing with casino money but they win two because I think they have as a team a really good they just love playing together they have fun they enjoy playing the game of hockey and that’s that’s the most important thing and I the day that I lose that or is the day I’ll retire and uh you know I think my I think retiring will come before I lose that to be honest i think it’ll be time for me to hang them up and be with my family but um and then I’ll pour my passion into my son and and into you know my next endeavors but that is that’s kind of how I look at it and you know I think I think a lot of people that win they lose that kind of concept of that and that kind of outlook and that’s something that I have to complete continuously remind myself because yeah it’s infuriating losing in the conference finals and being that close to the same team two years in a row um it’s infuriating you know hitting every goal post possible in the playoffs i mean it’s you know it’s uh that’s kind of what it’s been and and you know that’s the that’s the growth right and that’s what I’m excited i I I I you know there’s that old saying you’re if you’re ripe you’re rotting and if you’re green you’re growing and uh I want to stay green until I hang them up can we go or we got you got Go ahead go ahead i didn’t know if we had to get to your little break matt’s here we’re going to keep on rolling matt um Owen mentioned you know changes players coaches and things like that if you had the opportunity or if you were sitting in there with Jim and you wanted and I’m not talking about a name if you were going to build or or design your perfect coach you know that could come in in the way that you guys feel that you can play and should play and want to play what how would you put that coach together that’s a good question um that’s all I ask here yeah yeah no it’s uh that’s tough and first of all I want to mention Pete Dbor pete was a outstand is an outstanding coach and you know that I I I am so grateful to him for the two years I played under him he was outstanding and um you know it’s it’s tough to see it’s probably been one of the toughest uh things I’ve been through in terms of seeing somebody leave like that like a coach or or somebody like that that I’ve been through on a team so I mean I wish him nothing but the best going forward so I just want to get that in there first because he’s a great guy and a great coach and um you know I’m sad that we couldn’t have got over the top for him because he deserves to win a Stanley Cup at some point so um but to answer your question you know I think I think the nice thing with our team is is we have so much internal leadership and we have a lot of accountability towards each other and when someone’s not playing well or somebody’s somebody makes a mistake you can feel the the guilt or the the feel bad off those guys so you don’t even have to hold guys accountable because you can tell those guys know what they when they made a mistake it’s not a you know a guiltless uh no no conscience hockey team that just wants to that just worries about themsel and wants to you know play their own way um so that’s that’s really special so I think it’s not like we need an authoritarian to come in and and you know you know you know kind of hold us to that that’s that that standard and you know Pete Pete was great like that he he had a very good balance and and I think that’s something that he understood about our group and I think the next guy coming in you know hopefully has that too and I think I think management you know this the short conversations I’ve had with management about it I haven’t talked much about but they understand that they know how special our group is how mature our group is even our young players are extremely immature and um you know very everyone’s one thing I’ve noticed about our group everyone’s very hard on themselves in a in a uh in a really good way um sometimes you have to go pick somebody up because you know and and instead of going and give some giving somebody crap about something they did you have to do the opposite because you they might be being too hard on themselves so my I’m like that i know I’m way too hard on myself at times and you know it can it can be just as um detrimental as as the other way so yeah I think I and I I think we were a skilled team i think our biggest problem the last couple years we didn’t score enough in the playoffs and and myself included i was in that in that that uh that pool of of guys and and um you know that’s something that we we need to you know fix i think we’re a really good defensive team i think we defend and we’re very responsible i think you know we score a lot we scored a lot during the regular season and I think in the playoffs you know we got to continue that good feeling and I I wouldn’t say play looser but maybe a little more free at times and uh that that falls on us as players to get there mentally and you know like I said focus on why we our why and why we love the game and and bring that into the the big moments matt since we’re talking about the coach how much did that change come into your thoughts about your future and signing and was there ever any point where you said “Let me wait until I find out who this new coach is before I make this contract extension?” I think in a lot of places I would have wanted to see what that looked like um but I believe Jim Nil is the best GM in the league i believe he’s one of the best if not the best person that I’ve worked with um I have I have so much high praise for him and let’s And that’s coming from somebody who’s been through two negotiations with him where it didn’t go the way I wanted it to you know what I mean it it so he’s uh I mean he’s just so good but I respect the heck out of it because it helps our team get better and you know I uh I think he they all knew how bad I wanted to be here and uh they use that for sure but um you know it’s uh I can laugh about it now this week it wasn’t a laughing uh subject for a lot of it but um no I I have nothing but great things to say about Jim and and that’s why I didn’t even I don’t worry about who he’s going to bring in because I I know he’s going to bring in the right guy for us and um just having played for Pete and and seeing what kind of coach he was you know he he was at such a high level and that’s a guy that Jim brought in and that that’s the kind of standard he has so I know it’ll be a guy at least of that caliber again or or close to even if it’s a young guy a guy that can get to that caliber so um I I and again and the other side of it is I believe in our group and I think our group can win um you know a number of different ways and and I think you know I think we’re probably an easier group to coach than a lot of other groups just because of how mature and uh you know how much character we have so um yeah Jim is the reason I didn’t worry about that because I trust that guy with uh as much as anyone I’ve ever trusted playing for in my career luds do you want to do the honor of the last question because we could talk to Matt all day and he’s very generous with his time yeah I I was going to say we’re going to let you go you probably got a tea time or a margarita or something like that to get to because I know I wish I had both i just got kid watching all day right now i’m in uh you know such things vacation with kids that’s that’s a good reason that’s a good reason for when you get back in town you do want to come in here and come in the studio and do this cuz we have all of that we got a putting green here we got the margaritas we got everything i want to finish with this i just want to say when healthy okay when the Marchment and Sean are healthy why does that line work so well yeah um I you know I think it starts off the ice i think we are we spend a lot of time together our communication’s outstanding we see the game pretty similarly and we’re we we you know what everyone in on the line buys into a game plan that we have we we talk as much or more than any line that I’ve ever been on and we’re all on the same page and it’s uh it’s so fun when we come up with something before a game that we want to try or or a style that we want to play against certain Dzones and certain neutral zones and all that and it’s so fun when we we we end up scoring and the other two guys have the assists on it we get such a high off that because it’s not because of that it’s because of the the the camaraderie and and everything that we have off the ice and I’m still really frustrated that we weren’t able to produce more in the playoffs because we produced a ton of chances and it just we couldn’t we couldn’t we couldn’t find the back of the net and we take responsibility for that i know I do and and uh but you know our process is pretty darn good for a lot of that and you know it’s it’s a fun line to play on it’s been probably the the best line I’ve played on in this league and and uh I’ve had so much fun with those guys it’s been great and hopefully we can uh you know we’ll see what the new coach wants to do but if we’re together you know next year you know we want to keep pushing we have we have unfinished business just like everybody else and we’re we’re happy with where what we’ve done but we’re not satisfied if that makes sense i got to give you one more little quick one because I think only you tell us about your captain oh good call oh I I am uh I have nothing not one criticism of that that guy um he’s such an amazing uh character guy does everything right cares so much about our team um Dire’s another guy who’s overly hard on himself um he doesn’t realize what he brings when he’s not producing um he brings a lot we that’s that’s a guy that you know obviously you love when he’s when he’s a you know at that point per game clip that he’s capable of being at but when he’s not and when it’s not going in for him he’s still bringing a lot whether it’s just even something he says his his presence he could sit on a bench for a whole game and and help us win that’s the kind of uh uh effect he has on us and it’s been uh he and I got he and I got really close this year I think uh a lot closer off the ice and we spent a lot more time together this year and uh than the year before we we had great relationship the year before too but we just we gravitated more to each other I think this year and um as maybe the two old guys uh on the team but uh no he’s an outstanding leader outstanding character guy and an outstanding hockey player and I I want I would love nothing more than to see him live to Stanley Cup now I’m not asking you to break anything news-wise here but he has said he wants he’s intending to play next year jim Niels has already said if he wants to play he’s going to be a Dallas star i’m guessing you’re going on the assumption that he’s going to be your captain this year yeah I have uh I have no doubt in my mind on that we haven’t talked about it but a ton uh but I haven’t heard the the the rword out of his mouth once so um you know he’s he he wants to win that’s a guy that’s got burning fire in him and you know sometimes you can win want to win too much and I’ve been in that boat as well so if we he and I could find like I said our why and why just coming to the rink and loving it i I think I love it more now than I did when I was younger you just appreciate the little things that much more and um I think he’s I think you know he’s going to have a big year for us this year well Matt it’s an absolute pleasure to have you join us today and I I I say this sincerely the last two years getting to know you and talking hockey with you uh you’re a gem in a in the best possible way it’s it’s it’s so appreciative from my angle the things that you bring and the thoughtfulness and four more years of that i’m very excited so congratulations it’s a it’s a big day for you and your family and for us and Sam when you come into the studio and you have an open in invitation to come join us for an hour spent time working in the music scene in Nashville and you guys have to talk about this so just a little nugget for later but thank you very much and uh really hope you enjoy the rest of your beach vacation and your summer i got a couple clubs you can come and play at Matt i don’t know if they’re called clubs but uh I got I got security too so you’re handled sounds good i uh appreciate it guys thank you for that comment as well i hope uh I you know God gave me the gift of gab and uh hopefully you’re not sick of me by the end of these next four years so but uh I appreciate it we’ve got we’ve got nothing but content to fill you can help with that thank you very much all right thanks guys talk to you there he goes matt Duchain the newest extension for the Dallas Stars off season you can see why we enjoy Luds talking to Matt i mean we’ve played his clips throughout the year but he’s such an easy conversation he’s a pro you can tell i mean just like Jamie Jamie’s interviews are the same identical i’m so sweaty and tired i didn’t even catch what he said he said just like Jamie and there’s just this pause and I go “Wait a minute what did he just say?” Um yeah huge thank you to the uh Stars PR staff for helping us set up that today with Matt and of course we are definitely going to get him in studio maybe around training camp we’ll see if when he gets back into town um have some fun it’s usually easier then than the middle of the season when he’s got kid duty on his one day off they’ve been on a six-day road trip and then you get back home and get the your turn so uh yeah no big deal for Matt uh we have a show tomorrow on Friday 1:00 with Leah Asimopoulos who is the Dallas Stars beat writer for the Dallas Morning News she will be in studio sam is out tomorrow so Luds and I will be here in the lounge studio with Leah we’ll talk about Duchain and all the things that go with that and uh any final thoughts today guys before we wrap this one up big one tonight for the men’s uh US he brought up soccer luds in Saudi Arabia i’ll be there do you have anything hockey related you want to end with pick up my skates right now for Craig Lewig Sam Nestler for our producer today TC Fleming I’m Owen Newkerk huge thank you to Matthew Shane and we hope you enjoyed today’s DLLS Stars podcast don’t forget you still have time to donate to Big Brothers Big Sisters DMV let’s do it thank you guys [Music] [Applause] [Music]
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The Dallas Stars made their first big move of the 2025 offseason, re-signing pending unrestricted free agent forward Matt Duchene to a four-year, $18 million contract extension ($4.5 million AAV). This signing shores up the center depth of the Stars roster, but it also will have the ripple effect on many others, as it essentially forces the team to remove some current players in order to have the salary cap space to perform the other team business this summer. As part of DLLS Spirit Week, today we are celebrating Big Brothers Big Sisters of America!
#dallasstars #stanleycup #stanleycupplayoffs #petedebber #mikkorantanen
00:00 Matt Duchene has a new deal. What do we think of it?
18:10 What does the team look like with Duchene locked up? What other moves might be coming?
32:42 The Panthers win their second Stanley Cup. What lessons do we take away?
50:40 Matt Duchene joins the show.
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10 comments
So glad Dutchy is staying!!!
Enjoy the show but two issues:
1. The awful sound on this episode and the closer quarters is very unpleasant to digest.
2. Sam (middle beard) is very rarely clear or loud enough to hear. As if he is speaking into his own ears. Good points but wish easier to actually hear.
Mainly the audio is just too rough is all
I’m so happy Duchene is staying, yahoo! He worked hard all season and led the team in points, he deserves to stay! Great frontman speaker for the team too! 💚⭐️
Dutch needs to perform in the playoffs next year or else the fanbase will turn on him
I like Duchene and his playoff attitude. Sure he may not have much in points to show for it but his process is good, i think he needs to talk with Robo to see how he changed his playoff game to adapt. 1 big playoff year which hes very capable of would change the entire narrative around him into a steal. Balls in Duchene's court to prove it now.
Dutch stays but we lose Marchment.
When I saw that Dutch had re-signed, I was pretty sure that JN had another deal up his sleeve to get the cap space. Trading Mush to Seattle for draft picks was that move. It came down to either Mush or Robo.
Is it just me, or did you guys think Matt was referring to Tyler as the captain?
I forgot Duchene played for the Stars this playoffs.
I’m still astounded they couldn’t use mush to offload dumba