Glen Gulutzan Introduced As Next Dallas Stars Head Coach | DLLS Stars Podcast

Glen Gulutzan Introduced As Next Dallas Stars Head Coach | DLLS Stars Podcast

Mat. Hey. Hey. It is Wednesday. It is July 2nd and this is the DLLS Stars podcast as we say happy hump day. That’s Led’s favorite day, I think. Actually, I think his favorite day is probably a weekend, but
they’re all they’re all weekends now.
There you go.
It was definitely a weekend for you yesterday. Hey, there was a day off. What do they call that? A PTO. It was kind of like, you know how when you tell us like 10 minutes before you’re supposed to show up and you’re sick and you’re in the hospital or something’s leaking out of a body part that’s not supposed to. It’s the same kind of thing.
I believe that in Sam World LS is known as a Tuesday. Yeah, every day. So, welcome back to Craig Lewig. He had what we would call a mental health day. We have
the grass. Okay. I’m Owen Newkerk. He’s Sam Nestler. Elijah Smith is our producer. And Luds, we got to ask you, when you saw the I I didn’t even know if you were telling the truth or being funny when you sent your text to the Google or to our group text and you said, “What time’s the show today?” and and I said we just finished it like a half an hour ago or an hour ago. Is that when it dawned on you that the show was at 11:00 a.m. yesterday?
It it didn’t dawn on me. What happened was when I got off the mower, I didn’t have my phone with me and I got like an hour and a half of cut and grass. So, I get off the mower and I go to grab my phone and I make I started early to make sure I was done to be able to take a shower for our two o’clock show. I’m done by noon. All of a sudden, I pick up my phone and it’s like, “Are you okay? Is everything all right? what’s going on? And and this is where I’m going. At least the one guy in the group want somebody cared. So Sam was like, “Hey, what’s going on?” And I’m like, “Everything’s fine. Why?” or whatever. And and but he never responded to anything. He didn’t say, “Hey, where were you? We had an early show.” And then I sent something to you and I said, “Well, what time is the show?” And then you said, “We just finished.” I’m like, “Oh boy.” and said, “Well, nothing I can do now
to to uh to back up my own self and say that we all cared.” Uh Sam texted me and I said, “Have you heard from Luds as we’re doing the show?” Because we just figured you were going to pop in. And Sam said, “I already texted him. He says he’s breathing.” Yeah.
That’s all I got back. Oh, I love it. Um, we’ve got a big show today because Glenn Gulletson was officially introduced and for whatever reason, Sam, we we make fun of Luds for missing the show yesterday. Sam couldn’t figure out how to watch it from sunny California. So, we’re going to have to fake it, which uh, you know, I’m sure Sam
watched many different clips. So, I’ll just say what I had from the clips. Okay. So Glenn Gully, we’ll get to free agency, what the stars did in future segments on today’s show, but we’re going to start with Gully because
I’m going to hit a button on my computer to try to turn up the volume. So I don’t know what’s going to happen.
All right, brace yourselves. Let’s see if he sends himself away. I’m already crying because of laughing at you guys too hard. So, and by the way, uh Sam, if you still can’t get it, uh I love Misty’s right in the chat. Uh it is posted by WFAA on YouTube. I believe they had they aired it live. So there see if you can’t get it on Victory Plus re uh you know rebroadcast check that out
and you can watch it. But Glenn Gullison was formerly introduced at American Airlines Center at 11:00 a.m. in Dallas today. It is just past 2:00 here in Eastern time. Luds is in Central time, so he’s hasn’t had any changes. And Sam is now in Pacific time. So we are spread across the continental United States for the next couple weeks. Then I’ll be back in Dallas after that. And who knows when Sam will get there. And we know when Luds will get there.
Never.
When it cools off again.
Is Sam using a green screen.
I don’t know if that’s a real background or not because nothing’s moving. There’s no animals out there.
I mean, the the leaves aren’t even moving. Nothing. There’s no shadows, nothing. I think it’s all fake.
It’s real. It’s real. I’ll go I’ll go run around back there if you need me to.
Is that why you felt like you needed a a pair of sunglasses on your head for our podcast? Yeah. No, I actually didn’t even know I had these in my head.
You can leave them on. It looks like you’re uh on your way out.
It’s a long day. It’s a Here we go. All right, so let’s talk about I’m looking at a private chat from Elijah. I have no idea what he’s saying. Let’s get focused again. Let’s talk about Glenn Gullison. He was formally introduced and yeah, leave him on dense in my head.
Jim Nil introduced him at the press conference this morning at the AAC. Gulletson then spoke and he kind of anticipated the questions that we saw when they formally announced him even when we did our emergency pod later uh what was it Sunday that you know some people maybe not thrilled about this I I understand there’s some questions because he was the head coach of the stars before Luds Sam you guys have gone into full detail about why they shouldn’t think you know consider the 2011 through 13 Dallas Stars under Glenn Gullson when considering his hire this time around. But Luds, my we’ll get into some of the details. My overarching impression was Glenn Gulletson did to me very well in front of the media this morning. Yeah. I mean, you can tell. I mean, when you talk about then and now, I I I’ll use an analogy that they talk about with defenseman, and I don’t know who came up with it, but they’ll say when a defenseman, a young defenseman, isn’t really into being a good NHL defenseman or the best he can be until he’s played somewhere between 250 and 300 games. So, it’s the experience. It’s kind of the same thing for for coaches. And I think Gully everything that that I was able to hear today, you know, he talked about being a young guy a long time ago and then he’s talked about the the journey along the way about learning from three guys I think he said that may be Hall of Fame coaches at some point in their career. I don’t know who the hell he’s talking about, but um I was guessing one of them was a Sutter but in Calgary, but I I don’t know.
Don’t you think Torrs maybe would be one?
I didn’t even know he was when was he with Tors? Was he with Torts in Vancouver? Am I mistaken that that they didn’t criss-cross when he was part of the I’m not sure. Yeah. But he mentioned him by name.
But but it it’s the fact of what he said. He goes he’s learned so many things along the way from from those kind of coaches having different kinds of players being in different kind of systems. I mean all the things we talk about. So, if you’re if if you’re if there was a different situation here and if this all went down a lot earlier halfway through the season, we know that there’s some veteran coaches that got hired, right, earlier, you know, a few months ago or whatever. My guess would be that that Jim Nil and his staff may have been knocking on some of those doors prior to Gully only because they have won championships. And so, you’re looking for that. So, but and but but and again, I think the biggest thing that we talked about is that Gully’s been around two of the best players on the planet and and to be able to manage those guys and know how to manage them and learn learn mannerisms from the best players in the game. And there are some of the best players in the game on this Dallas team yet. And so, I think he’s going to I think he’s just going to be more of a chill kind of guy than than than some Hitler kind of, you know, sitting at pointing your finger and yelling and screaming. And I go back to a couple coaches back there. So, he’s just more mature. Sam, from the clips you watched, what was the impression you got?
Yeah. No, I I think he I think Leah posted it and said he won the press conference, right? That that that’s a good way to put it. He looked so comfortable, so calm, and as you said, Owen, he he anticipated the the things he needed to bring up and whether it was asked or he just brought it up. He talked about, you know, his previous tenure and the lessons he learned. He talked about how he came in at a really bumpy time for the organization. Um, but he didn’t just put it on that either, right? That that’s the easy way to put it is say what we said, you know, it was the league owed the team. They were they didn’t have any players. They were all these things. He also owned some of that and said I I also came in and I tried to over coach a lot of things. I tried to to X’s and O’s the puck into the back of the net, especially using on the power play. And now he’s learned lessons. And I think you can see those things. I mean, he he over and over again talked about his in interviews before he took this job and obviously now this morning talked about his lessons that he learned and how much he would go back and tell himself go back and do those things again. Like he doesn’t he doesn’t look back and think I wish I had done this differently. He goes back and looks at it as this is why I’m here. This is why I’m where I am. It’s because of the lessons I learned, the hardships that I went through. um the the tough year, you know, first when he came in in Edmonton and how he had to kind of shift that around to become what is now the most lethal power play and all these things. So, I just think the growth and the comfort level is what people want him to see because people want someone coming in. They don’t want I mean the big fear of Stars fans right now is steps back, right? I know LS has talked about it. We they don’t want the organization to take a step back here. They want them to keep pushing forward. And I think they nil and and Gulletson this morning both pushed that agenda and said I’m we’re coming in knowing the team doesn’t need I can’t remember the exact word he used knowing they don’t need to take a full change. They don’t need we don’t need to flip this whole thing around. We need to take a couple of steps forward and that’s the way they’re going into it with a comfort level and and understanding. And I really like that about it.
And and hey, we’re gonna see how long this all lasts because there’s a different level of of pressure now. He is the guy, right? we can talk about it’s easy and this and I’m calm and all that kind of stuff but you know and I I did hear a part about you know talking about Elaine and the PK and he’s done a great job there and apparently Neil will have something to do with power play but he ultimately oversees everything so if it starts going sideways early we’ll we’ll see if that calm demeanor is still there
you know that’s a great point LS because a coach when he’s hired
or she should win the press conference right that should be the easiest day of their head coaching career because they’re coming in with full of optimism the you know double the rubber stamp of the general manager that just hired them right this should be it should be a no-brainer. So, if anybody has a really bad opening press conference, that’s when you start to to put off the alarm bells because frankly, right, all the possibilities and hope and optimism are in front of you. As Lud says, once you start to get some adversity, we’ll see how he handles I I just think, Luds, that there’s a difference in his style. And you said this, there’s going to be a different feeling. Uh you but you could see it, too. his way of joking around and and bringing some lightness to a press conference is different than the way that Pete Dbor did it. And I’m not here to say one is better than the others, but there are differences in style. And I think we’ll notice that both from an X’s and O’s and a general sort of how you handle players, which in today’s NHL is as I think as important as the tactical stuff, which we’ll get into, but just the way you approach players, communicate, and deal with them individually as humans. Led, you know how it is. Players are human. They’re not robots. And there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that people and fans don’t see. It’s it’s humanto human interactions between teammates, whether they like something they said or they, you know, personality clashes or personal life things off the rink that that sort of get into the locker room. Those are very important things for a head coach to manage.
Yeah. And I think another thinking about that as you were talking, another thing that he didn’t do in the presser, he didn’t make any guarantees about anything. You know, I mean, sometimes coaches will come and say, “We’re going to play. We’re going to do this. We’re going to be that. We’re gonna do that.” He kind of gave you a glimpse of what he would like to be able to have this team do and change a couple little things. So, so that you can’t go back and listen to some of those clips and go, “Wait a second.” Like Paul Maurice did when he said, “Oh, our guys are going to figure it out in game 62.” Well, that one somehow happened. And he then they did and he goes on to win a second cup. So, Belly didn’t do those kind of things. So I think he was just I think this press conference for him was measured. I think he knew how he was going to go about it. He’s already been in this market one time whether people want to write it up as good, bad, indifferent, not his fault, organization’s fault, whatever. But I think he came in smart and again I think that’s part of being experienced and being in enough of those pressures where he’s worked with other head coaches. Sam, I don’t know if you heard the line from Jim or not. I it might have been one of the clips, but he said this yesterday and he reiterated it this morning, which is he didn’t think that the change of voice was necessarily the biggest issue as far as why he made a coaching change, but he actually stressed that there will be some philosophical differences. And I thought that was rather interesting. So, it’s it’s not just okay, well, maybe you’re tuning out Pete Dbor after three years. It’s we want to change how we’re doing things a little bit.
Yeah. And I think that’s what a lot of fans and I think that’s what we wanted, right? We want we were wondering if they were going to make a a shift, not a huge one, like I just mentioned before, they don’t need to completely flip everything around, but a shift in in philosophy, a shift in structure to be a better team when the most important time of the year comes around. And uh Glenn said it himself this morning, too. He said he wants to play a little bit more physical in order to adjust that into the playoffs. And like we said, I forget if it was Pet or Jim that said it is that they don’t want to have to turn a page and and flip the script once they get to the playoffs. You know, play this way for 82 to win a conference or be a a high seed and then have to change the way you play. It just doesn’t work that way. And that’s why Florida’s been so successful. That’s why Edmonton was successful. They play the same way through 82 games and then into the playoffs. And if you look at the way they went around went about day one, they made themselves bigger, stronger, and tougher to play against. Not a ton, but they brought in a guy who we know can do that. They brought back a guy who we know can do that. And now they’re talking about shifting the philosophical way of doing things a little bit to be tougher to play against. I love it. And I think that um Golitin talked about building players confidence and building a confidence in a team and preparation being the biggest part of that, right? And I think that that’s that’s kind of the way maybe they’re going to shift this is not it’s not going to be handed to us. We’re not going to be a team that’s just going to be right back in the Western Conference Final and all we have to do is win three more games to make the Stanley Cup. We have to earn this just like Pete said last year. And I think instilling that right now and instilling the way they want to play the game this summer going into camp is going to be huge for this team to be able to know exactly what role they need to play, what style they need to play and be comfortable going in and not The biggest thing is don’t have question marks going into the season. Know what team you are, know what kind of team you want to become. And I think that’s a key and so far I like what I hear.
Okay, so Luds, hold that thought because I know you’ve got some opinions about physicality. Sam rattled off a whole bunch of talking points. We’re going to get into more of those next here on the DLS Stars podcast. But now I get to rattle off a whole bunch of reasons to get Monarch Money. Monarch Money makes finance simple because finances are messy. They can be messy and confusing. But Monarch Money acts like your personal CFO, so you can get full visibility and control and stop earning, start growing. It’s more than just your average budgeting app, though. It puts everything in a complete financial command center for your accounts, investments, and goals to make everything super simple and right there in front of you. So, don’t just manage your money. Start building wealth with 50% off your first year. For listeners of DLS, that’s how we do it. Start managing your finances to build the life you actually want. Because without that clear financial picture, the dreams can feel out of reach. Monarch Money makes managing money simple and even for busy lives. Finance tool people actually love over 1 million households so far and it’s named Wall Street Journal’s best budgeting app of 2025. I don’t think you need any other reasons to sign up. So get control of your overall finances with Monarch Money. Use code DLS at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 5050% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with code dls. All right, thanks Sam. Let’s talk about Empire Today. Well, 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. Empires Today has flooring experts, dedicated flooring professionals who focus on flooring every single day. We’ve all been to those big box stores. You wander endless aisles and you somehow find yourself hauling all these materials home looking for an installer, coordinating everything by yourself. Well, whether or not you can have help from somebody that knows about flooring or maybe knows about sinks or stocking light bulbs, nothing wrong with stocking light bulbs, of course. That’s why you need Empire today because all they do live and breathe flooring and they will be with you every step of the way. It’s a whole different ballgame. Their flooring experts bring the showroom right to your home. You can pick the right flooring and the right colors for your space. See how your furniture looks in your house. Plus, you get precise measurements and of course have all your questions answered upfront and clear all-inclusive pricing. Schedule an infree a freaking home estimate today because some things are just better at home. DLLS listeners can receive a $350 discount when using promo code DLS. Yes, you heard right, a $350 discount with code DLLS. Restrictions apply. Visit Empire todayls for full details. Okay, I have a couple of bing bongs. Luds, give me a bing bong, please.
Bing bong.
Mark, super chat. A $5 Niels lungquist and year after the cup. Gully wants to be more physical in the playoffs, but does he have the roster to do this? Simon says, quote, be more physical. Luds, another bing bong, please.
Bing bong.
Ken Murphy photography with a Ben and a Lwig. I heard one thing, we will be more physical. Love it. So, two really good super chats to exactly the point we wanted to talk about, which is Gulletson said, and Luds, I know you heard this because we were talking about it before the show started, and I’m pretty sure Sam just rattled off about four or five talking points that had to do about this. So,
I do. Pete, not Pete Dar. Oh, boy. First slip of the day. Glenn Gullatson said in his press conference today that he to Sam’s point, he’s not trying to reinvent the wheel. He is trying to take this team and make about what he called a 1% adjustment. He said this isn’t a 20% change in culture, philosophy, team. He said this is already a good team. And he even used the line there about seven or eight teams in a given year realistically that have a shot to win the Stanley Cup, not 32. And he said Dallas is one of those teams. Luds, this I immediately thought of your reactions to this. He said, “I want to see our team play 1% more physical. I want to change our forcheing to help us with that, but we can’t do it.” Speaking of light bulbs, flipping a light switch, which is turning on that physicality for the playoffs. He said, “We need to do this from games 1 to 82 so that we are ready to do it for game 83.” And I thought that spoke right to what you were talking about the Stars lacking, especially in that seven game losing streak going into the playoffs this year.
I might have used a percentage maybe a little bit higher than one. I’m not really sure what 1% more is. It’s like there you go.
Brings brings you up to five.
Gotcha. I don’t I don’t know. It’s a great It’s a flyby. But what he’s saying is is what I mean personally I like to hear. And and and again, if you look at the roster, and I’m hoping it’s not done, we have the same players. So I I don’t know who’s the 1enter, you know? I mean, so there are 1enters, but they’re called Hell’s Angels and they’re called the Bandidos. And so those are the 1enters unless we’re grabbing some of those guys. I don’t know. Does that mean that there’s going to be another extra guy in there? I don’t think the Decore got any more physical than what it is. So, but but I think what it what you’re basically trying to say as a group, we’re going to be a little bit more difficult to play against. And so, we’re not going to give any easy games to our opponents. And if we do that from game one, you’re going to find that you have you’re going to have success. I believe that they’re going to have a little bit more. Will they score five and six goals a game? Maybe not. But, but I think they’ll control the game a little bit more. I think you’re going to frustrate teams a little bit more, which would lead me to the to the forche. I mean, he may have a little bit more aggressive for check or maybe he doesn’t have maybe it’s just the opposite. Maybe it’s more about F1 goes in and you kind of dictate what side of the ice you’re going to move the puck out to and then two and three adjust from there and what you end up doing is you create a more turnovers in the neutral zone. Maybe that’s what he means by that kind of a for check. So, I mean, if you look at the way that if he’s taking parts of what Edmonton did, you know, but again, Edmonton has a couple guys that can get on on people. They’re not necessarily physical guys, but they’re skaters. So, the whole concept, what I hear from Gully is everything that I’ve been kind of brainwashed into believing is game one, as he said, or game 25 should not be different than game 83 or game 87. It just you’re just you’re like robots. You do the same things and you have success. And where that where it becomes important is as the season goes along and you’re playing a little bit more difficult to play and you’re having success now as a group. That’s what becomes the conversation in the group. It’s not with the coach and the players, it’s the group. And Hitchcock had made that comment to me a few times and he goes, “You know when the happiest time I I was when I was on the bench coaching is when all the things I was barking at you guys with that and I had to I had to stay on you and stay in it and get you guys you know mentally changed as a unit as as group of 20.” He goes is when I heard the message coming from the guy sitting in front of me. He goes, “Then I just kind of sat back.” Which was a bunch of BS because he didn’t know how to sit back. But the point was to me where he was hearing his message come out of the players and now you’re like because that’s that particular coach and that coaching staff and the general manager believed that this is how you’re going to win a championship someday guys. And so they believed in that process and so they tried to implement that process and then we bought in as a unit. we all bought into it. And if he didn’t buy into it, if you guys remember in the first two, three, four years, guys were gone. And it’s like,
and I remember him saying something about a really good player and his his banner is hanging in the thing. And this came from the GM at the time. And he had said something to me. He goes, “I don’t want a 500 guy.” And I was like, and I didn’t say much to him because I I was wrong whatever I said. And then I got asked a question, do you understand what I’m saying? I’m like, not really. He goes, “Well, I don’t want players that are happy when we win two games and then we lose two games and then we win two games, we lose two games.” He goes, “We’re going to get to the point where we’re just on autopilot and when we lose a couple games, the coach doesn’t have to lose mind. The players aren’t going to lose their minds.” So, that that’s what I think I hear from Gully. And again, it’s a process and and guys got to get used to him. He’s got to get used to guys, but I think that he will have patience in the first 20 games. You know what I mean? Like, let I’m implementing that new little forche, whatever it may be. He’s going to have patience in there. Then he’s going to start holding gallies accountable if everybody’s not on board.
Yeah. Hey Luds, I have a question. Can I ask a quick question? I I wrote about this yesterday. Um it goes with the physicality, so I figured I’d ask. Now,
I know everyone or at least most people loved the idea that Pete Dbor brought in of rolling four lines, right? It it seems like a great idea on paper. You can you never know, you never have a break. You got four lines rolling at you that are expected to score. Be in the offensive zone. The flip side of that is can that ever take away a little bit from your role guys? So like are you a more physical team if you have a top six and a bottom six and your bottom six is more of the steel blackwells Benz Foxas and they’re and they know their role which is to be physical be on the forche hem guys in not try to go score you know 10 15 goals can that actually affect it like if Glenson came in and said we have our top six they’re they’re going to be our guys that mostly score our goals here’s our bottom six they know their role can that actually be a good thing instead of the idea of just rolling four lines that are supposed to kind of all look the same.
See, I don’t think I don’t think you change things if your top six are going to continue to be skilled guys and your bottom six are your role guys. I I think you sprinkle in that kind of a player on each line if you can have it. When now when I look at and you guys were writing down lines and stuff like that and it obviously it looks like Robo’s going to be back and Robo may be playing up there with hints and you know that’s what we think I think you can get away with. There’s your line. There’s your dangerous line where you you suck in the other team’s forcheing line or whatever, however they want to go about it. They may put a their their top offensive line, but but then what you have is you have you have nine other guys. I don’t want to say all of them, but the identity of that physical play comes with the other nine, the bottom nine or however you want to phrase it. So, I don’t know with the and I to be honest with you, I’m I’m looking at this and I I don’t know where that that physical guy is in the lineup. I just don’t know which one it is. Besides in the back, I get Bishell. I get Bishell. Give me one of the top forwards up there. That’s a physical guy.
Well, to this point, can Gulletson get the guys that he currently has
on the roster to just be a little more physical? They don’t have to be a wrecking ball, but but if it could that be enough, LS has skill and still hit. Yeah,
but physical doesn’t mean running guys through the ball.
Alls I want you to do is when and I’ve said this before with some players like they they they skate so hard to a defenseman for instance we’ll just say that that gets on the puck and then they they’re within a foot of them and then that defenseman moves it to his partner and then they just kind of swing and go to the next guy. Well then your other guy has got a job to do there. You finish that defenseman and and I’m not saying if he’s four feet away but when you’re right there like Bourke has got to finish, right? And I’m talking about everybody and and Duchain’s got to finish and Tyler’s got to finish because
Colin Blackwell can’t be the only one that goes crashing into the net.
Human steel. I mean, you can’t just have those guys. And so everybody like when you watch even Randon got involved last year when he first got here, but if you can have hints finish and and we know Ro was not going to run anybody out of the building, but if you’re standing next to the guy that made the puck and you’re on the fourth check, just finish him. Take him out of the play. Make sure that he doesn’t become available for to get something back. And then you know you and I think what what you’ll as an opponent you’re going Jesus I’m getting bumped every single time you know and so now it ends up being like like you’re you got these big boots on and you’re going through a swamp and you’re trying to walk through the mud and everything like that and just I think as games wear on and especially as series wear on you start to push other teams out of it. Not not the old way of pushing them out where it was just constant you know like a battering ram every single time. But that’s why I like to see just one of those so-called a little bit more physical presence on each line that you can that he’s going to be and that guy usually has to be a skater, you know what I mean? Like so he can be the first guy in on the for check and he initiates that and then maybe that pass isn’t so good. Then you got F2 that comes in and again he’s not running them through the boards but you know I know he’s coming. I got to hurry up my play. I think that takes an effect mentally on teams
and if they do it throughout the season, I do like that it’s not about flipping a switch. Now, the intensity does change in the playoffs, so you have to be ready for that difference. But Luds, the last thing I wanted to throw at you about this was the comments that Gully made about making adjustments and how different he is as a coach now than he was 12 years ago when he was fired as the Dallas Stars head coach. what what Gully I I think what he’s saying by that he recognizes more things during the course of a game that the other team is doing and and again we we talk about that in the playoffs all the time. It’s more apparent in the playoffs when they can go from from the third or fourth shift in a game an opponent will change something and you have to be able to adjust to it. So as you go through the regular season you don’t have just one for check you don’t have just one kind of PK and and one kind of power play. I’d love it as a as a if I’m a penalty killer, I I would prefer that both units have the same way on the power play. Love it. But when they have two different ways, well then we have to kill two different ways. And the same thing from the PK from the power play and five on five. If they’re finding a certain way that they’re breaking out, then we’re going to take that away because that’s their go-to breakout. Let’s change right now. Let’s change that. But if we see that we’re having it’s affecting what they’re doing, then we stay where we are. And then I think the also what happens there is there’s all this pre-couting that goes on out there. So all of a sudden you’re playing another team in three days from now and they’ve scouted you for the last three games. They know what you’re doing. We’re able to change it right now, guys. We’re going to change this right now. I mean, I think those are the things you can use the regular season for. I think there’s just too many teams that come into the league and they’re more in the the middle to the bottom of the team. Just you as doing radio and doing podcast and stuff like that. You know how they forche. I know what their power play is going to look like. I know who’s breaking it out. I know the two guys that are swaying behind. You don’t think that the guys are playing the game, have every single thing figured out? Like, change it up all day. Be be predictably unpredictable. Well, if you haven’t heard enough of Luds, we got more.
It’s It’s Mando time here on the Stars podcast.
Yes. Yeah. They they could use some Mando up here in Wisconsin. Guys are
bundles. Uh, Mando is a men’s deodorant brand that’s hyperfocused on keeping every aspect of a man’s body smelling fresh and clean. Every single aspect. Mando overtly calls out more colorful parts of men’s bodies such as pits, belly buttons, the rocks, butt cracks, brundles, and even your feet. I picked up on that this morning. It even your feet. Who’s using deodorant on their feet? Their scents are geared towards men like Bourbon Leather, Cloverwoods, Mount Fuji, and remember, I forgot this the other day, Pro Sport. created by a doctor who saw firsthand how normal BO was being misdiagnosed and mistreated. Clinically proven to block odor all day and and up to 72 hours. I don’t know about that one, but here’s the best one that I found. 12 hours after a shower, okay, 12 hours after a shower, the average man’s grundle, that’s your taint, your nacho, whatever, odor level was a five out of 10.
With Mando, the average grundle order is level zero out of 10. Apparently, if you use that now, who wouldn’t want to be part of that that that user re research group? Who goes in and sniffs the grundles after 12 hours? Like, who?
That’s a dirty job.
All right. Well, my job.com and be a grundle sniffer. All right, let’s talk about True Fan Travel. Boy, L, you never disappoint. We are heading to Las Vegas. Well, we aren’t, but DLLS is with True Fan Travel for the ultimate fan experience. DLS is taking over the strip for an unforgettable weekend in Vegas and you need to be there. Join us as the Cowboys take on the Raiders on November 17th. That’s Monday Night Football. It’s at Allegiant Stadium. This all-inclusive trip includes a three-ight stay at a luxury Vegas resort. Game tickets, VIP parties, exclusive events with the DLS Cowboys crew and fellow diehard fans, and much, much more. This is how Dallas does Vegas. Book now at truefantra.com. And remember, it’s not the DLS Stars show going. It’s the Cowboys. And John, our old producer, abandoned us just so he could go on this trip. So, you know, it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Rude.
All right. I know. Rude indeed. Let’s get to the other part of this. Less Sam Rodic Foxa is back as a Dallas star. So too is Colin Blackwell. He didn’t leave. But Dallas in free agency yesterday wasn’t totally quiet. There were some other teams out there, by the way, that their fan bases were complaining, whining, grumbling about them not doing a whole lot. Winnipeg, I believe, is one of them. Minnesota didn’t really make a huge splash even though they finally have those big buyout shackles off from Paresi and Sudter. But the Dallas Stars did resign even with very little cap space. and now in fact negative cap space at the moment. Colin Blackwell to a two-year contract at the a league minimum 775,000 and then after one year with the St. Louis Blues, they brought back Radic Foxa two year or excuse me, three years, 2 million per year. There was some confusion by people that read it wrong or saw this $2 million AAV for the next three years for Foxa. Sam, what are your thoughts about both of those signings? Because then, you know, we’re going to give Luds a chance to talk about physicality. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the big one is like we talked just talked about before is the shift, right? Is that that’s a clear one. We Blackwell, we knew we thought that would be he would be back. it was a pretty obvious he was probably willing to sign for the league minimum or a little bit more. Um he he loved it here. He loved his role here and we we talked about on yesterday’s show while we broke that live. Uh that he he is someone who understands he probably has more of a role even this year. It’s not as deep of a team. Um we don’t know what their roster is going to fully look like, but it’s not going to be a team where he’s probably going to be getting scratched in in a bunch of playoff games. So for him, it’s a big one. We know what he brought. Excellent on the penalty kill, a lot of speed. Speed is one of his biggest underrated things that that we saw. And the biggest reason he stood out so much in the playoffs was that he came on. He wasn’t just heavy and went to the net and crashed and scored a couple big goals, but he’s also he’s a very fast skater. Uh he gets on opponents quickly. He’s what exactly what Les is talking about and getting there as the F1 um and putting pressure on the puck. So, I love that one for for the stars. And then the the Fox one, the the price is interesting. However, after taking, you know, a few hours to think about it and look at what else was going on, everybody’s getting paid what what we would call overpaid. And I think that’s just because the salary cap’s going up. The everything’s kind of shifting with the NHL right now. And overpaid is going to quickly become the norm, I think, now in the NHL. So, for for Ratic coming back here, Jim said it perfectly, I believe, yesterday after free agency. He said, “We missed Ratic last year, especially in the playoffs.” And that that couldn’t say more about why they brought him here. They brought him here because he is a heavy physical, excellent on the faceoff dot, penalty killer, goes in hard, plays 100%. You know exactly what you’re going to get from him. And I think that the stars, I mean, think about how much they could have used him on a third or fourth line last year against the Edmonton Oilers. It’s just it’s not, as Led said, changing the whole team. It’s not all of a sudden going to make them the Florida Panthers, but it is going to make them heavier and harder to play against. And it now gives them another option of a penalty killing forward so that they don’t have to rely as much on putting guys out there that I mean, why would you want rope hands killing penalties if you’re this team? The guy gets hurt a lot. He’s your most valuable offensive player. The more you can have role players to fill in those spots and don’t have to put in your skilled guys in those roles, the better. So, I I think originally I thought that’s a good amount of of money for someone like Foxa, but as soon as you look into it more and think about it more, I think it’s an excellent addition for this team. And that’s why I asked Luds about the way they run the lines, because it looks to me like this is going to be a team that has either what Lud said, which is one or two physical guys on every line, or it’s going to have at least a fourth line, if not a bottom six, that’s going to go out there and bank some bodies. So, I like it. So Luds, let’s talk about Foxes individually and then we can get back into who plays where and how it affects the the top four lines of forwards. Do you agree with Jim Nil that the Stars miss Ratic Fox’s play and style, especially in the playoffs this past year?
Yeah, I mean I think he’s he’s a weighty guy and as Sam said, I think the biggest thing about him is his ability to win some faceoffs and and it’s not really about winning them, not losing them. so you don’t lose him clean and obviously his size. But I mean again he’s is he putting you over the edge? No. But I think he’s a piece like Sam said he’s a piece he’s a step in moving into being a little bit heavier, right? I mean he’s St. Louis. He’s playing 12 13 minutes a game. So it’s not you know and again that that’s the minutes that he plays. So um to be a fourthline centerman. Yeah, of course. And I think PK and and you know those kind of areas, the faceoffs and I look at the end of periods at the end of games where you’re up a goal and you can put a guy like that out there to win an important draw and tie guys up and be hard to play against in corners and when he goes into the wall or into a corner against somebody that player is not coming out. To me, that just sends a message more about, hey, we want more of our guys to play like this. Doesn’t mean that you’re going to dumb your game down, but you can add a little bit of that that grit and that heaviness. I I just think he’s a heavy player. I don’t think he’s going to go out there and scare a lot of people. I think you know what you get when you get with them is it’s going to be hard to get through them.
Sam, let’s talk about the possibilities of how you use them a little bit. Now, we don’t know for sure what we’re going to see from a Glenn Gulson coach team with Neil Graham and Ela Nazerdine as his two primary assistants. Of course, Jeff Reese, the goalie coach. We we’re familiar with everyone because they’ve been in Dallas at one stage or another. All of them have. But you put in your article one thing that we had a friendly disagreement on our group text about which is who plays in the top six because
I think it’s a it’s probably going to be Robertson Hints and Ransin as your big number one line. I think that that that can work. Hints and Robo were a pairing. They found Joe Pavvelski. Ding. And that worked out very well. We also of course added Miko Ranton and that should be a really good top line. Duchain and Sean great chemistry. Who plays with them to me is the big question mark because you have Wyatt Johnston who I think it would be an interesting idea to try. Like you signed Duchain to be a center and he’s a really good center. I think that that plays into his playmaking style, but you have, especially with adding Foxa, a lot of guys that can play in the middle. A Bor of course is a wing. He can play center. Oscar Beck’s been a winger. He He’s a center. You have a lot of centers. That’s fine.
But I just wonder, of course, Tyler Sean was a center for a big part of his career and he can still do it. I just wonder would you consider putting Wyatt Johnston up on your second line because he’s probably your most at this stage of his career skilled offensive player that’s not currently in one of those top two lines. So if you go Duchain on the left because he’s a left shot with Johnson in the middle and Sean on the right then that allows you to move Sam Steel up because as Les said you have Foxa for your fourthline center. I like how that balances out, but you have Jaime Ben with Duchain and Sean. It’s the grumpy old men sort of version.
Do you think that works? Yeah, I think I said to you, you know, you only have so many options sometimes. And right now, we are filling holes versus having players that fill those holes, right? We’re we’re we’re trying to find something that could work versus having something that automatically goes in there. So, I’m not saying Jamie Ben is your solution there. I think what I’m looking at when I say that is what Les was talking about having that type of player on every line. And I’m I’m hearing some some murmurss that this team may want to try out uh Duchain with Ranton to see if that is a potential option as well. So I just think if you’re going to put someone at wing, Johnston is the one who’s played that before and I think it affects his game less. So does that mean top line right wing and Ranton’s on the second or second line right wing or can Johnston even play on his off side? That’s all the questions they’re going to have to ask, right? I don’t have the answers, but the the one key that you just said that I was thinking about yesterday and and Luds brought up is when they sign Radic Foxa, tell me that doesn’t immediately say we think Sam Steel could play up our lineup a little bit. And we saw it last year and he is that not only is he that kind of player Luds is talking about bringing a little more physicality and stuff to a line, but he’s got the skill to do it. It’s not like you’re putting up Rod, no offense to Rodic Fox, but it’s not like you’re saying Rodic Fox is going to go play on your second line wing. It’s a It’s a player that has the skill to play.
And let me throw this at you to that point. Could you move s instead of messing with everybody? And could you keep Johnson in the middle of the third line with Ben and Bourke and put Sam Steel up there on the left wing with Duch?
It’s about time somebody said that. I was waiting for you two bozos. I’m sitting here going, I saw your things yesterday and I’m like, I don’t even know what they’re doing, these two idiots. Like I I saw you guys going back and forth. But but the point is like
a fraud exercise. So, they sign um Blackwell to a two-year deal, right? Yep. Yep.
Okay. They’ve got Oscar Beck, they’ve got Sam Steel, you bring in Fox. I think that that guy playing next to Matt Duchain is not here yet. That’s what I think. And is that
there’s some interesting parts there that you can move for somebody but in in that could be at game 40 or
I was gonna say is that the trade deadline steel and put him up on the left wing there then you keep because all the talk for three years now has been Wyatt is a centerman. We want Wyatt we we got the best three center now we’re going to move one of them out. You got your three centerman there. Sam Steel can he’s a north south kind of guy anyways and he gets in. There’s your guy that gets in and for checks. There’s your guy that is a shift disturber. Okay. So, just so with an
updated
Okay. So, so you can still have you can have hints and then you have Duchine, then you have Wyatt, then you have Foxa down the middle of the ice. And I don’t think I And again, the fans would like to hear this. I don’t think Jaime Ben’s going to be playing up on your number two line. I think Jaime’s going to be Jaime would be a really good linemate for Radic Foxa. I mean if you want guys to play hard against Fox said Jamie and you know Blackwell for now I mean there is a tough line to play against. So that that’s where that’s where I would be going. I mean I don’t the only problem for me then is now who’s in that third left wing spot you know is that I mean I think I don’t know I saw that I think you guys were kind of high on Buml and then he he left he jump shipped and he left.
He had 39 goals in the AHL right? I I don’t know if that would have been a guy that could have played with Wyatt and Bourke or is he left? Was he a lefty or righty?
Blue was a lefty. He played right wing, but he was a lefty. But he could play on the outside. Yeah.
I’m curious.
Seemed like that could have been a guy that you could have slid in on that third line on the left side. But the other side of the thing is too though, I don’t know if anybody wants to hand cut and wrong way to put that. I think you want you want Wyatt to be able to play with some good players. You know what I’m saying? like let’s make sure that Wyatt can take advantage of everything that he does. And and a lot of times it’s it can be on the passing side of things, you know, setting guys up, not just what he can do. So, I just don’t think they’re done. I I just think that the market the market’s not there for them. It’s it’s too pricey right now. What we’re going to do is we’re going to sew this thing together as much as we can and it’s not we’re we know that we can be a really good team if we add a couple more pieces or whatever it may be and something in the back end. But let’s just and if we’re not if we’re not fighting for first in our division, then we’re not fighting for first in our conference. We’re just look at the teams that are getting in and winning the Stanley Cup. They’re not in number one. Yeah. L my only question with what you just said, which is what Wyatt a lot of fans and people are concerned that Wyatt just gets kind of buried on that third line, right? It’s a good idea to have hints Duchain Wyatt and and Steel or Foxo whatever but he when you’re just kind of throwing together and no offense to these guys Ben might take a huge step this year right we we hope that that I think he needs to but I just don’t want to see Wyatt because they want him at center all of a sudden he’s on that line and he’s just kind of getting thrown with different partners and pairings because they don’t have anyone left. Why I wonder whether they want to move him up to a to a wing and maybe Sean’s the one who comes down and plays.
How many times you’re saying how many times this year did you see Knoblock and Edmonton move guys around and take McDavid and yeah best players in the world but but the Heymans and you know and and even with Trent Frederick and Corey Perry how they’re moving guys all over the place. Gully was in that. He watched it he watched it work. And so move wide around. Wyatt doesn’t have to just be he’s our centerman. Let you the game isn’t going your way. Shake it up a little bit. Take Wyatt and put him up there. You know, you know, move Randon over to the left side if you want. Put Wyatt up on the right side with hints. Like I I think that you can kind of you can kind of freelance a little bit and I think that when you play with a team like Edmonton that has been searching for whatever they’re searching for and they’ve got, you know, two, three, four really good players on that thing. They’re they’re kind of throwing them all over the place and they’re having success doing it. So, learn from it. Up next, guys, we’re going to talk about where the DLS, not the DLS, where the Dallas Stars, free agents that went elsewhere, ended up landing and maybe a few news and notes around the league because it was a busy day. Tons of free agency, even if it was a quote unquote quiet one from Big Fish. Lots to talk about next here on DLS. Let’s start with the ballnower bonus. It’s back here at DLS and we have a new challenge for you. You can win a gift card to the All City merch store if you make your pick correctly. Here’s how it works. First, you have to pick a winner. This one, this challenge is who’s going to win the Major League Baseball All-Star game, which is coming up on July 15th, American League or National League. Then you 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 most important thing besides getting your pick right and making your purchase. You must click on our link. It’s in the chat. It’s also in the show YouTube description. You can also check out Ballno or Bonus on our website alldls.com to bet and get your gift card. So, who do you think will win the Major League Baseball Allstar game coming up at Truis Park in Atlanta on July 15th for all balln knowowers? Make your pick, place an order, and if you pick correctly, you are going to get a gift card from us for the same amount as your order. That is the balln knower bonus. And speaking of which, why not do the ballnower bonus with the DLLS Dieard discount? 20% off all merchandise if you are a diehard because right now we have the make your move sale going on which is $36 for your first year. It’s a huge discount off the regular annual price. And so if you have never been to Die Hard, sign up today. You will become a DLS Die Hard. You get a free t-shirt of your choice. Plus, you can then use that 20% merch uh discount and go buy stuff for the Balln knower bonus. You can get even more on top of that. Think about the shirts. The Otter shirt, the Finnish mafia, Wyatt Johnson 16 bit, Nico’s the finisher, the Captain, the Moose. All of those and more. All rattling through some of these stars. But we also have shirts for the Mavs, the Cowboys, the Rangers, and just DLS. Maybe you just like the big flag shirt. All that fun. And of course, yes, you get a discount on the Vegas trip. 20% off that as well. So, all of that alldls.com. The moose. I love that. Of course, I’m looking at a different screen to look at my copy point, so I have no idea what they’re doing to probably make fun of me the whole time. I It’s probably better that I ignore you guys. All right, Sam Luds. Let’s talk about who didn’t who I guess the ones that got away. We began, of course, with Mikuel Granland. We knew it was going to be difficult. And when you see that Gran the Mikuel Granland signed with the Anaheim Ducks three years $7 million AAV, you go, “Yeah, it was keep robo keepling. You’re not going to fit both with getting Miko Ranton’s 12 on the cap.”
There’s a there’s a general manager that sees that the window is here to take a step. And that that’s what Beaker did. He went in there and said, “Here here’s where we’re at.” um you know made a couple of moves a guy out and and starting to plug some of those areas and I think that’s he you know again I you know there there’s still a guy floating out there and he’s he’s on the right side I believe though is Nikolai Eers I they don’t have room for him I I know that moneywise they don’t have that guy but
you think Eers is going to get more than Granlin 7
I think he’s going to be in the neighborhood you know what I mean and I I’ve heard Toronto but but regardless my my thing and I think I said to Sam one time Sam asked me about it I believe I’m just worried about that guy with injuries. It doesn’t seem like he ever has a full season in him, right? He’s such a good player. But anyway, um that’s what I think of Anaheim. I I think they just recognize, you know, very similar to what Jim did here in Florida did and and you know, and what man Florida did it again for God’s sake. So, I can’t wait to be watching Brad Champlain when he’s 45 years old and see it’s not a 10-year extension. Apparently, Granland wanted to to stay and just couldn’t make it work. Cody Cece wanted to stay, but they couldn’t make it work either because Cody Cece went to Los Angeles. Four years, 4.5 million AAV. Great for Cece for his, you know, for the business of hockey. But yeah, there’s no way you can fit that in with what they have now. Would it would it have been worth trying to unload Dumba and Leouchkin’s contracts to keep Cody Cece as one of your right- sided defenseman? I don’t I don’t see I’m not
Yeah, I’m just not sure if if if there’s a to me CC and Lushian were on very similar levels this year. Um I don’t think that either one of them stands out as one that needed to be, you know, that we need to move this guy so we can fit this guy. I think that Lushian was a very serviceable defenseman. I had no issue with him still being on this team. I thought he had some, you know, some some rough areas, but he was also taking on roles that he wasn’t made for, right? if he’s playing on your your bottom pairing in a in a spot he he belongs in maybe with Bishial I think he’s a much better player and when you’re throwing him up there and all of a sudden he’s with Harley on the top pairing when especially when Mero was out and he’s playing the big minutes it can be a lot. So I had no issue with that. I think CC especially if he’s going to go get four million or whatever that he’s getting you’re not bringing that number into into Dallas with a guy like Cody Cece. So um I think it’s a little surprising he even got that number. I think the Kings did some a lot of work yesterday, but they obviously see value and I know they they like his penalty killing because that was one area he did help this team out in uh as serviceable penalty killer. So, um I don’t think there was any issue with bringing him back. I if it was Dumba versus Cece, maybe that’s a different story. But in terms of Labouchkin and CeCe, I I see them as pretty similar players.
Of those three, I would be happy keeping Labouchkin. I I just think that that he’s here’s what happened with Labouchkin because there were there were some speed bumps as the season went along and and if you remember how many times all of a sudden past game 40, game 50 where you’d see Labouchkin going down down the ice and taking taking pucks to the net, right? And I he got caught up in it and then his game fell apart a little bit in the Dzone. And sometimes you you you just have to know who you are and and stay within yourself and be that peace. And it doesn’t mean you don’t get involved, but but I just felt there were more times and that he was jumping into the play because all my the other five guys are all jumping into the play. But as Sam said, if if you had, you know, if you had Leon and and and him as a pair and if they wanted if depending on the system that they play in, those are two big bodies that that can make it as a pair can make it difficult for an opposing forward to want to get to the good areas of the ice in front of your goalender. I just think that you you just this is who you are and you know the end of my career I was playing with Bundy. I was playing with Sean Chambers and and people couldn’t get there and you know Bundy’s a he’s as big as my kids Tahoe out here and kind of shaped like it too as a matter of fact but but you you just couldn’t I mean that that that was a key ingredient and then and everybody like man this is what they do and so I just think you can have that. So yeah, I think that Leouchkin I mean not not he’s the lesser of three evils, but but I but that’s almost saying like they’re all bad. I don’t think any of them are bad. I really don’t. I think Matt Dumbled wherever he goes and if he gets a chance he’s gonna he’s going to some of that confidence is going to come back in him. How about if Genny Donov signed a one-year deal with the New Jersey Devils million-doll base and up to 2.25 million in performance bonuses. I wondered as we were talking about our left-sided winger issue. I know he was a left shot playing on the right a lot, but he could play both sides. I mean, a million-doll performance bonuses like that’s something the Stars probably could have made work, but they decided to move on. And I I think he and his agent decided for a new challenge. Uh I I think you’re right, Luds. think the Stars aren’t done, but would Ddonov at that price I mean that’s a super team friendly deal for the Devils. I just wonder if you know if their way they were going about their business when letting guys move away and go other places and not not be a little hard that they felt like they could get Granley like they you know let him go let him go we open up a little space and it was almost like you were hoping he didn’t go someplace else and you were hoping that the Fins would talk him into taking a lesser deal to be here and all that kind of stuff would come together and at the end of the day it was the almighty dollar that that won the won the battle. And so I just wonder if they’re like, “Man, we didn’t see that coming.” You know, we knew that there was going to be some takers. We really thought that he liked it with this group and he might take a bit of a haircut to stay here. And you know, and again, if you’re going to Anaheim, he’s not going I don’t think he’s going to Anaheim because he’s winning a Stanley Cup in the next two years, right? He he went there for the money. That that’s all there is to it. Well, I mean, you said your buddy Verbique wants to make the playoffs this year, so maybe he does think that they can be part of a resurgence with the Ducks. No, I I don’t I believe that they can make the playoffs. I’m just saying he’s not I think that this team here in Dallas, well, you know, we’re closer to winning a Stanley Cup. I agree. So, at at the end of the day, he said, man, they’re only offering me four and a half or five. I don’t know what it was, but but I can, you know, I’m gonna I’m gonna put another six in my pocket at the end of this whole thing or seven, whatever it may be.
All right, the last one that we have to get to today is Mate Blumel. Well, Brendan Smith as well. He’s still out there as a UFA. But mate Blumel, who could be an option for that left side as we were talking about, signed with the Boston Bruins one year, 875,000. It is a one-way contract. Boston has some forward depth issues. To me, Sam, this feels like a guy looking for an opportunity to stick on an NHL roster. He had 31 goals in the AHL two years ago. He had 39 last year. the kid can score at the AAA level. He’ll get a chance to try to make the team in Boston where he would be, I don’t think, favored to make the Dallas roster out of training camp. He would have a shot, but it would not be easy.
Yeah. And I mentioned this yesterday. He he had told I mean straight up told us in in the room over the last couple years that he was frustrated he wasn’t getting more opportunities. And you can say whatever you want. You can say when he did come up, maybe he didn’t do enough. But I think that deep down this team was just deep. This team had depth that they didn’t need to call up a guy that they weren’t sure about or didn’t need to try to, you know, take a risk with him. Um, but from all that I hear from people around the Texas Stars this year, that frustration continued throughout the season this year as well. Um, and he didn’t show it right. He scored led the league in scoring and was an unbelievable.
He showed it the right way, didn’t he?
Exactly. So, I think for him it’s I don’t think there’s an anger towards this organization. It’s nothing like that. But I think that he said, “You know what? I can go to Boston. I may well be able to jump into a top six, top nine role here, play all season with them, show what I can do at the NHL level, and then from there, it’s a one-year deal, right? So from there, he comes in, he shows what he can do, and then he either can go back to Boston after that or he has more options when it comes to next summer. So, u I just don’t think that the even if they had the money, they were offering it to him. I think for on a personal level for him, it was time to move on. The only reason I had some doubt that that was going to happen was because of the new coach, right? You can say, same as Neil Lungquist, you can say that he’s coming in, he’s got a chance here, it’s a new coach, potentially a new system. He might want to take another shot with this organization, but for him on the personal level, it was more of a let’s go somewhere else where I know for a fact I’ve proven enough to get myself on this roster, be a contributing player to a Bruins team that really needs it. Um, and then see what what the NHL looks like. Because for him, this is this is not a last shot, but this is his this is his time. He’s not he’s not a 19-year-old kid anymore. It’s same with Nils Lungquist. This is your time right now to show what you can do at the NHL level, he’s got a much better chance of doing that for a team where he can go on a in a much bigger role.
So, I don’t know. I don’t know Blue Mel. I’ve never watched him play. Just hearing from you guys and other people. So if you had the if it came down to same dollar amount, same term, blue ML over Blackwell, Blackwell over Blue Mel, who do you take? And I’m talking about in the next two years.
Yeah. I mean, that’s a trade-off because Jim Nil always likes to add veterans for low money or keep veterans for low money and make it harder for the young guys to he doesn’t just leave that space and say it’s Mate Blume ML’s to take. The answer to your question is Blackwell because he’s the proven element of what he brings to your team at the NHL level. Blumel is the potential for more offense and scoring while still being hard to play against, but he hasn’t been able to show it yet. And so I think it’s a much lower risk move to keep uh Black uh excuse me, Blackwell on Blumel because you just you’re taking a gamble with a guy like Blumel of you hope it translates to the top level, but it it’s no guarantee. Sam,
okay. How about black? How about Beck blue? Uh, very I would say
because I think you guys are I’ve heard glowing things from you guys about Blue Mel potential, right?
Y
and so those two players that I just mentioned, yes, I again I I’m just asking the question in a year from now has his legs on him, gets, you know, an opportunity to be a regular guy. Is he going to be a better player than Colin Blackwell who’s in his 30s? Is he going to be a better player and add more than Beck?
Maybe. The the answer to that is maybe. Yeah,
we don’t know. And here’s the thing, LS. It’s not because the Stars chose not to sign him. He became a UFA under the group six rule, so he chose it. I think Dallas wanted to keep him, but he wanted to go somewhere else. And I would imagine as we wrap things up here, you’ve played with plenty of players in your career who just felt like they needed a change of scenery because it was the coach, it was the roster, it was the GM, they just didn’t see that player as being a long-term fit for them.
Hey, I was the ring leader, not a guy wanted to leave me. Well, hey, uh, put I want you to be prepared for this tomorrow. We’re going to hit let you because you weren’t here yesterday talk about some of the offseason moves on free agency day one including what Bill Zto did with Florida where John Cllingberg ended up the surprise of Brock Besser and are the Colorado Avalanche going to do anything other than let some of their guys get away some of those things we’ll talk to tomorrow because we are out of time. Big thank you of course to Elijah Smith, our producer, for the back breathing and technologically savvy Craig Lewig for the I still don’t think that backdrop is real. Sam Nestler and for me
sitting here in the upstate New York in-laws house, I’m Owen Newkerk. Thanks for joining us today. Start uh by the way Luds show at 1:00 Central time tomorrow. Don’t forget here on So I’ll be home by 12:30 tomorrow afternoon.
Perfect. We all feeling like the mayor.

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Stars general manager Jim Nill formally introduced Glen Gulutzan as the next head coach of the Dallas Stars on Wednesday morning in a press conference at American Airlines Center. While this is Gulutzan’s second stint as Stars head coach, both he and Nill emphasized that he is a very different coach 12 years after he was fired by Nill, after the 2012-13 lockout-shortened season. Also today, we will break down the Stars moves on Day 1 of NHL Free Agency – the signings of Colin Blackwell and Radek Faksa. Plus, the different landing spots for the Stars free agents who did not re-sign with Dallas.

#nhl #dallasstars #glengulutzan #stanleycup #stanleycupplayoffs

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