Gulutzan’s Philosophy, Coaching Staff, Stars’ Development Camp Update | Spits & Suds

Gulutzan’s Philosophy, Coaching Staff, Stars’ Development Camp Update | Spits & Suds

Have we got a great podcast for you today. Welcome to another edition of Spits and Suds. I’m Gavin Spittle of 1053 the Fan. Hope you are having an awesome summer. The hockey talk never stops on Spits and Suds and thank you for listening and supporting us. Wow, what a great June we had and we’re so excited to bring you some cool programming in July. And of course, we had to get our friend on stars.com. I’m going to pull back the curtain for just a second. I feel like we’ve already done a podcast because what I love about our Spits and Suds correspondents, they’re all cool people. So, we get in these conversations prior to turning on the microphone and it’s the greatness of Robert Tiffen of starsoughts.com. How are you, my friend? Doing good. Doing good. Uh, let me know next time you’re going to pull back the curtain, though. I didn’t get my hair done. Hey, you are a handsome, bald man like I am. Mhm. Is there any other kind, Gavin? I mean, they say it’s in. I don’t know. Yeah, but I I hope so. It’s not working, but they say it’s in. We have to trust him. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. All right, so let’s go back to the press conference because I thought this was interesting, and please correct me if I’m wrong. So with the announcement of the new stars head coach Glenn Gullson, we had Neil Graham being propped up from Texas to the assistant coach and then in the press conference it was mentioned about Elaine Nazardine and we really hadn’t heard much until that point. But Nazarine fills out the rest of the coaching staff. So Neil Graham, Nazerdine, and to me, Robert, personally, I really like this coaching staff. You know, I hope it works out for Gullatson, but I do like the people that they have around him. And when I did that coaching deep dive on one of the podcasts, I grew a greater appreciation of what Nazareine brings to the table, and you actually joined me for that podcast. Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. Go, man, it seems like forever ago, so it does. It does. Yeah. But yeah, it’s it’s such an interesting coaching staff because you have both a mix of of experience. Um, you know, Neil Graham is obviously the the least veteran of them all, but at the same time, he’s been coaching in the organization for 12 years and and has been a head coach for quite a while uh himself. So, it’s not exactly like in fact, it’s about as opposite as it could be to Godson’s first time around where he was he admitted he knew one one way to play hockey and he was figuring things out kind of as he went. this time around, everyone’s kind of figured things out in multiple places. Um, you know, Nazerdine in particular, like you say, uh, has has been coaching here, has figured out a lot of really good things, especially with a penalty kill and working with the defensive group and a Pete Dbor system. And now we’re going to get to see I I mean, Goldson said it in that press conference, you mentioned it’s going to be collaborative. He he very much made it clear he’s not trying to bring in one signature system and impose it on their roster. he wants to find a way to tailor the things they do well um to the roster that they have. And I think in a in a perfect world, that’s what you want, right? I mean, you that’s ideally what you want is the system matches the players. Um but also, he said he doesn’t want to change too much because obviously the team’s been doing so well the last few years. So, I don’t know what that, you know, balance is between what you change and what you keep the same. Um, I’m sure the first time there are any hiccups, people are going to compare Goolitson or even Nazarine under Golitin to to you know the defense or the penalty kill under Dbor and people will give credit or blame accordingly. So I I was trying to think of this like in a real life scenario because when you look at this coaching staff and I do agree with you. I love what Gulatson said about this is like a partnership basically because you have Neil Graham underneath him who wanted that Dallas Stars job. You have Nazerdine who also wanted the Stars job who was formerly with Pete Dbor. But then I look and I’m like okay Neil Graham was a longtime assistant so he gets it. Nazerdine has actually experience with this with New Jersey being an interim coach and then you know the Hines leaves so he’s interim coach in comes I believe Lindy Ruff and he stayed on staff so I find it interesting because sometimes you wonder like okay is this going to work out because they all three wanted that same position but he’s also surrounded himself with people with a lot of experience It’s it’s kind of you wouldn’t see this too often, I think, where it could work. Anyone who’s worked in any workplace knows it can be tough to kind of interview for the same position as a peer and then you become their boss. Uh, you know, how do you avoid resentment and jealousy and things like that? In this case, look, Ela Nazerine, I’m far from the first person to say this, but if you can’t get along with Ela Nazerdine, then you probably can’t get along with anyone. He’s very well-liked, always, you know, always upbeat, in a good mood. I’ve never heard heard a single bad word about the guy. You know, I’m sure he’s human and everything and and stress does things and it’s easier to be to be well-liked when you’re the assistant rather than, you know, being the one with whom the buck stops. But still, uh, Nazerine has a very, very good reputation in that sense. Uh, as does Golitzson. Everyone kind of, you know, car Jim Nil mentioned specifically character, right? That he sees Goldson as being a very high character guy. Um, and Goldson expressed a lot of that humility and everything in the in the press conference. And as for Neil Graham, yes, he interviewed for the job. Um, at the same time, I have to think that one of the reasons he he took this job as an assistant with Dallas. Um, cuz we know that he he even mentioned that he’s spoken to to um to other NHL teams at different points recently and in the past. So, if you’re Neil Graham, I really do think you have to look at this as just about the most ideal assistant coach position you could get because yes, I’m sure he’s confident and feels like he could take that he could take that job if he get a chance just like just like Goldson did way back when, but this is kind of ideal because you get to take that next step. You get that kind of extra those extra skins in the wall um being, you know, an assistant coach in the NHL so that if you do want to get your shot maybe in a couple years if things are going well, Goldson is still is still around. um and Graham wants to go somewhere else, then he’s got that extra little bit on his resume to help him do that. Uh so, yes, he interviewed for the same job, but but even in Neil Graham’s case, I have to think he sees this as only really really a positive for him long term. And and he’s also, you know, a fair bit younger than those guys, too. So, so Neil Graham has a long coaching career ahead of him, I would certainly say, based on what we’ve seen so far. And this is, you know, this is a great opportunity for him. Um, and not to mention Jeffre as well, who’s been there a long time, is also a very, very well-liked guy, easy to get along with. So, yeah, it should be a very, you know, we’ll see if it works, right? If they’re not winning, then no one cares how how well they get along. But, uh, just, you know, it should the feeling should be all really good right now. And it seems like they are. So, that’s that’s as good a sign as you can ask for in July. So, so some Spits and Suds listeners might have picked up on this is that in various interviews, uh, I saw him on NHL Network, obviously the press conference, Glenn Gulletson is saying, “We just got to get that extra degree. We just got to get that extra degree.” Yeah. Um, Robert, you’re a real smart guy, so I think you know where the extra degree comes from rather than I mean, some people will say like 110%. But just for those that don’t know, I just wanted to point it out. Um, it’s a book by Sam Parker, How to Achieve Results Beyond Your Wildest Expectations. And basically, it’s a mindset of doing a little bit extra. And it’s amazing what kind of impact that little extra. And why it’s called the extra degree is the book’s called 212, the extra degree. So, I’m going to explain it real quickly. At 211°, water is hot. that extra degree. At 212 degrees, water boils. With boiling water comes steam. With steam, you can power a train. One extra degree makes all the difference. So, I think I look I actually had a staff meeting in which I went over this um a few years back and talked about that extra degree. So, I think it’s a much simpler because throughout our whole life, Robert, we’ve heard, you know, give 110%. You know, what what else can you give me? It’s just that little bit extra from that book. Um, and I don’t know if anyone had ever heard of that ex, but I I love the mindset change that Gulletin said, just need that extra degree. And I’m like, oh, wow. All right. I know where he’s getting that from. Well, I think it’s always good if you have a coach who’s trying to learn and trying to get better and reading books like that to get to get ideas from. And it sounds like he wants to hear ideas from from his staff, too. Um I it seems again just the perspective we have and the in the time we have right now not having actually seen how any of this is going to work out on the ice it all makes sense right it’s very logical because they have been really close they they’ve gotten there three three years in a row they’ve been the final four and so yeah you don’t want to it’s not a blow it up situation I think that’s what Jim nil said it’s it’s not a blow it up situation which you know I’m sure there are some fans who who think that’s exactly what they need and they need to change everything change their approach change their system, change their roster. But realistically with this roster and the no move clauses and everything they have, that’s not happening. So it it it makes sense to me that you would say, you know what, let’s just find a way to, you know, get that extra degree, find that extra gear to just get a little bit farther. And, you know, Goldson was very, very clear that there’s some specific tactical stuff. He’s not going to divulge, which, you know, makes a lot of sense uh for his sake. you don’t want to kind of uh forearm the enemy. But it makes sense also that he’s not trying to reinvent the wheel here. That the Stars have a really good roster. We’ve said this before. They really do have a really really good roster. Um it may not be perfect. You may not you may want it to look exactly like the Florida Panthers. Um and and it doesn’t and that everyone everyone agrees with that. But they’ve got so many good pieces. So it that I love that concept. I guess I’ll have to read the book now um to actually pretend to be as smart as you seem to think I am because that the concept sounds great. I’ve read some other really helpful business books, but that one hasn’t made it across my desk. I just didn’t know if like there I’m sure there were listeners out there that you know probably said, “What what do you what do you mean by that extra degree?” And since he said it a couple of times, I’m like he has to be talking about this book. Um so it is it is fascinating how one degree can basically power a train. Um just that little bit extra. Okay, moving on. Wait, one one last thing on that. One last thing. I want to pause on that just really quickly. Uh because how do you think you get that extra extra degree? Do you think that he’s going to try to do that tactically? Cuz I think that’s a Pete Dbor approach for the most part is is tactics is he’s a very smart coach. His systems, everyone has a lot of respect for a Pete Dor system and they know that his teams are going to be well coached. My hunch um and I wrote about this a little while ago. My hunch is that Gooson is looking more at a at a motivational thing. Yes, he’s going to tweak some some of the systems. He said he said this, but I think if if athletes feel more positive results from certain types of the system or they feel like they have better alternatives, if one thing isn’t working, they know, okay, in in this approach we have as a team, we can try different things. I think that can that can kind of avoid some of that stale feeling that I think we saw especially in the Edmonton series where it seemed like the team just I don’t want to say give up. They certainly weren’t giving up. They were leaving it all out there. But Edmonton was just was just outplaying them. And it’s demoralizing right when you come back exhausted and you feel like you’re trying things that aren’t working. And I think even some of the I think even Duchain might have said this too that they were trying a lot of the same things and they weren’t working. Um to me that one degree is a is a kind of combination of tactics and motivation. But really, you want these these world-class athletes feeling confident and feeling like they can they can actually execute better and that kind of builds on itself. So, you know, how you do that, it’ll be interesting to see. Proof will be in the pudding. But, but to me, it has to kind of start more with that that motivational that buyin piece as opposed to just we have better tactics and we we’re going to be faster than the other team. I think it it has to start from a more uh character-driven place, I guess I would say. And I’m glad you brought that up. Thank you for that. The other thing that two things and they’re more generic points and they’d have to be fine-tuned. One of the things that Sean and I have talked about the past few years when he joins us is the starts, the inconsistency as far as the the starts. And I think that is something that the extra degree might be able to fix. Like listen, we’re going to lose games, but we have to be more consistent as a team. Um because watching Stars games over the past years, it’s like if if they did happen to have a fast start, then they have a down second period and the game will eb and flow, but I just think they’re I think he probably wants more consistency um on a regular basis. So that would be one thing that I think they could fix. Yeah, I think it’s more tactical um as far as and then I’ve also noticed that the message has been received as far as being a more physical team. And I like what how he described physicality, how he’s saying that doesn’t mean we drop the gloves. Um yeah, they’re not going to I think he said we’re not going to run around chasing guys trying to trying to lay hits. Yeah, they don’t have the personnel to do that. um in my opinion, but I do think if they can work on their corner work, that’s one thing I felt as though specifically in the playoffs, super specifically against Edmonton, losing a lot of corner battles that kept the puck in the zone. Um I think they can do a better job of that. So, I’m interested to see what changes they make a as far as that as well. Uh you know, making sure that if you can’t get the puck out, at least you’re tying the puck up. Um, yeah. So, uh, man, it’s a great question and I don’t know if we have the answer right now, but I will say this, Robert, Brian Shottenheimer has won the offseason for the Cowboys and no doubt Glenn Gullson early. People are like, “Okay, all right.” I mean, both these guys can talk and there is something to be said about sitting up there and listening to a coach. And when the coach has passion, I think all of a sudden the fan base is like, “All right, ultimately winning wins and losses decides this, but I’m willing to you’re more open going into the season. All of a sudden, the retread talk has, you know, gone down.” Yeah, I think I think they did need something to be fresh. Again, we’ll never we we may never know the whole story of why Jim Nil was so convinced that they needed to make this change now. Um but but it does it did seem clear that something did need to change and this you know as as always it seems to be the case the coaching change is the easiest thing to do or the easiest big change to make and and so yeah there’s a good there’s a good energy around the team right now. It feels both fresh but not completely like they’re throwing the baby out with the bath water. So again it’s a tough thing to do to try to you know change things without taking a step backward that I’ll give Jim Nelson credit for for saying that too. He was very clear after free agency that they weren’t trying to make so many big changes that they accidentally took a step backward because that is also very easy to do. And I I I guarantee you we’ll see a couple of teams this year who their GMs are assuming, okay, we did that well last year and I made some changes so we’ll do that well plus uh the increment added by whatever we did this year and instead some of those teams are going to move backwards. I mean just ask Nashville. It can happen and you don’t always see it coming. So we’ll we’ll see. We’ll see how it works out for the Stars, but right now the right now the vibes are very positive. Jim Nil is very quiet when he is working on deals. Uh amazing. Nothing really slips out. You guys do such an amazing job trying to get something to slip out. But in your opinion, do you think they’re done? Because I’m curious about addressing the decor and how they’re going to do it. Obviously, they have to alleviate some salary cap, but the Dor is fascinating to me because they’re going into the season and I’m trying to think, okay, that second pairing, well, A, do you separate Hkin and Harley? And B, if so, you know, what is that second pairing look like? Yeah. Um, I do think that they’ll I I still think plan A is to move Dumba. Um, I think they’re confident that they can trade him, even if they have to retain a little bit of salary on Dumba to make him to make that move a little easier. I think they still figure that’ll be better for the cap than than a buyout would where they still have to retain uh a bit on the cap for this year and next year. Um, not to mention pay him to go away. Whereas, if they can actually trade him and just retain a little bit, that financially and capwise makes more sense for them. So, I think that’s still plan A. The here’s the thing with as quiet as Jimnil usually is, like you said, the Jason Robertson talk has been really interesting to me. It has been out there. His name has absolutely multiple people all over the place have been have been reporting that they’re hearing these talks are out there. There was trade now, oh wait, they don’t they don’t think the stars want to trade him. So, if you were to just purely go off of kind of what’s out there in public, I think I think you could at least hypothe hypothesize that the stars were trying to kind of signal to Jason Robertson that they would be willing to trade him if his if the number that he wants for an extension since he’s he’s eligible to eligible to side an extension now that if he asked for too much that they would then choose to trade him and he wouldn’t have as much control over where he goes if they do that. So, there’s part of me that has wondered, again, I do not know this, no one has told me this, but there’s part of me that has wondered if one of the reasons we’ve heard a little bit more about Jason Robertson Zane being out there than we usually do about big gymnight trades. Um, is because that’s just a little bit of the cat-and- mouse game with a big high dollar extension like this. Especially considering how how much I think the word I kept hearing was grind. how much of a grind it was to sign Robertson uh the first time a couple years ago when he missed training camp in the preseason and everything and then went on to have a an outstanding season uh as we all know. Um but I do wonder I do wonder about that. So I don’t think they’re done. Um I I wondered if they had some interest in Brent Burns who who we saw sign I was wondering that too. Yeah, he signed basically the Jamie Ben deal almost almost identically. I think he might have had one extra million worth of incentives on top of that or something like that. But uh but uh yeah, he signed that 1 million plus performance bonus deal. If if Burns can kill penalties. So to me, even if they had had to move Labushkin to make it work, I wonder if that I don’t think they want to move Lushkin. I think they saw last year he’s a he’s a useful piece, but I do wonder if you could make an upgrade. And I think Brent Burns at 40 is probably still an upgrade. Although I’d be careful about how many minutes you play him. I might, you know, he’s got that Iron Man streak going on, so you can’t really rest him or anything like that. But yeah, I do wonder if they had interest in him because he would solve a lot of issues for you. And I think his size, he’s he’s a righty, you know, I think they would see him as an upgrade to to Leouchkin. So I wonder if that’s a move that they looked at, too, even though he obviously chose to sign with Colorado. Yeah. Which is kind of fascinating because I believe he still has that 420 acre ranch in Texas. He does. He does. That’s right. So yeah, I I just wonder because they because they had tried to get him what whenever he uh uh who was it? Um they tra I think it was it San Jose traded him to Carolina three or four years ago. I had heard that Dallas was was interested way back then. Um so you know who wouldn’t be especially at the time, right? This a former Norris trophy winner. Uh but I wonder I don’t know that for sure, but I I do wonder if that’s a player that you know there are still things out there I guess is my point. I don’t I think they’re still open to making moves. Obviously, the money is something they have to do. But by waiting with Dumba now, they don’t have to, you know, pay the buyout and just kind of saddle themselves with that that cap hit for this year, next year. They can wait and see what other deals are out there. And then maybe they could end up moving him either a team that really wants him or needs to get to the cap floor or something like that or uh as part of a of a bigger move if that should happen. And and again, the Jason Robertson thing could be part of that. If the Robertson camp comes back and says, “We want a Miko written deal.” I have a hard time believing the stars stars are going to jump at signing him to a $12 million eight-year extension. So, we’ll see what happens. It’s going to be interesting. I feel old when I make this announcement because I feel like it was just yesterday that I was watching number 17 of the Dallas Stars, Toby Peterson skating around at the AAC. And I always liked Toby Peterson. I always felt as though he wasn’t Stu Barnes, but he did a lot of the little things, you know, that and he was a smaller guy. And I just I rooted for him. My favorite one of my favorite alltime no one remembers stars is Chris Connor. I don’t know if you remember Chris Conor. Oh yeah. What did he wear? 65 or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. And I he had to be like 5’8 5’9. Yeah. Oh yeah. If soaking wet and standing on an apple box. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember he was out there and Mike Madonaldo was playing and I it’s just like I’m like wow. and he used to tear up the AHL and would come up and I’m like, man, my guy Connor, my guy Connor because I just root for those little guys. So, number 17 is now your head coach of the Texas Stars. Uh, Peterson the last two seasons, been with the Avalanche as a skills coach. Um, but prior to that, he does have coaching um experience. He was with Lake Erie Cleveland uh when they won the Calder Cup. he was with the Rochester Americans and uh he has had great success with power play. Uh so really interesting hire. I will tell people um because some might be wondering about their assistants. Uh they are coming back. So Travis Morren, former Dallas and Texas star, Max Fortunis, they will be the assistant coaches. Ryan Daniels, the goalender, development coach, Josh Johnson will all return. So, just like the Dallas Stars, the Texas Stars basically fill the head coaching vacancy. I’m always fascinated how these head coaches basically come into situations and their assistant coaches are already picked for them. Uh, so why is it interesting to spits and suds listeners? Well, because Neil Graham did such a good job as far as and his staff of course developing the young talent, the Robertsons, the Bourcs, the Stankovvens, Jake Autinger. Uh you I mean you look at the Harley is another one. You look at the current Stars players and those players were under Neil Graham. So you know the future what’s going to happen and we’ll talk to Robert about the Stars development camp in just a second. But I thought it was a a fascinating uh article and um fascinating hire as well because I’m interested if Jim Nil maybe sees something in Toby Peterson as a future head coach. Yeah, this is a a classic example. Oh, I think your buddy Steven Mazerf um wrote about this uh earlier today, maybe even this morning, and he talked about, you know, I think maybe Sean Shapiro has talked about this too, but but Stephen talked about how there are kind of different categories, different types of hires. and one of the types of AHL head coach hire. Sometimes it’s just a natural promotion from the from the ECHL uh like it was for Neil Graham where they moved him up uh from the ECL as a head coach to an assistant coach briefly and then he ended up having to take over sooner than than planned but has done like you say a great job. Um the the first job as an AHL coach is to develop players. The second job is to win. But in Texas, they take that second part of the job very very seriously. Um, and they’ve obviously done a great job of it, even as recently as this year when they made it to to the Western Conference Finals themselves, going up against a stacked Abbottzford team with tons and tons of former NHL players. Yes. Um, and they took him deep. Um, yeah, it’s this this hire seems pretty clearly to me a go down to come right back up. This is a Toby Peterson has never been a head coach before, but he’s been like you mentioned and he’s he’s been coaching at the NHL level and a good avalanche team for a couple years. So, he’s worked, you know, with players with big egos. A skills coach, you know, players want to get better. They want to learn. And if you’re a skills coach talking to Nathan McKinnon or Vonachkin or someone and you don’t know what you’re talking about, they’re going to tune you out real fast. So, the fact that he was there for a couple years kind of shows you that that they thought they were getting they were learning from him. Um, so this is a chance for him to get a head coaching I would at least I read this is a chance for him to get a head coaching bit of experience on his resume that then would make him more more attractive as a potential NHL at least assistant coach but maybe even you know cuz he was a skills coach which isn’t quite the same thing as like a full-on bench coach, you know, assistant coach or something like that. But yeah, this this will be a chance however long he’s there um to to really add to his resume in an important way. And you saw with Goldson, too, who, you know, he kind of jumped that a little bit. Um, and he he mentioned that he probably wasn’t ready for that first hire in in Dallas. So, going up to the NHL and being an assistant, uh, was was really good for him. So, I think this likewise, you know, Toby Peterson, who we love, he like I think you mentioned, he won a Calder Cup. He was on his last year of hockey before I think he he had a career- ending injury early in the playoffs with the Texas Stars in 2014. Uh, he he won a Calder Cup with them. He was on he played with Curtis McKenzie. Uh, so they were teammates and now he’s coming back. He played with Fortunis and Morren for that matter, too. So, he’s going to be all three of those guys he he played with and now he’s going to be their coach. Um, he he played for Glenn Gooson even um back both in Texas and and on the Dallas Stars as well, back when Golson was was a head coach in Texas and in Dallas. So, there’s a lot of organizational connections. Uh my personal Toby Peterson memory was kind of from that that Golitin time, that kind of bankruptcy era of the Stars. Uh he played a little bit before then after he signed with them. Uh I think in 0708, but for the most part he he got the bulk of his games in that kind of Mark Crawford and Glen Glenn Gooson time. And he even uh in different times when the stars were really hurting for power play quarterbacks, this was kind of post Zubov and pre-C King Clingberg. Um Toby Peterson quarterback that power play a few times, which is pretty rare to see a to see a forward do, especially a forward who, you know, was was out of the NHL for a good like four or five years before he finally made it back up. So, it’s it’s a cool story. Toby Peterson’s a really well-liked guy. uh even a an especially cool part of his story um is that he’s a diabetic. So he uh just h having to deal with that and monitoring blood sugar and everything like that as an NHL player taking big hits and everything uh especially back then when technology you know 20 years ago uh when he was playing in the NHL was a little bit different. So his his story is really cool, really easy to guy to root for and obviously he’s really familiar with with you know the organization and especially a few of the a few of the guys still there in Texas. So, it should be it should be pretty fascinating to see how it works out, but the hire really makes sense when you think about it. Yeah. No, I I I appreciate it. I love that they’re bringing in new people into the organization with new fresh ideas, and I love that they’re keeping the staff around as well, so they can continue to build on what they’ve already done in Texas. And thanks for shouting out Steven Merve. He’s terrific at 100deree hockey. We’ll probably have Stephen on to talk about this. 100dgreehockey.com. Terrific deep dive into the Texas Stars. He does such a great job. All right, you were at Stars Development Camp and um so cool that they allow the crowd to come in and watch this. I think it’s a great way for people to see uh the future. And um you have some great articles up as well at starsthoughts.com. Tate and Trey Taylor, brothers and defense partners in college and now at Stars Development Camp. I thought that was really really cool. Um that’s a great story. So tell us some of the players that you felt uh stood out. I did hear from one Spitz and SS listener that was there and they commented on Cameron Schmidt. Wow, he can really skate fast. And they were really impressed by Emil Hemming. Uh before I forget, before we dive into the players, I do want to shout out Ryan Daniels, the goalending I think his official title is goending development coach for the Texas Stars. He So this year was a little bit unique because of how deep in the playoffs the Texas Stars went. Um, I had kind of heard that the plan was not to ask any of the Texas Stars coaches to then come off that long season, long playoff run and then immediately, hey, uh, come run come run full days of development camp for a week, too. So, in the past, you’d see people like Neil Graham there. Yeah. Uh, helping helping coach development camp. This year, Ryan Daniels was was there, but the plan wasn’t for him to be there either. From what I had heard, they kind of gave him, you know, complete license to to take the week off, but because he just enjoys it and wanted to help out, he chose to be there anyway. So, that’s just kind of the type of the type of people you tend to have at a camp like that. Jordy Ben was there. Uh Rich Beverly, Rich Peley was around. Um there, you know, even Jeff Reese was stopping by. You know, it’s the offseason, but he’s he’s still there a little bit. Uh it it was really really cool to see all the people behind the scenes. They even I even wrote about a couple of the coaches they brought in from outside the Stars organization. Britney Smith who’s a uh a head coach of the hockey program at Syracuse. Um and uh Joe Frasier who’s a longtime assistant uh to actually Willie DeJardens of the Medicine Hat Tigers and and former former Texas Stars head coach Willie DeJardan. So, um, there are a lot of cool connections and development camp, there’s just this extra energy there because everyone who’s there is really excited to be there, really wants to be there, both from both from the coach’s end, but especially the players end. So, uh, yeah, you’d mentioned Cameron Schmidt. That’s a that’s a good place to start. So, he he absolutely pops. He’s a his skating, you can see it in person. I mean, we all heard after the draft, I can’t remember, was you and David or or Sean or whoever talked about it or maybe we did. I I honestly can’t remember. It’s been a whirlwind. But yeah, he he is a really really good skater. Um they had some just like basic skating drills where they’re kind of going through some skills that you don’t necessarily see junior hockey players using as much. Um and they just looked a lot easier for for Schmidt than they did for some of the, you know, let’s say some of the bigger defensemen um who aren’t used to necessarily having to to open up in quite the same ways with their blades that that Schmidt was doing. But yeah, his his shot too. They did some drills where they kind of put the nets on the, you know, against the boards to make a really like short kind of mini contained little couple of mini games that can both all happen on the ice at the same time, like just in one zone. And Schmidt was really, you could see how his size, especially in the offensive zone, could be really, really deadly. Um, he can just hit little gaps with speed and explode through them and and get shots off. He has a fantastic shot. Um, so he’s a player that absolutely was very easy to notice. Um, it’s also easy to notice that he is smaller than pretty much every other player out there. Um, it’s just it’s hard not to notice that. And that’s, you know, Joe Joe Mcdanell said that after they drafted him, but again, how many times have we said it, right? The Stars drafted Jason Robertson. He was too slow. Is he ever going to make it? Well, I think Jason Robertson’s going to do well in the NHL. Uh, Logan Stanovven, he was pretty small. Is he ever going to succeed? You know, I think Logan Stanovven’s going to going to succeed in the NHL now. They just signed a what $50 million contract or whatever it is. So, uh I I for my money, I don’t see a reason to doubt to doubt Cameron Schmidt at this point because he’s in the right organization to develop a player with with a lot of a lot of foundational skills and even some elite ones um who just has to overcome this one thing. But but that’ll be up to him as it always is. You know, we saw with other players like Ulis Honka that sometimes, you know, if you you can have elite skill, but but if you’re undersized and you can’t learn and take those next steps in the best ways, then then you’re going to struggle. It’s going to be tough for you. So, ultimately, I think it will be up to Cameron Schmidt to see if he can succeed. Uh, do you want to talk about some other players? Yeah. No, go. I love this. Yeah. I know. I’m just I’m just going on and on, but it was it was a lot of fun. So, another player for me, and I actually hadn’t gotten to see him really in person. I didn’t even get to see him at camp development camp last year. Emile Heming. uh another stars first round pick. Uh he man, he looks confident. He looks really good. You can see why he went in the first round. It’s so funny. There’s some confirmation bias with some of the players, right? Like Schmidt even, you know, people tell you I had a couple people asking me, “Oh, you know, who should I watch at camp?” And Schmidt’s an easy guy to point out and say, “Yeah, well, they just got him, so you’re seeing stuff and I, you know, for the first time, just like me in some ways.” So, yeah, he’s a good guy to watch. And and Emil Hemming is the same way. He’s got a great shot. He’s he’s also got a fair bit of size and you can see a lot of confidence too. Uh Heming Hemming just didn’t seem to have the nerves a lot of other players there did and he he had a couple shots um in different drills and things like that where it was clear this is someone who who expects to score when he shoots from certain areas and and can put the puck uh in spots that not a lot of other players can. So yeah, Hemming for me, I, you know, I’m always really really hesitant to say, “Oh, I watched this one game or this one practice or this one camp and now my opinion of this player is completely changed. I’m not nearly qualified to do that. I’m not a scout.” Um, but he was really impressive. So to me, Heming definitely pops and you can you can see how good he is. And even I heard from a couple other people there in the organization, too, who are just like, “Yeah, he’s fun to watch. He’s you can see.” So Emil Hemming, if you’re thinking, oh, he’s just kind of he’s the first round pick, but he’s not, you know, getting all the press and the buzz that that Maverick Bourc or Stankovven or players like that did, I I wouldn’t sell him short. I think the Stars have a really good player there. Um, we’ll see. You know, obviously we’re we’re kind of waiting to see what happens when he starts, you know, when he leaves juniors and everything like that, but uh yeah, I think he’s a really good player. Um, oh, one other player, and you mentioned him actually, I wrote about him earlier, and we’ve we may even have talked about him a little bit, but Trey Taylor is another player. He’s a little bit on the older side. He’s 23, so you know, there are even some 17-year-old kids in camp. So, you would expect you would expect some of the older guys to to really stick out. But Trey Taylor, as a member of that Texas Stars team that just got done with that deep playoff run, uh he he looks just as impressive as he looked in Texas this this year, too, when he came on board uh after after he signed with Dallas. Um last year, he’d even been uh at the Philadelphia Flyers development camp. Um, the Dallas had had talked to him about attending their camp last year, but he had already kind of said he would go to the Flyers camp, but you know, credit to to Scott White and and you know, Rich Beverly and the the Stars organization, they ended up convincing Taylor to to sign with Dallas. And and Taylor was pretty pretty clear with me at least when he talked to talked about this that for him it’s just about he he trusts the organization and everyone uh was really upfront with him and he felt like they were really shooting straight with him. And boy, you you can see that it could be a really good mutual fit, at least so far, his transition from college to the AHL. Taylor was playing big minutes on a second pair with Texas. Um, and and he looked every bit like a player who had just felt very comfortable and confident after taking a step like that. So, yeah, he now he has to do it for a full season with Texas this next year. But, uh, and you know, Taylor’s a left-handed defenseman, too. So, if you’re trying to project like long term where where does Taylor play, I don’t know. We’re we’re probably not quite to that point yet. But it’s good for a team to have to have good players. Um and and Trey Taylor is certainly looking like a good find and and frankly when you get an undrafted player and you you sign them out of college, if they end up playing any AHL games for you, it it’s kind of a bonus. Um the Stars signed a couple of other players out of college, too, but Trey Taylor so far, at least to me, is is someone who really really is worth keeping an eye on. So I I think they the Stars got a good one there, too. You know, back to Heming for a second. I think it’s a good reminder is we are so quick to judge prospects and you know David and I were talking about that David Castillo and you know admittedly so when Heming first decided which I think was a very smart move I’m going to come to North America and play in juniors basically his first quarter to half a season he did not look good and then the second half you know David was pointing out specifics he just exploded and that’s continued. Um, and that’s that’s great to see. Maverick Bourke was the same way when he came to Texas. That first half of his first AHL campaign, Maverick Bourke was struggling a bit and had to learn that league. There is a learning curve between juniors and jumping up because Maverick Bourke was amazing in the mind in junior hockey and then that adjustment and then he exploded from there. So maybe we saw Maverick Bourke as far as like this year was kind of a learning curve and that would be one of the keys to the Stars success next year is the emergence of Maverick Bourke um to hopefully put up numbers similar to what he was doing in the AHL. So that remains to be seen, but I think we’re too quick to call people, you know, failures re really quick without, you know, kind of just and patience is tough because, right, it’s just immediacy, especially when you’re in the Stars organization because there’s been such a success. Unfortunately, a lot of these players are being penalized based on Stankovven, Wyatt Johnston, players that basically made the jump way too quick there. This is very rare what’s happening with this organization as far as players either just having a cup of coffee in the miners and coming right up or just going in Wyatt Johnston’s case straight up. And if Heming keeps this up, he’s not going to make the team. But I bet Stars fans will be like, why isn’t Heming on this team? The fact is is he probably has to go back to juniors. They they’ve got some man the Stars development. You’re right. when you look at, you know, how quickly some of these guys have have spent time with Texas, and again, it’s a big credit to Neil Graham, um, how they’ve been able to go there, learn, and then make that transition, or in some cases, like Thomas Harley, play maybe a little bit more in the NHL earlier than they had planned 3 or four years ago, and then go back to Texas, work on some things, successfully work on those things, then come back up to the NHL and thrive as Harley has. So, there’s every chance that uh that we’ll see that with with players down there. Maverick Bork is an interesting example because this year with with Dallas, look, bringing Radatic Fox in kind of makes you ask a lot of questions. I don’t think they bring him in and sign him to that three-year deal if they don’t plan on him playing center. Um, so to me, that that makes you wonder, okay, who who are your centers then? Does that mean Wyatt Johnson isn’t necessarily playing center? Does that mean Matt Duchain isn’t necessarily gonna be playing as much center? Uh, where Maverick Bourke is he he’s a center. He definitely he played a center a little bit under D’bor, but then they moved him mostly to the wing later in the year. Does that mean Maverick Bourke is going to get another chance to look at center? Um, does that mean Sam Steel is going to play up the lineup and be that could he be a stop gap on the left wing up there? I think Glen Goldson even said Ze said that’s something that he definitely is looking at um is moving steel to wing at least for a little bit if if possible because he has that kind of skill and speed, you know, so he can keep up with some of those more skilled players. So, it’s it’s interesting because it’s a great opportunity for all those players um to take that next step. And I think Bour is a great example of how you you can still be doing that at the NHL. You know, development isn’t always linear. We’re so kind of spoiled with some of the players that we’ve watched where they’ve come in come up and just every time we see them, it seems like they’re they’re taking that next step and building on all this potential we’ve heard about. Um whether it’s been, you know, Robertson or or Auter back in the day, uh you know, Harley and then, you know, Johnston as a teenager come right up to from juniors, right, to the NHL. I mean, that doesn’t happen. It just doesn’t happen, especially when you’re not picking, you know, in the top five, top three of the draft most of the time. So, yeah, it’s it’s pretty cool and pretty entertaining to see all these kids doing this well. But just because their path isn’t linear, like you say, doesn’t mean that they’re not succeeding at all. It just might mean, you know, Texas is going to need a lot of players too this year. So, yeah, they, you know, they they lost Matt Bluml, Ritz Kovian might come up to the NHL. Um, there’s there’s a few players that are moving on. So, a lot of players have opportunities this year. No matter what team they’re playing for, they’re going to have an opportunity to grow and learn. And that’s something they were focused on at Development Camp, too, is, you know, this isn’t a fail or succeed week. It’s just about taking those skills, building on them. Um, they called it homework. I think both Jordy Ben and Rich Ply talked about it that they’re giving the players homework to work on for the next year. Um, and then they’ll, you know, be checking in on them throughout the season. But it’s it’s exciting. It’s cool to see a little snapshot of kind of where those players are right now, uh, before they go back off and then, you know, we start looking at box scores again for the next year. And we might see a gap of a year because a lot of the talentrich prospects are in junior hockey right now for this organization. Partly because of all the success they’ve had and so many players are up in Dallas right now. So there’s naturally going to be a gap um along with the all the trades and the draft picks and everything like that. But um just a you know FYI which I think is a real good transition because hockey is so rich right now with talent and I say that because it seems like more often than not we are all excited about these number one picks. We had Connor Baddard with Chicago and boy when he’s healthy he’s impressive. Akan Celibbrini did one year at Boston University coming into San Jose and what he showed that he can do. He’ll be really interesting to watch. And today, Robert, uh Gavin McKenna is now what they’re calling generational. We’ve heard that before. Um but you you look at what he did for Medicine Hat last year as a 16/17year-old. 56 games played, 41 goals, 88 assists in the wing position, 129 points. He has declared with Penn State. So, he will be playing, I’m guessing, for a year because he is expected to be the number one pick for the Penn State Nitney Lions. And I wonder if NIL has a little bit to do with this because now GMs actually like players going into the college hockey system because college hockey is so vastly improved compared to what it used to be. So now a lot of GMs are looking at college hockey and looking at the prospects. We just talked about some. So to me this is fascinating for a program like Penn State. Boy, does this. They were already on the map. Um, playing at a high level, but what a signing today. So, the Gavin McKenna watch will be happening from Happy Valley. An interesting stars connection there too to McKenna is one of his teammates um this last year. You mentioned him putting up those ridiculous numbers in medicine hat in the WHL again with his coach Willie DeJardens being being his head coach there. Great point. Um uh and one of his teammates is another stars player who was at development camp who also just signed his entry- level deal with Dallas uh Neil Muon um who’s a big defenseman I think 6’5 210 something like that a big big left shot defenseman uh from Finland and Muonin said I was asking him about Mckennett actually last week and uh you know he said I’m going to get this wrong going off memory but he said essentially he’s a great player so you know you can just watch him it’s amazing But uh for him in particular, Muonin says it makes him a lot better when he can defend people like McKenna during practice because it forces him to really be on his game because someone like McKenna can really can really make you pay if your if your stick work isn’t good, if your gap is is bad. Um so, you know, it’s a little thing, but the stars clearly are happy with Mahonin’s development under DeJardan. So, they signed him to an ELC and he’s coming along well after making the transition over from from Finland to North America. So McKenna obviously was also thriving quite a bit under under Willie Desardens too. So him going the college hockey route uh like like Trey Taylor did and others who’ve you know gone gone to college and made that transition to to pro hockey pretty easily. One would suspect McKenna going from juniors to college that uh you know he might be able to jump from college either right to the AHL next year or more likely what everyone thinks is that McKenna will go right onto an NHL roster next year. everyone. The kind of common common agreement is that uh that’s not a phrase, but the the consensus is that McKenna is going to, you know, he’s he’s much closer to that kind of Connor Bard generational talent, if not even beyond him. Um just one of those really really special players. So, it’s going to be really really interesting to watch him there up at Penn to see uh to see what he does against against bigger players because instead of juniors now, he could be playing against, you know, Trey Taylor and and guys like that, 22, 23 years old. So, it it’ll be fascinating to see, but you have to give you have to give Willie Jardens credit for for helping him take that next stage of his development, just like he’s done with a lot of other players. Well, hopefully you do get some rest here and there. Um, it’s been such a busy off season and such a long season and uh stars.com is the place to be. As I mentioned, Tate and Trey Taylor article up there, brothers and defense partners in college and now at Stars Development Camp. You talk about development camp, you talk about the coaching, you talk about free agency, there’s so much. And uh you can find it all at starsthoughts.com. And as I mentioned on this program, Robert is an independent reporter. So your support of starsoughts.com goes a long way uh for my money. Uh he’s obviously towards the top. Um and he’s nice enough to give him his give us his time on Spits and Suds to deliver unbelievable information. Really, I really love this podcast, Robert. I felt as though we we covered so much ground. In July, we’re covering this ground. It’s absolutely 100% a hockey town, baby. One of the things I love the most about this podcast, Gavin, that you’ve created is is I remember, you know, following the stars a long time ago, and there just wasn’t this sort of thing. we were, you know, scrabbling for whatever content you could find in in 2009 or whatever during the off season and there just wasn’t very much. So, the fact that that we have a show like this where we’re getting we’re getting to have these conversations, I just selfishly I love him and I really enjoy him, too. So, I’m glad we get to do this, but it it also hopefully is at least uh even if people completely disagree with everything I say, at least it’s something to talk about during during this time. So I I think Stars fans are pretty spoiled these days in all the best ways and and you should take a lot of credit for that. No. Well, thank you very much. I I tell this story. I went to call Stars fans bluff because they would call the radio station and say, “You don’t talk enough stars.” And we have talked a lot more stars than we have in the past. In fact, the fans trying to get Jim Nil on and we just continue to talk about, you know, the stars if anything happens and have various people on. Robert, you’ve been great on 1053 the fan with my midday show. So, we have a fun show. Yeah. Fun show. Absolutely. So, we have upped our coverage um on the fan. But prior to that, I said when people would complain, I said, “I’m going to start a podcast. None of you are going to listen.” And then I’m going to call your bluff and say, “Well, you know what? I did a Starsonly podcast. I gave you the information you need and nobody listened.” Well, years later, here we are talking about Stars Development Camp. So, kudos to Stars fans and it’s been a terrific ride along the way. You’ve been a huge part of it, man. I’m so thankful to you, David, uh Sean, just everyone involved, Stephen, Leah, just everyone that comes on. Taylor’s come on, Mike Hikah, you guys do such a great job covering. There’s so many people now that cover the stars and different perspectives. Absolutely wonderful. And thank you for all the information we got. Like I said, I’m amazed in July that we’re covering all these subjects. There’s so much to talk about and more to come. I we’re we’re all spoiled and I’m really grateful that none of us have to shoulder the burden alone. Uh because people would be in very sorry state if I was the only one they had to go to for for Stars News. So I’m I’m couldn’t be happier to be part of the the tapestry that you’ve woven together. You’re a terrific part of it, my friend. Thanks again, Robert Tiffen. Starsthoughts.com. Robert Tiffen on X/T Twitter. We’ll have another episode of Spits and Suds soon as we roll through the summer. Until then, have a great day everyone and thank you so much for support and thank you so much for listening to Spits and Suds. [Music]

Robert Tiffin of StarsThoughts.com joins host Gavin Spittle for a packed show of Stars news. New Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan has mentioned “the extra degree” a lot in the press since being hired. Gavin and Robert talk about where that term comes from and how it applies to the Stars. Neil Graham gets promoted to Assistant but Robert and Gavin talk about the impact of Alain Nasreddine being retained on the staff and the strengths of this staff as a whole. Is Stars GM Jim Nill done or could there still be a trade? How will the Stars fill the 2nd Defensive Pairing? Toby Petersen is hired as the new head coach of the Texas Stars. Why that position is so important for the Dallas Stars. Robert tells us who impressed him at Stars Development Camp and the guys talk about Canadien 17 year old phenom Gavin McKenna attending Penn State and the strength of college hockey.

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