What Is The State Of The Stars Blue Line Heading Into 2025-26? | DLLS Stars Podcast

What Is The State Of The Stars Blue Line Heading Into 2025-26? | DLLS Stars Podcast

right now. I have to stop saying Oh, you know Cat’s in the house because she played the drop. Coming up on today’s DLS Stars podcast, it’s a Friday. You think we’d just be goofing off? We are effing around if you will. Don’t worry, Cat. I’m not going to say it. But we are going to get serious. That would get me to my What? Really? So, Luds, we just found out this is our cold. If I start cursing on air, Lud not. She would. No, no, no, not Luds. If I start cursing, Cat would jump on the mic. That We know where we stand. Jump on the mic and spit it. Are you? Yes. Thank you. You’re welcome. Oh, we were having this conversation off the air. But let’s start the show. That doesn’t want to be heard. She sure is talking a lot. Can we get one of those buttons? I need one of those buttons that you’re pressing right now that turns Mike on and off. It is Friday, July 25th. This is the DLS Stars podcast. As we remind you before we get going today that the $36 Cowboys training camp sale is underway right now as we speak. Just like Cowboys training camp, you can get a huge discount off the regular annual subscription price to be a DLLS die hard as you see on that seal. Top level access. Not only can you get that highly coveted membership card, yes, you can stuff it right in your wallet. You also get all sorts of wonderful things. Go to alldls.com/intro. We are covering the Cowboys training camp out in Oxnard as we speak with Clarence Hill on the scene. The entire cowboy show will be going there August 11th through the 14th. And in addition to all the great features that we have, whether it’s all the writing, ad free, if you’re using the app on the or the website on the phone and reading stuff, the discounts on merchandise, the discounts on events. We’ll get into all that later. You can get a free t-shirt and that Dallas collection looks pretty darn sharp right now. Yeah, look at that. New t-shirts, Dallas themed, available now. Oh, if you want to get one for free, sign up to be a die hard with the $36 sale and you can pick one of those or any of them. Could be this flag one could be whatever Sam’s not wearing DLS. So anyway, you get the point. Welcome to the Friday show alongside Sam Nestler and the reluctant but still here Craig Lewig and our producer Kaja Va. I am Owen Newkerk. Luds, this show is all about your favorite topic, which is defense and specifically defending in the NHL and more specifically with the Stars. But it actually started because our intrepid little buddy, that’s right, Gilligan over here wrote an article about Stars defensive topics heading into the season. Yes, we are still a little ways away. So Sam, lead us through this. Take away what your your main talking points are and how we can tear them all apart. Yeah, perfect. Exactly. Uh yeah, so I’m doing a series just on like the the top three questions facing each group. So for uh defense, forwards, and goalies. And for once, I started with defense because everyone always starts with forwards. So um I figured we’d go through each of the three and then Owen has had a few. I’m sure Luds has a few that we can add to the three, but um the main the big one for me uh that we’ll start with was is Nils Lungquist, right? We’ve talked about him a little bit. Uh we talked about how he’s coming back. We’re not really sure what he’s going to bring. So the the number one question I had is is Nils Lungquist finally ready to make the leap because the Stars have a lot of question marks around their roster. We’ve talked about the left wing. We know the spots that they need filled. Nils Lungquist can answer a little bit of that if he’s able to take a big step and become whether that’s a second pairing, third pairing, just a full-time NHL defenseman instead of someone who’s in and out of the lineup, scratched, not trusted in the playoffs. Um, so for me, Lquist, this feels like a last shot kind of thing for him, right? He he gets he had Nil’s trust. Nil nil showed a ton of faith in him when he traded a first round pick. Then he doubled down and gave him another deal. Then he just tripled down again and gave him another one-year deal despite the the season ending shoulder surgery after only, I think, 39 games. Um, but the way I look at Lquist is he has to find both sides of his game. He came into the NHL, he was this little fast offensive-minded player. We saw him score some brilliant overtime and and goals in in the within the cycle. Um jumping up into the rush in his first year, but if you look at his stats over the the two years since, it was almost like he came in and was all offense and his defense struggled. Then he got a little bit better in terms of defense, but he was still trying to lean towards that offense and the defense was struggling. Pete Dbor basically benched him in the playoffs um both of those seasons. Last year, it looked like a player that had to earn back trust from a coach. He cleaned up a lot of his defensive game. Even Craig Lewig said that he looked better and was making cleaner plays. However, the offense completely disappeared. His expected goals went down from 4.1 to 2.1. He only had five points in his 39 games. He was not playing a ton in the offensive end. So, for me personally, for Nils Lungquist to find a spot as a full-time NHL defenseman, he’s got to do it on both ends of the ice. The Stars don’t need him to be all defense. They have better options for that. They don’t need him to be all offense. They have Hasten and Harley that are better at that. They need him to be a guy who can do both. And I’m curious if he’s able to do that because if he’s not, there are far more question marks on this blue line than there than there are right now. What are your feelings about Nils Lungquist? Because clearly he has to defend well enough to be trusted by Ela Nazerdine and Glenn Gulletson and the rest of the coaching staff. But you said it before, even if he bulks up even more than he already has, and he’s a very fit in shape guy, you know, a consmate young professional, his strengths are not boxing out guys around the crease. Well, and with the last regime behind the bench, they they weren’t too concerned about anybody boxing anyway. So, and he couldn’t play in that system. So, but I think Sam, what you led off with is the interesting part to me because he did come over here as a offensiveminded kind of guy. That was the MMO of this team. That was the identity I think of this club. I think Jim Nil saw a guy that could fit into that kind of a group. Get up and run and go and outscore your mistakes and that hasn’t panned out. then the coach doesn’t play him, you know, as it coming down the stretch and doesn’t play in the playoffs and plays him two minutes a game and now all of a sudden his confidence is shot. So, we think he’s gone. Then, lo and behold, he signs to come back for another year, not knowing that the coach was going to be gone, though. I don’t think obviously, right? So, now I believe he gets a, you know, and again, I I’ve used this line before. They say that you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, but you do in this league because you get new coaches that come in and it’s kind of a clean slate. And hopefully that here’s what I’d say. He has to be because as of today, who else is that going to fit into that spot unless it’s pro, right? So Petravic, but but I think that where where I think it’s a struggle for Niels is I don’t think they he knows exactly what they want him to do. I’m I’m this offensive guy. That’s what I was when I came here. No, I’m not that offensive guy. Um and then I got to be a better defender, but then I can’t play in my own zone because I’m not big enough. So, I think what you have to do, and I think maybe that’s what happens with Gully, and I’m just going to guess that maybe him and Bishell are a pair to start with. If that’s what happens, you have to let him be who he is, you know, and and let and if you’re playing with with a kid like Bishop who’s got size and going to be a physical kind of guy, not that he can’t get up in the in the play, but Leon has to kind of take on that role of being that guy that is going to kind of be the guy in the back there. My partner leaned a little bit more. I kind of I don’t know if it’s fair, but the the closest guy I can think of that I played with in that role that came in, uh, Daryl Shador, like when when Sid came over here, he was more an offensive minded kind of guy. And then and he was very hyper and we had to calm him down in the game. But then what happened with Sid is he saw and recognized the identity of our group and what how we were being asked to play and then Sid bought into playing that way. Now, Sid’s probably well, I don’t know if he’s a little bit bigger or not, but Daryl Teddor wasn’t a huge guy, but maybe they’re about the same size, but but Sid became a really good two-way defenseman. He He became a really good top four defenseman, and you can put him out there. He was He picked up the end of power plays and things like that. I would think that’s kind of where Niels has got to fit in. I think Niels just has to be a guy that makes a good first pass, but when there’s an opportunity to skate the puck and join with the play, you have to let him do that because that’s how he’s going to build his confidence. He’s going to have to recognize the whento’s and when not to be that extra guy in the rush and to make those kind of little plays. So, I think what you’re doing for for Lquitz is you’re you’re taking baby step steps for the coaching staff to believe in you. Now, we’ve got a different coaching staff. We’re gonna give them the opportunity. And so you kind of put one foot in front of the other slowly and you just always want to be kind of stepping forward instead of that old one step forward, two steps back, but they have to let him play his game and allow him to make mistakes and then correct them from there because he his biggest strength is his skating ability, right? And and he’s got mobility, he’s got lateral good movement. So just because he’s not 6’4 doesn’t mean he can’t defend. You can do that now in this league. He just has to make sure that he keeps himself in his own zone in the right areas of the ice and he doesn’t get caught chasing back to the net. Don’t get on the wrong side of a bigger kind of player that you get boxed out because that’s when you’re going to start to lose confidence from the coaching staff that you can do that. Yeah. And the two that you just mentioned confidence a bunch. That’s obviously a huge one for Lungquist. We know that that’s been shot. That’s he’s gotten to confidence and then he’s gotten it completely removed by Pete Dbor benching him. Then he finally started to look confident again and he had injured and misses the rest of the season. We saw he played through it for weeks. So he was trying so hard not to let that ruin his season because he knew that it was an important one. But the the two things that stand out what you just said, Luds, is the confidence part. They need to let him play. You said let him play his game. They need to let him play period. Enough enough of this three games in five games out, you know, nonsense. They if they think he’s a real option, which obviously Jim Neil does, let him play 30 games in a row. Let him start the season and play until the Christmas break. Don’t don’t go in and out. You guys are going to be fine. You Niels Lungquist going through some some ups and downs is not going to ruin your season and make you miss the playoffs. Let him play the games. Let him build the confidence. And then the other side of it, Luds, is it feels like that’s where he’s going to be paired up is with Liam Bishell, right? At least start. He may have the potential of a top four guy, but it’s a start. It looks like it would be Bishel Lungquist. That’s some pressure for Lquist, too, because he’s not guarded anymore, right? We always looked at Lungquist as who’s he going to be paired with so that he can have that little backup emergency plan of Essa Lindell or Thomas Harley when he does make a mistake. Now he’s the veteran over the the rookie. So it’s it’s a tough spot for him where he’s he’s going to have to play to that level because there’s no more guarding and securing him on a pairing if he’s going to be with a rookie who’s still going to go through plenty of ups and downs on his own. You can’t play you can’t play a player at this level wi in those circumstances where you have to play him with somebody. Now maybe you can help him about not playing against someone or against a certain line. You can manage that stuff. And I think Naz, especially at home games as you’re talking about 20 30 games, whatever. I mean, you can control who he’s going to get on the ice against. You know, you don’t have to put him out there against Conor McDavid or, you know, people like that. You don’t have you can control that. And there’s but but there’s times then depending on time and score. Where are you at the in the game? Are you up if you go now? You let him play against those kind of guys and let him get confidence in doing that kind of stuff and let him kind of expand and and and I think as a coach I’m going he can he knows where to be against that kind of a player. He he knows he’s not going to get stretched out and be chasing back. And then I think the other thing that you do with him and you start with is you make sure that he gets time on the power play. I I mean I think that kind of gets his juice going. And so I can see I mean I’m going to guess I don’t know maybe Miro leads off on that. You’re going to have four forwards and and one defenseman. Your next pair typically should be two defenseman in my opinion because now the the time is down and you’re getting closer to a guy stepping out of the box and not getting caught five on five in your own zone. You know what I mean? And and have four forwards out there playing uh in your own zone. You got two defenseman up there. So I think that’s a spot where he can work on his confidence there. And the other thing I would do with Nils and see where he’s at is get him on the PK at times, you know, and again, time and score of games and things like that. So, give him an opportunity to show the coaches, but more importantly to show himself that he can play in all of those roles and be that kind of guy. Hey, Luds, let’s talk about playing time, especially when you compare to a couple of o older comps that I have. Now, I know that this may be looking like it’s being cliche because I’m pointing out a couple of not 64 220 defenseman, but when I think of Lenquist game, I compare or think about can he develop into Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon or Winnipeg’s Josh Morrisy. But when I look back at both of those players, Spurgeon was not a high round pick. He was a fifth round pick by the Islanders, never played for them. But when he joined the NHL after his first year where he played 53 games and averaged 15 minutes, he immediately was up to 21 minutes in average ice time the next year and just a minute muncher ever since. And you look at Morrisy who didn’t put up a ton of points for what he’s done lately, right? He was a 20 to 30 point guy for about 6 years and then in 22 23 he really exploded. But even then when he wasn’t having the big point totals in his first full year he was at 1929 in ice time and it went up into the 24 minute when you look at Nils Lungquist his again very early only three full years in the NHL with Dallas but he’s averaging about 15 minutes is that enough as a guy that’s almost played 200 games now does he need whether it’s adding penalty kill or power play a few more minutes out there yeah he does and and I think I think under Dbor Everybody was around that same neighborhood, you know what I mean? They were I of course Miro and and Thomas as Thomas got some more ice time, but Miro would be up there around the 27 28 29 a game, but the other guys were around 16, 17, 18 minutes. I you know, so yes, he should get a couple more minutes. And I think that you again, especially when you’re trying to figure out if this guy can play in the way your system, the way he can play, the way you think the reason he came here, there’s a reason he was a where was he overall? I know he’s a firstrounder, but where was he? Was he in the top 10? 28th. 28th. Okay. So, even even there there there was some high expectations of what he did. And my guess is because it was an offensive minded kind of things and he’s the kind of guy that can control the puck a little bit better and make those plays, but he has to be allowed to do that. So, I think you have to allow him to make mistakes. So, it’s the only way you can learn. You know what I mean? But but again, I think the biggest thing that and Sam, you said it also, he has to have confidence in himself and he has to know that the coaches have confidence in him and there’s not this you can’t have a short leash on him. He’s got to be able to be able to learn himself and makes mistakes. And you’re right, do it early in the year, you know, and and again, put him in them situations. Put get him on the PK right away. I mean, there’s no better place to learn how to play, you know, defensively in your zone when you’re a man short and you got to play in certain areas of the ice. You can’t get caught out too far. So, I I hope that’s what’s going to happen. I think with with Gully coming in and again, it’s a new set of eyes and um and the other thing that Niels can do, he can play physical, you know what I mean? And you’re not looking for him to run people over, but alls you’re looking for a guy like that to do is go in and compete. That’s his dude. And be on the right side of the player you’re playing against all the time. Let’s continue this. We have a lot more to get to about defense, whether it’s nils, the other two topics, and my follow-up questions. We’re going to hit the blue line hard today on DLS. First, let’s talk about the trip to Las Vegas that we’re all hearing about. We, as in DLS Cowboys, not the DLS stars, are headed to Las Vegas with true fan travel for the ultimate fan experience. We are still trying to get us to Vegas as well. DS over the trip to Houston. I would go I’d do a trip to Winnipeg. I would absolutely I can’t even get to Winnipeg. So DLS is taking over this. I don’t know if I would travel, but I would be in Vegas and you need to be there. Join us as the Cowboys take on the Raiders on Monday Night Football on November 17th. 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, fellow diehard fans, and much, much more. It’s going to be a great time. I promise you there there are some funny people on that beat, and it’ll be a good time in Vegas. This is how Dallas does Vegas. Book now at truefan.com. Thanks, Sam. Let’s talk about Shady Rays. You know that moment, the one where you realize you left your sunglasses, your favorite pair, at the beach or on the roof of your car, gas station three states away, or maybe they fell out of your pocket or maybe they were in your pocket, but you’ve trying to wear all these skinny jeans that they think are fashionable and the frames snap. Well, guess what? We’ve all been there. Thankfully, with Shady Rays, you don’t have to worry about it as much because with Shady Rays, they’ve changed the game. These sunglasses are made for real life. We’re talking about seriously good-looking, polarized, durable, and not stupidly expensive. I can’t say the word stupidly, apparently. But here’s the wild part. If you break or lose them, even on day one, Shady Rays will send you a brand new pair. No guilt trip, no, just replacement, so you can actually wear your sunglasses like I do without fear. We’ve teamed up with Shady Rays to bring you an exclusive offer. Head to shady.com. Use the code DLLS35 for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself. The shades rated five stars by over 300,000 people. Sam, I want to ask a followup to Luds and you about Lungquist, but I feel like we should keep moving with your main topics and then we should circle back to that because we’re I want to ask about Alex Petravic because Luds brought his name up and I’ve had that circled. But let’s keep going and then we’ll come back to that. Sure. All right, let’s move on to number two. The number two question I had is who will play with Miro Hastkin. So the main one here for me was the Hastin on his left side uh experiment failed miserably last year with Matt Dumba. The team doesn’t seem to have that as a priority anymore. Luds is losing interest in it uh as it goes on because it it is important, right? It’s it puts a player in his spot, but it’s not a priority. It’s more important having the best players out there on your line. So um the the question for me is he’s the top pair guy obviously. who does he play with? Because we know the Stars basically have their top three. They have Lindell, Hasten, and Harley. Who goes where is going to be important to me to see how they kind of spread out spread the wealth a little bit um in their blue line. So, um looking at some of the stats of the the D pairs last year, it it’s kind of a in my opinion, it’s either Harleyen or Lindell Hastin. That’s kind of the two options that I see on that top pair. Looking at the stats is kind of interesting. So, Harley Hasten had the best stats by far in terms of overall. their their possession numbers are great. Their goals four are some of the best in the NHL, especially last year in the playoffs. Um, but the interesting part is if you compare that to Lindell Hastinan, Harley Hastenan is high goals expected goals for excellent expected goals for per per 60, but also a little bit more in terms of allowing they allow a little bit extra. Um, they have their expected goals per 60 are a little higher than the Harley hasten in. So to me, it’s almost a decision of do you want the best pair that’s going to be elite out there and going to push the offense and give you the most or do you want more balance in terms of making it Lindell Hkin and Harley Labouchkin or maybe Harley and Lungquist eventually? Um, and the key for me on that is I believe if I was the Stars coaching staff that having your an offensive weapon on each pairing is better than having them both on one. Now, obviously, if you’re in an offensive faceoff situation where they’re they they’ve iced it or you you’ve outchanged them in the zone, throw out Harley and Hasten and get your best guys out there. But for me, I like the idea of having it be Essa Lindell with Miro Hasten. That’s such a good balance, such a good pairing. And then Harley and Leouchkin were great together last year. So, I think that gives you the most fit. And then, as we just mentioned, Bishell and Lungquist would be your bottom six. So, I just curious where you guys stand on on how the pairing should roll out. Luds. Well, f for me it it it kind of depends on how the other team is playing. Are the other is the other team trying to I’ll use McDavid’s line again and let’s just say Didle’s on that line. Do they want to play against now we don’t even know what the lines are but if it is Robo Hints and Ranton and they want to get McDavid dryidle and whoever out against them and play strength on strength now now becomes a different scenario because I think that you you want to play against a line the best way to defend a McDavid line or you know one of these top lines whoever you’re going to play against the best way to defend against them is in their own zone you keep them in that zone. So, so does that mean that you can take Harley and Miro and have their your best fiveman unit that can get up and down the ice and put more pressure in the offensive zone and play against them and and and my my whole thing would be then I would have Essa and Labouchkin together. And so if you spend 20 30 seconds or so of a shift in that offensive zone, now I’m looking to get a change and I get the other pair out there. And so you’ve got a tired top line on the other team playing against your best defensive pair if that’s if that’s what I mean. Again, if you’re putting those two guys together, Leouchkin and Essa are probably your top defensive pair. Yeah, they had great they had great numbers, too. They produced almost nothing offensively, but their their defensive numbers were great. And see now that the on the other side, if you put Essa out there with um with Miro and you’re playing them because you’re going to play Miro with your top guys. I mean, that’s just for me, that’s what you’re doing. here. You got a fourman unit of offense right there. And it’s who is the other guy? Do you want a safety valve out there? If something breaks down because you’re going to press a little bit more. Well, then if you feel that, that’s where you bring Essa in. and Essa plays with him because now Essa should be a little bit better at playing an outnumbered rush and know how to slow it down and let somebody get back into the play where you know but now what what you’re talking about is when you’re playing the an ESSA out there against with Miro for instance and you play them against top lines top lines are going to get the most minutes right so they’re all going to get out there 22 24 minutes a night well now you’ve got Essa who plays the most minutes on the PK now now see you see what I’m now you’re kind of screwing yourself when you’ve got the best penalty killer right there at the other end of the rink being tired. So I think for for just for that kind of a scenario again I’m I’m I’m more of leaning with Harley. I’m leaning with with Thomas and and Murro and let them be a threat to where you’re almost pushing that whoever they’re playing against in a almost more of a defensive mode. So maybe you’re not they’re not taking as many chances and you don’t allow them to because you’re keeping you’re keeping them pinned on the other half of the ice or the other quarter of the ice or however you want to look at it. And then and that leaves you with you know your your other four guys that pick up everybody else and then I think it keeps Essa a little bit more freer and and saves a little gas for him because we know that he’s going to be out there the whole time killing penalties. Yeah. Do you think Luds like why is that that Harley’s stats are that way? Is it because they push forward so well that they’re because they defend well. Yeah. So it’s is it but do you see a weakness in terms of their defense or is it just because they are pushing it forward more and that’s leading to more the other end. Yeah. But again the the weakness could be the the system that was played last year. Yeah. So that weakness may not be a weakness this year if Gully makes any kind of a a tweak and all of a sudden you’re finding that you’re not left on an island if you lose a guy and and or your teammate loses a guy. and now all of a sudden there’s a breakdown and you’re not really good playing out against it. When there’s a breakdown, when you’re playing where you’ve got a lot of numbers in in one area around the puck, you have support from everybody. And so if Mero makes a poor read or gets beat off the wall or Thomas does, there’s there’s support there. There was no support for a breakdown when they got pinned in their own zone because they’re very good on the rush where they suppress chances because they move on the puck. But it’s when pucks got chipped in and again we’ve gone over this and when there was sustained pressure that was a problem and that was a problem because you knew if you got beat man it’s like come on Jake bail me out of this one. There was no help from nobody else in the system that they played. So you can solve a lot of these problems. You can solve the Lquist thing and a Harley mural pairing by having groups of five play in your own zone tighter together. I feel mixed because I agree with what all of you said, Luds, but I do like the idea of having either Thomas Harley or Miro Hasten on the ice for 45 to 50 minutes of a game, right? If you have them on separate pairings, then you can have Miro out there, assuming five on five, right? Obviously, special teams can mess things up a bit, but you could have Miro out there for 25 minutes. You could have Harley out there for 24 25 minutes and now you’ve got one of your, if we’re calling them both number ones, premier players on the ice at all times. I love the aggressiveness of having both of them together because how do you forche that, right? If you go try to keep on Miro, Thomas can beat you that way. If you try to go after Harley, he can slip it to Mero and he can beat you that way. That makes it really hard for teams that want to be aggressive in that sense. So maybe situationally, Luds, you’ve got a great point. Is it worth having them separated so that you have one of them on the ice for, you know, 85 90% of a hockey game? See, that that that’s the way I I would prefer. And again, I think it I think it frees up Thomas more than it does Murell. And and I don’t I I don’t know why I say that. I just feel that Mural is going to be the guy that that just is the first guy to jump all the time. And maybe Harley kind of defers to that. But I think then that what you’re doing is you’re kind of holding Thomas back a little bit because you want him to get and do what he does. I mean, he’s going to be an offensive kind of guy. But but I I I just think that by putting those two guys together at times again, I I’m all I’m all for switching things up. I don’t think you have to go into games and I you know, again, I I played in that era where we knew who our partner was for 82 games for the most part, unless there was an injury. I I’m okay having guys play around and and change because give the other team something to think about once in a while. You know, all of a sudden they’ve got to now because again then you got an assistant coach coming down and saying, “Hey, they just split up Harley and Hasten because on the board they got Harley and Hasten and they got they got a certain matchup for a reason. Some coaches say the hell with it.” Our coach was like, “We’re worried about us. We’re not going to worry about the other team. We we we do we play a certain system. It doesn’t matter who we play against, but we’re going to be who we are and we’re going to be that way from game one to game whenever it’s over. So, I I just think that you can you can have a little flexibility in there, but that’s when you have six guys that can kind of play all over the place. But, I think right now you you’re probably talking about four guys. I mean, maybe even three, the big three that you’re talking about. I just think that you have to start find How old is Essen now? I know he signed another five or six year deal, which is going to take him to like 29 30 now. Should be close to 30. 30. 31. Wow. He’s 31. Good grief. And see the other thing about Essa, you could say he’s 30 years old, but when you watch ESSA even kill penalties and people are like, how the hell does he play seven minutes? He exerts little of if if any energy. He’s a smart player. He doesn’t get caught out there. He doesn’t start. So, he knows how to manage his minutes a little bit better than other people. But as we saw, I think we saw as the season went down and then the playoffs went down, Essa looked tire at times, you know, and I think it I think it caught up to him. I think playing all those minutes during the year on the PK. So, and again, the most important part, you know, is 83 and on. So, I think you need to find other guys that can take some of those minutes away from Lindell that you trust on the PK. And I think that’s where I look at Lean Bishop. I mean, he’s got to be given a chance to kill penalties. So, I think Bishell has to be there. Lungquist has to be there. I don’t think they’re going to give Miro. I think they like where Miro is and play 24 25 minutes and pretty much offensively. So, I I think after that you you can kind of manage the rest of the guys in there and it’s so I I think you got to kind of play with it to be honest with you. But, I’ll be I really think the whole defensive zone thing can be corrected with a little tweak in their own zone. Yeah, that’s funny. Before before we go to break, I just was gonna say it’s funny that the there’s two sides to it, right? the I agree with everything we’ve said that two different sides of it though it’s not always one answer like that I love the idea on paper of having Lindell and Leouchkin separated so you have them to back up Harley and Hkin but then I love the idea of not overt taxing Lindell by pair putting him on a top pair I just it’s a big question I don’t know if we’re going to get an answer until we get to the playoffs and they start getting the question that’s what she gets hey those things depend on when you’re at home when you’re on the road you Are you up a goal? Are you down a goal? All that thing can be adjusted in games. You want to go to a commercial break now? We do. Hey, she speaks. We listen here on the DLS Stars podcast. Well, listen to this then. 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Even for hard to get playoff seats, prices on Game Time app will actually go down the closer you get to the puck drop for those important games, whether it be NHL, all of sports football games coming up here in the fall, college and pro. You’ve got well little ways before the NBA season. Baseball’s going on right now. Get it there. What do you do? Well, how about a zone deal for you? What are zone deals? Well, that’s one where you can actually select a section and let game time choose your seats and you can actually save some money that way. Or perhaps you can just go last minute deals. You can save up to 60% off by buying for sports, comedy, concerts, theater in the last minute or so. And of course, one of my favorite features is the all-in pricing. You always see the upfront feature. When you have that thing to toggled, you will see no surprise fees at checkout. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time picks. Download the Game Time app. Create an account. Use the code DLS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply again. Create an account and redeem the code DLS for $20 off. Download Game Time today. What time is it, fellas? Game3. Game time. Sam. Game time. All right. So, we continue. Again, both of the first two topics could lead me back to talking about uh Alexander Petravic. Not yet because you have another another main topic before we get into that. Yeah. And this will probably lead you right back to pick as well. Uh the third the third one was do the Stars feel they need to add a defenseman either before the season or before the trade deadline. Um I don’t have a ton on this. I I literally said in here I don’t know the answer but the interesting thing to me is that you have the questions around N Lungquist we just talked about. They don’t really know what they’re going to get with him. The questions around Bishell they believe they know but he’s still a rookie. He’s still 21 years old. Then they have Miro Hastkin’s injury last year and and the massive effects it had on this team. I mean that that injury took them way further off their path than they wanted it wanted to happen and it affected their entire finish of their season and the first two rounds of the playoffs. With all that and all those question marks, do we think this team I’m going to ask in two different ways. Do we think this team still wants to add help? We know they got uh Kalia Chonuk uh in the trade. You got it. But we don’t even know. He might be waved and picked up by somebody else before the season even starts. Do they want to add someone before the season or do the does the management feel they need to? And if not, do they feel they need to before the playoffs begin? Or is this a blue line they are comfortable with going into the season? And could this potentially be a blue line they’re comfortable riding Cup? Let me answer that by asking Luds the following question. Luds, if you heard the depth of the stars of the six that we’ve mentioned, talk about pro in just a half second. Kyle Capo, Biano, Glattislav, Kolanuk, Trey Taylor had a nice run late in the year with the AHL team that sort of got him on the radar. They have Christian Kyru, etc., etc. Does Alexander Petravic deserve an NHL roster spot this year? I think he deserves an opportunity to to try to earn a spot. I mean, look at what he’s done. Look, look at when he was playing in the playoffs and had confidence and they weren’t playing with seven. He was a physical presence. You know, he he those those two guys, him and Bisel as a pair, I thought they might have been their most reliable steady pair at times. I mean, they didn’t give up many chances. They did what they did. They again, like I say, for for when you’re a five and six defenseman, a lot of your job is is to go out there, get it done, get off the ice because you just gave your top four to get a breather, get an extra two minutes or whatever it may be, and you know, when you can chip in other areas. So, to answer that question, I believe he deserves a chance. Um, can they upgrade their You can always upgrade. And to answer your question, uh, in a bigger way, I think they’re going to be looking to improve this team all year long. I I don’t think that me personally I don’t think they’re set on what the 12 forwards are right now. I think they would like to add and find a guy that can fit in that top six and maybe maybe even well whatever. But but I don’t I think right now because I can say I listen I me sitting here today and I hope I’m proven wrong. This is another team in the NHL. I’m not saying they’re a contender for the Stanley Cup in the NHL right now. I’m not I I don’t believe it right now. I and I hope I’m wrong. I hope Jake has taken another step. Obviously that but again that can that can change my mind by the way that they’re going to their system. I think their system can help them because they should have if Robo’s back they should have enough firepower. They should have a top six seven power play. They should be in the top what five to eight defensively with penalty kill. They should be one of the better ones. Yes. that that so that all and again for me that big thing is a system change. So we’ll see and and it’s got to be a bit of a mindset change too for the group because this isn’t this isn’t going to be we’re going to outscore our mistakes kind of a team. We’re not just going to get up and run and point our noses at that direction. We have to know how to play in all three zones. We have to know how to shut lines down that are cycling in our own zone. We we have to just buy time, let our goalender, he’s a great goalender, but let’s not make him face these shots that, you know, are two feet in front of him and and from some snipers. So, I think a lot of that can be fixed and or tweaked, however you want to say it. But, I think Pro deserves a chance to play. I think you’d find a hungry guy. I think you’d find a guy that’s that you are not going to see him and squeezing and and turning around and looking at coaches because he missed a shift during a close game. He’s going to be damn happy that he’s in the lineup every night or plays 55 to 60 games or whatever every night. You’re going to find a guy that can kill penalties. He can give you some physicality and he’ll be able to seal people out from in front of the net. Just let him do his thing. Let him be simple. Keep it simple stupid. And I think you know you you can fit into that role and I think he’d be a guy that deserves an opportunity. I agree. But that leads me to my other followup which is can Petravic handle intermittent game action? Well, intermittent. When you say intermittent, are you talking about during the course of a game or are you talking being in the lineup and out of the lineup? More the second. I I don’t think the Stars are going to be dressing 7D during the year very much. They could, but I think more of the if you think that you need a good run out from Lungquist, if that’s the problem, then can Petro be a guy that doesn’t play all the time? But our first conversation about Lquist getting an opportunity to play and play and play and play. Yeah. Now we’ve got that problem, right? Because now if you’re platooning those two, then Lquist is like, “What the hell am I doing here again?” I I don’t know. But eventually somebody’s going to take that job over, you know, and and and again, I I think it’s ultimately going to come back to do they trust Nils Lungquist? And that’ll come through the first 80 games to be a regular player in the playoffs, which he hasn’t got that opportunity yet. He’ll prove that to him on his own. But I I think if there’s a guy that’s going to be okay being in and out of the whole group, it will be Pro because it’s a different situation. It’s some place that he’s wanted to be, and I don’t mean a number six7. He’s wanted to be a regular NHL player for a long time. So, if he has to miss, you know, whatever it is, two out of two out of the five games or or whatever it’s going to be, I think you’re going to find a player that is not going to rock the boat in the locker room. and and then I think he’ll earn his way to where he understands that he can be more valuable in the playoffs possibly than one or two of those other guys. But that’s hey competition’s good. Yeah, I was going to say what if the seven is because you just mentioned Lquist. What if the seven Petravic’s in there as part of your seven and it’s him and Labouchkin going in and out? Well, I mean I believe right away that if you have Bishel and Petro as your third pairing, you’re totally fine, right? You’re not worried about it. They have chemistry from playing in the AHL. They played together in the playoffs with Dallas last year. That’s not an issue, right? If you have your third pairing being Lean Bishell and Alexander Petravic, you’re in good shape. If you can improve on that, if Leouchkin is the better option because he’s a pretty good penalty killer, right, then that’s if you’re rotating them a little bit, maybe you keep them both a little fresher. If you’re not sure on Nils Lungquist, you can kind of work that way. But I do agree that there’s a look at improvement. But Luds, to me, just like you said about the forwards where there’s seems to be a spot in the top six that they don’t have. I don’t think the stars are going to look at that too early because I think they want to see what they have with Leon Bishell. I think they want to see what they have with Nils Lungquist because then as you get to closer to the deadline, you can look at trying to add if you don’t feel like one of those two guys can step into that number four role. Which leads me to the other thing I wrote down, Sam, which is what what kind of growth are we looking for in Leon Bishell’s game. Uh he’s gonna from a growth standpoint, you’re just looking at him doing the same thing that he’s doing and getting more opportunity to do it, you know? I mean, I I think I think where he needs to get more, again, I said it to be earlier, he needs to be a penalty killer. To me, penalty killing is literally this chair I’m looking at with a case of Miller Light on it can go out there and it can it can kill penalties as long as you’re in the right spot. So, speaking of Miller Light, um the uh so I I think there there’s a spot drop. Squirrel. How about the Miller Light drop? Well, I’m just throwing that out there because we don’t have a booze sponsor right now. At the moment, it’s available. Yes. I’m just tossing it out there. You never know. I’d be a good spokesperson. Um Anita Miller, I think I just I haven’t sponsored yet hearing Leon Bishell if you give him an opport there’s no way they’re not having that conversation. There’s no way a guy that is that big and and his stick arrives there a half a second before anybody else on the ice with that reach and and his size and be able to box people out. I mean that Jake would be loving that. Just let me see the shot and that. And then the other thing is when the puck touches your stick, pound it down the ice, you know what I mean? Like or get it up off the glass. And it’s just it’s not that difficult to to play in that role. And you just and he has to be willing to I don’t think he’s opposed at blocking shots. He’s going to block shots just because of his sheer girth on him. So that that guy right there to me, he should be getting at least another three, four minutes a night for me. Yeah. He he averaged just under 15 last year. Squirrel. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. You know, he here’s there’s the guy that’s probably when Essa starts to slow down a little bit, he’s going to take his spot. I mean, you he has to be he has to be the air parent, doesn’t he? For that spot. He he has to be one of he those kind of players. Darien Hatcher wasn’t flying all over the ice, but you didn’t want to go near Hatch, right? And and and even Maddie, I mean, it’s because they’re big and they had long reaches and they’re willing to block shots. Again, not everybody wants to do that, but to me, Bishell has to he he’s earned the right to I I think that he was just hesitant when he got in there because he didn’t get in there enough. Yeah. And and you end up thinking more than you do anything else and just reacting on the PK. So hopefully we see a a heavy dose of of penalty killing for him. That’s a great point, too. I mean, if if you’re going to lay out your best penalty killing defenseman, long stick, good. He’s good at reading plays. he can end a play in a corner when when someone turn his back. He’s a perfect fit. So, I love that idea. To your original question, which is you don’t want Miro Hkin in you don’t want Thomas Harley out there getting hit with pucks in the ankles and the wrists and things that taking I mean you I mean again unfortunately I’ll say it that way is I’d rather lose Leon Bishell. I’m not but versus a Harley or or a Haykin, you know, or even even essa all the other things he does. But but again, Essa, that’s part of what he does. So you have to be able to put those guys out there. Your original point was will the Stars be looking to add? So one of the things I’m going to be looking at during the preseason games is to see what they have with Vladislav Kolia because as that depth I mentioned, we know what we have with Petravic. We know what we have with Capo Biano. Is Kolonic a legit option for a call up if there’s an injury? If because if you have two or three guys that you can insert into the lineup, you feel pretty good about your depth early on. But if they’re looking to add at the deadline, I went and just did a way too early look at some potential UFA rentals. The first four on my list are teams I think will be fighting for in a playoff spot and not looking to sell. John Carlson is a UFA this year. Jacob Trouba, we talked about him a lot last year. Cam Fowler, Matias Ekholm. I don’t anticipate any of those teams unless Anaheim really has a downturn or maybe the Oveskin Chase and the Caps fall apart. I don’t see any of those teams not being in the hunt. But then I circled a a group of teams that maybe or maybe won’t not be available or pushing for the playoffs. So we’re talking Jamie Alexiaak, Raasmus Anderson. We did a segment on John Clingberg. Interesting option. Mike Mat and Ben Sherro with Montreal. Again, Montreal might be a playoff team or trying to be. Connor Murphy and Andrew Peak. When you hear all those names, does anybody catch your eye, Sam, or intrigue you at all? Yeah, we we talked about Anderson. That’s still at the top of my list. Um, I like Sherro and Mat as well. And then Peak’s a good one. Peak’s a big body, right-handed shot. Um, I think that’s the key, and that’s why I asked that question because if you look at the list, there are better options out there than what we believe Petravic, even Lquist probably can be, at least as of right now. So, I I think that if this is a team that really believes they have a chance to run in another cup, you probably need to upgrade. That’s where I stand with it. I like I like Rasmus Anderson and I like Andrew Peak as as options depending on what they need specifically. I I like Mat. I would add Mat to that. Agree. Alexia Dallas been down that road. Jamie Jamie is a guy that he likes to play offense. I mean, he’s not I mean, he he’s not his size. He should be punishing people. He should be Bishop. But but for me, you know, I Mat I I just think that he was a promising guy. And I don’t have a problem with Conor Murphy either. I I just I don’t know. Some of these guys just need to But but Mat, I think there’s still something there from from the little bit that that I’ve seen. I thought he was going to be a really good player. I remember Razer even saying to me when I was doing the TV with him, he said, “Oh, you bet you really like this kid, don’t you?” When he was, you know, just first got there. I’m like, “Yeah, young.” and you can. So I whatever happened to him happened. I just I think some guys kind of come back around, you know, when they get a breath of fresh air kind of thing. So all right, something to keep an eye on. Up next, let’s talk about Seth Jones in a Stanley Cup in Dallas here on the DLS Stars podcast. But first, let’s talk about being a diehard, including this special training camp sale for the Dallas Cowboys. $36 for your first year of your annual subscription. If you haven’t been a diehard before, now’s the time to do it. Save more than 50% off the regular rate. You get a fantastic package of features. The benefits include all access to all of the writing on alldl.com. We’re talking Tim Kada with the Mavs, Clarence Hill, who’s in California with the Cowboys training camp right now. Of course, Jeff Wilson with the Rangers who apparently are surging right now. And this guy right here, Sam Nestler for the Stars. And of course, our other buddy Sean Shapiro that writes about the Dallas Stars on our site. In addition to all that, you get a free t-shirt for the first year of your annual subscription. And the Dallas collection is a new merch drop that we have just under two weeks ago. Now, look at those shirts. Yeah, the combination. Maybe this is just my opinion, but the mascot amalgamation’s a little creepy for me. Boy, do I like the Nolan Ryan Robin Ventur one, the barbecue one. That’s actually a full back, the top left with the little logo on the shoulder or on the crest in the front. Great options there. And of course, you also get discounts on travel or events, I should say. The Cowboys are going to Vegas. You heard Sam talk about earlier. Scan that QR code. You can join them. You don’t have to be flying from DFW and you can still be a part of a Monday Night Football Extravaganza. Yes, Ardell would love me to say against the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Should be a heck of a weekend on the strip running around or whatever. Maybe going to see shows. I hear Wayne Newton is still performing, right? Just sweat it out. Yeah, it can be hot there. Although it’s November, so it probably be pretty nice. And yeah, all that and many more reasons to be a DLLs die hard. So sign up today. Bing bang. Super chat. Oh, hey yo Ardell with a Hasten and Lindell Jets playoff song drop. That’s the I wonder what pairing he wants on. That’s the Connor Hella song, not the Lud song. There’s two of them. Hi, Sam. He’s going to be looking for it. So, that’s how There it is. Longer. He loves it. Yeah. Really? It’s dreadful. That was just a teaser. Yeah. By the way, drop request is a great way. Using super chats to get your favorite drop played is a really highly encouraged move. So, I uh I suggest that uh this will be one that’s close to home for everybody, whether it’s you’re a Dallas Stars fan, a DFW resident, or if you know the family like Craig Lewig does, because Seth Jones, the newly crowned Stanley Cup champion, Seth Jones, along with the Florida Panthers, brought the Stanley Cup to Dallas and to the rank that Lud spends a lot of time with over at Valley Ranch Children’s Health Star Center. And we have a couple of videos to show you here, including the one where he walked it into the arena with a throng of young players. So Pat, go ahead and roll that one. And then check it out. Seth Jones walking into the Katy Trail ice house. I believe he reportedly went to a golf course, undisclosed where, and then had a a you know, sort of get friends and family get together dinner. Uh check out the photos here, Luds. Uh as he was posing with it, just bringing it back to where his hometown is, which is, I believe, Arlington initially. I don’t know if he still lives in that area, but but a DFW kid. Of course, his dad played here that he was born here. And I think it’s pretty cool, Luds. This is the second DFW raised hockey player to uh bring a Stanley Cup to town with he and Blake Coleman. And of course, you know the Jones family very well. Pretty cool to see him be able to celebrate that, albeit not with the Dallas Stars. Yeah, I actually sent Seth a message at 8:41 this morning and uh Tone was, you know, appropriate and pretty cool of what he did for the kids and stuff like that. And I also told him because I had both of those guys, him and Blake, and I told him I said, “Don’t let Coleman be running around saying he’s got one more cup than you.” Um, but yeah, you know, it’s funny in that first I was laughing that that first one there. I don’t know if you guys noticed somebody ahead of him with a camera kind of getting out of really low. Well, that’s Bear riding his scooter. He’s got a little rascal that he he’s been the trainer there for all of the youth teams for for I mean, since God was a cowboy. So he’s been around forever, but now he’s not walking great. So he rides in and out of our dressing room and he he he hands out jerseys on our room riding his little rascal around to the everybody. And so uh Jonesy and know and you know Caleb his brother and and Seth put a put some money into a shooting room there and that rink and stuff like that a few years ago. So they’ve all given back and stuff like that. So they’ve been they’ve been great. It’s nice to see those guys bring it back and it’s kind of it kind of rubs it into some faces around here. You know, there’s a couple guys playing on other teams that are winning them. It’s about time some guys uh on this team win one. Could you imagine if you’re you’re on the Katy Trail, you’re like, I’m going to go for a run today and you’re running down there and just turn to your right. There’s the Stanley Stanley Cup out there. That would be crazy. I had no idea that he was doing that. I definitely would have gone over there. I didn’t know that he was coming back. But what a cool thing. And it’s cool to see, as Led said, hitting really close to home for a lot of people. I’m not from here, but for the people that grew up here and uh especially for ones that know him, that’s a very cool thing. And hopefully a team that’s here will be doing a similar type of tour. Oh, yeah. In a few years, sir. Luds. He did an interview with the NHL.com, and I thought this quote from Seth Jones was interesting. I want to get your reaction to it. He said, “I think there was a time here in youth hockey when I was growing up where if you were a good player or a great player and had potential, everyone would tell you you have to leave. Everyone would tell you to go to Chicago, go up north to Minnesota and Michigan and places like that. But in the last few years, just listening to the coaches here and keeping in touch with them, there’s actually kids from the north coming down here to play, it’s kind of turning in that sense. Yeah, I can I can confirm that. It’s surprising how many um whether it’s an email or somebody calling us and saying hey and and the other thing is there’s kids that have been here growing up here left and now they are interested in coming back. So um you know and again I I it’s credit to everybody that that works with these guys all the way up with our you know our our U8s and 16s and 15 14 down the line. So, um, yeah, it’s it’s nice to know that they want to come here, but but again, it’s getting better everywhere. You know what I mean? Everywhere you look, kids are coming in. We Sam, we got a kid from New Jersey, as a matter of fact, that Oh, that’s too bad. Yeah, we got a defenseman. He’s he’s real just out of the blue. I think we got another one, you know, so but but again, it’s it’s hard and with all this NIL stuff going on, you know, it’s going to be a little bit more difficult. there’s going to be this whole trickle down effect and there maybe some other guys that have an opportunity to go other places and play. So, um, but yeah, the though Blake and and Seth have done incredible jobs around here and it’s good for them to to get that taste and you know, it only helps bringing that thing back here, especially for these young guys that have come through programs around here, showed that, you know, you can you can do it if you want to pay the price and both those guys have. How good was he when you had him? So, I’ll tell you what, the first time we had Seth, we we would always go out to Vale and that’s where our our uh training camp, so to speak, was um with our U8s and Seth had an injury. I think he had a broken jaw or something at that time. So, I just I had him the first game we played um we played the same team three three days in a row, which is never a good good thing. And they’re a rivalry and they’re in a league and stuff like that that we play against. Um, Seth I just had Seth was sitting in the bleachers and it took about I don’t know maybe 10 minutes for a little dust up to start and it was like a five on five and now now Seth was Seth was probably 16 or 17 because Popey had his dad had said to me he goes, “Man, I don’t know what to do.” He said, “Here, what what does he do? Where does he go?” Things like that. And so as this thing was going on, I turned around and looked at him. His eyes were this big and he was kind of going, “Whoa, what the hell is this all about?” So the next day, the next game that we played against him, I had him come on the bench and I had him just stand on the bench. He had to wear a full, you know, helmet, shield, and stuff like that. But it didn’t take until halfway through, maybe halfway through the game at most. And I was just, when things were happening, I turn around and say, you know, this should have happened here. Well, I said that about two or three times. Next time I turn around, he was telling me what should have happened. I’m talking about a 17 year old kid and he said, “Well, he should have did this here. He should have did that.” And after I talked to, you know, the coaches after him like he he’s got a you know, it might be a basketball family uh with Popeye and everything, but he’s got a head for the game. So, and now you can see what he’s like. With Blake Coleman, though, I’ll say Blake was just the opposite. Blake was one of those guys you had to pull back. like Blake Blake wanted to run everybody over all time and he was you know he was just go go go and you’d have to pull he’d take penalties and things like that and so we had to pull Blake back and then he understood that and then you know as he moved up along and obviously he’s become a I mean I would love now I told you guys before I had said to both of these guys at a certain point in their career don’t come back to Dallas and it was only it had nothing to do with the team or anything like that it was just playing at home and with tickets and your friends and your fans and distractions, all that kind of stuff. But I had talked to Blake a couple years ago and and and the same with Steph. I mean, if if they wanted to I know we we had conversations here a couple months ago going back to when Seth was leaving. Oh, yeah. And you know, but it was that’s a financial thing that couldn’t be worked out, I guess. So, well, and when Coleman was a free agent, when he had to leave Tampa, not because he wanted to, but because they didn’t have the cap space, he would have been a great fit in Dallas. They just couldn’t afford him. Well, he had he had five teams that were interested in him, too. I actually I actually was trying to talk him into going to Boston. It was one of them. They were going to offer him the most. And I I felt at the time I said, you know, they had just come off a win in a cup or I don’t remember what I said, they’re hungry. I said, they got a couple guys are going to be done. They’re going to do whatever they can to put a team together. And so, anyway, Calgary, I know Calgary had offered him an extra year or two or something like that. And so, he made a, you know, made that decision to go there. And so, but yeah, he’s a Blake’s a gamer, man. and he he always seems to have a way of scoring or putting a point up against Dallas whenever he plays. Yeah, he was he was so good for that Cup team for for Tampa. Such an integral part. Just came out. That’s an identity line right there. Yeah. And they were so good that that that line in in the bubble against Dallas in that series was just unstoppable. Yeah. The last thing I want to ask you, we have a little under 60 seconds on Seth Jones. was thank God that led that jump from the Dallas Stars elite, the U16s, U18s and then to the national development program to the US national team development program. Was that a surprise to you or did you know that he had that step in him? Oh, he had that step there. There was no question. Um, like I said, he he was just he was light years ahead of and then what I mean again with both of those guys, but especially with Seth when you just look at and he was a bean pole, you know what I mean? He was he was scrawny. But when you’re talking 66 and at 17 years old or 18 years old and I I’ve got one well hopefully I don’t know that’s confirmed yet. We got another one that that possibly is here. He’s got an opportunity to go someplace else. I haven’t heard the final on that but but can skate and the agility and all this other kind of stuff. And I see you rolling your eyes. So Kat is saying tell Lewig to shut up. We got to go. It’s Friday Luds. We all got things. Not rolling, just raising the eyebrows because she’s making faces at me. It’s just thank god we only get her one day a week and that’s but in all in all seriousness though it’s really cool to see that you were you know working along and watching this kid grow from my bartender’s here come in prospect into a full-on NHL and now win a cup even if it isn’t with Dallas very very cool we’re just talking about Seth we got to go ls why do you guys keep on talking about Seth and you keep forgetting about Blake. Well, because he’s not the one parading the cup around Dallas right now. Oh, okay. So, if we happen to get a sponsor, I’m just, you know, there you go. Maybe. Well, let’s But nothing wrong with Bud Light cuz I do like Bud Light, but I like this light. I need a Miller Light. That’s the sound That’s the sound of your weekend, sir. All right. Have a good weekend. We’ll be back on Monday at 2 o’clock. Enjoy your weekend. Thank you.

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Sam wrote an article for our DLLS website (www.alldlls.com) addressing three questions facing the Dallas Stars blue line ahead of 2025-26. Today on the show, we will discuss those three, plus more: Is Nils Lundkvist finally ready to make the leap? – Who plays with Miro Heiskanen? – Do the Stars feel they need to add at some point? Something we didn’t get to yesterday – we’ll talk about The Athletic’s annual NHL TV broadcast rankings and touch on some of the recent players to announce their retirement.

00:00 INTRO
03:00 IS NILS LUNDKVIST FINALLY READY TO MAKE THE LEAP?
19:00 WHO PLAYS WITH MIRO HEISKANEN?
33:15 DO THE STARS FEEL THEY NEED TO ADD AT SOME POINT?
35:18 DOES ALEX PETROVIC DESERVE AN NHL ROSTER SPOT?
41:15 WHAT GROWTH ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IN LIAN BICHSEL’S GAME?
50:40 SETH JONES BRINGS STANLEY CUP TO VISIT DALLAS

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