Dallas Stars Early Preseason Takeaways: Lundkvist & More! | Episode 7-002

Dallas Stars Early Preseason Takeaways: Lundkvist & More! | Episode 7-002 | September 24th, 2025

[Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] Hallelujah. [Music] Heat [Music] up here. [Music] Hey guys, welcome back to Starcaster Remarks and alongside James to my right and Chris to my left, my name is Ryan Chambers. We are the official Dallas Stars podcast of the THPN. That’s the Hockey Podcast Network. Thank you for clicking on this video and joining us live. If you are, make sure you click like and subscribe if you’re there on YouTube and hit that notification bell. And if you like anything you hear today, remember it’s Chris’s fault cuz he’s the awesomest person ever. He’s the one that puts this whole podcast together and all the topics and everything. But if you don’t like it, then you can blame it on me and leave me a bad review. But either way, leave us a fivestar review on your favorite podcast platform of choice. Guys, how’s it going today? How are we feeling? We got to see some Dallas Stars hockey. And uh I don’t know what’s what’s going on in y’all’s uh uh personal lives. Anything that’s going new? Yeah, I like hockey. I’m I’m glad hockeyy’s back. It’s You forget how much you miss it, you know? I I’m right there with you. I was just like, “Oh, so this is what it feels like to actually watch hockey.” I I’ll be honest, I completely forgot. How amazing is Victory Plus? I mean, went from last year to getting to watch most of the home games and then getting Jumbotron feed and stuff and now we’ve got like actual whole hockey games, every single preseason one. We get an actual game. It’s amazing. Well, I don’t think we’ve had happens tomorrow since it’s an away game, right? That’s what I was gonna get at still the home games. I mean, that was basically a full broadcast. I loved it. Well, and you know what? I honestly didn’t hate uh Brian and Sevy. That that was actually kind of cool. I enjoyed it. I was just like, they did much better than last year. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. And obviously, they’ve they’ve got a lot of chemistry between the two of them. They’ve got some uh some banter and some sarcasm from uh years past that kind of uh fend together pretty well for for these broadcasts. and it’s so laid-back that it’s a a preseason game as well. They they both did an excellent job, I thought, uh, and putting together a good broadcast. So, that that’s the Stars B team broadcast crew is probably better than 16 other NHL teams, local crews. Yeah. And I, you know, side tangent since we’re going off on a side tangent for a second, I don’t think people really truly realize like how lucky we really are with uh Josh and and Razer. Obviously, we understand with Razer, he’s he gets paid a lot of money just to do just Dallas Stars stuff now and but there there’s a lot of people who watch a bunch of different games and I’m thinking about the hockey guy specifically because he says a lot of good things about the Stars, but I I’ve seen lots of other polls, fan polls recently, like I think the Athletic did one in the past several years and the Stars broadcast is almost always up in like the top five. At the very least, it’s in the top 10 and most of the time it’s in the top five. So, we’re very blessed and lucky to have uh the guys we got. And like you said, Chris, like that was our B team. Like that was pretty good for a B team broadcast. Yeah. But well, speaking of some preseason action, we’re just going to jump straight into it. And we had the first game against the St. Louis Blues or the I guess the farm teams of the St. Louis Blues and then uh we had a game against the the Minnesota Wild as well. The the first game for the Dallas Stars was much more, you know, prospect base. There were some NHL regulars in there, but not a ton. And then we saw a good chunk of the NHL roster play against Minnesota yesterday. And there there’s a lot of things that I want to get into that I want to talk about and particular players that uh I enjoyed, but I want to get y’all’s thoughts before I step on any toes. So, it it’s very broad question, but anything stick out to you guys from the first two preseason games that you know maybe is different from last year or certain combos that you liked, whether that be on the offensive side or on the deep pairs, whatever. What looks good? Someone who the preseason was really important for or is going to be still important for is Nils Lungquist. And he definitely had a tale of two games kind of. The first game he he played a lot. He played a lot both games which was good. But the first game there was a lot of defensive mistakes. He he didn’t he didn’t look fantastic, especially when it was like you said, it was basically two farm teams that were playing against each other. He should have stood out as one of, if not the best defenseman on the ice that night and he really kind of wasn’t. And then the the Minnesota Wild game came and he was so good, especially with the puck. With the puck in the offensive zone, he was fantastic. That is exactly what we want to see Niels Lungquist do game in and game out uh when the season gets going. There’s a little bit still on the defensive side that you didn’t love in the in the Wild game, but I think for a player like Linquist, you you take that. I mean, we had Clingberg be the Stars best defenseman for forever. He had tons of trouble on the defensive end, but when you have that much offensive skill, you can kind of make up for it. So, I it it’s a good a a good bump between the two games. He’s got to keep it going and he’s got to keep that offense that he showed last game and build the defense as the season goes on. And really Lungquist is the whole story for the preseason in my opinion. Like there’s a bunch of cool like uh prospects that we’re getting to look at. We’re getting to see some PTO guys. That’s fun and great and all, but Nils Lungquist is the preseason for the Dallas Stars right now. And Golson is leaning on him heavily. I mean, 20 minutes in both games. I I can’t even remember the last time that Lquist had 20 minutes in any game. Like it it has been a hot second. In the second game, it was basically your whole decor. I mean, we had five of our starting defenseman in that lineup. Yeah. And and like you said, that second game, he looked really good and uh he really the the only problem that I had with him was that he he should have scored like two goals in that game, especially that one where it was it was basically him and Harley just like circling the zone the entire time and then he ended up on the on the back end back there. He just wasn’t able to put it away. And then he had a give and go with either hints or rantinin where he just passed it. he snuck away from uh someone trying to pressure him up top and just went straight to the net with it too. And like that that that’s exactly what we want to see from him. And that’s something that like if Pete Dbor is the coach like he would get pulled for trying something like that, you know, like it really seems like Goldson’s just like he’s fully leaning into what um Lungquist was originally made his game on and why he was such a highly um proclaimed prospect. So, I do want to ask you guys about uh Nils Lungquist in particular that and we should point this out too because he deserves credit for this. He wins the the fitness challenge or whatever it is, the fitness test for the third year in a row. The pesog fitness test, this multi-stage capacity test all brought me back to to my middle school, junior high days. I was like, oh gosh, no. But anyways, yeah, part of me was like, okay, that’s to be expected because I mean, no offense to the guy, but he was hurt all year, so he better be in the best shape probably than anybody. But at the same time, it’s it’s also hard to stay motivated like that and and stay that physically fit when you’re not playing as many games as you probably want to. So, I thought that’s that was something noteworthy to point out. In terms of Nils Lungquist, I am really happy that you brought that up first off, Chris, because maybe Niels maybe Niels Lungquist is one of maybe Ns Lungquist is it’s okay. Maybe he’s one of those guys that he is a very good player, but when he is put with an even better player, that just elevates his game as well. I I know that seems silly to say, but there are some players that you put them with anybody and they will elevate that person’s play. And then there’s others that they don’t exactly elevate themselves to where they’re if they’re the better person on that pairing, they don’t exactly elevate their game. But what I I loved watching in that Minnesota Wild game, and you y’all both said it was in the offensive zone, how easy it looked for Nils Lungquist and Thomas Harley to pass the puck back and forth to each other. Like it it seemed second nature to both of them. And to be completely honest with you, I was I was actually very surprised to see Nils Lungquist in the top four, you know, that fast. And I I know it’s just preseason, but you know, when you look at how well Labouchkin did with Harley while Me was out, that was something that you just kind of expected to see right off of the bat is to see Lungquist play with Harley more often. And even in in training camp last Thursday, Friday, Saturday, we didn’t see that as much. I mean, we saw, you know, Niels playing more with Harley and we saw that a bunch on Tuesday and I absolutely loved that. If that can work and Nils Linquist game is just elevated by playing with a better defenseman and Thomas Harley, that sign me up. Heck yes. Cuz cuz then you you got a bottom pairing of Liam Bishell and Leouchkin. Yes. like absolutely 100% sign me up for that. I that if they’re able to rely upon that pairing in particular and Nils Lungquist is able to solidify that number four role even though he won’t get top four minutes per se like that makes me really excited for the prospects of this defense. Yeah, you might be on to something with the mirroring thing because I mean you look at who he was playing with last year, Esso Lindell, and he scored nothing. So that that kind of does make sense. And the offense is great to see with Lungquist, but really uh it’s it’s felt like a mind shift mindset shift honestly. Uh there’s lots of times when he gets caught up ice because he is going for those offensive plays, but he always ends up being the first person backing too. And that that’s going to be a really big thing that he’s going to have to foc h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h hyperfocus on, especially if he’s if goldson is going to let him play the way that he wants to. Was there anything else from No Linquist in particular that that stuck out to y’all? cuz I I agree with you both in saying that I I didn’t like the defensive miscues in the first game, but he fixed it in the second game, which is better, but again, he’s not playing against NHL caliber players the for the majority of that game. He did look better, so I’ll give him credit for that. But he he’s I I still want to see the defensive prowess that he had last year before he got hurt and just contribute offensively a little bit because the defense is going to have to do more this year. He still had defensive miscus in the second game. And really where he struggles is off the rush. Off the rush. And when he gets one-on-one with somebody, he looks pretty horrible. Honestly, that’s when he looks really bad. if it’s set up and there’s a cycle going, he knows what to do whenever there’s structure in the defensive zone. But he’s I mean the rush defense has got to be better than that. It now that you brought that up since we’re It made me think of the power play because we did see a two defenseman set on one of the power plays. Uh I I I forget who exactly it was in in the forwards, but it doesn’t matter. But we saw I think it was Niels and Harley together for a little bit and then I even think we saw Miro and and Niels for a little bit as well. You saw they were they were jumbling the power play the entire time and and then that’s what you’re supposed to do in preseason. But I think that’s a fantastic idea if they can get Mills going on the power play. that that’s his that is his strength like and that’s something he hasn’t been allowed to do just because we’ve got you know more than I even think I would put even Liam Bishell above him at this point in terms of guys who can run a power play pretty well and it it’s just not it’s just not in his repertoire for the last couple of years if we can get that going and give him that opportunity on the power play that that plays into his strength really what they were using him as though was as like another forward instead of he wasn’t quarterbacking it. It was uh still Mero and Carly quarterbacking it. They were using him as a forward and that’s going to be important later in the season when we inevitably have a top six forward get hurt and you don’t know who to throw on that power play unit. And that’s a good point. That’s what I was going to say is Lquist is not going to play on the power play unless someone gets hurt. So if one of Mira Harley gets hurt, he probably slots in there first. And if a if a winger who’s good on the half wall on the power play gets hurt, I think Lucas could slip slot in there pretty well. But other than that, I don’t see him going in unless there’s an injury. Well, you might throw him in as well if there’s like 15 seconds left on it. Like he might be that part of that pairing that comes in right now. It’s not going to be a regular thing. If if if we’re resorting to Lungquist on the power play on a regular basis, the power play is struggling. Yeah. What What I mean, if it is struggling, but I don’t know. I I I’m thinking too much about this. You got so many other skilled players for that spot. You don’t need Lquist there. Yeah, that’s a good point. But still, I would like to see him get on the power play a little bit more cuz I would not I want to get him going. He won’t be the quarterback of it unless uh Mero or Harley get hurt. I mean, one of them has to get hurt and then it then even then you might not want him to quarterback it. No, I don’t want I’m not saying I want him to quarterback it, but if he’s on the the goalie’s right, which allows him to open up for those one-times from the from the half wall like you mentioned, Chris, or from in inside the circle or from the OV spot, uh like like we say that that that’s a that’s a weapon that could be utilized and could be used because he’s got a good shot. It’s just he hasn’t used it. Yeah, he’s got a lot of guys who have better shots than him, though. Yeah, he has a good shot for a defenseman. He’s got kind of lost his shot in the last like I mean he scored two goals in the last two seasons. Yeah. He what he had six points last season. So he had five and there wasn’t a goal. Yeah. So I think he was the only defenseman not to score one. Yeah. So this I mean yes he has offensive gift. I wouldn’t say scoring is one of them though. Even Matt Dumba had a goal. Like how sad is that? Exactly. Yeah. All right. Moving off of Nils Lungquist. something else. Okay. Uh from I’m mostly mostly just because it was, you know, recency biased because of yesterday, but the some of the line combos I saw from the forward side were really really interesting to me. And again, I’ll let y’all have the floor first so so you can talk about what you want to talk about first. But who who what which one of the lines kind of surprised you in some of the different combos that we saw last night? Well, in camp there, Goldson is definitely mixing up the lines pretty much every day, kind of trying to see what works, what doesn’t. I understand kind of the thought of why he’s doing that because if you’re able to spread out the offense and still get the same production, then it’s probably worth it because you can better mismatch lines and it makes Goulison’s job easier. It’s easier for him to get his good players out against the other team’s worst players. But just seeing in that wild game with Robo, Ranton, and Hins together, it’s like that’s that’s the line. Like they have to play together. The first two shifts they had, they were just doing whatever they wanted to with the puck. It’s a miracle they didn’t score. So, it’s insane. Uh I think Castillo called it the Supernova line in his substack. I think that’s awesome. That’s the name I’m calling it right now. Those three are the Supernova line. It’s that’s got to be it. I mean, they just look so good. Yeah. And then on the other side of that, you got the the UNC line that they ran uh with I loved that with Sean, Duchain, and Ben. And where really thought we were we thought Sam Steel was going to be on that second line right now, but I mean, Ben looked pretty good on that line. It looked like he still had that chemistry with Sean, which really is the big important thing there. Uh, and it’s it’s gonna be really weird with him on wing as well as taking on wing. Duchine being the same. Yeah. So, that’s a little different. Uh, that’s definitely a way that you can kind of cover cover up some of his deficiencies, too. I mean, Duchain’s a pretty fast skater and since he’s the center, he’s going to be he’s going to have to be more defensively responsible. And if I mean, Ben plays kind of like Marchment and he’s slow kind of like Marchment. So, I mean, the fit kind of makes sense. Yeah. I do worry about the speed on that line though because like Duchain’s not slow. I wouldn’t call him fast though. So I mean for an old guy he’s fast. I’ll say that. Sean Sean and Ben have both lost a step pretty pretty well. So I I worry about that also kind of line. March was also one of the slowest skaters in the league and he was on the line with them and that line was dominant for the last two three seasons they played together. So like I think Ben is slower than Marchman. I think Marchman’s got a good snap on it still. Advanced statistics says otherwise, but really for really and Robo are both in like the the least like 20 m an hour burst per 60 minutes. Well, for Robo, I think he could get to that burst and he just doesn’t. Like that’s just how he plays. He just kind of he’s like Lionel Messi. He’s just walking around until Oh, I’m going to go now. or he just makes like a random shot that you never thought would go in and it just he slides into space where he knows the puck’s going to pop out, right? Yeah. Um I love that y’all brought up both of those lines because I I agree. I I had not seen David Castillo’s piece yet, Chris. I love that Supernova reference. That’s awesome. That that that better stick. Um I also like the UNC line, too. that that was the line that most impressed me last night because I I just didn’t have a whole lot of expectations from that. And uh if Ben is able to I I I don’t want to say, you know, have a huge amount of production, but the expectations change if he is that guy in the top six, right? Oh, yeah. like like if if he doesn’t get to 20 goals and he’s in the top six, that is that’s very bad. In my personal opinion, I don’t think so. I mean, he’s making a million dollars now. If he scores more than 10, I’m happy. Well, but but I understand your your the the whole value side. Yes, I get it. But look at who you’re playing with and and Sean and Ben. I mean, or Sean and Ben, Sean and Duchaine. Duchaine was a point per game player last year and then before Sean got hurt, he was over a point per game player. So, I mean, if they’re at that point pace and Ben’s below him, I mean, that’s fine with me. If Ben’s facilitating it, just standing in front of the net, that’s cool with me. I’m not saying again, I’m not saying he has to get to 30 goals or anything like that. But like, if he doesn’t get to 20, that needs to be like the benchmark for me if he’s playing in that in that type of top six role. I also like the idea of Ben being higher up because I I prefer him playing higher than Sam Steel and I think kind of the Wild Game proved that even more to me. I mean, he had several really great chances and just whiffed them. And that’s that’s kind of been his MO is like he’s skilled, he makes great plays with the puck and he doesn’t score. And the only time he proved that wrong was in the shootout. So, I just I would prefer not to have him higher in the lineup because I think he can’t finish. Honestly, that’s just it. He’s just not good at finishing plays. That really is just Sam Steel’s whole story of his entire career. I mean, he he’s a first round pick. The player is incredibly skilled. His hands are amazing. It’s just the most important thing in the game is putting the puck in the back of the net, and that’s just the thing he struggles the most at. Yep. And and speaking of putting the puck in the back of the net, Ben has been at 399 for like what nine months, decades. Oh yeah. It feels like just just a stat to reinforce the goals thing with Sam Steel. He has had a single season that he has scored 10 goals. Yeah. And that’s just great. I mean, you look at him, he looks like a middle six guy. Like he could play second line minutes. And I mean, one season with over 10 goals for as long as he’s played is kind of horrible for for how good he looks. Yeah. No, it’s bad. So, are we still on the the train that he’s going to get that left wing spot on the second line? Or do we think that maybe based off of just again one preseason game, but based off of one preseason game and some of the looks that we’ve seen in training camp, is it Ben that has that second left wing spot? I I really think it’s a lot more up to Wyatt Johnson than anyone else at this point. If if Wyatt still really wants to play center, then I it’s probably been playing the wing up there. But if if Wyatt just wants to play more and there we’re just going to lean on Wyatt to score goals, he he’s going to play on the wing on the second line, I think. Yeah, I’m still going to think Sam Steel is is going to be it because I mean he looked good in the game. Like he truly did and a lot of guys had I mean we only scored two goals so a lot of guys had great looks and weren’t able to finish but and we’re still waiting on too. So yeah, and it’s just been a pattern for Steel is why I’m more worried about it than I am with the other guys. And Bor actually is a pretty good topic to talk about, too. He had a great first game in in that in that pretty much like all prospect type of game against the Blues. He was the standout player in that game. I mean, he played great the entire way through. That’s exactly what I was going to say is like that’s what we wanted Niels to do as well. He wanted to be like, man, that guy is way better than everyone on the ice. Bor was. He was the best guy on the ice by a wide margin coming into his sophomore year. That that is a great thing to see, especially with his trends in his career that he’s had. And a contract year. Speaking of contract year, there’s a lot of guys on on this team that I don’t want to talk that. We’ll talk about it after the season. Just want to cut. It doesn’t matter. Yeah. Yeah. We we talked about that a couple of weeks ago, but go and listen to that episode. There are quite a few guys that need new contracts after this year, but uh Jim Nil is on the case right now. At least we know that for sure. He literally came out and said it himself that he’s he’s working on it. Um okay, the the one combo that I wanted to point out that’s nowhere near as big a story line, but that I was really impressed with that I loved was Rodic Foxa with Na Nathan Bastion. I loved watching them play in that first game. That was so much fun. It they they were just going after all of the Blues players. Like I think it’s a lot of man flesh on that line, especially if you have Oscar back as that third guy. I I think the crazy stat with Bastion was like he had the second most hits on the New Jersey Devils the last couple of seasons or something like that. And that’s nuts for a player who’s playing uh fringe minutes. I mean, he’s barely playing and he’s he’s hitting that much. That that’s what you want to see. And that’s that’s something that we got some with uh Bishell last season. When you bring in more of that, that that can make your team really scary. Yep. I think uh I think Bastion’s going to be your regular 12th guy and Blackwell’s going to be your 13th more than likely just just because of that physicality that he can bring. Like when a guy like that is being physical and making those hits, it drags others with him. And hopefully it can drag Beck into that fight, too. Beck’s a big boy, too. He needs to be throwing some weight around. We know, we know those Europeans are hard to drag into the fight sometimes, but maybe he’s on the line seeing Radic and Bastion put the body on the line over and over again, he’ll be forced to. I I think it’s mostly going to matter about who they are playing against. And I know this is trivial for talking about a 12th forward, but like if we are playing against a team like Boston or another big boy team like Minnesota when they have their full lineup in, then we’re probably going to more likely see Nathan Bastion. But if we play against a team like Montreal, for example, who also has some undersized guys, but they rely more upon their speed, then that would be an instance where you probably would want Colin Blackwell in compared to Nathan Bastion. Or you just put Bastion in and just crush everyone. All right. Well, I think Blackwell works great in limited use as well. I mean, think about the playoffs. The the game he came back every time, that was his best game each time. I think I think it was three times he was taken out and put back in and each time he was put back in it was an amazing game. So, I think he is he’s really good. He has a good mentality when he’s sat and he has a good mentality when he gets back in too to I’m going to do everything I can to force myself to stay on the lineup, which is kind of exactly what you want from a 13th forward. Well, and then again, he was the one that got the Stars a win in the playoffs after losing like seven games in a row, right? He at least deserves that much credit. That’s huge. It was his only his only goal of the playoffs. Yeah. His only goal of the playoffs and it was in was was it really just single overtime or was it double? Single over time. It felt like double because it felt forever. Um anyways, I I’ll put one more little bow on the whole Bastion uh thing. If there is somebody who doesn’t go and make an Overwatch reference with Nathan Bastion, I’m going to be upset that much. Someone has to do it. We’ll make the meme. Put that Put that Write that down, James. Write that down. He’s not writing it down. He’s not writing it down, Chris. Okay. Well, maybe Matt Day can can get on that. And uh he I mean, he made the whole Mandalorian suit. Maybe he can make a Bastion suit as well. That’d be cool. Okay. Uh any other specific like line combos or anything that we’ve seen? Uh we could talk a little Miro Hastin and Essa Lindell. I mean you saw me playing on the PK a little bit more. It it looks like I mean he’s been consistently with Essendell throughout camp. We saw him with that against the Wild. I I think that’s what they’re going to be going with. And if that’s the case that maybe that takes even more offense off of Miro’s plate. I just think it makes way too much sense to put those guys together. I mean, it it doesn’t make any sense to keep those guys apart. I mean, Lindell has make the the Finnish pairing great for the Olympics, too. Yeah, that’s what I was going to say. It’s like they literally play together in every international tournament. So, I mean, they’ve got the chemistry together. It will be more difficult for Miro to get offense. I think that’s true, but I think it’s also going to be easier for Libert. He wasn’t getting offense last year to begin with anyways. Yeah, but I I I think it will be easier to also have Esso Lindell exit the zone. And it looks like the Stars are turning their forche breakout to be more of a controlled breakout rather than, hey, bail the zone and we’ll hail Mary the puck to you, which was what Esendel was great at. So, it’s looking like it’s going to be a little bit more controlled. So, if Essa can just dish it to Mero and let Miro do that, I think that makes his job a little bit easier, too. So, I think it might bring down some offense, but it’ll help the transition game. So, we’ll we’ll see how it goes. I love the the way that the lines the the the combos would be for I if Carly and Lungquist if that experiment can stay together because again that just the the biggest question the the weakness right now even though we have lost like about 60 goals on the offensive side the that the big question still seems to lie with what is the defense going to look like? I mean, I think we have a pretty good idea of what the forward lines are going to look at are going to look like. It’s just Nils Linquist is that wild card and him and Bishel. It’s just like, okay, where are these guys going to line up? Are they bottom pairing or are they top four? And right, so it’s going to be interesting to see how it lines up and what the uh opening night roster is going to look like. And I think your ideal world right now is Essa Lindell is like your your normal guy that would sit next to Harley and then when you get later in the game where you really can’t have a mistake on defense, Bishop might bump up and be more with Harley and to really lock down the defensive side. So it might be we have a fourth defenseman by committee. Fair enough. Fair enough. Um I also wanted to give some love out to Trey Taylor as well. I I thought he played really really well in uh in the game on Tuesday and I was I was very very impressed with how he did and I’m I’m really excited to see how he does in in Cedar Park this year. Yeah, he’s he’s pretty great. He plays really smooth. I mean, he has the kind of mirror hastinness to him. Like you watch him play and you’re just like, “Yeah, that’s how you’re supposed to play hockey, you know? I mean, it just looks beautiful to the eye.” So, he’s definitely great. He he needs to work a little bit more on the on the defensive side, I think, and to figure out more when he needs to push into the offensive zone and when he can’t because he did he did few oddman rushes the other way because of that. But the skills are all there. So, it really is somebody who could develop into uh into a solid modern defenseman for the Stars in in a year or two. Yeah, he’s definitely fun to watch, but there’s there’s still still some improvement that needs to be made, but the improvement is the teachable stuff. Yeah, that’s the important part. Like, you can’t you can’t teach the the cool stuff you’re seeing him do. Really? And then uh I I I know it’s always the same, but I love watching Antonio Strong play. I do. Like I really do. Yeah. Like like that’s exactly what I’m saying is like the way he skates reminds me so much of a like a roller hockey skater. Like just the the whole, you know, the inside edges in towards and Yes. It it it’s just it’s so much fun to watch and he get he’s able to keep the speed so well when he does that. I I just I I I don’t know if he’s ever going to be like an NHL level player or if he’s ever going to get there. But still, he he’s that one skill is it makes it so much fun. Yeah. Strange is kind of the opposite. You watch him and you’re like, I didn’t know you could do that on the ice. Like that’s not what you’re supposed to be. You see him do that. It’s like what is happening? Yeah. Yes. And and what’s funny is that he normally only does that in the offensive zone, right? Like off the rush or something. That is not true at all. He does it everywhere. He will do it anywhere he pleases. I was try I was trying I was trying to give him a little bit of of good grace. I know that it’s fun to watch. I don’t care. He can do it if he wants. Just there’s other parts of his game that still need to be improved. Okay. Um we’re not going to take a hard right, but I do want to talk specifically about uh Glenn Gooson. And what I want to know from you guys is things that you have noticed as cuz I’ve already seen it was almost instantaneous uh the differences in in the the can’t think of the word system. Systems thank you the the systems that he wants them to play. But what specifically do you see and with Glenn Gooson’s fingerprint on this team already with just, you know, two preseason games down? Well, like like I mentioned earlier, the breakout is is very different. The Stars breakout last year was blow the zone, good luck defenseman. That’s definitely not going to be what it is this time. There’s going to be a lot more uh you’re going to be seeing skaters actually skating towards their own defenseman who have the puck, which I’m sure will be nice for the defenseman. they’ll see a friendly face. Um, and then in the Dzone there’s it I think it is a hybrid man that they’re running right now. So, the defenseman’s going to follow their forward if he’s between the faceoff dots and the net, but he’s not going to chase him out to the wall or out to the point. He’s going to he’s going to stay home a little bit more. So, I think we got that one right. Um, the the power play looked pretty traditional. look like your your classic 131 for the most part. I think the first game uh one of those I think it was the second power play group in the first game so had a lot of AHL guys on it. I think they ran a little bit of a spread so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see that at some points but offensive zone looked pretty normal. I I I I’m glad you said all of that, Chris, because uh the the the one thing that I I noticed the most was that hybrid defensive zone coverage. Like, it was very different. And to to be honest with you, I’m not exactly sure exactly how it works yet. I’m I’m I’ve kind of gone back and looked at a couple of specific clips and especially when it was in our zone for an extended period of time, you know, like 30 seconds or longer, and I’m still trying to figure out like who’s responsible for who when this situation happens, if it’s up at the point, is it man-on- man or is it is it, you know, actual like zone coverage or whatever. But for the most part, that there there is a hybrid. I still think it leans more towards a zone coverage system rather than a man-on-man and and specifically even when it goes down uh kind of below the the faceoff circles like when it gets down in the corners behind the net, it looks like there’s not a whole lot of of man-on-man coverage especially down there. Yeah. And there’s a lot more of uh the center’s defensive ability is going to be more important now because they are coming a lot lower. So the wingers are coming back and they’re pretty much playing man-on-man with guys on the wall and guys on the point is what they’re doing. And the defenseman are doing that more zone style by the net and the centers coming and taking away the slot for the most part. And that that is going to be interesting with Duchaine is the main thing I was thinking of because all of our centers are great defensively except for Matt Duchain. So we’ll have to see how he’s able to adjust to that and maybe the slot might be a little bit weak when when he’s in his own defensive zone. It’ll be something just to to keep note of. Is that something that he can learn even though he’s Yeah. Whatever 3 is he 36 37? He’s old. He’s unk 34. 34. He can learn that. I also wonder if you can just say, “Hey, Sean’s the center on the defensive side.” You know, so they like switch as they go to they hit the red line and it’s like, “All right, center now.” Yep. So there’s ways to work around that. I don’t know. The other side of that though is that your your centers other than Duchine is Roe Hence, Wyatt Johnston, and Radic Foxa. And we know how good Radic Foxa is defensively. He’s one of the best in the league. So outside of Duchaine, I think it’s great. You’re utilizing your strength of your two-way centers really well. I will be really is not two-way. He’s just defensive. Sorry, I had to get that jab in. one way the opposite direction. He’s one way in the wrong way. Well, is it though the wrong way, but not the incorrect way necessarily. Correct. There you go. That’s a good way to put it, Jason. Well, okay, that it is really going to be interesting to see more of the systems that Glen Goliton puts in. And yeah, also keep in mind we have no idea what we’re talking about, so you know, just a note. Yes, fair enough. We we are not experts at all. We we we we just like to analyze things as fans. Um the the one thing that I have seen and I’ll ask you about this uh guys because this is something that has continued to be kind of pushed throughout uh NHL circles and just it doesn’t matter where I where I listen to or where I look whether it’s uh fan podcasts like ours whether it’s the more traditional media podcast or stuff like that they are looking at the stars and a lot of people are picking the stars to pick to be second or third in the division. Now, the reason why I’m saying this is they are saying that they are still a Stanley Cup contender and they’re pointing at Florida as an example because Florida, I mean, what how how have they done the last two years in terms of the regular season? They didn’t really care. So, they a lot of people are saying that this is going to be more about conserving energy for the Dallas Stars this year, especially with some of their older players. And then I’ll say the big obvious one is Jay Gottener. And I was specifically listening to SDP yesterday and I think it was Jesse that said this is this is Otter’s season. This is when he becomes the elite guy that the stars know that he can be. And this is where he elevates himself into that top five category. I mean, we talked about Sean Shapiro’s article a couple of uh I guess I guess it was several weeks ago now where Auter was considered top 10 by just about everybody, but not top five. Maybe this is where he’s the year that he elevates himself in the top five. And I think that’s going to be a big thing if and the reason why I’m bringing it up is because Glenn Gooson seems to be pushing this narrative a lot is conserving energy and using it at the right time in the right places and making sure that you have enough for the playoffs. It’s not about the regular season. Obviously, you still have to win games to get there. The story is written there pretty well, too. I mean, the outside perception is that got Pete Deborah fired, which is partially true. we’re a little bit closer to the situation, so we don’t know that’s 100% true. Um, but I mean, what a better response to that to say, “Yeah, I got this guy fired and I’m worth it and here you go. Here’s a a Vzna finalist season to prove it.” You know, so it’s kind of written in the stars, I feel like. Do do you think that he’s the starting goalie for Team USA? No, but he will be the finishing goalie. Oh, okay. So, you think Connor Hella I mean it is just the Olympics. It’s not like the NHL where you get a lot of grace and you’re allowed to screw up sometimes. It’s like you it is unacceptable to lose because it’s only a twoe tournament. Complete complete take now coming off the dome. Sorry James cutting you off. It’s going to be quarterfinals. Hellabuk is going to let in two goals in the first period. USA is going to be down two nothing to Sweden and then Auter’s going to come in in the second period, close it down. USA wins 4-2 and then he’s it for the semiinal. You think two is going to get get him switched? I think it’ have to be at least four. Two in the first period that that could get him switched. I mean, like you said, it’s a single elimination tournament. The lease has to be so short, especially with the history he’s proven both in the four nations and in the playoffs. Okay, fair. But two goals, just two. Yes. Sweden and you’re down two nothing. Yes. Sorry, James. A buck and then inevitably the game goes to overtime and you swap them out. Yeah. Plays overtime. That’s really easy for goalies to do as well. Goalies love getting switched in the middle of games. It’s super easy, right? Like like it it’s normal. But then Honor ends up with all the win cuz he’s in for the game-winning goal because he he doesn’t give up. Okay. Uh you know, just since since we’re go ahead, we’re we’re already talking about it. Uh the the the one thing that we hadn’t really talked about a whole lot in this episode is about Jay Gottener and he seems posed for a big season. This this seems to be it. He’s starting his new I think that he is starting his new contract. Correct. This is his $8 million contract that’s kicking in now. Or was that last year? I thought that was last year. Maybe it was last year. Whatever. He’s making eight mill now. Yeah. No matter what, he’s he he’s getting paid big bucks as one of the better goalies in the NHL. the I I think that the Stars need a little bit more from him and they specifically need it in the playoffs and the only way that’s going to work is if he plays 55 games, give or take two. So maybe he gets to 57. I don’t know. I don’t want him to play less. Honestly, I want him under 50 regular season games with how the schedule is and with how good Casey De Smith is and with him probably playing some games in the Olympics. I I’d like to see him under 50. And and you’re absolutely right. We’ve seen good Auter in the playoffs. Like that’s what we’ve gotten the past three years. And has played good. He’s played good enough for us to win the cup. Absolutely. But we haven’t seen him take over a series. We saw a little bit of it with the Jets, maybe, but even then, I don’t think he took it over. I I think he beat Heluck, but I think Hellob wasn’t great either. So, it would be awesome to see him really do what he did against the Flames and prove that that is not a fluke. And this is his first year of his $8 million contract. So you’re one one of eight. We have him for eight years at 8.25 or something like that. That’s crazy. That’s gonna be so cheap in three years. It’s cheap now. Yeah. Sorry, random random stat that dropped into my head because I was watching a episode. Did you know the average NHL player actually makes more money than the average NFL player? Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, it that I didn’t think about it at first. I didn’t think that made sense, but the gap between the top and the bottom isn’t as wide. Right. Exactly. And then the just the fact that NFL rosters are so vast. There’s like 53 guys on the team. Minor league hockey players are some of the best play some of the best paid minor league athletes as well. So, hockey doing right. Really? Yeah. And they don’t even get paid that much either. There are uh veteran AHL guys that make six figures yearly, like pretty consistently. What does Curtis McKenzie get? It’s not It’s not public, I don’t think. I haven’t seen it. All right. Well, uh anyways, get getting back to to Otter and all of that. It is he the key for the Dallas Stars this season? No, because he will be good. I I I still think the key is is Lungquist and Bourke and how much they can improve because if they can if they both step into their roles, your team is good enough right now. You don’t need to add anything. It’s it’s Lquist Burke and I I would throw uh I would throw Harley in there as well. I mean, Harley’s got to have another just we we know he can do it, but if he takes a step back this year, that’s that’s really really going to hurt the offense, especially from the back end because there’s not much no one else is going to score. Let’s put it that way. We have two scoring defensemen, uh, and that’s Mero and Harley. Even if Lenquist has a good season, uh, he he maybe gets 30 points. That would be ridiculous for him. Yeah, I feel okay. Uh, I’ve got a couple of like NHL things I want to ask you guys about, but do it. Anything Anything specific about the Dallas Stars? No, that’s it. Sorry, that’s Angel. Anyways, um, sorry that was awkward. But anyways, uh, I I do want to ask you guys said something. I want to ask you guys about two players in particular that are uh one we know for sure is going to be retiring after this year and the other we’re not sure about and the two players I’m talking about are Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings. He announced before the season has started that this will be his final NHL season and he spent all he will have spent all 20 years with the Los Angeles Kings. And then I I want you guys to speculate on whether or not this is going to be Ovuchkin’s final season or not. So, first off, what do you think about Anzai Kopitar and how he he’s been it is crazy how ridiculously consistent he has been over his career? And then and then uh is it is this it for the grade eight? Yeah, Kobachar is one of the most underrated players ever. You go back and look at those two Kings Cups in three years and it’s like that’s wild. Those were out of nowhere. Like especially the first one. Absolutely nuts. Love that. Especially with how hockey has kind of been the past 10 years. Like it feels like the team that’s supposed to have won the cup has kind of won it recently, you know, and that Kings year it wasn’t really the case. They came out of nothing. So love love Copitar. Definitely underrated. Yeah, Copitar is one like like you said, he’s one of the most consistent players, too. I mean, he’s just you never think of him as like the top superstar, but every time you play against the Kings, you’re like, “Oh, crap, that dude’s really good.” Yep. And I don’t know about Obie. I mean, Obie, I think Obie would have to score less than 30 goals and then he’d retire because he’s only ever had one season where he scored less than 30 goals and that was the shortened COVID season. Yeah. I mean, he’s still pushing Rocket Rashard. I mean, why why are you retiring? You’re one of the best goal scorers in the league still. Yeah. 44 is ridiculous. And his his team was great last year during the regular season. Like, obviously, they fumbled in the playoffs. kind of what we all thought would happen. But if anyone’s going to be able to have the leadership to push them through that, it’s going to be Obie. Did I think he can get to a thousand? I Is he going to get there? I don’t think so. He Yes. I I don’t think he’s going to get there, but he’s a top 10 goal scorer. Like, why would he not play three more seasons if his body can make it? And right I mean he he he loves the game more than anyone. I mean he broke didn’t he like break a leg last year and he still came back and like still broke the record like that that’s that’s insane. I I mean I like I said I think he’s going to have to have he’s going to have to have a season where he’s just mid extremely mid and then he’ll resign. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. And then that’s crazy to think he mid for him is what 25 to 30 goals. Yeah, it’s 20. That might even be bad honestly. Like 30 to 40 is probably mid for him. And and then also consider like how slow he started this past year. Like his like his team was scoring all the goals for him. They had a lot of guys who had career years this past year. uh like uh Potra, no not Potra, Proise, Prous is on is on a different team. Produce and then Conor Mcichael had career years and then Dylan Stro also they kind of just kind of came out of nowhere as a number one center and then Jacob Cherin was also really good for him. I I think he had like eight goals almost halfway through the season. I I I I remember saying something like that, like it was incredibly low and then just like the back half of the season, he just went on a tear and he looked like the OV from 10 15 years ago. So, I I just have no idea. I I don’t want to even like like if I had a betting odd and I I was told I had to bet on something, I I don’t know. I honestly don’t know because it it he it just seems like he could go on forever and then when you finally think he’s slowing down, he’s like flicks the switch and he’s like psych. And still gets to 44 this past year. He’s 40 what? 40 years old. 41 40 old like it just and he played the ridiculous amount of like time on ice per game this season too that he ever has and he still scored 44. What what what is his average two years ago, James? uh from two years ago. Yeah. Off off the dome, James. So, in the 2022 2023 season, his time on ice was at 20 minutes per game. This last season, it was at 1743, which is manageable for him. But that’s two minutes less each game and he still ended up with 44 goals. Honestly, just keep him on the bench. Blame him on the power play. He had more goals in in less games. That’s crazy. Like I just I don’t know how he does it. It just absolutely incredible he can do. Okay. Uh the the only other thing that I wanted to talk about, it’s it’s nothing particular, but you know, looking through all of the the the social media posts and stuff like that, I am absolutely shocked with how many injuries there still are for a lot of players. A and not just for for Dallas Stars players, which by the way, we should go ahead and put this out. Apparently, Jamie Ben is dayto-day. I don’t know if y’all saw that, but that that came out today. Robert Tiffen had a tweet about it. But that there’s still a lot of prominent players that that are still currently injured and the season starts in like a week and a half. I mean, like you got like Anders Lee for the Islanders and is is an example. Sorry. Charlie Lingren for the Seattle uh Krak or Ryan Lingren for the for the Kraken. Um, I mean, Snugarude for the for the Devils. Looks like he got hurt in practice today. Uh, like sounds like a Pokemon. Snugarude. Yeah, Jimmy. He has an awesome name though, right? Isn’t it kind of cool? But he’s supposed to be a big master ball at him, right? Uh, he’s supposed to be a big part of the the Blues attack this year as as a young guy. And and I mean there’s even some other guys that I know I’m forgetting about right now that are also very key like Blackwood. There there’s another one. Blackwood the starting goalie for the Colorado Avalanche. It looks like he might not actually be in the opening night roster and he is reportedly progressing. So I I I am just I want to get y’all’s take. And maybe it’s just me and every season has always been like this and I just hadn’t been paying attention at the beginning of the season. But it really feels like there’s a whole lot more injuries still even though the most of the players have had a a a good long, you know, off season to try and get all of these issues fixed. I don’t know. I I don’t really see it as too abnormal. I I think it’s pretty normal. Yeah. And the funny thing is they’re going to add two more games to the season next year. So, they’re gonna have even less time to to heal up. So, it’s going to become more normal. I still don’t know how they’re going to do with with all of these games. If they’re going to add four new teams like the you know the rumors are wait till next Olympics like that that schedule’s going to be even crazier. I I’ve also heard things that they’re actually going to try and start at the end of September rather than, you know, early to mid October or whatever so that that way they can actually get the Stanley Cup awarded before the end of June, which I think is still stupid. But um I love it. I don’t know. But uh last thing because I’m just curious about what you guys think with with this because I I’ve been getting into this going down rabbit holes with this. Do you think the NHL actually gets to 36 teams eventually? I hope not. It looks like that’s where they’re going, though. I mean, that’s kind of where I’m at, too. I think that’s a foregone conclusion at this point. I really think that that is the push. I I don’t know how long it’s going to be before that happens, but it feels like it’s a lot more It’s a lot sooner than a lot of people realize. Like some people are like, “Oh yeah, like 10 15 years there’ll be 36 teams.” I think it’s in the single digits. I think in the next eight years we see four new teams. And I think wait, it’ll be Houston, probably Kansas City, and then we’ll we’ll see back in Arizona and back in Atlanta. you just the incentive structure is just so obviously there for the league and the owners especially like the owners they just get money like they just get paid and all they lose is a middling player for each each team like it’s it’s a no-brainer for the owners to do that. Well, I don’t know, but I I just think it’s a foregone I don’t like it. I I think I I don’t want to water down the talent pool any anymore. I mean, I’m not saying it’s super watered down, but like we talk about every team has a hole with the the salary cap. Like there’s a problem with every team and I just we don’t want to have more problems, I guess. I mean like you don’t want to have like imagine you add those four more teams and every team has a bad line like a bad one and then it the game for coaches just try to mismatch as much as you can do anything you can to get your first line against the fourth and I mean I can I can see it getting silly. I I just don’t agree with you with in terms of it’s gonna water down the talent pool. Like I mean objectively does it adds more players like okay objectively yes but I I think that there is enough quality out there that you can you can do have four more rosters that are NHL caliber. I just don’t think that’s true though cuz I mean you look at the Seattle Kraken you look at the Seattle Kraken I think they’re a perfect example. They added an expansion team and they haven’t been able to crawl out of mid for they had their one good season where they miracally beat Colorado in the first round and they’ve never been close to that. Very nearly beat Dallas, too. Very nearly did. Yeah, cuz Dallas almost blew it. And Dallas has to play six to seven games in every single playoff series. That’s just a foregone conclusion. The rules anyways. But like the the the thing is is that yes, it’s 100. It’s like a 100 players, but we’re talking but from across the world, guys. Like there are right now right now there’s a hundred players that aren’t in the NHL that should be. Yes. No. Not true. Yes. I don’t think that’s true. I think that’s true. There are more than three players that are in the AHL from every single team right now that should be on the NHL roster. I I think that there is that that’s just my personal there’s four Texas stars I think should be in the NHL right now and that’s one of the best AHL teams in the league. I I I count four. Who are they? Just because I’m curious. Uh, I would say Rscovian, Huru, Pro, and probably Cappo Bienko, maybe Hughes, maybe Lind. I think Hughes would be really good in the bottom six role. I I would love that. And plus, I think he can he has a little bit of scoring. That’s what I’m saying. Like, the Texas Star is one of the deepest teams in AHL. They don’t they don’t have 10 players that should be in the NHL. I don’t know. We We could talk about that for for the rest of the night, but time’s up. But we’ll agree to disagree. I I I think that they will eventually get to it, and I don’t think it’s going to water down the pool, but Okay. Uh, anything else we have water? I was going to pretend like I didn’t hear that. Okay. Anything else, guys? Nope. Nope. All right. That’s going to do it for us here today. I thank all of y’all for watching us live. If you have been, if you’re watching us later, we appreciate you guys just as much as Chris takes a giant bite of a potato chip while muted. So, you don’t even get to hear the delicious chewiness of his uh chip. Crunch. Anyways, crunchiness, chewiness, whatever. Well, I guess crunchiness is okay. Yo, y’all keep getting me on side tangent. Stop. I’m trying to finish. I’m trying to wrap the show up. Please like and subscribe and hit that notification bell. If you’re watching on YouTube, we appreciate you. If you are listening on the audio side, please consider leaving us a fivestar review on your favorite podcast platform of choice. We would appreciate that. And uh if you’d like to support us monetarily, there’s a couple ways for you to do that. Uh you can either become a who cares club member. Oh my gosh, James, that is ridiculous. He just holds up a big bag of aripo gummy bears. I’m sorry. I have to five pounds. Five pounds. Gosh, that’s ridiculous. 10 bucks. Got it at Five Below. Five and 10 bucks. 10 bucks at Five and Below. Go buy them up. That doesn’t make any sense though. It’s Five and Below. Anyways, okay. And then uh you you can be become a who cares club member or you can even uh go to sarcastic remarksshop.com and support us by buying merch there. We’d appreciate that too. Alongside James, alongside Chris uh one who has a giant bag of gummy bears, the other awkwardly chewing on chips. My name is Ryan. We’ll catch you guys on the flip side. We hope you guys have a fantastic morning, afternoon, evening, whenever you guys are listening. We’re getting closer and closer to the start of the regular season. Go Stars.

The Dallas Stars are two games into preseason action, and the Chambers brothers are breaking down everything from Nils Lundkvist’s rollercoaster performances to surprising line combos like the Supernova Line of Robertson–Hintz–Rantanen. We also look at Jamie Benn’s role on the “UNC Line,” standout players like Bourque, Bastian, and Taylor, plus Glenn Gulutzan’s early system tweaks.

Dallas Stars Early Preseason Takeaways: Lundkvist & More! | Episode 7-002 | September 24th, 2025

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