OT Stars Hockey

[ESPN Refugee]

Lindback was bad. The team look defeated anytime Lindback would give up a goal. I'll give him somewhat of a pass since he has not hardly played this season so perhaps as the season goes on he'll get more better and comfortable.

 

[WilltheThrill]

Lindback is the worst backup in the NHL. I said it. Sure we gave them a couple 2-on-1's, but anytime it was 1-on-1 with Lindback and an Islander he lost 100% of the time. Not once did he make a "good" save. He was too slow across the crease, and he probably plays smaller than I've ever seen an NHL goalie play... and he's 6'6''. Rarely were routine saves made cleanly. Stupid ass rebounds were given to extend possessions. Kari on his worst day wins us this game against the islanders.

The last goal he allowed against Nielsen was the worst. I don't think I've ever seen a goalie move that slowly across the crease. Any other NHL goalie makes that save with ease. The Stars D played poorly, but only a few of those goals against were un-saveable. Oleksiak looks really bad too. He is in way over his head. He still hasn't figured out when to pinch and when to retreat, and he is very shaky with the puck. Losing Nemeth really hurt. I wish they would keep Jokkipakka and send Oleksiak back down when Gonchar is healthy. I'd take my chances with Gonchar's mediocrity over Oleksiak's rookie mistakes any day of the week. Dude, you're 6'6"... play like it.

And what the hell was up with the Islanders fans?! I know their team has been completely irrelevant since the early 80's, but they were going nuts as if they had just won the Cup. And the players' mid-ice salute after the game was obnoxious. Dial it down just a notch Long Island. Just because they're finally shutting down that dilapidated shithole you call an arena doesn't mean you have to treat every game like it's Game 7 of the Cup Finals. Your team just beat the Dallas backup in the 8th game of the year. They aren't that over-the-top in Detroit, Boston, or Montreal where hockey is king.

 

[Nightcrawler]

The team would've had a chance if the backup goalie didn't suck horribly....

 

[WilltheThrill]

Lindback was bad. The team look defeated anytime Lindback would give up a goal. I'll give him somewhat of a pass since he has not hardly played this season so perhaps as the season goes on he'll get more better and comfortable.

He looked bad last year in Tampa too. Jim Nill has pretty much batted 1.000 since taking over the reigns, but I think he finally made a poor call there. There were multiple decent backup goalies on the market who could have been had on the cheap, but for some reason Nill snatched up Lindback early. Both TSN and ESPN raved about the Stars' offseason moves except both said they were puzzled by Nill signing Lindback. Now I see why. He looked awful in the preseason and he's been awful in the regular season too. Plus he's already been sent home once from practice for having a poor attitude and clashing with teammates. Why did they cut Jussi Rynnas again? Was he really worse than Lindback?

By all accounts, Jack Campbell is still one year away from being NHL-ready, so I'm pretty sure the Stars are going to have to sign another veteran goalie pretty soon. Starting Lindback is almost a guaranteed loss and Kari can't play 20 games in a row.

 

[ESPN Refugee]

The last goal he allowed against Nielsen was the worst. I don't think I've ever seen a goalie move that slowly across the crease. Any other NHL goalie makes that save with ease. The Stars D played poorly, but only a few of those goals against were un-saveable. Oleksiak looks really bad too. He is in way over his head. He still hasn't figured out when to pinch and when to retreat, and he is very shaky with the puck. Losing Nemeth really hurt. I wish they would keep Jokkipakka and send Oleksiak back down when Gonchar is healthy. I'd take my chances with Gonchar's mediocrity over Oleksiak's rookie mistakes any day of the week. Dude, you're 6'6"... play like it.

And what the hell was up with the Islanders fans?! I know their team has been completely irrelevant since the early 80's, but they were going nuts as if they had just won the Cup. And the players' mid-ice salute after the game was obnoxious. Dial it down just a notch Long Island. Just because they're finally shutting down that dilapidated shithole you call an arena doesn't mean you have to treat every game like it's Game 7 of the Cup Finals. Your team just beat the Dallas backup in the 8th game of the year. They aren't that over-the-top in Detroit, Boston, or Montreal where hockey is king.

I don't think there's any question Oleksiak will go back when Gonchar is completely healthy and ready to go. It just may take a lot longer for Oleksiak to figure things out and it may just be long enough to where he'll do it in another uniform. I remember that it took Chara a quite a bit of time until he learned how to nut up and know how to fully use his full size.

 

[WilltheThrill]

I don't think there's any question Oleksiak will go back when Gonchar is completely healthy and ready to go. It just may take a lot longer for Oleksiak to figure things out and it may just be long enough to where he'll do it in another uniform. I remember that it took Chara a quite a bit of time until he learned how to nut up and know how to fully use his full size.

Yeah, the learning curve for defensemen in the NHL is much longer than for forwards. Victor Hedman looked like a bust as the #2 overall pick for Tampa until last year. Now he's a bona fide top pair guy. Oleksiak still has time. He's just clearly not ready now. The knock against him is that he's 6'6" but often plays like he's 5'8".

 

[ESPN Refugee]

He looked bad last year in Tampa too. Jim Nill has pretty much batted 1.000 since taking over the reigns, but I think he finally made a poor call there. There were multiple decent backup goalies on the market who could have been had on the cheap, but for some reason Nill snatched up Lindback early. Both TSN and ESPN raved about the Stars' offseason moves except both said they were puzzled by Nill signing Lindback. Now I see why. He looked awful in the preseason and he's been awful in the regular season too. Plus he's already been sent home once from practice for having a poor attitude and clashing with teammates. Why did they cut Jussi Rynnas again? Was he really worse than Lindback?

By all accounts, Jack Campbell is still one year away from being NHL-ready, so I'm pretty sure the Stars are going to have to sign another veteran goalie pretty soon. Starting Lindback is almost a guaranteed loss and Kari can't play 20 games in a row.

Not only is Campbell probably a year or maybe even 2 away but I think Nill is going to want him playing every day down in Austin. I could see Nill making another in-season trade trying to acquire a better goalie if Lindback. Isn't Rynnas in Austin or was he let go there as well? Hell I'd rather see Nilstorp at this point if Lindback is going to continue playing like this.

And I had no idea Lindback was a douche and bad locker room guy. Is this just inside info or was it public? I don't ever remember seeing that.

 

[WilltheThrill]

Not only is Campbell probably a year or maybe even 2 away but I think Nill is going to want him playing every day down in Austin. I could see Nill making another in-season trade trying to acquire a better goalie if Lindback. Isn't Rynnas in Austin or was he let go there as well? Hell I'd rather see Nilstorp at this point if Lindback is going to continue playing like this.

And I had no idea Lindback was a douche and bad locker room guy. Is this just inside info or was it public? I don't ever remember seeing that.

Re: Lindback being sent off the ice- It happened about a week ago or so in practice. I don't know all of the details, nor do I know if the guy is a douche in general or just had a bad day. I just know about it happening because a guy I work with has a brother who works for the Stars as an equipment guy and was there when it happened. It involved Lindback's attitude and apparently had been brewing for a while. Something was said about him clashing with teammates when they called him out on it. The long and short of it though was Lindy Ruff sending Lindback off the ice in a very unfriendly way.

I'll see if I can find more about it online.

 

[terpsfball09]

bryzgalov is still a backup, and we still have plenty of money to spend til we hit the ceiling. wouldn't be surprised at all if we gave him a shot. bryz shows flashes of greatness sometimes. probably the weirdest character in the nhl, but he's better than lindback. that performance was abysmal. you could tell ralph and razor (2 people who i strongly believe give very valid opinions, but sometimes try to sugarcoat things) were holding back their true opinions on how he was doing. he was really, really bad. the islanders didnt impress me THAT much today.

 

[terpsfball09]

I would also put Rynnas, Desrosiers, AND Campbell all ahead of Lindback. Like, I don't give a shit about their age. That should not be a factor in the depth chart when we're talkin the big leagues. You score 5 goals on the road, you should win 100% of the time. The D wasn't perfect tonight, but there's absolutely no excuse.

 

[ESPN Refugee]

STL at Dallas tonight. In honor of the Ruff/Hitch feud some years back. Great stuff.

[ame]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mST3lcwS0l0[/ame]

 

[RevSader]

Maybe the Stars can make up for their DFW mates blowing it the last couple of nights.

 

[romeo212000]

Hopefully their coaches aren't as fucktarded.

 

[RevSader]

Fuck...DFW sucks ass the last two nights.

 

[RevSader]

Physical turn in this game. Jesus...

 

[ESPN Refugee]

Rumor Roundup: Stars may be aligning for Martin Brodeur | Post-to-Post

 

[WilltheThrill]

Rumor Roundup: Stars may be aligning for Martin Brodeur | Post-to-Post

That report also suggests Vokoun might be a viable option as a backup. I would gladly take Brodeur or Vokoun (age decline and all) over Lindback as a backup to Kari right now. Lindback is unusable.

 

[terpsfball09]

We gotta split up the D imo. Switch Dillon and Goose. Also, move Hemsky up to a line where his talents can be utilized cuz that dude is too damn talented. Val should be back next week. We also gotta do something about the pitbulls. They're scoring, but they're also balancing that out with plenty of pretty bad plays. Eakin has yet to find his legs, and Garbutt is pretty slow as well so far. I think Fiddler is playing more like their checking style so far. This is what we should look like (I'm one of the ones that actually wants to break up the supernova, just because we're so damn top heavy and Ales is one of the more talented skaters on the team even without talent around him)

Benn-Seguin-Hemmer
Cole-Spezza-Nuke
Roussel-Fiddler-Garbutt
Mckenzie/Eaves-Eakin-Horcoff

Daley-Dillon
Goose-Benn
Connauton (who I think has done fantastic compared to last year)- Oleksiak (looked a lot better last game)

Have 2 scoring lines, a checking line, and a line that'll make things happen and PK. We're so top heavy right now. They make things happen, for sure, but the other lines just aren't meshing yet. We need to balance it out, give a couple of different looks, and surround some guys with new players to see if that wakes them up. I read a quote today though that LR isnt splitting the superline up even when Val is back. So idk who he plans to put at 2c when we have Nuke. Maybe Hemsky-Eakin-Nuke? I do think Fidds needs to center the pitbulls now though, cuz they are not nearly as effective as they were last year.

One thing is for sure though. Split up Goose and Daley. Daley is scoring and showing flashes of brilliance with the puck. But his play without the puck is lacking.

 

[WilltheThrill]

We gotta split up the D imo. Switch Dillon and Goose. Also, move Hemsky up to a line where his talents can be utilized cuz that dude is too damn talented. Val should be back next week. We also gotta do something about the pitbulls. They're scoring, but they're also balancing that out with plenty of pretty bad plays. Eakin has yet to find his legs, and Garbutt is pretty slow as well so far. I think Fiddler is playing more like their checking style so far. This is what we should look like (I'm one of the ones that actually wants to break up the supernova, just because we're so damn top heavy and Ales is one of the more talented skaters on the team even without talent around him)

Benn-Seguin-Hemmer
Cole-Spezza-Nuke
Roussel-Fiddler-Garbutt
Mckenzie/Eaves-Eakin-Horcoff

Daley-Dillon
Goose-Benn
Connauton (who I think has done fantastic compared to last year)- Oleksiak (looked a lot better last game)

Have 2 scoring lines, a checking line, and a line that'll make things happen and PK. We're so top heavy right now. They make things happen, for sure, but the other lines just aren't meshing yet. We need to balance it out, give a couple of different looks, and surround some guys with new players to see if that wakes them up. I read a quote today though that LR isnt splitting the superline up even when Val is back. So idk who he plans to put at 2c when we have Nuke. Maybe Hemsky-Eakin-Nuke? I do think Fidds needs to center the pitbulls now though, cuz they are not nearly as effective as they were last year.

One thing is for sure though. Split up Goose and Daley. Daley is scoring and showing flashes of brilliance with the puck. But his play without the puck is lacking.

I agree with most of this. I think they should wait until Nichushkin is back before breaking up that top line, if ever. Normally, I would be totally against being so top-heavy, with all of the scoring threats on one line. But that line is just SO damn good and every single shift they're on the ice they're generating awesome scoring chances. I completely agree about Hemsky though. His offensive skill needs to he utilized better. Here are my suggested lines:

Benn-Spezza-Seguin
Hemsky-Eakin-Nichushkin
Garbutt-Fiddler-Roussel
Cole-Horcoff-Sceviour

Eakin's got a bit of scoring touch and he handled 2nd line duties last year. If that model proved ineffective, then switch to this:

Benn-Seguin-Nichushkin
Cole-Spezza-Hemsky
Garbutt-Eakin-Roussel
Fiddler-Horcoff-Sceviour

 

[RobToxin]

My really crappy photo-shopping skills in action: