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STARS MAILBAG: Big Ben comes to Dallas

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I just got off a conference call with Dallas Stars goalie Ben Bishop, who signed a six-year, $29.5 million contract on Friday.

I have a longer story on Bishop up at NHL.com, but I wanted to share a couple quick highlights before we jump in to the mailbag.

-Bishop graduated from Frisco High School, a product of him playing for the NAHL’s Texas Tornado. He reaffirmed that knowing the area and returning to Texas made it easy to sign with the Stars.

-Bishop was looking for a long-term deal and he got one. He was very diplomatic when asked about the situation and said his focus is on “Game 1 and making the playoffs,” while he did admit that it’s nice to have long-term stability. He also noted that his contract could give the Stars a little bit of room to add other players (his average cap hit of $4.9 million is much less than many, including myself, had anticipated).

-Bishop has already spoken to several players on Dallas. First player he mentioned was Adam Cracknell, they already have a good relationship with from their days withe Peoria Rivermen in the AHL.

-The Stars haven’t finalized their goalie plan, but Bishop sounds like he’s looking forward to working with Kari Lehtonen.

He said the following:

“I know Kari pretty well actually, the last couple summers we’ve gone to the same goalie camp towards the end of the summer and I’ve got to know him pretty good over the last few years and he’s a great guy,” Bishop said. “We have a really good relationship and I’m looking forward to being a partner with him.”

Also, as a quick reminder, this Sunday is Mother’s Day.

So do something nice for mom, even if it’s as simple as making a phone call or sending her a card.

And with that, let’s get started with the mailbag:

Bringing Ben Bishop in makes the Stars goaltending tandem better, simply because he’s that much of an upgrade over Antti Niemi.

Does he improve the odds of winning a Stanley Cup? Slightly. Bishop’s success will also depend greatly on the Stars defense getting better and special teams fixing themselves after what happened last season.

The thought of signing Alexander Radulov intrigues me. I’d also look into signing Brendan Smith as a left-handed defenseman to play alongside Stephen Johns.

The Stars will be in on the conversation with both Radulov and T.J. Oshie, but Radulov might be more likely.

From what I’ve heard Oshie isn’t high on playing for Hitchcock again. They butted heads in St. Louis and there are some old wounds that need to be healed.

It’s not impossible, but for Oshie to come to Dallas he and Hitchcock would have to work out their differences.

I think the days before the expansion draft are going to be explosive as far as moves go across the league.

Teams are going to try and set themselves up to best protect their assets and will be trying to take advantage of other teams with expansion problems. At that time I imagine the Stars will be a player in a deal for a defenseman.

If I’m building the defense my ideal right side includes John Klingberg, Julius Honka, and Stephen Johns. I then look at a left side of Esa Lindell, Dan Hamhuis, and another player soon-to-be acquired (Smith, Alzner, etc…).

I think that group could play off each other’s strengths, and I think Ken Hitchcock’s attention to detail will help the overall group. I think there will also be better communication between the coaches and the defensemen. Last season there was very little effort by the coaching staff to communicate and set standards for the defenders, this season they’ll be expectations set and explained from Day 1.

Hitchcock’s strength as a coach is he pushes and prods and drives players to better. It can be overbearing at times, but it’s exactly what this group needs on defense.

I actually had a discussion about this with Jason Spezza during this past season, so it was interesting to get a player’s perspective.

While the NHL waiver rule hurt the Stars this year, it also protected Patrik Nemeth and Jamie Oleksiak and kept them as NHL players. Thanks to the waiver rule they continued to receive NHL paychecks, even if they were often scratched.

Yes, it’s unfortunate when a team gets stuck with a young player sitting in the press box, but overall the waiver rule protects the players and gives them a better opportunity to remain NHL players. It also forces the teams to be smarter with how they manage assets. We shouldn’t blame the waiver rule for the logjam on the Dallas blue line, we should blame the Stars.

Jamie Oleksiak.

I would see if I could trade Patrik Nemeth, but unfortunately I don’t think there would be many suitors. If that didn’t work I would waive him and see what happens.

If Oleksiak is still with the Stars I hold onto him and see if he win a job in camp. If he can’t find a spot in training camp I try to trade him.

Yes, Jason Dickinson will play more NHL games this season. He might even win a job on the opening night roster.

Remember he had hip surgery before this past season and never hit full stride until March. He could be the ideal fourth-line center between the likes of Adam Cracknell and Curtis McKenzie.

It’s not something that’s spoken about publicly, but it is a tool the Stars use. How well the team uses analytics is another question.

For example, Lindy Ruff would sometimes talk about the analytics and using them to judge players. He never mentioned what facet of analytics, simply calling them “the numbers,” so it’s still a bit of a mystery how much “the numbers” actually played into anything.

They’ll go best player available at No. 3 and in my mind I’ve narrowed it down to three players.

With their second first-round pick they’ll likely select a goalie or grab the position they didn’t draft at No. 3. For example, if they take a defensemen at No. 3 the Stars will likely draft a forward with their second first-round pick or their second-round pick, which will be 39th overall.

Don’t think it would be worth it. I want to use that pick to grab a goalie prospect (Jake Oettinger) to address needs within the system and buying out a goalie isn’t that difficult.

I don’t think he does. If I’m a betting man, and I’m not, Kari Lehtonen is the back-up goalie behind Ben Bishop. Antti Niemi will be bought out, and Lehtonen might actually thrive in a back-up role.

Lehtonen’s biggest problem is dealing with pressure, and a back-up goalie doesn’t have to deal with that. With Bishop in Dallas, Lehtonen’s job will be to simply well for 25 to 30 regular season games and the Stars are fairly confident he can still do that.

https://twitter.com/sabatkasean9119/status/862860819029139456

It’s a good idea in principal and I personally would like to see that play out. But as I said before, it’s probably going to be Bishop and Lehtonen.

It could be part of larger package, but ideally I think the Stars hold onto the pick and take advantage of the fact they have three picks in the top-40 to re-stock the prospect pool.

It’s certainly possible, but I don’t see it happening.

No, and it’s not even a lock that the first two picks will be immediate NHL impact players. Nolan Patrick might play for the New Jersey Devils, but I’m not sold that Nico Hischier will be a line-up option this season for the Philadelphia Flyers.

Remember these are still 18-year-old kids, only the truly elite players are ready to make the NHL right away.

For a bit of perspective, of the picks in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft only four were full-time NHL players this past season.

I’m sure some players keep track of who scored, but it’s a rather simple game. Once the first goal is scored in that scrum the game is over and they head to the locker room.

Landon Bow is one part of that plan, Philippe Desrosiers is likely going to be the second goalie in the AHL.

The Stars are still finalizing their plan and could consider signing a veteran, but Texas Stars general manager (and Dallas assistant GM) Scott White was encouraged by what he saw from Desrosiers in the ECHL with the Norfolk Admirals and wants to see if the former CHL goalie of the year can re-establish himself as a top-level prospect.

It won’t have an impact. In my opinion the Stars need to hire a full-time AHL goalie coach, but it’s a decision that will be made separately from the draft.

It’s not the craziest idea I’ve heard, but that isn’t a deal I’d look into. Simply asking too much and not getting enough in return.

I have a signed jersey by Vladislav Tretiak hanging on the wall in my office. When I was in high school I went to his goalie camp in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota each summer and he signed the jersey for me at end of one of the camps.

Have to give credit where credit is due to the Allen Americans.

Winning four straight championships, no matter the level, is extremely difficult. The most impressive thing to me is the fact Allen pieced together a championship streak at a level where turnover is a fact of life and each season during the streak the Americans had to replace more than half of the roster.

https://twitter.com/expo1310/status/862810600698675200

I’ve learned you could ask this same question about 30 other fan bases each season.

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