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STARS MAILBAG: Bye week thoughts, Kari coming back, and is Klingberg untouchable?

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While the Dallas Stars are still on their week-long bye, there will be professional hockey on television on Friday in DFW.

Fox Sports Southwest will be airing the San Antonio Rampage vs. Milwaukee Admirals AHL game. Neither team is affiliated with the local NHL club in Texas, and with that contest prospects from the St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche (both in San Antonio), Columbus Blue Jackets, and Nashville Predators have had televised games in Texas this season before the Texas Stars have appeared on the channel that carries Dallas Stars games.

The Texas Stars will be on television on Friday, Feb. 2 when they visit San Antonio, but it will be a Rampage broadcast.

I’ve complained about this before on Twitter, but I think it’s worth bringing up again. If an NBA team, the San Antonio Spurs, who own the Rampage, can get a minor package for their AHL hockey team, why can’t the Stars get their AHL affiliate on local television a handful of times each season?

This week would have been the ideal spot, even if it was on Fox Sports Plus. The NHL team is in the midst of it’s bye week and the AHL team had three games during that period could have been broadcast or streamed on Fox Sports Go to help fill a void for Stars fans.

Quick edit: had a conversation with someone from the Stars today (Friday, Jan. 12) about this very topic. It’s something that the NHL club is looking into and we possibly could see the Texas Stars have occasional games on FSSW at some point.

Just some food for thought, let’s dive into the mailbag…

It could, but I think the first game out of the bye actually sets the Stars up well to regain momentum.

The Colorado Avalanche also had their bye this week, so both teams will be playing for the first time in six days. It’s a home game, so the Stars should be in their comfort zone, and the Avalanche are charging hard up the divisional standings — it has the makings of a playoff feel in early January.

Ideally a win in that first game would make the break feel like a distant memory and help build momentum before a difficult road trip to Boston, Detroit, and Columbus.

Because Julius Honka is considered an NHL player, and sending him down wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

For starters, the Texas Stars only had one game that Honka could have realistically played in.

He could have played for Texas on Wednesday night, but the Dallas Stars need him for Saturday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday — we don’t know how Marc Methot’s knee is holding up — and Texas is currently in California. So in order for Honka to play with Texas on Friday, and be available for the NHL team on Saturday he would have had to play a game, catch a red-eye flight, and then potentially play an NHL game in a span of roughly 18 hours.

That one game wouldn’t have done much for Honka, and it would have caused more of a hassle than anything. Also, can you imagine the Twitter reaction of Honka getting sent down again?

It’s not a question of Tyler Seguin earning an extension, because if that were the case it would be certain yes. He’s turned into a complete player this season, is a leader on the team, and is doing the small things on a nightly basis to complete his already dynamic offensive game.

The bigger question is this, do the Stars want to pay another player close to $10 million per season?

And is Seguin worth that investment?

He’s certainly going to get that money from somebody heading into the 2019-20 season, but the Stars have to make a decision on whether they want to be that team, and if they want to be a team carrying two contracts with close to a $10 million cap hit — Jamie Benn makes $9.5 million per season.

Instead of signing Seguin for $10 or $10.5 million per season, is he a better asset as a trade chip while still under contract? In a sport where superstars don’t guarantee championships, would that money be better spent on a pair of $5 million per-season players or even a trio players making around $3 million per season?

I’m not arguing for or against any of those scenarios, but it’s something that the Stars management has to weigh when looking at a potential extension for Seguin.

Either way I think that decision could be made this spring. If the Stars make it to the second round of the playoffs and Seguin plays well, I think both sides will want to hammer out an extension before it becomes a distraction during the 2018-19 season.

John Klingberg is starting to get that consideration. I’ve seen a handful of preseason award watch lists that have Klingberg listed amongst the top candidates and it’s likely that he’s going to be one of the three finalists if his offensive numbers continue to flourish like they have this season.

Jamie Benn is still the only completely untouchable player on the roster, but John Klingberg is pretty close to untouchable status now — especially with his more-than-ideal contract at $4.25 million through the 2021-22 season.

Klingberg is like a 50-year-old Macallan for other teams. There’s a price to acquire it, but no one can realistically afford it.

There really isn’t much you can do with Jason Spezza.

There isn’t a market for Spezza, and even if there was he has a full no-trade clause during the season. From everything I’ve heard — and I’ve spoken to a couple different people — at this point Spezza has no plan to waive his no-trade clause this season.

When it comes to Ritchie, I think he could be moved at some point this season as part of a bigger deal. If the Stars end up trying to land a top-six scoring winger, Ritchie could be part of the package heading back the other way.

I think Max Pacioretty would be the ideal fit and help fill the biggest hole in the Stars forward group — a top-six scoring winger.

I know Pacioretty is having a down year, only 10 goals in 42 games, but I think a trade and playing on the second line in Dallas would be the ideal fit for a strong second half to his season. It would also get Pacioretty away from the unrealistic expectations in Montreal, and in Dallas he’d be the third or fourth-scoring option on a given night, a role that’s much easier to succeed in.

He’s also already under contract for next season, and with Kari Lehtonen’s $5.9 million cap hit coming off the books the Stars would already be in a good spot for the 2018-19 season.

Such a trade would probably cost the Stars at least a prospect and an NHL player, potentially Antoine Roussel, who would fit in well in French-speaking Montreal, and Jason Dickinson.

(Please note that this is an arm chair GM situation. I am not reporting such a deal has been discussed.)

He might be, but personally it’s not a trade I would make.

The Stars already have an ideal third-line with Antoine Roussel, Radek Faksa, and Tyler Pitlick, and I don’t think Maroon improves the top-six enough to be worth the cost of acquiring him, especially for what would essentially be a rental deal.

Yes, the Stars are still a contender without making a move. They have the team that can play “Hitch Hockey” in the playoffs, and with some timely scoring, and a bit of luck, that could win a Stanley Cup.

The Stars also have a couple playoff x-factors in Martin Hanzal and Jason Spezza. Even if they struggle the entire regular season, showing up in the playoffs and finding a groove than could provide the needed depth scoring for a long playoff run.

Kari Lehtonen is likely going to be back in Dallas next season. The Stars like the stability he’s provided as a back-up goalie, and Lehtonen and his family really like living in Texas.

Lehtonen has also made his money, is interested in playing for a winner, and would embrace another season or two in Dallas. If they can make it work, I think a two-year deal at $3 million ($1.5 AAV) would work well for both sides, and bridge the gap to either Landon Bow, Jake Oettinger, or Colton Point taking over as the back-up in the final three years of Ben Bishop’s contract.

I’ll see him at practice on Friday.

In a game? Probably on Tuesday when the Stars visit the Detroit Red Wings in the second game of a back-to-back.

This is a theory, but I believe it’s a product of the system.

A mistake on a 3-on-2 could quickly lead to a 3-on-2 going the other way, and that’s a risk. Risks are bad in Hitchcock’s system, and that’s been hammered into the players through 43 games.

My ideal 3-on-3 lineup, if I got a choice of any player in the NHL would be: Connor McDavid, Andreas Athanasiou, John Klingberg, and Sergei Bobrovsky.

Now this is a lineup built to win a 3-on-3 overtime game quickly, I’m not sure how well it would hold up in a tournament.

Talked about Valeri Nichushkin in a past mailbag, I believe two weeks ago, I don’t have anything new since that update. But it’s still encouraging, and I have full expectation that he’ll be back with the Stars next season.

Having a coach in waiting doesn’t work, the Blues learned that the hard way when Mike Yeo was in that position it essentially forced Hitchcock out early.

Barnes could be a future NHL head coach, but if the Stars changed coaches at some point this season I don’t think he’d take over as the head coach. It would likely by Rick Wilson or Curt Fraser.

As someone who graduated from the AHL to NHL beat, it’s still neat for me to see players I covered in Cedar Park succeed in the NHL. For example, I’ve covered every professional season of Radek Faksa’s career, dating back to his two-game AHL cameo in 2013.

I didn’t cover him in the AHL, but earlier this season Greg Pateryn and I came to the realization we played against each other in high school back in Michigan. So it’s kind of cool that we both made it to the NHL in some sort of way.

(Yes, I realize his “making it” is a bit more impressive than what I’ve done.)

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  2. Question for the next mailbag: Broken stick on the ice. What is the rule/policy/train-of-thought for a referee or linesman to pick it up or kick it out of the way versus just leave it there? (Seems arbitrary)

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