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STARS MAILBAG: Goalies, alternating alternate captains, and defensive expectations

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After practice on Thursday I asked a couple of players about opening the season against an expansion team.

Anything odd about playing a team without any past history? Is it something you even think about on the ice?

Devin Shore had a pretty good answer.

“You get to be part of a trivia question some day, hopefully on the right side of that question,” Shore said. “But it’s kind of cool. Just as a hockey player and a fan it’s great to see the game growing, and seeing another team in the league means something is working.”

Ok, let’s dive into the mailbag….

Depends on why they’re making the call-up. In most cases Curtis McKenzie or Remi Elie would likely be the first call-up from the AHL.

McKenzie and Elie can slot well into a bottom-six role and there isn’t much risk involved with putting either into an NHL lineup right away. Jason Dickinson and Roope Hintz are more likely call-ups for more of a skill position, Hintz in particular.

In order for one of them to be the first call-up the Stars would likely have to have an injury to a more skilled forward or had a situation develop where more offensive punch is needed. Based on how the Stars have looked in preseason, I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.

There wasn’t a public announcement, but Ken Hitchcock said there will be four alternates. Two will wear the letter at home, two will wear the letter on the road. After 41 games they’ll switch it up, likely meaning the home alternates will then start wearing the “A” on the road.

We won’t know who they are for sure until after this weekend, but my educated guess of the alternate leadership group is Tyler Seguin, John Klingberg, Jason Spezza, and Marc Methot.

The Texas Stars are going to have three alternate captains for each game, and it will be different at home and on the road.

The reasoning? The AHL team has a large veteran leadership group and they want to share the recognition amongst those players. If one player steps up above the others over the first month they’ll likely become the captain.

There is also the factor that for the first time in his career Travis Morin may not be an every day player. Thanks to the AHL veteran rule the Stars will have to scratch a pair of veterans each night, and Travis Morin will likely be amongst the rotating veteran scratches with Greg Rallo and Mark McNeill.

The rest of the veteran group — Justin Dowling, Curtis McKenzie, Brent Regner, Andrew Bodnarchuck, and Brian Flynn — are likely going to be in the lineup every night.

Ben Bishop didn’t have a great preseason. The Stars in general also didn’t have superb win-loss record in the preseason at 3-3.

I wouldn’t be overly concerned. It’s a combination of rust and playing behind a defense that was still learning a new system. Bishop came out of preseason healthy, which is the most important thing.

Comment from discussion Mailbag time, fire away.

This is a bad idea in my opinion.

While Kari Lehtonen may have had better numbers in the preseason, the Stars made a commitment to Ben Bishop as the No. 1 goalie when they signed him to a six-year contract. If this were a video game without egos and expectations from ownership — who happen to be the ones shelling out the money for Bishop’s contract — it would make sense.

Starting Lehtonen on opening night would create too many distractions. There would be a perceived goalie controversy right away, as media members we’d ask Bishop about it — it would provide an unneeded sideshow right off the bat.

It also wouldn’t look good from a marketing perspective. All summer the Stars coaches and management have spoken about Bishop’s signing as the ball that got everything rolling. There is a fan base hungry to see him play, and having him benched on opening night sends the wrong message.

Once again, if this were a video game world without factors off the ice I could see the logic for starting Lehtonen and going with Bishop in the second game of the back-to-back. But that wouldn’t work in real life.

Comment from discussion Mailbag time, fire away.

Win. The Dallas Cowboys will always be No. 1, but that second spot can be grabbed by a winning franchise.

With the Texas Rangers poised for a rebuild and the Dallas Mavericks in the middle of the NBA’s Western Conference, their is a golden opportunity to become relevant again.

You’ll have lines soon enough in the first morning skate report of the season, make sure you check back for those.

I’m interested to see how the Julius Honka practice player experiment works. I talked to Honka about this on Thursday after practice and he’s accepted the role, but obviously wants to play.

Personally I don’t see how Honka can sit for more than five games. If he hasn’t played within the first five games he should be sent to the AHL for a quick tune-up and then return to practicing with the NHL team.

Who does he replace? It depends on who falters or struggles early in the season. The obvious candidate is Stephen Johns, who could be ousted for Honka’s offensive ability and playmaking.

Another option is a potential trade to open things up and moving Dan Hamhuis. While that doesn’t seem likely — Jim Nill likely wouldn’t be comfortable with that young of a defense — trading Hamhuis would open up options and could make the team better in the long run.

If the Honka experiment works I don’t mind it for the time being. Also having Greg Pateryn as the eighth defender isn’t much of a concern to me. Pateryn is a pro and understands how to handle that role, he won’t be moping in the press box and can be ready in case of an injury.

Ideally you trim the numbers and figure something out once the Honka scenario is hammered out, but for now I’m ok with it.

https://twitter.com/FlockofOxen/status/915998627952300032

This is just a gut feeling:

Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Marc Methot — Jamie Oleksiak
Dan Hamhuis — Julius Honka

Comment from discussion Mailbag time, fire away.

This isn’t a giant ruse to trade Jamie Oleksiak.

While I may not see everything that Ken Hitchcock sees in Jamie Oleksiak, he wouldn’t waste all his time building chemistry between Oleksiak and Marc Methot over three weeks simply to trade him away.

It’s not my place to discuss that, even if I knew what happened.

However, I will say Stars coverage will be worse off with Julie gone from the beat. She did a stellar job as an arena reporter, and I don’t think people realize how much work Julie put into the Stars Insider program.

In addition to being on camera she was also producing and editing the program. It was pretty close to a one-woman show and it was always both entertaining and informative.

Hopefully another television station in DFW hires Julie for Stars coverage, especially as the team appears to be heading into a turnaround season.

It’s an old-school style of thinking, and one that’s been championed by Lou Lamoriello first in New Jersey and now in Toronto. It is important to remember that the teams that have no-beard rules often throw out that rulebook in the playoffs and allow playoff beards.

This isn’t a fact, but I had a doctor once give me theory for why no-beard rules were in place in the early days of the NHL.

It just made sense. If a player got cut and needed to be stitched up, it would be much easier and cleaner to take care of a gash on a clean-shaven face. The doctor ended his theory by saying that with advancements in medicine and the fact people actually clean their beards, it’s safe to stitch up and fix a cut through a beard.

While he may dispute the fact, I don’t believe Jamie Benn was ever at 100 percent last season. Between a combination of injuries and the grind of a draining season (including an even more draining trade deadline), I don’t think there was a real chance for Benn to be at an elite level.

The fact he’s on a maintenance program this early in the season could be a slight area of concern since, especially if it’s not injury related. We’ll have to see how Benn gets going in regular season games and if he looks off kilter, there may be some deeper digging required the reasoning.

I realize this doesn’t answer you question completely. But I don’t have a good answer into Benn’s psyche, especially since he isn’t the most forthcoming with the media.

Comment from discussion Mailbag time, fire away.

Each year the NHL gets faster, meaning puck-moving defenders are going to remain at a premium. It’s like the old football cliche, the best defense is a good offense.

Also hold off on the Oleksiak to Hatcher comparison at this point, we need to see how Oleksiak performs once the season starts. Same thing goes for comparing any player to Sergei Zubov. Julius Honka certainly has potential to be that type of player, but he has work to do before he gets there.

While Jim Nill was technically in charge during the 2013 NHL Draft, the 2014 NHL Draft was really his first draft with full control and a scouting plan that his people had put in place to prepare for during the prior season.

And that 2014 draft didn’t go very well.

While Julius Honka is on the NHL roster now, Brett Pollock (traded), Alex Peters (not signed), Brent Moran (not signed), Miro Karjalainen (back in Europe), Aaron Hadyon (unsigned), and Patrick Sanvido (unsigned) are all out of the organization.

John Nyberg was taken in the sixth round of that draft and after Honka will likely be the only prospect to turn into an NHL players. Michael Prapavessis was drafted in the fourth round and still has to complete college, but it’s unlikely the Stars will sign him to a contract.

Haven’t seen much to get excited about. He’s good positionally and knows his role, but not a prospect I have high hopes for.

Comment from discussion Mailbag time, fire away.

Tyler Seguin.

https://twitter.com/slopstock/status/915652794530623488

They should be a favorite in the Western Conference. While the Pacific Division isn’t tilted in their favor thanks to wacky AHL scheduling for the California teams and the Tucson Road Runners, the Texas Stars have enough depth and speed that they should be one of the better teams in the Pacific Division and with Mike McKenna in net they have a solid foundation in net.

I’ll have a Texas Stars season preview out around 3 p.m. today, so you can read more about the challenges and expectations in Cedar Park at that point.

This is a really good story idea. I think I’ll work on this over the next couple weeks.

Comment from discussion Mailbag time, fire away.

Why would he do that?

I don’t think so. His skating will hold him back and he’s always going to be a “4A” level player in North America. If I were his agent, I wouldn’t advise an NHL comeback where he can make more money on a consistent basis in Europe.

It’s hard to look that far ahead with this season just starting. However, with younger players ready to make the full-time jump and Valeri Nichushkin returning you could see the Stars let several pending free agents walk next summer.

That could mean Adam Cracknell, Antoine Roussel, and Curtis McKenzie are entering their final season with the Stars. Of course we are getting ahead of ourselves, let’s see how this season plays out.

Comment from discussion Mailbag time, fire away.

I was chatting with a player in the locker room about this on Thursday. They made the same point, if there are certain players without visors, why do you care how the visor is worn on others?

I see that point, but I disagree with it. For players not grandfathered in (like Jamie Benn and Marc Methot on Dallas) the visor is a rule. You should have to follow the rules. What’s the point of putting in a safety-based rule if players can easily ignore it?

I’ll ask around. I’ve just referred to him as Tyler in our conversations.

I play goalie, have played since I was first drawn to the position as a kid and grew up in New Jersey watching Martin Brodeur play for the Devils.

Haven’t played on a beer league team since moving to DFW (if anyone is looking for a sub let me know), but I did help my last team in Austin to a beer league championship.

I could relive my “glory days” of high school hockey, but no one wants to read about that.

I like Adam Cracknell and he has some underrated skill, but he’s not nearly the offensive playmaker or threat that Jason Spezza is.

He’s also a much better skater than Jason Robertson (who really needs to get that fixed soon in the OHL). If he weren’t a strong skater he wouldn’t be sticking around on this team.

Martin Hanzal could be a candidate for that. After only playing one preseason game he still has to get fully acclimated to a new team and a new system.

Comment from discussion Mailbag time, fire away.

No one had a good year last year, so it’s hard to have a letdown like that.

I don’t see that happening. I’m predicting the Stars return to the postseason.

Lindy Ruff could be a head coach again by Christmas if things go south for the New York Rangers,

That’s hockey. Players come and go. It’s part of the game.

Sorry. Can’t help you with that.

Comment from discussion Mailbag time, fire away.

You mean that’s not him “woooooooooooooooooooooooooing” during games?

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