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STARS MAILBAG: Trades, drafts, goalies, Back to the Future, and Doc Emrick

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I had an interview with NBC Sports broadcaster, and arguably the voice of hockey in the United States, Mike “Doc” Emrick earlier this week.

It wasn’t a Dallas Stars-related interview, it was actually about my alma matter Bowling Green [insert joke about the massacre here] and him returning back to campus this weekend.

You can read that story if you are interested in how he got his start in broadcasting, while I also wanted to share a couple extra quotes of his on broadcasting hockey.

On working a game on radio vs. TV:

“This is radio. If the puck is in motion, it’s up to the play-by-play guy to be talking. You don’t spend time telling stories if the puck is hitting the glass.”

On how he views a successful hockey broadcast:

“I judge it more by whether you enhance the game and didn’t stand in the way of it. That people enjoyed the game more, because you didn’t put yourself in the way of the game and you let the athletes tell the story. Even on radio. I think that’s the foremost thing in my mind whenever I have the microphone strapped to my head. Whether it’s television or whether it’s radio.”

On what he tells people trying to get into broadcasting:

“It’s a job where you go to play, even though there are days that are better than others, you go to play. You don’t go to work. You get in free. You get a good seat for the game. And later on in life, if you’re lucky, twice a month they send you something in the mail. It’s terrific. And it’s worth sacrificing for, and I also think it’s worth agonizing for. And it’s worth getting the rejection that any competitive job has. There may be 100 candidates and only one gets the job, that means 99 are rejected. But that doesn’t mean that you quit.”

Now I know this doesn’t have anything to do with the Stars, but I wanted to share that information.

Now let’s get to the mailbag:

This was the main discussion in our podcast this week, and I think Claude Julien would be a good fit as the Dallas Stars next coach.

(You can listen to the full podcast by clicking here.)

Julien would make the Stars a better defensive team, while it wouldn’t detract from the offensive ability that should be a staple for this team. Overall, the concept of a defensively-sound coach working with John Klingberg and the rest of the young defense could do wonders for Dallas.

Also, I don’t think Tyler Seguin would have any issues with playing for Julien. That was a long time ago and time tends to heal any wounds that would possibly exist.

If the Stars become sellers before the deadline pending unrestricted free agents Patrick Eaves and Patrick Sharp likely become the first players moved.

Eaves has a very favorable cap hit at $1 million and is going to have a career high in goals this season. He could fit in very well on a team looking for depth on the wing that has a bit of a cap crunch (I’m looking at Chicago).

Sharp is a bit harder to move because of his contract, but will be a hot commodity on the open market with a trio of Stanley Cup rings and his recent concussion issues behind him.

The problem with trading Johnny Oduya is the ankle injury. If he doesn’t return to the lineup soon and prove he’s ready to go, he’ll have zero trade value for a team looking at him as a rental.

If the Stars can get a buyer for Hudler I’d make the deal, but his track record this season isn’t going to create much of a demand on the open market.

I think you see Eaves and Sharp traded, possibly a young defenseman (Jamie Oleksiak perhaps?) if the deal presents itself.

Curtis McKenzie’s future is as a bottom-six forward that can kill penalties. I think he’ll continue to fill that role in Dallas.

If the Stars start selling off unrestricted free agents its time to give some of the younger kids a chance to play out the stretch in the NHL.

First on that list should be Jason Dickinson, who could use the final months of this season to springboard into a more confident NHL rookie season in 2017-18. Denis Gurianov would also be worth a look, especially if he continues to progress like he has after the World Junior Championships.

Matej Stransky could get a call-up, but I think Gemel Smith would have an opportunity before Stransky.

If the Stars are sellers it’s highly unlikely any of the Texas Stars would be traded away based on merit.

Right now it’s a pretty depleted minor-league system, and the players that would be desirable trade targets certainly won’t get moved if the Stars are in sell mode.

However, if the Stars need to help another team even out contracts Nick Ebert or Ludwig Bystrom could be throw-ins to help another team stay under the 50 contract limit.

Philipp Grubauer would be my ideal trade target for the Dallas Stars goalie of the future.

I think there are good odds Washington moves Grubauer, because if left exposed in the expansion draft (and he will be exposed), George McPhee — who happens to be the former Capitals GM — would gladly draft the German goalie.

If not Grubauer, I would look at Scott Darling in Chicago.

Wait until the offseason, because I don’t think a young goalie will be moved during the season.

The goalies that will be moved before the trade deadline likely include Marc-Andre Fleury and Ben Bishop, and I don’t think that trade is worth the money, age, and injury history those two come with.

The Stars need to show progress next season, because it’s going to start to weigh on Tyler Seguin’s mind.

Seguin is an unrestricted free agent after the 2018-19 season, and if you want to sign him to an extension before then you need to prove this team is going to be a contender. Otherwise Seguin could become the big free agent on the open market in 2019.

Deciding who will coach the team next season.

I just turned in a story this week for The Hockey News on Rich Peverley and his transition into a player development role with the Stars.

That story will be in the Future Watch edition of the magazine, while I’m going to share some additional quotes later this month here at Wrong Side of the Red Line.

I asked Peverley if he had an interest in coaching, and he told me he doesn’t plan to move behind the bench. He prefers the player development role and wants to progress on the management side of the game.

If I’m remaking Back to the Future, Patrick Sharp is Doc and Devin Shore is Marty McFly.

(Somebody photoshop this for me, please).

The Dallas Stars haven’t had much luck in the first round, but it hasn’t been a complete lack of impact.

The past nine first-round picks have been:

Scott Glennie (8th overall in 2009): One career NHL game, now on an AHL contract in Manitoba.
Jack Campbell (11th overall in 2010): One NHL game with Dallas, traded to the Los Angeles Kings for Nick Ebert.
Jamie Oleksiak (14th overall in 2011): 98 career NHL games, can’t seem to take next step and grab a full-time role.
Radek Faksa (13th overall in 2012): Not the scoring numbers of a top-15 pick, but by and far a success as a two-way center.
Valeri Nichuskin (10th overall in 2013): 128 career NHL games, back in Russia this season. Still a potential success if he comes back to NHL.
Jason Dickinson (29th overall in 2013): A bonus pick in 2013 after the Stars traded Jaromir Jagr, could have a future as two-way NHL center.
Julius Honka (14th overall in 2014): 10 NHL games played this season, could be a long-term possession-driving defenseman in the NHL.
Denis Gurianov (12th overall in 2015): Playing in first season in AHL, raw talent that could be a dynamic NHL player.
Riley Tufte (25th overall in 2016): Freshman at Minnesota-Duluth. Had slow start to the season, but has taken next step recently.

Of those nine, you can only call one of those picks a success at this moment (Faksa), while five still have time to pan out (Tufte, Gurianov, Honka, Dickinson, and even Nichushkin).

Either way, it’s not what you want from first-round picks.

However, I think you have to judge a scouting system based on picks after the first two rounds. Typically players drafted in the first two rounds are consensus top-60 players, and if Dallas didn’t draft them in the first two rounds another team would have picked them.

From the third round on, that’s where the scouting staff shines through. And it doesn’t look good for Dallas in recent history.

In the 2013 draft, only two players look like potential future NHLers (Nichushkin and Dickinson). In 2014 Dallas had nine picks, and only two players (John Nyberg in the sixth round and Honka) look like potential successes.

It’s too early to judge the 2015 and 2016 draft classes, but if those don’t pan out you have to question the scouting process.

I don’t think there is a shift away from the Stars current style, it’s just recognizing you need to have physical players that can play within that style.

I highly doubt it.

For the Stars, it probably better to be out early and make the most of the situation rather than miss the playoffs on the final day.

If they need to get to the cap floor, why not.

I think they should take it one step further and travel with emotional support dogs before each road game.

Scientific fact, I believe, says that you can’t lose a game after flying on a plane full of dogs.

The Stars could even take it a step further and travel with shelter dogs. It would boost awareness for local shelters and more dogs would find a good home.

Yes, but Montreal would never agree to such a trade.

Yes, but it wouldn’t help their road record.

Let me tell a short story.

The summer before my senior year of college I went to visit my uncle who lives in the Philippines. One day at one of the markets, where they sell everything from cheap pearls to bootlegged DVDs (they were playing the Russian version of Toy Story II on a six-inch screen), there was a man selling homemade rum that he claimed was 175-proof.

He was probably lying and the bottle wasn’t in English, but it only cost me 150 pesos. Or, in American money, three bucks.

This probably doesn’t help any Stars fan. But that’s the best deal I’ve ever found on cost-effective, strong liquor.

Why not?

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