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STARS MAILBAG: Training camp, Gurianov, Caamano, Radulov, and special teams

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Earlier this week I was sorting through the basement of my parent’s house in Michigan and came across my first published story.

It was the fall issue of the George Washington Middle School student newspaper and I had written an NHL preview for the 2002-03 season. There was a sentence about each team and as 13-year-old I previewed the Dallas Stars with this poorly copy-edited sentence:

“Dallas spent the off-season picking up free agents Bill Guerin and Scott Young to back up Jason Arnot and Mike Modano; this spells trouble for opposing goalies.”

Ever since that story published it was my dream to cover the NHL on a beat basis. Fifteen years later I’m extremely thankful to be entering my second season on the Stars beat. I’m also extremely thankful to the readers that take part in this mailbag each week.

That 2002-03 Stars team that I briefly previewed as a teenager ended up having the best record in the Western Conference, hopefully we’ll have something similar to cover this season.

Enough about me, let’s get started with the mailbag:

Comment from discussion Mailbag time, final one before actual games are played.

The groups may change each day, but here are the groups for Friday:

My special team units would look something like this:

PP1: Benn, Seguin, Radulov, Klingberg, Hanzal (net-front)
PP2: Ritchie, Spezza, Faksa (net-front), Honka, Lindell

PK1: Hanzal, Benn, Methot, Klingberg
PK2: Faksa, Roussel, Hamhuis, Honka

This isn’t a bad idea.

While the idea of a Benn-Seguin-Radulov line is exciting, the combination of Radulov with Hanzal and Faksa would also be extremely difficult to play against. It would be a big physical group, and Radulov would be more of the playmaker on the wing while Faksa and Hanzal wore down the opposition in the offensive zone — it’s a group that could really create a nice cycle in the offensive zone.

Defensively I think any player would work well with Faksa and Hanzal, that’s how good each of those forwards are defensively.

Comment from discussion Mailbag time, final one before actual games are played.

He does exist. I saw him yesterday.

Mattias Janmark. You can’t help but root for him after he missed all of last season with a freaky injury.

He’s as good as he can be right now. Let’s see how his body holds up in training camp and preseason games.

It’s a bit of a concern and hopefully it’s something that can get worked out.

I’m actually not sure if Gurianov is a slow starter or if he plays to the level of his competition. For example, it’s easy to get up and play consistent hockey in an international tournament like he did at the World Junior Championships back in January. It’s another thing to reach a top level when you are surrounded AHL-contracted players and free agent invitees in a rookie tournament.

It might also be an experience thing and maybe Gurianov can find consistency with more pro experience. Either way it’s something to watch and track throughout this season.

It’s a slight concern, but the Stars prospects were never really expected to be a championship threat in Traverse City with the roster they brought to Northern Michigan.

The teams that had the best records and reached the championship game had rosters built with high-end picks and high-profile prospects. We also need to remember that team success in Traverse City isn’t a promise of NHL fortunes — the Columbus Blue Jackets and St. Louis Blues have each won the tournament four times in the past 20 years, and they’ve combined for zero Stanley Cups.

Nick Cammano is a very good prospect and I was expecting a bit more from him in Traverse City. I might have been setting expectations too high considering the Stars roster, but I was expecting him to be more of constant force in each game.

That being said I really like Caamano’s future. He’s always looking for the puck, he knows where to be offensively, and he’s proven he can make the most of difficult situations in Flint.

He’s going to spend another year in the OHL and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was traded to a contender before the CHL trade deadline. He’ll likely join the Texas Stars after his OHL season and could use that as a nice springboard into his first full season.

I did. I ended up buying a bottle for my in-laws and bringing home a bottle for myself.

Philippe Desrosiers had a .910 save percentage and 2.73 goals against average in eight AHL games last season. He had a 3.76 GAA and .899 save percentage in the ECHL.

There are a few reasons for this statistical result.

First is the sample size. Desrosier had less games in the AHL and he had a shutout in his final game, which had a greater impact on his overall numbers.

He also played 20 of his ECHL games with the Norfolk Admirals, a last-place team that struggled defensively last season. Desrosiers actually had some decent games with Norfolk, but he was left out to dry and he didn’t really have a chance to put up decent numbers.

There is also a chaos factor in the ECHL, which can make it a more difficult league than the AHL at times for goalies. The ECHL game features more turnovers and defensive breakdowns, leading to way more breakaways and odd-man rushes.

Desrosiers isn’t the only goalie that’s been impacted by this AHL vs. ECHL statistical breakdown. For example during the 2007-08 season current Los Kings goalie Jonathon Quick had a .922 SV% and 2.32 GAA in the AHL. In the ECHL that season he had a .905 SV% and 2.79 GAA.

Comment from discussion Mailbag time, final one before actual games are played.

Martin Hanzal is in a walking boot, but he’s not using crutches or anything of that nature. They expect him back at practice next week.

I wouldn’t be overly concerned, the Stars are going to be patient and don’t need to rush anything with three weeks before training camp.

https://twitter.com/jonastagramxo/status/908481594394112000

Ken Hitchcock has been pretty clear that he plans to pick his six defenders and stick with them. That means the young defenders that I think will make the team — Julius Honka, Esa Lindell, and Stephen Johns — will have a chance to play through mistakes and learn from them.

Of course if those players continue to struggle they’ll be replaced, but they’ll have a much longer leash than the quick-hook mentality under Lindy Ruff.

The forwards will be juggled a bit more. Hitchcock is a line juggler — like a lot of coaches — and he’ll change forwards more frequently based on matchups.

Hitchcock discussed this slightly on Thursday and mentioned that Patrik Nemeth, Jamie Oleksiak, and Stephen Johns all had a chance to grab an opportunity this season. He did admit that he doesn’t know as much about Greg Pateryn, so keep that in mind when dissecting his statement.

Overall I think Nemeth could be a very good NHL defender with the right circumstances. Unfortunately he’s never been healthy enough or gotten the consistent playing time to prove that.

I’ve heard some people say Oleksiak could turn into a Colton Parayko-type player under Hitchcock, but I think that’s just a lazy comparison because of his size.

Overall, I don’t see either of them being part of Hitchcock’s top-six defenders. Which means Pateryn might be the one that sticks on the roster.

Pateryn can be the seventh defender and not have his confidence tanked. It’s a role he’s played before in the NHL, and he does a nice job playing a consistent game whether he’s been playing every night or sitting for the past three weeks.

To get back to your original question, all three could fit in Hithcock’s system. But it doesn’t look like any of them will get a chance to play on a consistent basis.

I’m sure Dallas will try and make a trade in early October to sort out the defense problem. We’ll have to see if there is a market for their extra defenders.

Kari Lehtonen will flirt with 20 wins.

I expect Lehtonen to play close to 30 games this season and I think he’ll put up a nice win-loss record. Playing in the back-up role he won’t be playing in high-pressure moments, and without that expectation I think he’ll flourish.

Dallas invited 62 players to training camp and 60 will attend (Miro Heiskanen and Chris Martenet are out due to injury).

You don’t get a training camp roster that large without inviting all depth players and AHL-contracted veterans like Greg Rallo and Travis Morin. It’s a move that makes sense, both those players are going to be a key part of the Texas Stars and you want to start to create chemistry within that group as well.

Miro Heiskanen isn’t going to make the team, especially after his injury.

But in a hypothetical situation he could be recalled to the NHL roster straight from Europe. In this scenario the number nine comes into play, if a player plays more than nine NHL games they burn a year of their entry-level contract.

It might not be the alignment in two years, but I do see that as the long-term top pairing in Dallas.

Either Jason Dickinson or Remi Elie. I feel like they have the best chance of making the team out of training camp amongst the players that have already been added to the Stars pregame highlight video.

If Gemel Smith impresses Ken Hitchcock in training camp he could have that opportunity this season. Because of the added depth I don’t see that happening and there are other players (Elie and Dickinson for example) that would likely get a call-up before Smith.

Smith has NHL quality speed, which is an asset, but he doesn’t have the other tools to be an everyday NHL player. His decision making needs work and there have been issues in the past with his work ethic — those are two things that won’t fly with the new coaching staff.

I think Tyler Pitlick and Adam Cracknell will both be in the Stars lineup on opening night, likely playing on a line with Devin Shore. In this scenario Curtis McKenzie is the healthy scratch at forward.

You could make the case for Benn-Seguin-Radulov as a top-five line in the league.

Comment from discussion Mailbag time, final one before actual games are played.

The best role for Vernon Fiddler would probably be in the community relations and youth side of the game.

I spoke with him last week and he was really excited about the chance to be home with his kids and coach their youth hockey teams. Fiddler is a great ambassador for the sport and I think that’s something the Stars should take advantage of.

Monday. I’m putting the finishing touches on the September prospect insider this weekend after some extra viewing of a couple prospects in training camp and the scrimmage Sunday.

Comment from discussion Mailbag time, final one before actual games are played.

Next time I get the chance I’ll ask Ben Bishop if he’s been doing yoga.

On a side note I did yoga throughout high school, it was part of our off-ice training for hockey. At a more flexible time in my life I could get my foot behind my head.

It was announced Thursday that the green vs. white scrimmage on Sunday would essentially be a prospect game for younger players.

While it was announced as a change, I believe this was Hitchcock’s plan the entire time. Hitchcock is trying to use this training camp to get a feel for the younger players and unknowns on his roster, so it doesn’t benefit him to have the likes of Jamie Benn or Tyler Seguin in a scrimmage.

To be fair to the Stars, it’s better for them to announce it this way ahead of time rather than have people show up on Sunday with expectations of seeing a full-blown NHL roster.

NHL Hitz 2003.

I don’t really pay attention to the player’s tattoos, someone else could probably better answer this question.

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