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STARS MAILBAG: Yellow laces, the Faksa life, and welcome to The Upset

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Welcome to The Upset.

Take a look around. You’ll notice the Wrong Side of the Red Line archives have been imported. You’ll also likely notice the first new story at this site, a feature on how some Dallas Stars juggle life as both a dad and a professional hockey player.

Joining this site first became a possibility back in August when Levi Weaver and I started discussing the subscription-based sports model in the press box before a Texas Rangers game at Globe Life Park.

Three months and quite a few meetings later we’ve reached the launch date, and it falls perfectly on a mailbag Friday.

And with that, let’s dive into the mailbag…

The yellow laces clearly are working.

The Stars have won three straight since modifying their equipment to honor Jere Lehtinen. Lehtinen was always known as “Mr. Fix-It” during his career, so it’s only fitting that simply copying his skate laces has seemingly fixed the problems on the road.

I’m not sure how long the entire team will wear the yellow laces, but it would be fitting if Radek Faksa — the Stars best chance for a future Selke Trophy — adopted them full time.

And a hat trick is a good sign for anyone, no matter the level of hockey.

If I go out and score three goals at Brent Severyn’s lunchtime skate today, I’m going to celebrate and think my game is trending in the right direction — which it isn’t.

On a serious note, I think Radek Faksa is taking a step forward. The biggest question is how much of a step can he take with this lineup. Because of the lineup construction, Faksa is a third-line center at best.

Faksa has only played more than 15 minutes four times this season, which isn’t enough for a player that I believe is and would be Stars best defensive forward if given the opportunities against top-six competition.

Personally, I would like to see Faksa and Martin Hanzal (when healthy) together on the third line, with them sharing center duties. It’s not the most ideal situation, but it’s a compromise that could work and elevate Faksa’s role with Ken Hitchcock’s dedication to playing Hanzal against the other team’s top players when healthy.

Do you see Radek Faksa getting time on the Power-Play or more time on the PK to help increase his ice time? I noticed he logged some time on the PP in the game against Vegas which I thought was unusual for him.
Lastly, what would his role be on the power play?
-bravesandstars on Reddit


Faksa is already getting suitable penalty kill time, but I think he could be used as a net-front player on the second power play unit.

That’s the role Faksa played when he was in the AHL on the power pay and he did a nice job converting on rebounds and tipping pucks. He was also adept at making the smart pass in situations where he had his back to the net.

The 11 forward, 7 defensemen setup works for Tampa Bay, it wouldn’t work for Dallas.

The Lightning are a better hockey team with more consistent depth scoring. On most teams Tyler Johnson is a top-six center, and he’d probably be the top-line center on at least half the teams in the NHL, but he’s a third-liner in Tampa Bay thanks to depth down the middle.

It may not be the best long-term fit, but Tampa Bay has the tools to make it work.

Dallas doesn’t have reliable depth scoring, while it’s gotten better, you aren’t confident in the Stars bottom-six to produce on a nightly basis. With that reality, you need as many options as possible and scratching an extra forward removes a potential breakout performance from a bottom-six winger, while it would also further limit Radek Faksa’s minutes.

Faksa needs to play more, but with Martin Hanzal (when healthy) a key cog for this coaching staff, the trickle down economics often make Faksa a fourth-line center on this team. Taking away one of his wingers, and creating a two-some for a fourth-line, would make Faksa even more of an afterthought.

I’m also not a fan of playing seven defenders, it’s messy and it doesn’t work. Chemistry and communication is shuffled throughout the game, and you quickly reach a point where you’ve wasted a roster spot in the 11-7 format vs. the typical 12-6.

We also have to consider Honka and Oleksiak play the same role. They are both incredibly sheltered when in the lineup, very rarely taking defensive zone draws and often watching close games from the bench in the third period. Having them both dressed in an 11-7 format doesn’t do anything to help the team.

What is Janmark’s maximum potential?? He creates a lot of opportunities and is hard on the puck. Though his finishing needs work. I love watching him play!
–from happygetaway on Reddit.

This question comes with ideal timing after his overtime heroics against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.

I’d set Mattias Janmark’s ceiling as a top-line winger that could consistently score 60 points a season playing with the right linemates.

Janmark plays a game that fits well in today’s NHL. He has the speed to push the pace, while he’s also an incredibly smart player and can read the game well in all three zones.

The big question for Janmark is to prove he can be a reliable offensive player on a consistent basis. There are stretches where Janmark will seemingly disappear and that stretch can last four or five games before he re-finds top form.

Once Janmark hammers out that inconsistency he’ll have an opportunity to take the next step in his career.

I’m sure somebody has tried it, but that potential strategy has a key flaw when it comes to face-offs.

It makes more sense to have a pair of centers on the penalty kill in case the first center gets tossed from the draw. Winning the face-off, collecting the puck, and clearing it down can kill off 20 seconds off a penalty, and that’s less likely if you have a defenseman stepping in to take the face-off.

Julius Honka was very good in a 3-0 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday. He drove possession and he avoided mistakes.

Frankly, I’m not sure why he was scratched for Jamie Oleksiak on Thursday against Chicago.

Unpopular opinion: The Stars are better with Pateryn on the ice than with Oleksiak or Johns.
Bonus points: Has Pateryn earned a permanent d-pair slot?
–from medicmarch on Reddit.

This really isn’t an unpopular opinion when it’s the same opinion the coaching staff has. Greg Pateryn plays more, is on the ice in late-game situations, and kills more penalties than both Stephen Johns and Jamie Oleksiak.

Permanent is strong word, but Pateryn has acquitted himself well and has earned the trust of the coaching staff. He also has a consistent partner in Dan Hamhuis and that’s something that both Ken Hitchcock and Rick Wilson will want to continue moving forward.

The big question is what happens when Marc Methot returns to the lineup. Will Johns or Julius Honka played there way past Pateryn? And will Pateryn continue to impress the coaches up until that point?

Before this season I wouldn’t have given John Klingberg a Norris vote, even when he finished sixth in the voting after the 2015-16 season.

And that’s because Klingberg wasn’t a good defender. He didn’t kill penalties and I’m a bit of a stickler about wanting the award for the NHL’s best defender to go to a player highly proficient at protecting their own net.

That’s changed this season, and I would consider giving Klingberg a Norris vote. He kills penalties, his gap control is much better, and he’s taking steps forward as a minute-munching every-situation defender.

He’s not the best defender in the NHL, but he’s more deserving of Norris votes this season than he was back in 2016.

This brings me to another thought, and something I’ve been thinking about lately with Jere Lehtinen’s recent jersey retirement. If we have the Selke for the NHL’s best defensive forward, why isn’t there an award for the best offensive defenseman?

If that award exited, let’s call in the Bobby Orr award, Klingberg would be the top candidate at this point.

Klingberg should be in the all-star game, in a 3-on-3 format he’s one of the more entertaining defenseman in the league. But there are rules about having representatives from every team, and in order for Minnesota to have a player on the Central Division team you have to include Ryan Suter, taking one of the three defensive spots. After that either Klingberg has to beat out two of Roman Josi, Alex Pietrangelo, and PK Subban for inclusion, and that’s a difficult task when you take in team performance this season (Pietrangelo) and the star appeal (Subban).

It depends on what Landon Bow does the rest of this season.

After starting this season as the back-up behind Mike McKenna, he’s found a nice groove lately and has a .913 save percentage or better in four straight games. If he can continue to play that way for the rest of the season, and take a stranglehold on the AHL starting job, I would consider him a back-up option behind Ben Bishop for next season.

Bow’s success is a testament to the fact the Stars invested in a full-time AHL goalie coach this season.

Jim Bedard has had a calming influence on Bow, and the goalie has avoided scrambly and chaotic moments. His rebound control is better, while his positioning — which was always a strength — has also taken another step forward. At this moment the only real AHL weakness for Bow is his puck handling, he’s not the best decision maker with his passes.

If Bow isn’t ready for the back-up role, Kari Lehtonen could be the ideal fit on a one-year contract at a much discounted rate. Lehtonen has made his money, he likes playing in Dallas, and I’m not sure that he’d be able to find another starting job on the open market as a free agent.

Curtis McKenzie has been very good in the AHL and there are worse players on NHL rosters than the Texas Stars captain at this moment.

However, there isn’t a trade market for McKenzie, at least not one that the Stars would be interested in. McKenzie is an important insurance policy for the NHL team in case of injuries and a positive influence on prospects in the AHL.

If another team came calling about McKenzie the Stars would listen, and he’s definitely a candidate to be included in a much bigger deal. But at this moment McKenzie is more valuable to the organization as an AHL veteran than trading him for a similar depth player or conditional sixth-round pick.

A scoring winger wouldn’t hurt, but the reality is adding one player isn’t going to make the Stars more or less of a contender in the Central Division.

This is the Stars roster, they did their heavy lifting in the offseason, and they have to figure out how to make it work internally. It’s worked pretty well at home, while it’s been a mixed bag on the road that they have to straighten out long-term.

The Stars can slightly improve their team via trade, and there could be a couple ideal rental forwards available at the deadline, but if the Stars are going to qualify for the playoffs and not be a wild card team it’s really dependent on the current roster.

About Benn kneeing Johnny- should that have been addressed about DoPS? I hate seeing him play like that, he’s better than that.
— from doihavetowearabra on Reddit.

Here is the play in question.
It doesn’t look good, and Jamie Benn probably avoided punishment since Johnny Gaudreau wasn’t injured on the play. If Gaudreau was injured on the play more would have been made of the incident and there likely would have been a league review.

Benn also gets the benefit of the doubt because he’s a superstar. If a player like Antoine Roussel had a similar injury-free interaction with Gaudreau this likely would have gotten more attention.

With back-to-back wins against Chicago and Vegas the Stars may have fixed their road problems. Before this road trips the Stars weren’t aggressive at key moments and struggled with adversity on the road.

In Vegas they responded well to a scoreless game and when they had a lead in the third period they played a simple game, adjusting to the score, and eliminated any chance of Vegas using its speed to claw back in.

Against Chicago the Stars had a hiccup on the goal by Alex Debrincat, but never allowed the Blackhawks pushback to overpower them and steal the game. Whenever the game was tied, the Stars were the better team.

That’s an encouraging sign and we’ll see if they can continue that trend on Sunday in Colorado.

Do the Stars need to add an enforcer type? Things are going a bit better now but it seemed like the Stars lost a lot of their fights this season.
–from medicmarch on Reddit.

Personally I don’t think winning or losing a fight is important. The team that loses the fight tends to have a similar response to the team that wins, especially in an era where fights with a decided winner are stopped before they really get going.

Fighting also plays such limited role in the NHL. Making any decision with fights in mind is already giving your opponent the upperhand.

Here’s the question everyone wants the answer to: why do the Stars have a hard time winning fights?
–from LigerWoods on Reddit.

The metrics support your claim.

According to the polls at HockeyFights.com the Stars have won just one of 10 fights this season, and that’s when Jamie Oleksiak fought Patrick Maroon. Jamie Benn’s fight with Dustin Byfuglien was called a draw, so was Antoine Roussel’s fight with Brayden Schenn.

While the Stars have a 1-7-2 record in fights by that metric, the Stars have an equally bad 1-5-4 record in fights based on the trade-off.

Let’s look at each fight this season and grade it based on which team lost the better player for five minutes. That actually has a greater impact on the game than who actually won or lost the physical challenge.

Stephen Johns vs. Cody McLeod — Predators win, Stars lose top-four defender. Predators only lose an enforcer whose only role is to antagonize.

Tyler Seguin vs. Patrik Nemeth — Avalanche win decidedly. Stars lost Seguin for five minutes in a close game.

Antoine Roussel vs. Luke Schenn — Draw.

Antoine Roussel vs. Eric Gryba — Oilers win. Roussel has more of an impact on the game than Gryba.

Gemel Smith vs. Brendan Lemieux — Jets win. Smith stands up for his teammates, but he has more of an impact on the game than Lemieux, who has spent more time in the AHL.

Jamie Benn vs. Dustin Byfuglien — Draw, but you could argue the Jets won this exchange.

Antoine Roussel vs. Jamie McGinn — Draw.

Greg Pateryn vs. Milan Lucic — Stars win. Pateryn goes above his pay grade, and stands up to one of the biggest players in the league, which his teammates lauded afterwords.

Jamie Oleksiak vs. Patrick Maroon — Draw.

So what can the Stars do to win more fights? They can pick better ones.

You get 10 stars fans to sit together at the table for a Thanksgiving dinner. What is the one thing that you could say to make everyone unravel?
–from Charlopa24 on Reddit.

Sergei Zubov shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame.

(I disagree with this, but you asked me to unravel everyone).

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