Eight months ago I met up with former Dallas Stars defenseman and color analyst Craig Ludwig for beers and an interview.
After discussing Stars history and reliving some of the glory days for my book project, Ludwig started talking about Stars coach Ken Hitchcock, who had recently been re-hired by the organization.
“Hitch is tough on guys, he could be tough on a guy like me, and I couldn’t do anything about it,” Ludwig said at the time. “But he was also tough on those top guys, the (Mike) Modanos and Brett Hulls. That was actually a nice sign to the rest of us. He was willing to give shit to everyone, and just because you were a top player or goal scorer, he was still going call you out.”
I had a bit of a flashback to that conversation on Saturday when Hitchcock addressed the media after the Stars 2-1 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Stars were playing the second game of a back-to-back, it was the third game in four days, and the Stars could have been pleased by salvaging a point, but Hitchcock decided to lay into the top players on his team.
“At the end of the day we’re not going to get any better until our impact players have a strong positive impact on the game on a consistent basis,” Hitchcock said. “We can’t continue to have the role players on the hockey club carry the hockey club, you know exactly who they are. They need to come through to carry us through to the next level.”
When asked about Ben Bishop’s play, who had a superb game, Hitchcock quickly pivoted back to the message he wanted to push about his marquee players.
“We’re not gonna be a consistent winning hockey club, we’re gonna be competitive as hell, but we’re not gonna be a consistent winning until the message is drawn into the top players,” Hitchcock said. “And when it’s drawn into the top player than we’ll get a change.”
On Saturday the biggest impact from a top player came in overtime where Alexander Radulov took a penalty and the Flyers soon capitalized on the game-winning goal.
“It’s on me,” Radulov said. “It is what it is. I’ve got to work on my emotion, my stick position, and be better.”
Overall the big names — Radulov, Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, John Klingberg, perhaps even Jason Spezza if we still put him in that echelon — played more of a supportive and pedestrian role as the Stars had a successful 2-1-1 road trip to the east coast.
Yes, Benn had a goal and two assists against the New York Islanders on Wednesday and Seguin drilled the post in overtime on Saturday, but when the Stars needed one of their leaders to step up in regulation against either the New Jersey Devils or Flyers they were left looking for answers.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing is that earlier this season the Stars were only getting production from the big guns. The depth scoring was essentially non-existent, and the Benn-Seguin-Radulov line kept them afloat.
Without them the Stars could have been out of the playoff race by the end of October, so at first glance you could think it’s a bit over critical to call them out and blame them for losses in December.
But that’s why those players are well compensated for their work. It comes with larger expectations, and it also comes with a higher standard, and their boss made that evident on Saturday — they need to get their act together.
Zach Johnson says
They haven’t been able to consistently find that happy medium. At the beginning of the season, the top line was producing, the special teams were excellent, and 5v5 was lackluster. Now as of late, the top line has dropped off, the special teams have been terrible, and we’re playing better at 5v5.