I'm still trying to digest all the details of this CBA so I don't feel real confident speculating. However once this CBA is ratified I would expect to see a deal in place either that day or more likely the next day to get him into camp quickly. I do think the talks will get underway before the votes to ratify are tallied.

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new uniforms for the stars coming next season.
they need it badly...

http://starsblog.dallasnews.com/2013...he-stars.html/

The Stars announced eight player who were recalled from the minors for this shortened training camp. Those would be...

Cody Eakin
Jordie Benn
Reilly Smith
Brendan Dillon
Antoine Roussel
Cristopher Nilstorp
Brett Ritchie
Radek Faksa

A noticeable omission from that list of names is Tomas Vincour. By all accounts his play so far for the Texas Stars has been lackluster enough he keep him out of this years camp.

Be interesting to see who sticks and who heads back to the minors. I think the obvious ones to stick are Eakin and Dillon. Dillon and Benn will be competing for the seventh D spot, but I personally like Dillon in that battle. I think Reilly Smith will get some serious consideration as well.

Watch Nilstorp too. I don't think he will unseat Bachman as Lehtonen's backup, but the team does want competition for the spot. If nothing else this will be good motivation for Bachman to keep on top of his game. And it gives the coaching staff a good look at the man they'll be calling up with the next inevitable Lehtonen injury.

It will also be interesting to see if Faksa sticks for a few games after the season starts. He was named by many as NHL ready coming out of the draft, and with the new CBA teams can keep guys like him up for four games this year before burning a year of their ELC.

Last one, and this comes from Taylor Baird at Defending Big D, watch Antoine Roussel. He's an agitator and fills some of the role left open with Ott's departure. Not a lock, but worth keeping an eye on just the same.

Still waiting for word of a Benn signing. I'm looking for it to come tomorrow, but who knows. This has got to be priority one, two, three, four, well you get my drfit, if I'm in Joe's shoes. In the words of Metallica, nothing else matters. Okay that's a little overstated but still very high priority.

Looking forward to the new season. A short one like this who knows what could happen.

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Just been looking over the schedule for this season. Here's a link to it from the Stars site....

http://stars.nhl.com/club/schedule.htm

A few notes on that. First off the Stars will be the second most traveled team this year in terms of miles. If your wanting to see them live at home, March is your best bet. They have 13 games that month, nine of which are at home, featuring two four game home stands. Actually that second long stretch is five in a row, as the fifth game will be on April 1st.

February and April are less kind as they will be on the road more than they are home. In both cases they will have six at home and eight on the road. Also of note, the Stars and Ducks will get very intimate to start the month of April. They will be in Big D on the 1st, then in Anaheim on the 3rd and 5th. Kinda weird seeing the same teams three-in-a-row.

Another thing to look at here. They have nine back-to-backs this season. Hopefully they can reverse last season's abysmal performance in the back-enders of those back-to-backs. Really, after 1-13 in those games last season, there's no where to go but up.

Also for those who are interested Mark Stepneski of StarsInsideEdge tweeted the following earlier....

And with that the cliff notes version of Stars camp is open.

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so what to you think happens when benn signs. do the wings stay the same, but with benn just bumping all of the centers down a line?

eriksson - benn - jagr

whitney - roy - ryder

Not sure if you've touched on this before, but with Souray gone do you like Robidas as a sleeper for half decent production, say back to 30+ points and increased PP time?

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That's pretty much how I see it. That's their best lineup to start with, but I could see Reilly Smith at some point bumping Ryder down. Ryder is so inconsistent and Smith was playing good down in the "A", so I wouldn't be shocked down the road to see him lined up alongside of Roy.

I do see him getting more PP time, unless they decide to roll with 4 wings and a D on PP1. It's certainly a possibility they go 4W-1D with the Jagr and Whitney signings which would keep Robidas down on PP2. Until I hear confirmation they're going that way I'm thinking he gets more PP time. He could flirt with a 30+ pace, but I do think 30 pro-rated is probably his tops. A lot depends on if he is first pairing with Goli or not.

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Hot and fresh off the wire here is the first look at the PP units from camp....

The forwards lines and defensive pairings remained the same as yesterday. Glen Gulutzan did say after yesterdays workout that all lines and pairings are written in pencil, but that's not exactly a revelation.

Most notable to me when looking at the opening PP units are Morrow on PP1 and Eriksson on PP2. As somebody who's invested heavily in Morrow as a bounceback candidate that's awesome news. As a realist though, I doubt that carries over to the regular season, I would expect that spot is going to be Loui's.

Once Benn signs and things get rolling here's what I'm thinking those PP units look like...

PP1: Eriksson-Benn-Jagr-Goli-Robidas
PP2: Whitney-Roy-Ryder-Daley-Larsen

A couple of things to watch here. I think Ryder's hold on a spot on the PP is tenuous at best. I can see either Morrow or, if he sticks with the team out of camp, Reilly Smith taking that spot. Also I would keep an eye on that second unit if Larsen or Daley struggles there, I could see them move Robidas down to that unit and bring a forward up(Whitney), to fill his slot. Still early in camp so a lot can change yet.

Also as I typed this I stopped for a second to check my twitter feed and seen news that the Stars have traded Mark Fistric to Edmonton for a third round pick. Really opens the doors for the kids up from Austin to earn a spot with the big club.

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Thanks man.

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Here's Joe Nieuwendyk's comments regarding the Fistric trade courtesy of Stars Inside Edge and Mark Stepneski....

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