To update, I did drop Jagr from my roster, not Pomminville. Jagr will likely go on a tear now...dropped him due to his age and last yr his PPG production went down, down, down as the season wore on plus Pmville has more games this month than Jagr. Pmvl has only 12 in April so will probably replace him April 1 if he keeps going at this horrible pace. Did replace Jagr on my 25 man roster with Zetterberg so it's not like I dropped him for some smuck.

For Stars fans hope Jagr does well. I don't mind if he does as long as Pmvil and Zberg do a little better.

I saw the Benn thing. Jeez...go score goals man and leave that BS to a goon.

From Mark Stepneski's practice notes article....

http://starsinsideedge.com/2013/03/0...line-juggling/

Eriksson - Benn - Jagr
Roussel - Roy - Cole
Morrow - Eakin - Smith
Nystrom - Fiddler - Garbutt

Dillon - Robidas
Benn - Daley
Goligoski - Oleksiak

The shakeup on the top line was in response to their being minus players each of the last three. Morrow, minus-5 over that span, took one for the team here. Even though Jamie was the worst of the three at minus-8, there's no way he gets bumped down, and Jagr at minus-4 wasn't going anywhere either. So Eriksson moves back up with his old linemate, freeing up a spot for Cole to move up.

Roussel continues to see time in the top-six while Whitney works his way back. He's made the most of his opportunity, but will almost certainly settle back into a third or fourth line role when Ray comes off the IR.

Morrow's move down to the third line does put a damper on trying to build up trade value should GM Joe decide to move him. Kind of surprised to see Goli back on the third pairing. Yes he is a defensive liability, but his game has never been about defense. He was never going to be a shutdown D, or even a good two-way. He's an offensive defenseman, first, last, and always. The thing to watch while he's there is does he continue to see the level of PPTOI that he has lately. If so that takes some of the sting out for his fantasy owners.

As the article mentioned, Gulutzan said the changes are meant to shake things up and that if they don't work more changes are on the way. They just need to figure out what changed last week. They had built some momentum with decent, even good efforts, prior to last week. But boy did the wheels came off. Thursday night was the hockey equivalent of the scene in The Blues Brothers where the Bluesmobile completely falls apart.

Maybe last week's scores reflect the discipline issues and mental breakdowns that led to all the penalties. Maybe there's more then that in play. Whatever the reason this may not be the last of the changes in the near future.

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Come on Eriksson and Benn. Four games this week and have done pretty much nothing with it. Benn is minus-NINE. the only good thing he did was get 17 PIM

With the long layoff between games there hasn't been much news from the Stars the last couple of days. But things should be picking up again with them heading out for LA and their first clash with the defending champs tomorrow night.

One small bit of news was the recall of Francis Wathier from the Texas Stars. He's likely just a depth addition for the upcoming road trip.

Here's Mark Stepneski's recap of today's morning skate....

http://starsinsideedge.com/2013/03/0...actice-update/

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No changes to Stars lineup for tonight's game in LA...

Eriksson - Benn - Jagr
Roussel - Roy - Cole
Morrow - Eakin - Smith
Nystrom - Fiddler - Garbutt

Dillon - Robidas
Benn - Daley
Goligoski - Oleksiak

Larsen is back, but will be a healthy scratch it appears.

The Stars are saying Ray Whitney may be back as early as Tuesday against the Preds. He hasn't gotten the green light officially, but there is cautious optimism that he will be back soon. That game against Nashville also kicks off a four game home stand, and a stretch of eight games in 14 days.

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I can't believe this. A 5-2 win and I forget to set the DVR before I left for work. Figures.

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Here's good little read on Brenden Morrow and how he's taking what might be his last days in Dallas....

http://starsblog.dallasnews.com/2013...al-trade.html/

Speaking of Morrow, he is questionable for tonight in Phoenix with a groin injury. Well, he says questionable, the Stars have said doubtful. Either way Matt Fraser has been recalled and would likely fill Brenden's spot if he can't go.

I would expect the same lines again tonight...

Eriksson - Benn - Jagr
Roussel - Roy - Cole
Morrow/Fraser - Eakin - Smith
Nystrom - Fiddler - Garbutt

Dillon - Robidas
Benn - Daley
Goligoski - Oleksiak

I went back and checked the recent boxscores, and while Goli has been relegated to third pairing at even strength, he is still getting good minutes on the powerplay. That powerplay time is taking a bit of the sting out of that reduced TOI at even strength. And as long as things are clicking like they have been, I don't see that changing soon.

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It's official, Morrow is out for tonight's game in Phoenix and Matt Fraser jumps into his spot on Eakin's line.

http://starsinsideedge.com/2013/03/0...att-fraser-in/

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Tough loss tonight, and two valuable points gone. The story of the game can be summed up like this, Dallas-shots on goal: 21, Phoenix-Blocked Shots: 30. They just couldn't find a way to loosen up the Coyotes D in front of Smith. Most of the Stars best chances came off the rush, if they got in the zone and setup the 'Yotes stoned 'em.

The two goals allowed both came in the same manner, over pursuit of pucks behind the net that left openings for quick passes back out to open players with point blank chances. Other than those lapses the Stars looked fairly good defensively. They've shored things up admirably of late, not that there isn't still room for improvement.

Another key area where this one turned against the Stars was lack of converting on the powerplay. The Stars finished 1-for-5 overall, but only converted one of the two 5-on-3 chances. The one that they failed to convert was the killer as the Coyotes looked ripe for the picking.

This loss could sting even worse pending word on Jamie Benn's condition after a nasty late hit from Martin Hanzal. Benn took the point on Hanzal's shoulder square on the jaw, was slow to get up, and went straight for the trainers room after getting up. Hate to speculate as to the nature of the injury, but Jamie was certainly woozy leaving the ice. No word yet on how he's doing or what his availability will be for Tuesday tilt in Dallas against Nashville.

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If Benn is out for a while, what do the lines look like with Whitney back? He's supposed to return tuesday

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Kovalchuk, Couture, Wheeler
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Hamhuis

Fleury
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