Here's an article about 7th round pick Dmitry Sinitsyn. As the article's title suggests he is an intriguing prospect and one the Stars were already familiar with. He played on the Stars Elite U16 team before visa issues sent him back to Russia.

The article paints an even more interesting picture as he doesn't fit the classic Russian hockey player mold that we've come to expect. Sounds like he has a good group helping him transition to life over here as well as the game itself. Time will tell if he pans out, but if he does, GM Joe and the team may have struck late round gold.

http://stars.nhl.com/club/news.htm?i...id=DL|DAL|home

Me too, but it's more a matter of being sane than being ancient.

__________________
12 H2H w/ daily changes.
G,A,+/-,PPP,SOG,W,GAA,Sv%.
Keep 6 (5 F/D, 1 D/G) Start 2C, 2LW, 2RW, 3D, 2Util, 2G

C: Getzlaf, Bergeron, Roy, Boyes (RW)
LW: Kovalchuk (RW), Vanek, Lucic
RW: Gaborik, Callahan, C. Stewart, Tarasenko, Chiasson
D: Yandle, Doughty, Goligoski, Carlson
G: Fleury, Varlamov, Markstrom
IR:

Dallas Stars Top 10 Prospects - Hockey Prospectus

http://www.hockeyprospectus.com/arti...articleid=1363


1. Radek Faksa, Center
2. Reilly Smith, Right Wing
3. Ludvig Bystrom, Defense
4. Alex Chiasson, Right Wing
5. Matt Fraser, Left Wing
6. Jamieson Oleksiak, Defense
7. Matej Stransky, Right Wing
8. Scott Glennie, Right Wing
9. Brenden Dillon, Defense
10.Patrik Nemeth, Defense

Sorry for the lack of updates recently guys. With the start of the CHL and AHL seasons approaching the updates will be more frequent. And hopefully we won't be waiting long to talk about our NHL Stars. On to business...

First up is the big news of the day, the Kari Lehtonen re-signing. Overall a good move, and a decent deal, on the team's part. Even with his injury history Lehtonen is still among the best in the league. On the surface you kind of want to nit-pick the money with that injury history in mind, but the market drove that price, and it's not absolutely horrible. The price of doing business in the current market.

When you look at the length of the contract you can see the Stars don't appear to be in any rush to bring Campbell up. And really there's no need for them to be. If Bachman can repeat last year there's no rush as Lehtonen will be capably backed-up. Let Campbell continue to marinate in Austin and develop properly without being rushed up.

An interesting tidbit in the terms of the deal was pointed out by Mike Heika in this article. Lehtonen has the standard NTC for the first two years, and a limited NTC for the remaining three. The limited NTC portion fits nicely as to the most likely timeline for Campbell to ascend to Big D. As that limited NTC kicks in it does give the team the flexibility to move Lehtonen once Campbell proves ready for the show.

The last bit I have for today is a list from Defending Big D detailing the players being assigned to the "A" and juniors. Nothing earth-shattering in there, but if nothing else we now know where the top prospects will be headed for the next little while so we can entertain ourselves by keeping a close watch on them.

Also I forgot to add, be looking for an expanded version of my article from the roto guide in the next week or so. I really wanted to add a lot more, but didn't want to saddle Gates with having to edit a freaking novel length piece to fit the guide.

Gents - any thoughts on how the Dallas PP might fare this year? They were pretty anemic last year, however, with the changes in the line up I'm curious to see what people think will happen. Minor improvement, major improvement?

Cheers.

__________________
14 team roto(3C,3RW,3LW,5D,2G,5B,1IR-82 max games)
Cats-G,A,+/-,PPP,PIM,SOG,HITS,FOW,BLKS,W,SV%,GAA,SAVES

C-Toews,B. Richards,Hanzal
RW-Voracek,Stewart,Versteeg
LW-Benn(C),Clowe(RW),Pacioretty
D-Pietrangelo,Doughty,Burns,Ehrhoff,Gonchar
G-Rask,Lindback
B-Emery,Havlat,Coburn,Atkinson,Fiddler

7 team roto(3C,3RW,3LW,4D,1U,2G,4B,3IR-86 max games)
Cats-G,A,P,+/-,PIM,PPP,SHP,GWG,W,SV%,GAA,SO

C-Crosby,E.Staal,Pavelski(RW)
RW-Iginla,Clowe(LW),Wheeler
LW–E.Kane,Pacioretty,Semin(RW)
D–Letang,AP,Subban,Shatty
U-Getz
G-Rask,Ward
B–Kipper,Voracek,Moulson,Burns

I think it's reasonable to expect at least a modest improvement. Obviously things really can't go anywhere but up. When your top point getter on the man advantage(Loui Eriksson) only racked twelve points the man advantage was certainly no advantage.

The additions of Jagr, Whitney, and Roy will provide some much needed oomph. I think of the pair of Whitney and Jagr, Whitney will be the bigger force. Aside from providing offensive punch, which I believe they both still have, they can be very valuable assets in terms or mentoring guys like Benn, Larsen, and Eakin. I do wonder how much PP time Eakin would get, but even if he doesn't get a ton, anything he can learn from those guys and use when he gets opportunities can only help the team as a whole. Same goes for an other youngsters that get some time to learn from them.

Derek Roy should provide even more given he's in his prime and should hopefully be fully mended from the off-season shoulder surgery. From the '07-'08 season through '09-'10 he put up 23, 30, and 25 points respectively. In '10-'11 he racked up 14 through thirty-five games, which should have seen him equal his career high or best it had he not gotten injured and missed so much time. Last year's drop to 12 is easily attributable to the aforementioned surgery. I'd expect a nice rebound, how much will naturally follow where he ends up, PP1 or PP2.

Speaking of players coming off injury, Brendan Morrow is a wildcard. Yes he's only broken twenty points on the power play once in his career, and come close a couple of other times, but he could provide much needed help. It will remain to be seen if he can stay healthy for the whole season, but if so I think he can provide another spark to help boost the power play.

Can Jamie Benn make strides in this area of his game? At his age and with his tools you have to feel like he should be stepping up big here in the very near future. I certainly see no reason why it can't happen this year....other then that pesky lockout BS. Can Loui Eriksson return to the 25pt form he showed back in '10-'11? Can guys like Goli, Robidas, and Larsen provide some spark from the blueline? These are some key areas to watch for the much needed rebound. I really feel like a breakout here from Benn would a huge boost for the whole unit and could feed others.

I'm not expecting miracles, but I think the Stars should move up into the lower end of the middle third of the league. I would look to see them end up ranking somewhere in the 17-20 area at season's end, with anything better than that as icing on the cake. And I do think it's possible they could finish better then that, even flirting with the top 10 though not breaking into it. But at this point with no training camp or exhibition games to use as far as a tool to gauge possible PP combos and changes in style of play it's really kind of a guessing game.

__________________
You know it's going to be a good day when you open up your mailbox and find out the previous tenant was a playboy subscriber

Dallas Stars Team Coverage
Dallas Stars Prospects Coverage
Friday Night Studs And Duds
Common Sewer of good beer

Dallas will be improved, but their defense is still too shallow to allow them to make the playoffs.

They have a good top six and a great goaltender. Things are on the upswing.

__________________
Follow me on Twitter: AngusCertified
Check my blog out: Angus Certified

Pick up the 2013-14 DobberHockey Keeper League Fantasy Pack today!

Finally we have our Stars back!!!!

On the downside, I was so turned off by the whole lockout BS that I haven't followed hockey at any level during that time. I'm way out of the loop on everything at the moment. But just like the players I've got training camp to get geared up and ready to go. Once the puck drops for the season I'll be up and going with loads of news and other goodies.

Game on baby!!!

__________________
You know it's going to be a good day when you open up your mailbox and find out the previous tenant was a playboy subscriber

Dallas Stars Team Coverage
Dallas Stars Prospects Coverage
Friday Night Studs And Duds
Common Sewer of good beer

So what does Jamie Benn's contract look like in a few days?