Chicago Blackhawks @ Dallas Stars

7:30 PM - October 7, 2011

American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

Tonight, the Dallas Stars turn over a new leaf. After last year's devastating season ending, and playoff denying, loss to the Minnesota Wild, the Stars went through a decision to start fresh. New coach, new system, a hoard of new players, a new mindset and well, while we still don't have an owner, that should be getting done soon (hopefully).

Up first for the Brad Richardless Dallas Stars are the Chicago Blackhawks, now two years removed from a Stanley Cup. As most Stars fans will remember, we graciously allowed Chicago to make the playoffs last year when we lost that game to the Wild.

After tinkering with the lineup for most of the preseason, coach Glen Gulutzan will be rolling out a first line of Morrow-Ribeiro-Ryder. Morrow and Ribeiro have been on the same line forever now and Ribs and Ryder were linemates back in their Montreal Canadian days.

The second line will be the one that most Stars fans will have their eyes on. That line is the one centered by Jamie Benn and his crew, All-Star Loui Eriksson and youngster Tomas Vincour. Vincour gets this spot as Adam Burish is out for the game and Steve Ott moves down to the third line.

Third line will be the regular season debuts of Vernon Fiddler and Radek Dvorak. They'll be linemates with Steve Ott for at least one game with Adam Burish out. The fourth line will be the usual Toby Peterson and Tom Wandell, this season anchored by Jake Dowell.

With Nick Grossman and Adam Pardy sidelined by injuries (seriously, aleady?), the defensive pairings will be Goligoski-Robidas, Souray-Daley, and Fistric-Larsen. I can already sense the trouble that's going to happen tonight. Kari Lehtonen returns as the starting goalie and willl immediately be thrust into the fire. I wouldn't be surprised if he faced a 40+ shot night. 

The Blackhawks are pretty much the same team as last year with a few veteran additions, most notably Andrew Brunette and league annoyance Daniel Carcillo. Much like Jamie Benn, Patrick Kane is moving from his usual winger position to center the 'Hawks second line. 18-year-old Brandon Saad takes his spot in the top line with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp. In goal for the 'Hawks will be Corey Crawford, who went 1-2-0 against the Stars last year.

Dallas will have a stuggle tonight, but a home game and a renewed hope for squad might be able to fish out a win. Besides, we let Chicago into the playoffs last year, they owe us one right?

As the Dallas Stars, and their fans, count down the years until Jack Campbell is finally able to make his way onto the team, Kari Lehtonen will get his second full season between the pipes for the squad in the 2011-2012 season.

Looking at his numbers, it can be pretty easy to say that his first full season with the Stars was a difficult one. With injuries ravaging the team and his defense failing to support him, Lehtonen ended last year as one of the most shot-at goalies in the NHL, ranking fourth in the league. His goals-against average and save percentage ranked in the 25-30 range of all the starting goaltenders and shut-outs were few and far between (he had three).

Lehtonen was not nearly as bad as his numbers would suggest though. As stated before, the Stars defenders last year were a mistake-filled group of players that often left opponents wide open in front of the net. There were many games where Lehtonen was the main reason why Dallas was even able to keep the game close. With a little luck in with puck bounces, Dallas would have made their way into the playoffs last season.

Lehtonen was on the receiving end of 11 overtime/shootout losses last season, the most in the league. I prefer to be a glass half-full guy so I look at that as 11 games where Kari played well enough to keep the Stars tied at the end of regulation. Win a couple of those games and the Stars would have been in the playoffs last season. 

If there's one thing that can be used to describe the defensemen on this team, it's turnover. Matt Niskanen was traded midway through the season last year for Alex Goligoski. Karlis Skrastins was released so he could go to the KHL, where he tragically passed away in the plane crash. The embattled Jeff Woywitka, who had a very difficult season, was also released. Mark Fistric, despite playing well, was frustratingly in and out of the lineup due to injuries and coaching decisions under Marc Crawford. The farm system is chock full of young guys ready to make the jump to the NHL and help out at the highest level.

Through signings, injury returns and a brand new system under a new coach, the Stars enter the season with a better feeling about their defense.

Alex Goligoski has had a training camp and a preseason to develop a better chemistry with the other guys on the team, which will be essential now that he will run point on the power-play. He had a solid impact on the team last year after getting traded from Pittsburgh. In 23 games with the team, he had 15 points (5 goals, 10 assists) and you can expect him to be in the among the top-10 in scoring defensemen this year with all the ice time that he will be getting. 

With the departure of Brad Richards, Goligoski becomes the main man on the power play and he should have it pretty nice working with the likes of Jamie Benn, Loui Eriksson and Mike Ribeiro. It might be blasphemy to say this, but I think Goligoski will do just as well, if not better, than Richards at manning the point.

He's not the best on the defensive side of the ice, but he'll have help as he will once again work with the tireless Stephane Robidas as our top pair of defensemen. Robidas does pretty much everything on the ice. He will make hits all over the ice (he's almost always in the top 5 among all NHL players in this category), score a few goals here and there and add a good amount of assists throughout the season. He works the power-play and penalty kill so the hardest working man on the team will again find himself busy this year.

You can count on Robidas sacrificing his body to help out the team so hopefully he can stay healthy throughout the season. He's already battling a bit of an injury as he recovers from offseason hip surgery so his ice time might be a little less than it usually is at the start of the season.

Mike Modano finally called it a career today, announcing that he will retire from the NHL. A press conference on the matter will be held on Friday at 1:00 PM CT. Modano posted a message earlier today on his facebook page:

"After a long summer of thinking about my future, I've come to the decision that it's time to retire as a player from the NHL. There's way too many people to thank here at this time and too much to say, so I have a press conference scheduled for early Friday afternoon. Check back Friday late afternoon for more. What a great ride it's been!"

An original draft pick by the Minnesota North Stars in the 1988 draft, Modano spent 20 of his 21 NHL years with the organization (we won't mention that one year with a team that will not be named), sticking with the Stars when they moved down to Texas. His career has been nothing short of legendary as he retires the greatest American-born player to ever lace up the skates.  He holds the records for most goals (561), points (1374) and playoff points (145) by an American player. He was a eight-time All-star and was a key member of the 2002 Olympic team that won a silver medal, leading the team and tournament in assists with six.

If there's any area on the Stars team that looks solid, it's going to be the wingers. It's easily the most group on the team, even if Jamie Benn spends much of his time playing center this season. 

At the top of the list, aside from Benn, is our all-star Loui Eriksson. One of the most underrated players in the league, outside of Dallas at least, Loui finally got some recognition last year by making his first all-star team. Since joining the top level squad in 2006, Loui has steadily gotten better and provided more production. He's shown that he's capable of getting near the 40 goals mark (he had 36 during the 2006-2007 season) as well the 50 assists (he had 46 last year).

With Richards gone, Eriksson loses his linemate from the past three seasons so he'll need to start developing a rapport with new, or maybe old, number one center Mike Ribeiro. He now becomes leading scorer and focal point of the offense now that Richards is gone. With increased power play and ice time this season, Loui should finally break the 80 point barrier and make another all-star team. 

For much of the 2010-2011 season for the Stars, the storyline was whether or not Brad Richards would re-sign with the team. The offseason came and went and the Stars now find themselves entering the season without their best player and leading scorer the past two seasons.

His departure leaves an obvious hole at the center position and left the Stars scrambling to find replacements. Of course, no one person can replace what Richards brought to the team so the Stars went in a different direction.

Mike Ribeiro gets bumped up to the number one center spot and the Stars' season will rest on his shoulders. He doesn't get the public recognition that Richards does, but Ribeiro has proven himself capable of providing enough points to be counted as anumber one center in the league. In his five years here, Ribeiro has been in the top three on the team in scoring every year except for the 2009-2010 season. His point totals have been, except for that one season, in the top 10 among all the centers in the league.

If the Stars hope to succeed this year, they will need Ribiero to go above and beyond what he has done before and get his scoring near the 90-point mark (his career high is 83).

The problem lies in the depth of the position. Besides Ribeiro (and the departed Richards), only one center from the team last year scored over ten points. That's right, only one player had over TEN points and that player, Steve Ott, is considered more of a winger.

It's possible, and actually pretty likely, that Jamie Benn will find himself playing center a lot this season. He has the size and skill to excell at the position and he experimented a little at the spot last year.

What the Stars don't have in playmakers, they do have in tough gritty guys. Returning to the team are Toby Peterson and Tom Wandell, a couple of guys that are excellent defensive centers. New to the team, Vernon Fiddler and Jake Dowell. Again, these two new guys are two-way forwards, something this team has had disturbingly few of these past few years.

Both Fiddler and Dowell were the leaders among forwards on their respective teams (Phoenix and Chicago) in blocked shots and they can provide a few points as well. Fiddler averages around 25 points a year and Dowell has 21 during his first full season with the Blackhawks. These four guys will be rotating on the third and fourth lines and will be instrumental during penalty kills.

Without the high-scoring Richards, the Stars have dedicated themselves to a new team philosophy, one based on grit and toughness as is evident in their center position. With Richards gone, the spotlight will be on these guys, Ribeiro and Benn especially.

The Dallas Stars are without an owner, just lost their most talented (and most marketable) player to free agency and are a team without an identity. Despite all this, the Stars will find themselves on national TV eight times during the 2011-2012 season, five more appearances than they had last year.

The eight national appearances is the highest total that the Stars have had in four years. The increase in TV spots looks like another attempt by the NHL to promote hockey in the southern parts of the U.S.

All but one of the Stars' national broadcasts will be on the Versus/Soon-to-be NBC Sports Network.

Their appearances this year (all times are Central):

December 19 7:00 PM

Anaheim Ducks @ Dallas Stars

December 21 6:30 PM

Philadelphia Flyers @ Dallas Stars

December 26 6:30 PM

Dallas Stars @ St. Louis Blues

January 3 7:00 PM

Detroit Red Wings @ Dallas Stars

January 14 2:00 PM (on the NHL Network)

Colorado Avalanche @ Dallas Stars

January 16 6:30 PM

Dallas Stars @ St. Louis Blues

February 29 6:30 PM

Pittsburgh Penguins @ Dallas Stars

March 20 7:00 PM

Phoenix Coyotes @ Dallas Stars

With free agency pretty much over around the league, it's pretty obvious that the Dallas Stars have a radically different looking team. A squad that was one point away from the playoffs last season had no choice but to change up their roster after the departure of Brad Richards. Dallas got a deeper, tougher team to put onto the ice next season, but what about their division rivals? What moves did the other teams in the Pacific Division make?

Anaheim Ducks

Anaheim was one of the most quiet teams during free agency this year. They only completed five deals, two were re-signings, and they were all of the underwhelming variety. New to the Ducks are RW Andrew Gordon, LW Jean-Francois Jacques and D Bryan Rodney. Back with the Ducks are RW Brian McGratton and D Sean Zimmerman. Your guess is as good as mine as to who exactly these guys are. Regardless, these guys will be nothing more than extra depth to a Ducks roster that is loaded with talent as the core of their team is still with them.

Two players signed deals with other teams instead of coming back to the Ducks. Those two guys, F Josh Green (Edmonton) and D Andreas Lilja (Philadelphia), provided very little to the Ducks anyway so it's no loss for Anaheim that they are gone.

Anaheim still has a couple of interesting free agents on their roster. They're waiting on Teemu Selanne to figure out whether or not he wants to retire and it looks like Anaheim is choosing not to re-sign Ray Emery. Emery did pretty well in a fill-in role as goalie, but with Dan Ellis around and presumably Jonas Hiller returning from his concussion/vertigo, whatever it was, Anaheim looks set at the goaltender position. Expect pretty much the exact same Ducks team as last year, with reigning Hart Trophy winner Corey Perry leading the way.

Los Angeles Kings

The Kings were one of the most active teams in free agency this year, perhaps second only to Philadelphia. LA struggled down the stretch of last season with their offense when they lost Anze Kopitar so it's pretty obvious that they went into this offseason looking for offensive playmakers. They made one of the biggest signings when they inked Simon Gagne to a 2 year, $7 million deal and were involved a high-profile trade where they sent Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn to the Flyers in return for then-Flyers captain Mike Richards. If all works out for the Kings, offense should not be the problem this year.

Aside from the guys that they sent away in the trade, LA also lost Michael Handzus to the San Jose Sharks. Handzus played in every game for the Kings last season and he would probably be missed, but the addition of Mike Richards more than makes up for that. The Kings didn't lose anyone else of significance although defenseman Drew Doughty is still an un-signed restricted free agent.

Phoenix Coyotes

Despite their ownership troubles, Phoenix was very busy in free agency. Without the funds to sign Ilya Bryzgalov, they shipped him off to the Flyers for a draft pick and then searched in the market for their goalie. They ended up signing former Stars and Lightning goalie Mike Smith to a 2 year, $3.5 million deal in the hopes that he could turn into a legitimate number one goalie for their team. They also signed Raffi Torres away from the Vancouver Canucks, perhaps only to annoy every other team in the league to death when they put him out on the ice.

The best thing that Phoenix probably did was who they re-signed, namely Keith Yandle to a 5 year, $26.25 million contract. Yandle is one of the best young D-men in the league and making him the focal point of their team was only right. They also kept Radim Vrbata, one of their better wingers.

The Coyotes did lose a few guys in free agency. D-man Ed Jovanovski bolted for the Florida Panthers and Vernon Fiddler signed a contract with the Stars. Losing Bryzgalov was a huge blow to the team so I wouldn't expect Phoenix to be as good as last year.

San Jose Sharks

The Sharks were, pardon the pun, in a frenzy during free agency this year. They made two of the biggest trades of the offseason by sending Devin Setoguchi, a recently re-signed Setoguchi, and Dany Heatley (as well as a couple of highly touted prospects) in seperate deals to the Minnesota Wild for Brent Burns and Martin Havlat. They definitely shored up their defense by getting Burns and Havlat is just as good, if not better, than Heatley. Signing D-man Jim Vandermeer away from Edmonton and C Michael Handzus away from the Kings helps with their depth.

They did lose a couple a guys though. Ben Eager left for the Oilers and D-man Ian White is now going to play in Detroit. All-in-all though, it looks like a good offseason for the Sharks. If this team can develop a chemistry together quickly with all of these new parts, they will be well on their well to repeating as the Pacific Division winners.

Sheldon Souray

Age: 34 (Born July 13, 1976)

Height/Weight: 6'4"/233 pounds

Shoots: Left-handed

The Stars power-play just got a lot more menacing with the signing of Sheldon Souray. Souray, who signed a one-year, $1.65 million deal, has an absolute cannon of a shot (one of the fastest in the NHL) and will surely be one of the pointmen on the powerplay. The 12-year-veteran has struggled a bit with injuries the past few seasons and actually ended up in the AHL last year after not playing well for the Edmonton Oilers. His contract was bought out by the Oilers and the Stars jumped on the opportunity of signing him.

During the 2008-2009 season, Souray was a major component of the Oilers power-play, scoring 12 times and assisting on 11 others. As long as he can stay healthy, there is still a lot of ability left in Souray to make a difference for this team. During the 2006-2007 season, he set an NHL record for defensemen by scoring 19 power-play goals.

With all these signings, it's pretty clear that the Stars had a plan going into free agency of what types of players they wanted to get. Everyone that they signed are described as physical players, with the forwards also playing well on the defensive end, and they also improved on special teams. They shored up the penalty-kill with defensive minded forwards and added a big shot and a physical presence on the power-play. In my opinion they had an excellent offseason, even with the loss of Brad Richards. Next season will certainly be an interesting year for the team.

Now if only we could get an owner...

RW Michael Ryder

Age: 31 (Born March 31, 1980)

Height/Weight: 6'0"/192 pounds

Shoots: Right-handed

The Stars made their highest profile signing this offseason with the addition of Michael Ryder, who signed a 2-year, $7 million contract. Ryder will be here to at least try to replace some of the production that Brad Richards gave the Stars.

He's a proven goal-scorer, having hit the 30-mark twice and it's almost a certainty that he will have around 20 goals when the season ends. Last season, Ryder had 41 points (18 points, 23 assists) in 79 games, but where Ryder really shows up is in the playoffs. He was marvelous during the Bruins Stanley Cup run this past season. In 25 playoff games, he had 17 points (8 goals, 9 assists). In his past few postseasons, Ryder has been near a point-per-game during the playoffs. If Dallas is able to make the playoffs during his time here, you can be sure that Ryder will score some points.

With all of the line shuffling that will need to be done with the departure of Richards, Ryder will also be a big presence in the power-play. In his three seasons with Boston (2008-2011), he ranked 2nd, 2nd and then 1st on the team in power-play goals. His 25 power-play goals during those seasons was the most on the Bruins during that time period.

Ryder in the playoffs this year against Tampa. Ryder does the dirty work around the net in these goals and that kind of player would be great to have on the power-play. Brendan Morrow does a fine job, but Dallas lacked a second player that could set those screens on the net. Ryder solves that problem.

Another video of Ryder's work in front of the net.