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The Dallas Stars locked it down in a 1-0 win against the Washington Capitals at American Airlines Center on Tuesday.
Thomas Harley cashing in
No, this does not have anything to do with the game on the ice between the Stars and Caps. But, it is the biggest news of the day, undoubtedly. And there was plenty of news.
On my drive down to the AAC, news began to spread that the Stars and Harley were closing in on an eight-year contract extension with a $10.5ish AAV. The deal was made official after the game, with the AAV landing at $10.587 million.
This was an expected move, of course. But the timing was not something that many of us were aware of. The number is up there with Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard, who signed a four-year contract with a $10.5 million AAV in June. The biggest surprise to me is that the two sides were able to get this done on a long-term deal. I thought this one was maybe headed toward another bridge deal, with Dallas being so tight to the cap and Harley knowing the cap and his value are only going up.
How will Thomas Harley celebrate his massive contract extension?
“Just another night. Go home, eat a Digiorno pizza, and go to sleep.”
Yup, Thomas Harley is one of a kind.
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With how fast the cap is rising, this deal may already look good next season. Heck, it looks pretty good right now. The Stars now have Harley, Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Jake Oettinger, and Esa Lindell signed through 2030. Miro Heiskanen and Matt Duchene are signed through 2029. I don’t know about you. But to me, that expands this team’s winning window way down the road.
“That’s part of the reason why I chose to stay here and sign for so long,” Harley said. “We’re going to be a competitive team for a long time, and hopefully I can be a big part of that.”
A good bit of business from Stars general manager Jim Nill and his staff. Once again. Now, it’s time to work on Jason Robertson.
Somebody scored… sort of
The second period, really the entire game so far, has been very dull. Shots are only 18-14 Washington, chances are few and far between, and the only real offense has come off turnovers in the defensive end.
Here’s the goal, first and foremost. It was scored by Washington, on Washington. On Dasher, on Dancer.
The “Seguin goal” came after Tom Wilson took his second penalty of the game, both of which he aggressively complained about after the whistle. On this one, he actually mocked Radek Faksa for diving. Funny, but not as good as his antics against Montreal in the playoffs.
Wilson has been at the forefront of this game, also hitting Colin Blackwell from behind, resulting in Blackwell staying down in some pain for a bit and Wilson hearing chirps from Seguin and the Dallas bench.
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If Dallas cleaned up its puck play in the defensive end, Washington would essentially have created nothing through 40 minutes. But when the Stars did turn it over or make a mistake, Jake Oettinger was there to clean it up. Really, both goalies made a few elite saves through traffic or on golden scoring opportunities. Logan Thompson robbed Seguin on the backpost with his left pad, then somehow saw through the screen of Robertson to cleanly glove a shot from Heiskanen.
While the game has not been super exciting, I do love some good goalie play.
Speaking of Tom Wilson and Logan Thompson…
Defense, defense, defense
Dallas locked it down in the third period. They gave up very little, and Oettinger cleaned up the rest… well, him and a few posts he thanked very nicely.
I was really impressed with the way Dallas defended because they haven’t really locked an opponent down with the lead yet this season. Stars coach Glen Gulutzan wanted to see structure from his team tonight. Instead of pushing and taking a chance here and there to extend the lead, the Stars defended, allowed Washington to do whatever they wanted on the perimeter of the offensive zone, and took care of any chances as they began to develop. It was a perfect example of the shift from previous years under Gulutzan.
In past, we saw Dallas chasing around their own end. They defended the rush well, but when opponents got into their cycle, the Stars began to get picked, lose coverage, or break down and allow a high-danger chance in front of Oettinger. Tonight, those break downs were few and far between, and it allowed them to play a much simpler defensive game.
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Seguin said the game was not much fun for fans or players, but it’s two points, and that’s what really matters.
It’s not like there was no fun, though…
By the way, Seguin is expected to play in his 1000th NHL game Thursday in Tampa Bay. More on that to come.
Quotable
Stars coach Glen Gulutzan on finding ways to win while dealing with injuries
“This is the way you have to win. You take your 5-on-5 play, and you’ve got to keep it as tight as you can. And we were pretty tight tonight 5-on-5… You’ve got to keep that tight, and then you’ve got to try to win with special teams and obviously, our goaltender. Those are the big four. Our power play got a deflection there, our penalty kill came up big, especially in the last five. Obviously, Oettinger was real good… When you’re shorthanded, that’s the recipe.”
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