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Welcome to DLLS Dallas Stars weekly! Every Monday, I will recap news, rumors, notes, and articles from the previous week.
Let’s get into it.
Dallas has their guy… again
Per multiple reports, the Stars are finalizing a contract to make Glen Gulutzan their next head coach.
My thoughts are pretty simple: this is a good hire.
Gulutzan shouldn’t be judged by his previous tenure in Dallas, which came during a much darker and more hectic time for the franchise. All the 53-year-old has done since then is learn. His most recent experience came running the power play for the Edmonton Oilers. Yes, that lethal power play featuring Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The same power play that became one of the best in the NHL under Gulutzan and continued that trend deep into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Gulutzan is also very aware of all the strengths and weaknesses of this Dallas team, going up against them in the Western Conference Final two straight years and playing against them a lot during his time in Edmonton. The choice seems to be enough of a change to the status quo, while also bringing in someone familiar with the organization, city, and captain Jamie Benn.
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Gulutzan is young enough to likely bring some better understanding of how to communicate with today’s players, but also has the experience necessary to step behind the bench of a team ready and motivated to win a Stanley Cup. That’s why I believe Gulutzan was chosen over Texas Stars coach Neil Graham, who could still become an assistant on Gulutzan’s staff.
Stars general manager Jim Nill took a chance here. Simply put, Gulutzan did not have success the last time he had the keys to this team. Firing him was actually one of the first moves Nill made after taking the job in Dallas. He’s not a popular hire among fans. He hasn’t been a head coach in eight years. There are plenty of things to try to pick apart on this one.
But Nill hired him anyway. And coming from a man who just won his third-consecutive GM of the Year award, that says a lot.
The rest of the Dallas bench is getting thin. Steve Spott was hired as an assistant in Boston. Misha Donskov will become the vice president and men’s coach for Hockey Canada. Speaking to Nill on Saturday after the draft, the expectation is for defensive coach Alain Nasreddine to return. Nasreddine was interviewed for the head job, but going back to the old “change the status quo” narrative, hiring him would have felt like a lateral step.
That has nothing to do with Nasreddine’s ability, and I believe he will run a bench in the near future. But at this time, he was not the right choice. If Nasreddine stays, there are two assistant jobs open in Dallas. Graham could still take over for Spott and run the power play, leaving an opening for Gulutzan to bring in an assistant of his choice.
We should see how the bench fills out in the coming days.
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The cap is back
No, I don’t mean the salary cap, although the Stars are back to being ridiculously tight to that as well.
I mean the Stars captain, Jamie Benn. Benn signed a one-year, $1 million AAV contract extension Thursday to return to Dallas after the expiration of his lengthy, pricey contract.
Benn was always going to come back. Nill said it all year, while Benn pushed negotiations off until after another run at a Cup. In the end, the two sides worked out a deal that gives Dallas some wiggle room with the cap, but also gives Benn a chance to make $3 million or more with games played and playoff success bonuses.
Now, it’s time for Benn to prove the value he can still bring on and off the ice.
The forever-lasting NHL Draft
While the NHL Draft took approximately eight weeks to conclude, especially the first round, the Stars did make six picks. Here they are, along with a few notes and a quick quote from Stars director of amateur scouting, Joe McDonnell.
Round 3, 94th overall: Cameron Schmidt (RW) – Vancouver Giants (WHL)
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- Fastest skater in the draft, elite shot, uncommon physicality, especially for 5-foot-7 (Logan Stankoven, Cole Caufield).
- Able to beat goalies multiple ways and good at finding space in the offensive end.
“Our third round, we think we got first-round talent with him, so we were excited,” McDonnell said. “You wish he was bigger, but we see a Logan Stanoven kind of guy… You need skill. This kid has oodles of it… Speed, scoring, compete, he has it all… they play bigger.”
Round 4, 125th overall: Brandon Gorzynski (C)- Calgary Hitmen (WHL)
- Good skater, heavy on the forecheck, and great with puck pressure. Uses his speed on both sides of the ice.
“Good second half of the season with him. Had a slow start, but second half, he took off,” McDonnell said. “The Western [Hockey League] guys really pounded the table for him.”
Round 5, 146th overall: Atte Joki (C) – Lukko (Liiga)
- FINN.
- Hard worker, good shot, and quick hands.
“The Finn. Hard working, compete off the charts. That’s what he is,” McDonnell said.
Round 5, 158th overall: Mans Goos (G) – Farjestad BK (Sweden)
- Mobile, yet big goalie. Uses his size to smother chances and doesn’t make himself small.
“6-foot-5 goalie, he’s what you’re looking for for a goalie now,” McDonnell said. “NHL goalies are huge, and he moves well.”
Round 6, 190th overall: Dawson Sharkey (RW) – Acadie-Bathurst (QMJHL)
- A pest. Pace, skill, and understanding of the game.
“High compete, off the charts. (Scout) Shane Turner really beat the table for him,” McDonnell said. “He’s going to be exciting. From what I hear about him… he’s a s**t disturber, so that’ll be fun.”
Round 7, 222nd overall: Charlie Paquette (RW) – Guelph Storm (OHL)
- Often described as a player who creates chaos. Led the Storm in goals and points.
“19-year-old kid, scored 37 (goals) last year. Going to Guelph, going to be the leader there,” McDonnell said. “He’s older, but it’s going to work out for him.”
For more details, check out the official Stars draft recap.
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Each new draft pick was present at Day 1 of development camp on Monday… here are a few clips.
On this, the eve of free agency
Free agency opens Tuesday, July 1. While the Stars will likely make a move or two, perhaps filling out their two or three vacant forward spots. But outside of maybe re-signing Colin Blackwell or adding similar under-the-radar player types, I don’t expect a whole lot around this team. They simply don’t have any money to make noise.
“It’s going to be tight,” Nill said. “I think I mentioned last night, we’ve got players, you go back to last September, October, November, that’s why we started this process. Esa Lindell, had to get him signed. Jake Oettinger, going from making four to eight million… Wyatt (Johnston) goes from making a million to making $8.4…
“What people forget, we had a pretty unique situation because of our injuries… that changed our whole cap situation and LTIR situation. Because of that, now we’re able to make some trades. Really, that’s the only reason we’re able to get Mikko Rantanen… the cap has gone up, but we’ve got good players. It’s a good problem to have. We’ve got good players, and they deserve to get paid what they get paid. And that’s why we’re up against the cap.”
Now, that doesn’t mean Nill won’t surprise us. He had a sneaky quote on Friday night that could have us believing there is something brewing under the surface…
“The roster’s kind of coming together maybe a little better than we thought. Things have fallen into place, so we’re happy that way,” Nill told reporters. “Now, I know some things that you guys don’t know. But things have come together pretty good. There will still be some work to do. We’re just going through it methodically here, making some decisions. July 1, you don’t know where things are going to go, we’re going to monitor that, see what the process is.”
But from everything I have gathered, Nill and his staff feel they made most of their moves during the season and early in the summer. That includes trading for and signing Mikko Rantanen, signing Jake Oettinger, Thomas Harley, Esa Lindell, and Wyatt Johnston to extensions, and now bringing back Benn, Mavrik Bourque, Nils Lundkvist, and Matt Duchene.
It looks like Mikael Granlund will go to free agency. The same can likely be said for Brendan Smith, Cody Ceci, and Evgenii Dadonov. The future of Matt Dumba and Ilya Lyubushkin is a bit blurrier. Today is the last day of the first buyout window… is the plan to trade or buy out Dumba?
One player I will be keeping an eye on is pending UFA Matěj Blümel. Blümel led the AHL in scoring last season but has not had much success when getting his shot at the NHL. He seems like a good bet to fill in a winger spot at the NHL level, just not sure if it will be with Dallas or not. Again, the Stars have very little money to spend, and Blümel may get a better offer elsewhere.
Having a new coach does help the negotiations a bit, however, giving Blümel the chance for a fresh start.
“We’re talking to those players right now,” Nill said of his pending free agents. “They’re going to have an opportunity here July 1 if they want. They’ve got to decide, do they want to see what’s out in the market or not? That’s the decision they have to make, knowing that we might do the same thing once July 1 hits, we might allocate that dollar somewhere else. We keep in touch with them… you get through the draft, and now things settle down to free agency.”
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