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Ales Hemsky skating for the Edmonton Oilers
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In Part I of this recap of the Stars' amazing week, I said that perhaps the best thing about the team's acquisition of Jason Spezza on July 1st is the fact that it wasn't even close to being the only substantial move involving Dallas this offseason. No, Jim Nill was just getting started when he pulled the trigger on the deal that sent Alex Chiasson to Canada's capital in exchange for the superstar center. About two hours or so after the news broke that Spezza was coming to Big D, GM Jim made another headline-grabbing move that would effectively complete the quest to build an NHL-caliber second line.
30-year old Ales Hemsky (pronounced AL-esh HEM-skee), a lightning-fast right wing with a knack for crashing the net to slot the puck home from close range, was the first major free agent acquisition for the Stars this offseason. A long-time member of the Edmonton Oilers, Hemsky was traded to the Ottawa Senators at the trade deadline last season where he was put on a line centered by, lo and behold, Jason Spezza. The two developed quite a chemistry in the 20 games they played together, as Hemsky put up 17 points (4 goals and 13 assists) during his time in Ottawa. In fact, Spezza said in an interview shortly after the move was made official that he and Hemsky had been in communication throughout the offseason, anticipating where they might go and wondering if they somehow might take their chemistry to another city. While their desire to play together elsewhere might not have been precisely what landed both of them in Dallas, there is no doubt that Jim Nill took their time together in Ottawa into consideration when deciding to acquire them.
The Hemsky signing has been applauded by many in the NHL community as the Stars landed him at a very good term and price: 3 years/$12 Million. This means that Dallas is not committing to a contract that could run beyond Hemsky's prime years nor one that pins the team against the salary cap of $69 Million. The question now is: how much value can the Stars reasonably expect to get out of that investment? To find Hemsky's best seasons points-wise, one has to go back a ways. He put up 77 points during the 2005-2006 season with the Oilers, a campaign which saw Edmonton come within a game of winning the Stanley Cup. More recently, though, his numbers have slipped. Over the last five seasons, Hemsky hasn't reached the 50-point plateau and has not scored more than 14 goals in a single season. However, one must take his scoreboard struggles with several grains of salt. First of all, he was playing on one of the worst teams in hockey in Edmonton and was skating alongside line-mates that were either checking line role-players or young scorers who weren't always interested in setting up Hemsky for quality scoring chances. Second, his health hasn't been the most cooperative recently. In three of those five seasons, Hemsky failed to skate in at least 50 games, the worst of which saw him participate in just 22 contests in 2009-2010. These two factors led many NHL experts to list Hemsky as a low-risk (money-wise), high-reward player that GMs would be wise to target.
Right now, the consensus opinion among the Stars' community is that Ales Hemsky will skate alongside Jason Spezza on a scoring line that is more a "1B" line (behind the 1A of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Valeri Nichushkin) than a true "#2" line. Hemsky would undoubtedly be relied upon to complement Spezza's stellar patience and decision-making abilities with some raw speed and goal-scoring prowess. If Nill's instinct in signing Hemsky turns out to be right; look out, for the Dallas Stars will have one of the most feared scoring attacks in the Western Conference. It'll be all about speed this fall in Big D, and in this league, speed kills.
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Anders Lindback makes a save for the Tampa Bay Lightning
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I will admit that I initially missed another major signing for the Stars, as it was a move that quickly got lost in the Twitterverse of July 1st. As I basked in the glory of the Spezza trade and Hemsky signing, I was alerted to the fact that the Stars had also addressed their need for a backup goaltender. With prospect Jack Campbell about a year away from being NHL-ready, Dallas was looking for a solid backup that they could sign to a one-year deal. This time, however, it appeared that someone younger than Dan Ellis and Tim Thomas was in order. The end result: a one-year/$925,000 contract for 26-year old Anders Lindback, a 6'6 behemoth between the pipes who had fallen out of favor with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Lindback had long been among the favorites for the Stars' backup job. A native of Sweden, Lindback came up through the Nashville system before spending the last two seasons with Tampa Bay. In the lockout-shortened 2013 season, Lindback started 21 of Tampa Bay's 48 games and posted a 10-10-1 record and a 2.90 GAA. Last year, while backing up starter Ben Bishop, Lindback made just 18 starts, posting a record of 8-12-2 with a GAA of 2.90 and a save percentage of .891. However, he was thrust squarely into the spotlight come playoff time as Bishop was injured just prior to the end of the regular season. Lindback started every game of the Bolts' first round series against the Montreal Canadiens, but he was, in the minds of many, the weakest link for Tampa Bay. He collected all four losses in the series as his team was swept by the Habs in four games. In two of those contests, Lindback was pulled in favor of Kristers Gudlevskis. Thus, this guy is looking for a fresh start in a new city, and it appears that he is a good fit for Dallas while the Stars are a good fit for him.
There's only one thing keeping me from handing him the Stars' backup job...
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Just when it looked like the Stars were set between the pipes...
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The equation appeared to be simple. The Stars would have Kari Lehtonen be the starting goalie and Anders Lindback would back him up. Jack Campbell would be the starter at the AHL level to get some more seasoning and Dallas would either find him a backup on the open market or promote a minor prospect from Idaho of the ECHL. Well, on July 7th, that equation became a jumbled mess in a big hurry.
Just six days after signing Lindback, the Stars signed Jussi Rynnas, a 27-year old Finnish netminder whose first stint in North America hadn't gone so well. The terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed, so we all assumed that it would be a two-way deal that would make Rynnas the AHL backup for Jack Campbell. Thus, we were in for a surprise when it was announced that Jim Nill had inked him to a two-year, one-way contract worth $1.125 Million. This means that it was never Nill's intention to just hand the backup job to Lindback. Instead, he wants his goaltenders to have an open competition to see who wants it more. If you think about it, the pros of such a philosophy far outweigh the cons. He who wins this backup job will undoubtedly be looking ahead to his starts with anticipation rather than fear, a trait linked to several of Dallas' last few backups. In turn, we the fans will know that the Stars' front office will have done their due diligence in determining who is best suited for the job, and we probably won't be so swift to cringe whenever Lehtonen gets a night off. The only downside to a one-way deal for Rynnas is the fact that, should he come up short in his bid to win an NHL job, he will have to clear waivers to be sent down to the Texas Stars. I think that this is a risk that Nill is willing to take because few teams will be in the market for a backup goaltender after training camp, and thus, will not have incentive to claim Rynnas off the waiver wire. The same policy applies to Lindback should he lose the competition.
Rynnas entered the Toronto Maple Leafs system in 2010 after going undrafted and was released after the 2013 season. He appeared in three NHL games over that span, which saw him spend most of his time with the AHL's Toronto Marlies. He posted a career AHL record of 31-33-5 in 73 regular season appearances. This past year he returned to his native country and Karpat of the SM-Liiga (Finnish Elite League), where he destroyed the competition, going 28-5-7 with a GAA of 1.51 and a stellar save percentage of .939. His GAA and save % both were tops in the SM-Liiga. His club won the league championship in 2014.
-All statistics courtesy of the Dallas Stars Hockey Club press release on July 7, 2014.
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Patrick Eaves, son of University of Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves
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Now let's go back to July 1st. Jim Nill rounded out day one of the free agent signing period with a most unimpressive acquisition. The latest signee was Patrick Eaves, a depth player at right wing who spent last season playing for the Detroit Red Wings and Nashville Predators. This appears to be little more than the acquisition of a 13th forward, someone who will spend a fair number of games sitting up in the press box, as the Stars already have considerable depth at the position. Valeri Nichushkin, Ales Hemsky, Ryan Garbutt, and Colton Sceviour appear as though they will have dibs on the right side, so Eaves doesn't really have a place in the lineup. Thus, he will get his playing time mostly in the event of injury or a slump by one of the aforementioned players. Why Nill decided to go with Eaves probably has something to do with Eaves' performance in Detroit, where Nill was the head of scouting for two decades. Also, GM Jim probably did not want one of his prospects, notably Brett Ritchie and Scott Glennie being forced into a bench-warming role at the NHL level when their best interests lie in playing consistently with the Texas Stars. He has made it clear that his prospects are going to have to force their way onto the NHL roster and that no one will be given special treatment in any phase of his development.
The former first round pick (29th overall) of the Ottawa Senators in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, Eaves has had a pretty lackluster career thus far. His best seasons came early in his career. In his rookie season, 2005-2006, he scored 20 goals in 58 games with Ottawa. The following year, he potted 14 goals and put up a career-high 32 points in 73 games for the Senators. After that, his numbers dropped off in a big hurry, as did the number of games he appeared in. He was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes during the 2007-2008 season and then on to the Red Wings in 2009. Over the course of his time with those two organizations, his maximum regular season output was 22 points with Detroit in 2009-2010. He put up 12 goals that year and 13 goals the next, but his low assist numbers have not warranted a lot of ice time. He has also had injury problems that limited his playing time to just 10 games in 2011-2012 and just 30 games in 2013-2014.
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For some reason, Vancouver coach Alain Vigineault couldn't
stop laughing when he saw Fidds do this.
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Vernon Fiddler. Who woulda thunk we'd see this guy around Big D for another two years?! It seemed almost certain that the wily veteran would be taking his talents elsewhere this offseason, but lo and behold, he's back! His presence on the fourth line and on the first penalty-killing unit will be immense, and his attitude and outlook on the game will be extremely beneficial for a locker room that is quickly getting younger. Plus, his antics both on and off the ice will continue to be most welcome to us the fans (note the "Angry Kevin Bieksa" charade depicted above).
The Stars were initially reluctant to commit to the multi-year deal (three or so years) that Fiddler was seeking, as a one-year deal would have been better suited for advancing the center prospects into the NHL ranks. Thus, Fiddler and his agent decided to test the waters of free agency and see what another club would be willing to give him. Money was never the issue, so Jim Nill and his crew must have made it clear to him that he would be welcome back on the Stars if the price was wrong elsewhere. Regardless, we all thought he had surely played his last game in a Dallas jersey. Then on July 2nd, it was announced that Fidds had been inked to a two-year contract worth $2.5 Million. Here was a completely unexpected deal that actually involved Fiddler taking a pay cut from his previous deal. He made $1.8 Million per season on his three-year deal that had just expired while, on this deal, he will make $1.0 Million in 2014-15 and $1.5 Million in 2015-16 (cap hit calculates out to $1.25 Million/year). His reasoning for accepting such a deal: "Honestly, I had better offers. But I wanted to stay with this team and finish the job. There is a real attraction to playing here and playing to win, and seeing this through. I think this is going to be a really good team, and I want to be a part of that."
That kind of attitude is a clear indicator that this franchise is headed in the right direction. Returning players taking less money to stay with a club rather than taking a better offer elsewhere is something that you don't see in every NHL city. Vern, like many others, sees something in this club. Something that we should be VERY excited about as the new season approaches. Two things are for certain in the wake of this amazing week of offseason NHL action: Jim Nill has done it again, and the Dallas Stars are in very good shape for both next year and beyond.
-Quotes courtesy of Mike Heika's blog on SportsDay DFW
I'll leave you with two great Fiddler moments from this past season:
Sheathing the Weapon
The "Oh (expletive)" Move
Christian Bussler
@c_buss15
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