I saw some Ranger message boards that swayed me in a different direction, as they apparently all agree that the instant Sean Avery joined their team they became a force to reckoned with. Brett Hull says Avery brings a personality to the team that was needed, and the guy would “skate through walls for his team.” That’s all well and good I suppose, but it doesn’t answer the bigger questions.

Namely:

Can Avery’s 10 or 15 goals a season help make up for the 27 goals we’ll be missing from Hagman?

Can Avery’s antics be minimized in a manner that he’s not yet managed before?

Can Brenden Morrow and Sean Avery have a productive relationship? Brenden has basically said he hates Avery in the past.

Will the penalty box be turned into a luxury suite, so Avery and Ott can play Xbox while spending their vast amounts of time there? Seriously, isn’t our PK stretched enough as it is? Avery takes more dumb penalties that Bertuzzi.

All we heard about in the playoffs was how the Ducks were so physical, and the Sharks were so physical. This signing helps the Stars case against that. Oh wait….we already beat those clowns in the playoffs. Ok so this gets us closer to Detroit, right? Umm….no, not that either. It does help us replace Stu barnes. Avery’s passion and tenacity will at least do that. The hope is also that he can take some pressure off of the best captain in hockey to be abrassive and defend his team. If played with Richards, I also feel he might be able to create some more space out there to let the 7.8 million dollar man to do his thing.

I think it’s a huge risk that I would not have taken. Goal scoring is proven to win cups. We could have gone after Ryder, and we didn’t even make him in a offer. Detroit got more skilled, and we got more neanderthal-like. I will endorse this signing at a later date if he shows me something. The only thing I expect from him is to be seen at strip clubs with Pacman Jones and Josh Howard.

What about Hagman? Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning news assured us this morning that the Stars tried talking to Hagmans agent, but they’ve basically decided to just see how it goes on the market, meaning the two sides were just too far apart. I think someone will give him 3 million…the Stars would love to pay him 1.8 or something like that. We move on…

So now the Stars are loaded with left wingers, with left shots. They need an affordable right shot, right wing, and that’s where Michael Ryder of Canadiens fame comes in. He’s the best fit, and had a downer season last year driving his price down. Canadian papers say he won’t sign with Montreal, and that the Bruins and Penguins are interested. I guess no one knows that the Stars are interested.

If a bidding war insues, the Stars won’t participate for long. Maybe Mc Ribs can give Mr Ryder a glowing review of Dallas, as one former Canadien to another, and he can be persuaded.

Our luck probably ran out with getting Brunnstrom, so we’ll see. I wouldn’t keep my fingers crossed. Expect for the Stars to pursue affordable 34+ year old veterans, or a healthy dose of B.J. Crombeen at RW next year.

I wouldn’t pretend to know much about him, or the other picks so you can read what Dallas Morning News writer Mike Heika has to say about all the picks here and here  as he has a draft media guide, and I do not.

The interesting news of the draft was part of a growing storm Stars fans should be concerned with: The Phoenix Coyotes. What??? Yes it’s true, the Yotes managed to deal for Olli Jokinen, who is a bad ass. We don’t see much of him in the West, and we’ll wish we didn’t have to now before too long.  We now have to endure Jokinen, Mueller, and Doan on their power play, and they get a whole season of Bryzgalov this time. The Coyotes may have just arrived. They are NOT to be over looked this year. The Pacific is the hardest division in hockey. And I think it’s getting harder (that’s what she said)

Meanwhile, free agency will swing into action next tuesday and the Stars don’t have any cap room to play with. They’ll sign a couple of current Stars, they’ll lose a couple of guys(Hagman?), and I don’t expect them to be players in free agency at all really, unless Hullie gets itchy with the trigger finger. Also, what is Stu Barnes doing?

I think we have a good club, and I think we should stand pat. (Mostly because there isn’t much else we can do)

Plus, don’t forget that the Stars somehow convinced the much hyped Fabian Brunnstrom to sign with them and that is essentially their first round pick. Be he Junior Lessard (fail) or Loui Eriksson (OK-ish) who knows? They hope he can be a top 6 guy and play with Richards perhaps, but that seems a lofty goal.

July 1st approaches fast and we haven’t even heard a peep from the Stars about Miettinen, Hagman, Eriksson, or Stu Barnes. If Hullie can drag his ass off the golf course I’d love to hear what the freaking plan is. I’m sure Hagman will be gone, but it would be nice to get some of these other deals done.

And don’t forget Stars fans, a full season of Brad Richards awaits you. I know it’s a (trade) losers cry, but maybe a full training camp with him will be good for the team. Not that he wasn’t great last year in the playoffs, I just think we can expect even more in the future.

Mike Heika at the Dallas Morning news wonders if Boucher could be on the table for a potential deal to move up in the draft. I’d hope not. The Stars are thin in the area of veteran defense, and no one knows how Zubov’s body is going to do next year…or Boucher’s for that matter. The Stars need options on defense. Injuries have plagued them the last 2 years and I would hope that’s a lesson they’ve learned well by now.

The story I’m most interested in today is what Chietermayer will do in Anaheim.  Retire, Grey Beard. You are just too damn smooth.

“Dallas wanted to keep me, but it is over now,” the 36-year old Swede was quoted as saying on the newspaper’s Web site. “I promised myself 10 years ago that I would quit while I still had a strong position in the team. And now it is over.”

I speak for some of us when Dallas when I say “oh well, see ya later.”

I softened my stance on Norstrum in the playoffs, where he performed adequately, scored a big goal, and helped lead the kids through the playoffs when Zubov was absent much of the time. He was a big part of what happened back there in April and May.

But nevertheless, he’s too slow. I lost track of the times this year when opponents would play “dump the puck over Norstrum to the corner and go get it.” He simply cannot turn around fast enough and chase after the speedy forwards. This is a young mans game. We may miss him next spring again, but the hope is that the kids got enough experience this year, and that Boucher’s body will hold out next year, such that we won’t miss Norstrum too much.

That’s $4.25 million off the books anyway.

With Toby Petersen signed as well, you have to wonder if a similar announcement for Stu is coming soon…

You can see it here:

http://www3.thestar.com/static/PDF/080530_nhl_tickets_revenue.pdf

There is a note about the Stars there, apparently we’re down to 12,500 season season holders from 16,500 in 2001. I would expect that number will go up after this fun playoff run that generated 9 extra home playoff games. According to the report, the Stars made an average of double their regular season games: 2 million per home playoff game. That’s the equivalent of 18 extra regular season home games. Wow!

So the Stars get to game 6 of the Western conference finals, and it’s like having an entire half season more worth of revenue. Holy smokes. If that’s not incentive to build a winning team, I don’t know what is. I bet lowering prices in the upper bowl next year doesn’t hurt so bad now, does it Hicks?

The Stars were 12th in the league in per game ticket revenue for the regular season.

If you want to know why Darryl Sydor is the man and all NFL players are complete wusses , go here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=G8MPAyJmX-0

The other Syd? Yeah he was pretty good tonight as well. 2 goals for the Kid. They need him to come up big. Still, a couple of unforced turnovers, terrible officiating, a post behind Fleury in the 3rd period, and a nice bank by Hall were all rather fortuitous circumstances for the Pens tonight.

I doubt if they can do it again, but I hope so.

The Wings get the tv ratings of course, so you could debate what’s better for the sport on the whole. Detroit is a marquee team, and a Stanley Cup for them is probably good for the league as well…I guess; But a 6 or 7 game series  and some close games with maybe a little OT would have been more fun than this. It’s men versus boys out there.

Brenden Morrow wouldn’t let his team go down like this. I’m talking to you Sidney. You boys need to give us something, because this is boooooring, and it is sad.

I know a lot of people are annoyed with Penguin love and Sydney and Malkin and those kids the same way that people get tired of Tiger Woods all the time, but it’s just good for the sport. The image of Sydney Crosby hoisting the Cup would have been great. Admit it. It would be good for hockey.

If there is another sports city where a crazier group of people are making personnel decisions, I don’t know about it. Maybe only in a sports-scape as diverse as ours can the 2 headed GM monster thrive. Les Jackson and Brett Hull have both received 3 year deals, and I expect Tippet will get a deal to match.

Their only pressing task right now seems to be to keep this group together. Modano says he’s returning, and Zubov will be back for one more go as well. They are waiting for Barnes and Norstrum to make up their minds, but both said yesterday that if they came back, Dallas would be their #1 destination.

They convinced the much (overly?) hyped Fabian Brunnström, a young swede, to come join their party in Dallas; And they made that bold move for Brad Richards. Other than that, it would not be entirely unfair to say that they are riding the horse that Doug Armstrong built for the most part.

Some say that Hullie’s laid back attitude is a nice contrast to Tippet and his rigid coaching staff, and that the combination of Tippet and Armstrong was suffocating to the organization/players. Maybe the new balance played a part this post-season. Maybe not.

But anything that keeps Hull’s smiling face around the halls of the AAC is fine by me.

The real question is whether or not Brett will ever let Mo retire as long as he’s in charge.