A couple of weeks ago, the Wild signing Petr Sykora seemed like a brilliant move. I know I sure loved it.
It’s still a little early to say it’s not working out, but Sykora was a healthy scratch against Nashville last night. That came after getting less than 10 minutes against Chicago Monday night.
Sykora has just [...]

How do you know the NHL season has started? People in Dallas start calling for Marty Turco’s head. Mike Heika has an interesting take: The Stars have decent goalie depth within their system and a plan to move everyone along, so they might as well stick to the plan. Plus, Heika points out, Turco is [...]

So apparently Dallas Star Brad Richards had shoulder problems much of last year. Richards had mono the season before, meaning he’s never been 100% healthy for Dallas.
That’s expected to change this season and Mike Heika says it could represent a return to the Richards of 2005-06. Or at least a little closer to that form.
Of [...]

The Stars have an interesting approach to goalie Marty Turco. Since they seem to feel they can’t replace him, they’re just throwing more and more coaching at him. Relatively hot on the heels of the news Turco is going to spend more time working with goalie coach/synthesist Andy Moog, comes news the Stars have added [...]

Not that he’s horribly objective, but Jeff Halpern expects the Lightning to be much more successful this year.
Tarik El-Bashir caught up with him in DC and it’s interesting to hear Halpern talk about how hard it was for him to leave the Caps. Halpern also talks about the pressures of being in a contract year.
Speaking [...]

I’m very surprised Sergei Zubov is close to signing a KHL deal.
Zubov is 39 and coming off an injury-plagued season, but I would think there might be a few NHL teams interested in signing one of the game’s all-time great offensive defensemen. If nothing else, Zubov could probably quarterback the powerplay as a special teams-type [...]

I like the NHL offseason because it sometimes turns into high school.
Like Dale Tallon gets whacked in Chicago, and Martin Havlat jumps on Twitter to drop some cryptic messages:

I guess everyone saw what happened to Dale….yes, the story is starting to come out but it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

What are we even supposed [...]

Kind of a crazy 24 hours in hockey.
Wonder goalie Jonas Gustavsson signed with the Maple Leafs, leaving the Dallas Stars scrambling to find a “backup” for Marty Turco who can step in and start when Turco inevitably flounders. Again. Not that Turco is going to go quietly into the night. He wants to play less [...]

I’m thinking I need to get into real estate, since that seems to be the best way to track player movement.
Some people say Jay Bouwmeester’s building a house in Edmonton is a clue he wants to play out west.
Marian Gaborik’s buying a house in Vancouver seems to be a clue he’ll sign there as a [...]

I suggested coach Dave Tippett would have a short leash in Dallas with new GM Joe Nieuwendyk, but I didn’t think it would be this short.
The Stars are expected to announce the Tippett-ectomy today. Marc Crawford is rumored to be the next coach of the Stars. Crawford’s up-tempo, forecheck heavy style, which he’s coached since [...]