The Dallas Stars are now in search of a new head coach. On Tuesday they fired Glen Gulutzan after two years on the job.
Gulutzan, was 64-57-9 over the last two seasons, but failed to take the Stars to the Stanley Cup playoffs in each season.
The news shouldn’t be of huge surprise because the Stars fired General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk two weeks ago and replaced him with Jim Nill.
According to Darren Dreger of TSN, the Dallas Stars have fired Joe Nieuwendyk as their general manager.
Nieuwendyk was the Stars general manager for four seasons, and during that time went 143-117-34. Despite some success, the Stars failed to make the postseason every year while he was at general manager.
This past season, the Stars seemed to lack direction and a strategic game plan. They brought in veterans Jaromir Jagr and Ray Whitney, and then dealt Jagr to Boston while they were still in striking distance for a playoff spot. Nieuwendyk also traded the team captain Brenden Morrow to Pittsburgh and formidable sniper Derek Roy to Vancouver.
Well you can say the Edmonton Oilers are taking a deep breath today. They finally beat Niklas Backstrom in Minnesota. Backstrom, who was 17-0 against the Oilers in Minnesota prior to Friday, was pulled late in the first period, after Corey Potter put the Oilers up 3-0. Edmonton then went on to win 6-1.
The Oilers won despite being outshot 39-17 by Minnesota. Their play was simply opportunistic. They registered goals on less than one third of their total shots.
Potter and Nail Yakupov scored two goals each for the Oilers, while Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall had a goal and two assists each.
Jeff Petry meanwhile might have had his best game as an Oiler, as he went a +5.
Jaromir Jagr (Michael Miller, Wikimedia Commons)
It appears the Dallas Stars have decided this may not be their year. On Tuesday, the day before the National Hockey League trade deadline day, the Stars shipped Jaromir Jagr off to Boston and Derek Roy off to Vancouver.
The Bruins were in need of improving their offense after controversially losing out on the Jarome Iginla sweepstakes a week ago, while the Canucks were in search of improving their center ice depth after Ryan Kesler broke his foot and Manny Malhotra was declared out for the season with an eye injury.
Jagr and Roy are also unrestricted free agents at the end of the season.
Jagr was leading the Stars in scoring with 14 goals and 26 points, while Roy was fourth on the team with 22 points.
The Dallas Stars got a great first period en route to a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday.
Former Edmonton Oiler Erik Cole, former Calgary Flame Eric Nystrom and Loui Eriksson scored for Dallas in a span of five minutes in the opening period to give the Stars a 3-0 lead.
The Flames marched back in the second period with a pair of their own before Eriksson sealed the game for the Stars with a game winning goal with 8:30 left.
The Edmonton Oilers received a complete sixty minute game from their hockey club Thursday night in Dallas. While the Calgary Flames received anything but a complete performance in Denver.
In the Lone Star State, Ales Hemsky led the Oilers offensive attack on the scoresheet with a goal and two assists in a 5-1 win over the Dallas Stars.
Edmonton got off to a great start where they took a 2-0 lead after the first period on two even strength goals, a category the Oilers have struggled in mightily this year. The Oilers then got a lucky bounce in the second period when Jeff Petry shot the puck from a bad angle and went off of Trevor Daley’s stick and past Kari Lehtonen.
The Oilers took a 3-0 lead and ended the Oilers’ six game losing streak in Dallas.
The Calgary Flames recorded a much needed victory Sunday afternoon in Dallas. Trailing 3-1 in the third period, the Flames scored three times in the final twenty minutes en route to a 4-3 win.
Roma Horak, Matt Stajan and Steve Begin all scored for the Flames in the third period en route to their victory. Remarkably they all scored their first goals of the season.
Begin also got into a fight with Stars’ forward Ryan Garbutt.
According to Flames’ play-by-play commentator Rob Kerr of Rogers Sportsnet, a major reason for the Flames victory today was their grit, something that seems to have been lacking a little bit for the Flames to start the season.
The 2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts starts today from Kingston, Ontario. For the first time since 1999 Team Canada is from Alberta.
Edmonton’s Heather Nedohin will be wearing the Canadian colours this week and will be participating field. Her first opponent this weekend is New Brunswick’s Andrea Crawford (formerly Kelly), a six-time provincial champion, an impressive statistic when you realize Crawford is only 27. The opening draw is on TSN Saturday at noon mountain time.
Michael Cammalleri (Wikimedia Commons)
The Calgary Flames went on an offensive scoring spirit Wednesday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Michael Cammalleri had a hat trick and added an assist for a four point game in a convincing 7-4 win over the Dallas Stars.
Roman Cervenka, Jarome Iginla, Lee Stempniak and Alex Tanguay also had multi-point games as the Flames improved to 4-4-3 on the season and are four points back of the St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The win by the Flames shouldn’t be that much of a surprise however. First, the Stars were playing their second game of a back-to-back after an impressive win the previous night in Edmonton, and the second reason is that Kari Lehtonen is a much better goaltender than Richard Bachman, who struggled mightily Wednesday in giving up 6 goals on 22 shots.
One day after the Edmonton Oilers played a lackluster third period in a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars Tuesday night, it is time to possibly shift the blame to head coach Ralph Krueger.
I know Ryan Whitney and Ryan Smyth have not played up to Krueger’s expectations this season and Krueger has the right to hold his players accountable.
However, is Whitney and Smyth any worse than Ben Eager, Corey Potter and Mark Fistric?
Jaromir Jagr (Wikimedia Commons)
Jaromir Jagr may be 40 years of age, but his slapshot continues to be one of hockey’s best.
Wednesday night in Edmonton, Jagr scored the overtime winner as the Dallas Stars defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-2.
Jagr, who started his National Hockey League career by winning a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991, now has 668 career goals (tied for 10th place all-time with Luc Robitaille) and 1661 career points (eighth all-time). He also leads the Stars in scoring this season with eight points in ten games.
The Stars were able to feast on an unhealthy Oilers team that had significant injuries at the center position. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Shawn Horcoff and Eric Belanger were all out with various ailments, leaving Sam Gagner as the only player who began the season at center in the lineup last night.
Happy Tuesday!
This week on 15MOF we welcome the NHL back and we look at the preseason ranking that has the Edmonton Oilers remarkably high up. As well, we take a look at the storylines surrounding Ilya Kovalchuk, Brian Burke and Scott Gomez, and we recap the NFL playoff action from this past weekend.
In the GABBYs: Kate Upton, the Dallas Stars, the MLB, the MLB again, the NY Jets and Lubomir Visnovsky. The Punchline this week is Jose Canseco.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9rsOi3Al8o
Mark Fistric (Wikimedia Commons)
With only six days left before the Edmonton Oilers begin the 2013 National Hockey League season in Vancouver, the Oilers have acquired Mark Fistric from the Dallas Stars for a third round draft pick.
Fistric had two assists for the Stars in 60 games played last season, and has three goals and 20 assists in 257 career games with the Stars from 2007-2012. An Edmonton native, Fistric is the stay-at-home defenceman General Manager Steve Tambellini was looking for.
Dallas’s first overall pick in the 2004 National Hockey League Entry Draft, the Oilers are hoping that Fistric will return to his 2010 form when he was a +27 on the Stars blueline. Fistric was also a +30 in his final year with the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League in 2006.
In another NHL transaction, the Canucks have signed defenceman Jim Vandermeer from the San Jose Sharks. The former Oiler and Flame had one goal and three assists last season.
Jaromir Jagr (Wikimedia Commons)
The biggest free agent signing of the day was also the one of the oldest free agents left on the market.
On Tuesday it was announced that the Dallas Stars have signed Jaromir Jagr to a one year del worth $4.55 million.
Jagr had a very solid year last season recording 54 points in 73 games and showed the hockey world he still has something left in the tank after playing in the Kontinental Hockey League for three years.
Jagr now joins Ray Whitney as the two top six forwards the Stars signed in free agency. The Stars two prolific offensive acquisitions are a combined 80 years of age.
Dallas did pick up Derek Roy from Buffalo via a trade earlier in the week and acquired Cody Eakin and a second round pick for Mike Ribeiro in a trade with Washington, but it just seems a little strange that the Stars feel they have to win now, rather than going through a bit of a transitional youth movement. Don’t forget. Dallas has not made the playoffs now since 2008.
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