DALLAS STARS ‘ DEFINITELY HUNGRY.’
• Leave it to the late Pat Quinn to put into perspective the longtime notion that a franchise “is a great team on paper.”
Told that his 2009 Canadian squad was exactly that heading into that year’s world junior championship, Quinn’s response at the time was a memorable one that remains with us to this day.
“That might be well and good, but you know what you use paper for, right?” he said. “You wrap things in it. And you wipe things with it.”
Which brings us to the Dallas Stars.
With his team having missed the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs, general manager Jim Nill cobbled together one of the finest off- seasons in recent memory, one that star forward Tyler Seguin admits has left him “giddy” when it comes to what the Stars look like on paper.
The Stars’ goal crease once was known to be a gaping black hole where championship aspirations went to die. Nill addressed that issue — easily the team’s No. 1 need — by inking veteran Ben Bishop, who led the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup final against the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015.
Once Nill was finished his retooling, Bishop was joined by newcomers such as defenceman Marc Methot and forwards Alex Radulov, Martin Hanzal, Tyler Pitlick and Brian Flynn. Overseeing the group will be incoming coach Ken Hitchcock, who was behind the Stars bench for the only Cup title in franchise history, that coming in 1999.
Seguin’s enthusiasm about the moves is evident by the omnipresent grin he wears.
“I was really happy to get a goalie of Ben’s calibre,” Seguin said Monday at the Biosteel pro hockey camp in Toronto. “And then we got Hanzal and I thought to myself: ‘ That’s the forward we really needed.’
“On paper all the X’s and O’s are as good as you can do. Every year Jim makes a splash (but) I don’t think he’s ever done more than he did this summer. When your GM is doing that, it gives you confidence as a player because he is telling you: ‘ We’re going for this.’ “There are no excuses.” Just 16 months ago, the Stars finished atop the west and came just one win shy of reaching the conference final. But an injury-plagued 201617 season left the Stars on the outside looking in at the Stanley Cup dance, resulting in the dismissal of coach Lindy Ruff.
“We’re all definitely hungry,” Seguin said. “I think last year we were surprised a bit. The year before, we surprised teams on the way to winning the west. Last year I don’t think we adjusted to the way teams played us. We have to adjust, too.”