...when the STΛRS go BLOOOO-OOH-OOH-OOOOOOH,
STΛRS go BLOOOO-OOH-OOH-OOOOOOH,
STΛRS go BLOOOO-OOH-OOH-OOOOOOH,
STΛRS go blue.

(Though I don't believe they're changing their colors from black/gold/green.)

Anyway, the Stars were a middling team last year that finished in an especially crappy 9th place, with two more wins than LA, but ten fewer overtime losses. In 2011, they also finished in an especially crappy 9th place, as they would have made the playoffs had they not lost their last game of the year to the shitty Wild and let our Fighting Fernando Pisanis limp into the Stanley Cup. To remedy their four consecutive playoff misses, something I don't think the North/not-North Stars franchise has ever done, they shored up their roster by adding 40-year-olds Jaromir Jagr and Ray Whitney. I want to be able to laugh at this, but Jagr singlehandedly (2 G, 2 A in a 4-3 win) won the Stars their first game of the year against Phoenix, with Whitney scoring on one of his assists. They also flipped noted idiot Steve Ott to the Sabres for Derek Roy, which can't not work out well, because Steve Ott is a useless shitbag. Mike Ribeiro is gone as well, off to Washington to do a ton of blow and bitch about the refs not taking his dives. Happened already the other night with the Jets!

However, Jamie Benn is mired in a contract holdout in what a lot of us suspect is ownership collusion right out of the gate: Benn is a restricted free agent coming off an impressive 26-goal/63-point season, and yet we're to believe that not only have the Stars not signed him, but not one of the other 29 teams has tendered him an offer sheet? Really? For those who still don't know the system, restricted free agency is when a player is without a contract but under team control, so any outside offer can be matched by the controlling team or declined in exchange for a sliding scale of draft pick compensation. Yet nobody for the last seven months has attempted to sign Jamie Benn. Nor P.K. Subban, who is in the same limbo with Montreal. Why else could this be but to suppress the market value of RFAs? Very, very, very sketchy.

Elsewhere with the Stars, they still have Robidas, Morrow, and Daley hanging around, plus Alex Goligoski from what has to be one of the most horseshittedly one-sided trades of the last ten years. Loui Eriksson is good. Vern Fiddler is one of those pesky defensive-system guys. Overall, I'd say it's probably about a 9th place team.

Both teams played in the Midwest on Tuesday and had yesterday off, so no particular fatigue issues.

Through three games so far:
Hawks: 5-2 win over the Kings (won the Cup), 6-4 win over the Coyotes (eliminated us), 3-2 win over the Blues (won our division)
Stars: 4-3 win over the Coyotes, 1-0 loss to the Wild, 2-1 win over the Red Wings

Last year:
2-1 Stars, 5-2 Hawks, 3-1 Stars, 4-1 Hawks

On paper the Hawks' depth is vastly superior, but the Stars play us tough on a pretty regular basis, and Jagr is one of the greatest players of all time. Kari Lehtonen is a good goalie, so Crawford will have to be on his game. I wrote a lot here, so I expect a loss.

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That was my wedding song!


Thanks again for the write up, love this. Great point on Jamie Benn. Is anyone talking about that? Seems too obvious to be overlooked. A lot of teams should be interested in him. The PA should be all over that.

Steve Ott had a great one time snipe on Sunday. Yes, he is a shithead, but he's exactly the kind of guy the Hawks still need. He can agitate but still pot 10-20.

I feel the Jamie Benn thing is a combination of GM unwritten rules (fuck you Doug Wilson) and teams scared of Phil Kessel 2.0.

Nah. Everyone is so happy just to have a season that we're overlooking collusion in plain sight. The Stars were dry-humping the salary floor so hard last year that they had to pick someone up during the season to make up for the dead cap space they lost when the Rags waived Avery. They have an actual owner now and not just a committee of Tom Hicks's creditors. I can't imagine there's not enough money to sign a star player who is cost-controlled in the first place. It's ludicrous.

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Oh, and I'm going to go with 3-1 Stars. Goals from Roy, Goligoski, and an empty-netter from Whitney. Hawks goal from Sharp. Hope I'm wrong.

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The Stars are giving up around 37 shots a game and Lehtonen has been standing on his head. If the Hawks get 30-35 shots, I say they win for sure.

sHOULD BE A GOOD GAME. hOPE THE hAWKS CAN CONTAIN jAGER OR IT WILL BE A NOT FUN NIGHT.
fUNNY HOW sTARS HAVE ALWAYS,EVEN BACK WHEN THEY WHERE IN mINN,PLAYED US HARD AND WE HAVE NO HATRED ONLY RESPECT FOR THEM.
I do not see us going 4-0.
Stars 2-1 shootout.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

Looks like you need to contain your Jager.

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Send Bolig out there to stomp Lehtonen's left leg in the next scrum. Make himself useful.

Guess not.

So stupid.

Fucking unbelievable.

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Garbage period. Toews, Hossa and Saad is the only line that is doing anything.

Hawks were looking bad before that goal. Stars are doing everything right so far. God is this team ever a pain.

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What's frustrating is that the Hawks played like trash but still out-chanced the Stars by a wide margin. The one time you ask your goalie to make a big save and he lets it through the five hole yet again. Meanwhile Lehtonon is kickin the left pad everywhere to keep his team in it. Even with that, if the Hawks wake up just a little bit, they can run the Stars out of the building.

Wasn't that goal kinda bullshit? I thought dudes weren't allowed in that blue area to block the goalie.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

It was bullshit because Crawford had it but didn't hang on to it. Dribbled past him. He lost us two playoff games on that same play.

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WHAT THE FUCK! Since when did Lehtonen become Roy/Hasek/Dryden reincarnate?

FavreFan, Ericksson didn't interfere with Crawford so goal is good.

This reminds me of last season when it seemed like every opposing goaltender had their best game of the year against us. Lehtonen is lights out so far.

Lehtonen stood on his head in our season opener last year. 37/38 with his goal against coming at 59:46. Tuesday night against the Wings he went 39/40 with his goal against coming at 59:56. He's good.

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Great rush by Leddy and FUCK Lehtonen. Fuck

3 scoring chances, 2 goals.

Dallas has '11-'12 Wild written all over them. Totally unsustainable.

Just got in. That first goal was vintage bad Crawford, turnover notwithstanding.

CH's prediction well on track.

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Not a mult.

We'll take it


Ummm.... KANER!!!

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Not a mult.

What a goal. I hate hockey sometimes.

Yessssssssssss. Get another.

Got the Hawks goal from Sharp and a goal from Whitney. I hate me.

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I woulda shit if that one went in

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Not a mult.

If Keith hadn't saved that goal, I probably would have had to kill Corey Crawford.

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