So finally, a game that sort of counts!
Hawks are starting things off in Dallas against a considerably improved Stars team. The key addition is the oddly giggling Jason Spezza, of course, who came over for flash-in-the-pan Alex Chiasson and a few spare parts. They're also looking to get a strong sophomore year out of Valeri Nichushkin, who looked quite promising as a rookie. Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin remain the top two threats up front, and Antoine Roussel is still floating around being an idiot. In between the scary top and annoying bottom is a decent middle full of young guys who could still get better, except for worthless slug Erik Cole, who is still lounging around for them. They have, however, lost Ray Whitney to retirement, which wouldn't be a big deal except that Whitney was in surprisingly great shape for a 42-year-old or however old he was and was still a decent contributor.
Then there's Kari Lehtonen in goal, who has always been a pain in the ass for us, including an opening night a few years ago where he shut the door on us for 59 minutes and spoiled the start of the season. And all these guys are still coached by one of the very best in the league, Lindy Ruff, whom players almost unanimously run through a brick wall for. If you ask me, he overachieved with some of those Buffalo teams by simply not losing 65 games.
The problem is that with dangerous forwards and a great goalie, the Stars have fixed themselves what you might call a competence sandwich, with two yummy slices of bread surrounding hot garbage. This blue line is shit. Old-ass Sergei Gonchar is already hurt, Trevor Daley has never done more than hang around the league, and you'll forgive me if I'm still not blown away by Alex Goligoski, who has been around for some time and won a Cup with Pittsburgh but has never been more notable than "the guy who came over for James Neal and Matt Niskanen in that awful trade." Jamie Benn's worthless brother Jordie Benn is still on the team. Why? To tell jokes? I don't know. Jamie Oleksiak is a big kid, but still a rough project. Point is, the Hawks should really be keeping Lehtonen on his heels.
For the Hawks, two guys are hurt already, which doesn't feel like a promising start. Rozsival is out, but then Versteeg also fucked up his knee in practice. Quenneville said "it doesn't look good." Of course, no injury ever looks good, but let's for a moment consult The Joel Quenneville Injury Understatement Translator:
"He should be fine" = out for a week
"He's day-to-day" = out two weeks and is at no point ever considered day-to-day
"Hard to say" = out a month
"We should know more in the morning" = out two months
"It's doesn't look good" = the player may very well be dead.
So yeah, brace yourselves (much like Versteeg is probably bracing his knee). They say he's out at least three weeks, but this is a guy with knee problems whose new coach was his old coach who got rid of him. I don't see him hurrying back.
With Rozsival out, Q is probably splitting up the Swedes on defense to keep the two rookies from getting lit up the second Benn and Seguin hit the ice, and with Versteeg out, so-called 13th forward Dan Carcillo will already dress for a game. Guess the time of the inevitable Carcillo/Roussel fighting majors! I've got 0:34, and that's seconds, not minutes.
Whoever runs sound/video for the Stars is a big internet nerd and basically fills the jumbotron with shit from KnowYourMeme.com. He plays Street Fighter music during fights. It's cute, but this has enabled Stars fans to think that they're exceptionally hip and with it instead of a bunch of assholes from a state of assholes.
Yeah, because your barn was filled with nothing but diehards when you ripped a team out of Minneapolis and bought a championship via Brett Hull, Ed Belfour, and Joe Nieuwendyk. I've got some topical humor for you: go die of Ebola.
Wish I could say "these guys suck, go Hawks," but this is probably a playoff team, and could wind up with a better position than us depending on how both teams elect to approach the 82-game preseason. The Kings got their championship banner stuck back up their ass
again last night, by the way.
predicted lines/pairs:
Sharp - Toews - Hossa
Saad - Shaw - Kane
Bickell - Richards - Smith
Morin - Kruger - Carcillo
Keith - Seabrook
Hjalmarsson - van Riemsdyk
Oduya - Cumiskey
Crawford
Raanta
Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Valeri Nichushkin
Patrick Eaves - Jason Spezza - Ales Hemsky
Antoine Roussel - Cody Eakin - Ryan Garbutt
Shawn Horcoff - Vernon Fiddler - Erik Cole
Alex Goligoski - Trevor Daley
Brendan Dillon - Jordie Benn
Patrik Nemeth - Kevin Connauton
Kari Lehtonen
Andres Lindback
Last year:
Hawks: 46-21-15 (107), 40-28-14 (94) adjusted for point inflation, 100.3 points expected by pythagorean number-crunching
Stars: 40-31-11 (91), 36-37-9 (81) adjusted, 85.1 points expected
Hawks: 261 goals scored, 212 goals allowed, +49
Stars: 231 goals scored, 223 goals allowed, +8
The song in the title is by the Dismemberment Plan, so, um, dismember the Stars!
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
