2021-2022 Stars Regular Season Thread

[The Frugal Gourmet]

Of course. Gotta get on the cause de jure.

[slaps]

Win tonight and the Stars are in, right? Sutter summed it up:

[Knives Out]

Today I learned that Esa Lindell wears #23 because he was born on May 23rd, which is also my birthday. BOOOO!

[Troy McClure]

Today I learned that Esa Lindell wears #23 because he was born on May 23rd, which is also my birthday. BOOOO!

Had you posted this a year ago, you'd have reason to expect to receive a Lindell autograph in the mail signed "To my birthday buddy"

[B Kat]

TSF is a 23 as well, July.

[Troy McClure]

For some context about how rare this is for a Dallas Star, here are the number of times each guy broke 40:
Modano - once
Benn - once
Seguin - once

[The Frugal Gourmet]

He's probably normally about a 15 goal scorer. He can thank Bowness's high flying system.

[Troy McClure]

Strange stat: the Stars are probably going to finish the season having the fewest penalty minutes of the whole NHL.

[Knives Out]

Give Benn the Lady Byng.

[ToddM]

80% of that is Radulov getting scratched.

[wonko80]

To build on what Troy has mentioned about the Regulation Wins being way off for the Stars... They're tied for 6th worst in the Western Conference with Winnipeg for Regulation Wins (30 each). All of Vancouver, Vegas, and Nashville have more RW than Dallas.

This is not a team built for the playoffs, but one that relies upon non playoff conditions of OT or shootout to get where they are in the standings.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

Well they have no secondary scoring or shutdown line. I'm amazed they made the playoffs actually.

[BigAl]

The plan all along has been to become a get-to-overtime team, where we will wear down opponents in OT with our well rested 1st, 2nd, and 4th lines.

[Troy McClure]

Choose your enemy.

The Avs have a bad record recently. They lost to Nashville in a shootout tonight. Most surprising to me is how the Avs played their top guys a ton. You'd think they'd be resting or going easy but no.

[ToddM]

I saw exactly one game of hockey this season, so I'm pretty confident that we could beat the Avs.

[slaps]

I don't think the Divealanche really care right now. They're just going through motions.

[Math]

The Avs have a bad record recently. They lost to Nashville in a shootout tonight. Most surprising to me is how the Avs played their top guys a ton. You'd think they'd be resting or going easy but no.

Probably because Bednar wants to keep the rhythm before entering the playoffs. There have been some frequent first roung upsets in the past where the "rested" top team who played its last games on one skate lost against the underdog already in playoffs mode. Risky though in regard of potential injuries.

But some Avs forward piled up a shitload of minutes against Nashville: Rantanen and McKinnon with 24 mins. and Val, the most used forward with 25:38. That's huge.

[slaps]

IMG_0198.JPG (63.46 KiB) Viewed 440 times

[The Frugal Gourmet]

I think both teams are scared shitless wondering how to contain the Faksa line.

[Knives Out]

[Troy McClure]

Bruce thinks he's offering up how great Bowness is when all he's really doing is highlighting how the Stars have been inconsistent under several coaches with struggled to make the playoffs.

A .577 points percentage doesn't make the playoffs most seasons.

[ToddM]

Actually those percentages are remarkably consistent.

[wonko80]

If you want to barely make it into the playoff every other year and hope to go on a magical run, Bones is your guy.

[BigAl]

Bowness is not a great coach, but quite a lot of fans would have you believe he’s literally the worst coach in history.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

I think he plays a style that is frustrating against the less talented teams but sometimes keeps us from getting overwhelmed against the more talented ones. This isn't particularly sexy or fun and seems somewhat futile.

Still, I couldn't imagine a coach taking this team to a much better record anyway. They don't have the talent.

[slaps]

Bowness is not a great coach, but quite a lot of fans would have you believe he’s literally the worst coach in history.

I think he’s a bad coach, but certainly not the worst ever. Maybe only like third-worst.

He’s gone from a “lovable player’s coach” to a guy who shits on his players all the time - nothing is ever his fault. And it’s so boring watching the Stars limp along to one-goal games. His style and decisions are wildly out of touch with modern hockey.

[BigAl]

…a guy who shits on his players all the time…

No he doesn’t. This is a gross exaggeration that people choose to believe because they want him gone.

His style and decisions are wildly out of touch with modern hockey.

When the team repeatedly finishes in the middle of the pack then they are actually defining what a modern hockey is. Average hockey in the modern era is still modern hockey. Out of touch would describe some of the 17 teams that finished lower than us.

[ScubaSteve]

There are many hockey coaches and Rick Bowness is definitely one of them.

[wonko80]

Would out of touch describe having a worse goal differential (the only negative one mind) than every other team that made the playoffs and even some that didn't make the playoffs?

[B Kat]

Out of touch is code for old.