The Lester Patrick Trophy has been presented by the National Hockey League and USA Hockey since 1966 to honor a recipient's contribution to ice hockey in the United States. It is considered a non-NHL trophy because it may be awarded to players, coaches, officials, and other personnel outside the NHL. The trophy is named after Lester Patrick (1883–1960), player and long time coach of the New York Rangers, who was a developer of ice hockey.

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Just a thought...The Rangers are apparently read to buy out Chris Drury to free up space for Richards. Regardless of what happens with Richards I think Drury could be a valuable target. He is not a highly offensive player anymore, however he was a key leader on Team USA during the Olympics and has been a consistent 20 goal scorer. He has been a captain, he is a strong 2-way player, he won 56% of his faceoffs last season. He could be a good player on a line with Langenbrunner(giving incentive to bring him back). Obviously you don't go throw a 4+ year deal at him with a ton of money. But if you can get him cheap I think he could be a great fit.

Morrow-Ribs-Eriksson

Benn-Drury-Langenbrunner

Wandell-Ott-Burish

And obviously you could switch things around, Ott 2nd line center if he can handle the offensive load on a regular basis? In general I think this leaves a lot of versatility in the lineup. If Benn, and Wandell can improve on their FO's with Ott, Burish, Drury leading the way. How often did we harp on faceoffs, and leadership last season. I think that could really solidify the top 3 lines without breaking the bank, and still giving Joe the freedom to go pursue another defenseman. What are your thoughts?

Albeit in a loss, Mike Smith started in net for Tampa tonight. He played solid in a 3-1 loss allowing just 2 goals on 19 shots. This is third appearance in the series. He stopped all 21 shots he faced in 41 minutes during game 4, as well as 8 saves in the third period of game 2.

So for those of you that like to follow former Stars players, he has been taking advantage of his time in net during the playoffs. Proving once again that Dallas is probably the best team in the NHL at drafting/ developing goalies??? 

I was responding to a post about contracts when I started to have a thought about the future of this club, and building towards being a long-term cup contender. I think it is something that as fans maybe is a bit out of sight out of mind right now. The actual salary numbers are really the only concern right now because of the budget. However with back-loaded deals this team`s cap number is about 6 million more than the budget. I am by no means suggesting Joe has not considered this, or that the back-loaded deals were not a wise move to help keep this team together. However I do think this team is walking a dangerous line when it comes to the long-term future.

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    The two most promising prospects in the organization, and the only two with real bluechip expectations, had very similar tough starts to junior seasons. One struggling with a new environment and tougher competition, the other struggling without his longtime linemates and struggling to carry the offensive load. However both have rebounded as the season has progressed. J.C. had a sports psychologist help him handle the pressure and expectations and saw his play improve and show flashes of brilliance. Leading him to all but lock up a spot as starter for Team USA in the upcoming world junior championships in Buffalo. Glennie although started to pick up the pace offensively was a day late and a dollar short. He failed to achieve a tryout with ultra-competitive Team Canada. Probably a huge let down to a kid who was expected to make the team, and probably be a key contributor as an 8th overall draft pick in 2009.

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All about THIS season!

    I think that GM Joe has had some very difficult decisions in his first year and a half at the head of  the Big Seat in Dallas. And has made some very intelligent, yet difficult and thankless decisions. But what he has ahead of him if this team continues to succeed at this pace is even more hair pulling. Given the apparent lack of ANY forward progress on the ownership front Joe must go forward assuming that the budget will be intact for next season(Unless miraculously a president and some posturing can afford the Stars a bigger budget to negotiate with Brad).

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Hello to all the MCM regulars around here. Ive been paroozing this blog for a while now and this is my first post of any kind. Name is Brendan, from Vancouver Island BC, Canada. Been a Titans fan since I watched Steve McNair and Eddie George in the Superbowl with the Rams. I wouldn`t say I am a very dedicated football fan, I am still learning many of the finer points of the game. I do try and watch whenever the Titans are on, and usually a little bit of football on Sundays regardless. I came into this season with tons and tons of expectation and hopes, lol well things certainly have gone haywire in the last 5 weeks. 

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Trevor Daley article here

While Daley excelled as an offensive defenseman in junior hockey, averaging about a point-per-game over his last two seasons with OHL Sault Ste. Marie, including 20 goals in 57 contests his final year, upon turning pro he focused much more on improving his defensive abilities.

That approach helped him reach the NHL.  Although his offensive output has never exceeded the seven goals and 25 points he earned in 2008-09, Daley developed into a solid, dependable defensive zone presence and has also contributed on penalty killing the last couple of seasons.  In 2009-10, while averaging 22:11 of ice time per game, second on the club to Robidas, Daley recorded a +3 plus/minus rating, tied for third on the Stars, while also ranking third on the squad with 131 blocked shots.

Still, he always tantalized with those brief displays of offensive wizardry, inducing illusions of a modern-day Sergei Zubov, but that potential remains mostly untapped.

“Sometimes, because he’s such a good skater, he’s got a tendency to glide into spaces,” Crawford said.  “As coaches, we’re always looking to make improvements with him and we look at that as an improvement that would help him and in turn, help us – get him to quicken his great pace.”

This still could be the breakthrough year. A healthy, motivated Daley increasing his offensive contributions while also continuing strong defensive play should go a long way towards helping Dallas battle its way back into the playoff picture.

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8 games

9.75% of the season

4 game winning streak

3 losses out of 4 including 2 at home

Kari plays 488 minutes stopping 246 out of 268 shots(91.79%).

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Pro Hockey Talk

It’s awfully early to go looking ahead towards the off-season at who is going to be an unrestricted free agent, but one of the players that figures to get a lot of attention then if he’s available is Stars forward Brad Richards. Richards is one of the best set-up men in the league, perpetually at the top of assist lists year in and year out and he’s in the final year of his deal with the Dallas Stars.

Ideally, the Stars would love to lock him up with an extension, but with the team’s ownership in flux with Tom Hicks looking to get out of owning the team, spending the kind of cash needed to keep Richards in town is a major hang-up to getting anything done as The Sun’s Eric Francis discusses.

While both sides would love to start hammering out a deal, Nieuwendyk’s hands are tied by his club’s ownership uncertainty brought on by Tom Hicks’ company’s default on US$525 million in bank loans backed by the Stars and half his rink earlier this year.

“We had some informal discussions and decided if you can’t get instructions from ownership you’re talking in a vacuum,” said Richards’ agent, Pat Morris. “So instead of getting the player or the team excited about anything, we’ll have to wait.”

Question is, how long will it take for new ownership to be solidified? It could be awhile.

“I’m not worried about it now because we’re four games in, we’re off to a good start (4-0) and Brad is a big part of that,” said Nieuwendyk of the future contract talks with the league’s current scoring leading.

“At some point, I’ll have to talk to the league because we’ll have to get down to business.”

Why the Stars would have to talk to the NHL is because in situations where ownership is hung up in the air, the NHL functions as a proxy to square away major money moves and re-signing Brad Richards would certainly qualify as such because it would be a long-term commitment to big money. Obviously the best solution to this is to hope the Stars get a new owner in place sooner rather than later, but if that doesn’t happen this season the Stars will be in the uncomfortable position of having to decide whether or not to trade Richards lest they risk losing him to free agency at the end of the season and getting nothing in return.

We’re a ways away from that even being a possibility, but it’s something the Stars do have to keep in mind as the season goes on. With how Richards’ season has already started, the offers that could come in for his services might be too juicy to pass up. With two goals and seven assists through four games and leading the Stars to a 4-0-0 record the demand across the league would be at a record high. The Stars just hope they don’t end up in the position of having to make a very difficult choice come spring.

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This draft pick will probably go down as one of the more important in DALLAS Stars history. I am going to give you an update of his tenure in the OHL.

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Placed on waivers by the Blackhawks? I know the Stars have a big of a logjam if they were to claim him, but this seems like a golden opportunity given his upside. Im not 100% in the know with his expected future but he was once first round pick, bluechip goalie. He clearly must be struggling if he lost the backup job in Chicago to Corey Crawford but still theres gotta be some significant upside left with this guy.

Bit of an off-the-wall thought, but anyways;  According to http://www.nhlnumbers.com the Stars are currently at 44.3 million in terms of player salaries, less Neal, Grossman, Niskanen. Now the talk all along has been the internal cap is at 45 million. Now it doesn't take a fifth grader to realize that these numbers do not jive. Now it is very possible that I do not fully understand the situation and how this internal cap pertains to certain salaries(ie. Sean Avery). However, beyond the point that I have believed from day 1 this "internal cap" is not a hard number......

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I know most of you are probably sick to your stomache of the Lebron like drama surrounding the Kovalchuk deal, however I have been thinking hard about the ramifications of these monster deals for the NHL down the road.

Marian Hossa- 30yrs old  12yr 62.8 million cap hit- 5.2 million age at end of contract- 42

Henrik Zetterberg- 29 yrs old 12yr 73 million cap hit- 6 million age at end of contract- 40

Johan Franzen- 30yrs old 11yr 43 million cap hit- 3.95 million age at end of contract- 40

Rick DiPietro- 28 yrs old 15yr 67.5 million cap hit- 4.5 million age at end of contract- 39

Roberto Luongo- 31 yrs old 12yr 64 million cap hit- 5.3 million age at end of contract- 43

Alex Ovechkin- I am not including because he is a generational player and is only 37 at the end of his deal

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This saga has been dragging on forever, and honestly has me online everyday specifically looking to see any updates. Now Modano seems to have some very specific stipulations to play with another team. My question would be with the Red Wing talk seemingly died off is it seeming more realistic day in day out that he will probably just retire?!?!? And do you think maybe that is what he really wants and has maybe subconciously set his demands to high? Or do you think as we get closer to the season he will just end up signing whatever contract anyone is willing to give him. 

If Modano does end up signing a low-salary deal with the understanding that he is going to have a small role, does it beg the question maybe Nieuwy shouldn't have come right out and said he wouldn't sign Modano. If it came down to it wouldn`t Modano rather sign with Dallas in that small role probably playing the wing. I understand at some point Dallas has to move on from Mike but I think he still has a desire to play and you might see a rekindled fire if the Stars could fight for a playoff spot and that. I would rather see him patrolling a 3rd or 4th line wing than Barch. 

I know this is all old talk and I might as well be beating a dead horse instead of writing this, but that is the doldrums of hockey in July when your ball team sucks (Mariners fan from Canada not a Rangers fan). I still fully support Joe and do not envy the tough decisions he has had to make given the restraints on him. Mike I think didn`t exactly give Joe much of a choice in that regard because if he REALLY REALLY wanted to finish his career only playing for the Stars he would have A) held back his desire to play and just retired, or B) Told Joe he would sign any contract he offered him and played any position or role that was available. 

As i'm sure a lot of Stars fans are right now, I need to find some good in the season so kind of re-capping the downs, and downs of the seasons I hope to find some positives.

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I thought since I am in a good mood I would break down our entire budget situation for next season and discuss possible options going forward.

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I do not necessarily agree with the way a lot of Head Coach jobs are treated now a days, in all pro sports, I dont agree with them being the fall guy to spark a team. However I really am at the point in wondering what if anything Crawford is actually doing to make this team better...in any facet. With Morrow, Zubov, Ott, Lehtinen, Richards all spending extended periods of time on the IR this team was actually better off at this point last season.

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