For whatever it’s worth, I do feel a little validated in hearing people in the organization, like Oettinger and Nill here today, openly addressing the things I observed as a fan. Many times, particularly toward the end of the reg season and the end of the Wild series, I thought the team just looked tired, depleted physically and mentally. Here’s hoping a long offseason, disappointing though it may be, can refresh the team and leave them better prepared for next season.
No team was punished more than the Stars by the Olympics. THey had 6 players over there and 3 of them got injured. Hintze basically was taken out for the rest of the season. Rantannen suffered an MCL and might as well have been knocked out for the season. Faksa obviously suffered something major.
Add that to the condensed schedule and all the other injuries and the accumulation of games over the past several seasons....and then getting "rewarded" for having the 2nd best record in the league by playing the team with the 3rd best record. If you were a script-writer trying to create a no-win situation for a team you'd be hard-pressed to top that.
100%. Meanwhile, the #2 team in the league, the Canes, played an Ottawa team that was also incredibly banged up AND worn down from fighting to even get into the playoffs (it seemed like a lot of analysts who picked the Sens to go far got blinded by stats instead of considering reason, but what do I know), and are now playing a Philly team that wasn’t even close to playoffs the previous year. All that to say, the Canes are probably going to go to the conference finals well-rested and relatively healthy, which is a huge boon this time of year. And all of that to say… good luck goes a long way!!
I live in Carolina so I'm rooting for the Canes; like the Stars they're a good team that has kept running into one of the two Florida buzzsaws each year.
I mean, Vegas had to play the 4th place team from the Central and then Anaheim, two teams that combined for 184 points. By contrast Minnesota has had to play two teams that combined for 233 points...that's 49 point swing!
No league has their head buried in the sand as deep as the NHL.
Which player was it that said that the year they won the Cup, they ran the same blue line the entire playoffs because they didn’t have a single injury (or at least one bad enough for anyone to sit)? I thought it was one of the Panthers but I can’t recall.
I’ve heard all the reasons—well, the one reason why Gary likes this playoff format, but 1v8 should be constitutional law.
I've argued this a long time....luck plays a MUCH bigger role in determining champions than fans or players like to admit.
A bounce. A bad call. A key injury. These things can swing entire series and seasons. But no one wants to say "we were the luckiest team" so luck is discounted or at least not talked about a lot.
If you can carve out 45 minutes, I urge Stars fans to watch Nill's full presser (which Robert does a great job summarizing, by the way). It's so refreshing to have a GM so honest, transparent, and forthcoming. There's no posturing or BS. And as he said at one point, in his role, he does have to try to take the emotion out of his job. But I respect how he keeps the humanity in it.
I watched the whole 45 mins before reading Roberts summary, so I think i could almost predict Roberts analysis would be spot on, and it was. As Stars fans, I think we are incredibly lucky to have Nill as it GM. He's easy to listen to, doesn't sugarcoat anything and tells us straight about the state of the team.
None of what he said makes it any easier to exit in the first round, but I'm still optimistic about next season, getting Seguin, Hintz, and fully healthy Rantanen, Heiskanen, Lundquist, and Harley back will be nice. I agree also that we can't blow this thing up, we're too good of a team!
Great take on Nill, thanks! Man, it’s so easy to forget how tough a game hockey can be at that level… and how though the players are to play hurt or at less than full health… for 82 games, then the playoffs, if they’re lucky!
Great season considering all they had to overcome.
For whatever it’s worth, I do feel a little validated in hearing people in the organization, like Oettinger and Nill here today, openly addressing the things I observed as a fan. Many times, particularly toward the end of the reg season and the end of the Wild series, I thought the team just looked tired, depleted physically and mentally. Here’s hoping a long offseason, disappointing though it may be, can refresh the team and leave them better prepared for next season.
No team was punished more than the Stars by the Olympics. THey had 6 players over there and 3 of them got injured. Hintze basically was taken out for the rest of the season. Rantannen suffered an MCL and might as well have been knocked out for the season. Faksa obviously suffered something major.
Add that to the condensed schedule and all the other injuries and the accumulation of games over the past several seasons....and then getting "rewarded" for having the 2nd best record in the league by playing the team with the 3rd best record. If you were a script-writer trying to create a no-win situation for a team you'd be hard-pressed to top that.
100%. Meanwhile, the #2 team in the league, the Canes, played an Ottawa team that was also incredibly banged up AND worn down from fighting to even get into the playoffs (it seemed like a lot of analysts who picked the Sens to go far got blinded by stats instead of considering reason, but what do I know), and are now playing a Philly team that wasn’t even close to playoffs the previous year. All that to say, the Canes are probably going to go to the conference finals well-rested and relatively healthy, which is a huge boon this time of year. And all of that to say… good luck goes a long way!!
100%!
I live in Carolina so I'm rooting for the Canes; like the Stars they're a good team that has kept running into one of the two Florida buzzsaws each year.
I mean, Vegas had to play the 4th place team from the Central and then Anaheim, two teams that combined for 184 points. By contrast Minnesota has had to play two teams that combined for 233 points...that's 49 point swing!
No league has their head buried in the sand as deep as the NHL.
Which player was it that said that the year they won the Cup, they ran the same blue line the entire playoffs because they didn’t have a single injury (or at least one bad enough for anyone to sit)? I thought it was one of the Panthers but I can’t recall.
I’ve heard all the reasons—well, the one reason why Gary likes this playoff format, but 1v8 should be constitutional law.
I've argued this a long time....luck plays a MUCH bigger role in determining champions than fans or players like to admit.
A bounce. A bad call. A key injury. These things can swing entire series and seasons. But no one wants to say "we were the luckiest team" so luck is discounted or at least not talked about a lot.
True!!
If you can carve out 45 minutes, I urge Stars fans to watch Nill's full presser (which Robert does a great job summarizing, by the way). It's so refreshing to have a GM so honest, transparent, and forthcoming. There's no posturing or BS. And as he said at one point, in his role, he does have to try to take the emotion out of his job. But I respect how he keeps the humanity in it.
I watched the whole 45 mins before reading Roberts summary, so I think i could almost predict Roberts analysis would be spot on, and it was. As Stars fans, I think we are incredibly lucky to have Nill as it GM. He's easy to listen to, doesn't sugarcoat anything and tells us straight about the state of the team.
None of what he said makes it any easier to exit in the first round, but I'm still optimistic about next season, getting Seguin, Hintz, and fully healthy Rantanen, Heiskanen, Lundquist, and Harley back will be nice. I agree also that we can't blow this thing up, we're too good of a team!
We are super fortunate to have some excellent writers covering the Stars and Robert is absolutely in that category
Great take on Nill, thanks! Man, it’s so easy to forget how tough a game hockey can be at that level… and how though the players are to play hurt or at less than full health… for 82 games, then the playoffs, if they’re lucky!
Great season considering all they had to overcome.
When does camp start, I’m ready :))))