Mike Heika's Weekly Stars Chat

Every Thursday during the hockey season, Mike Heika gets the chance to chat with Stars fans. With the season beginning to comedown the home stretch. What kind of records needed to get back to the playoffs was a big topic of discussion.

Also topics like Eric Nystrom's hit on Kris Letang during the Stars VS. Penguins Game that became very  after it was revealed that Nystrom will not be suspended for the play. Also the crowds as they beginning to slowly win back hockey fans with the recent run where they won 4 in a row including a big win Sunday Afternoon against Vancouver on Sunday Afternoon.

With just 18 games left and their looking to to start putting some pressure like San Jose & Chicago for the 6th & 7th Place Spots and are also just 4 points back of Pacific Division Leading Phoenix Coyotes which would get them an automatic top 3 spot. Their becoming a team that can really be at least a dangerous lower seed in the playoffs and with guys like Ryan Garbutt who came out of nowhere to make an impact, as well as players like Brendan Morrow who are out who are on the verge of coming back.

Also in Austin, it could be a chance for players like Scott Glennie, Matt Fraser, Colton Sceviour & Jordie Benn possibly looking to get some call ups as the Texas Stars Playoff Hopes are beginning to disappear as they sit on the bottom of the AHL Western Conference to bring in some energy and to challenge some of the top players as well.

It will be a Western Canada Road Trip coming up for the Stars with Edmonton tomorrow night, Calgary on Sunday Afternoon and wrapping up in Vancouver on Tuesday Night.

Mike Heika Chat Replay

Mike Heika Chat for 2/23

Every Thursday during the NHL Season, Dallas Morning News Mike Heika does a chat with fans regarding the Dallas Stars & the rest of the NHL. Right now, the NHL Trading Deadline is on the mind of many fans right now after Nicklas Grossman got traded to the Flyers back on February 16 for a 2012 2nd Round Pick & a 2013 3rd Round Pick. Rumors are going around that Steve Ott could be on the trading block here coming up as the Trade Deadline will be coming up on February 27 at 2:00 PM CT.

Even though the trade deadline dominated conservation, other topics included about the relationship between GM Joe Nieuwendyk & Stars Owner Tom Galgardi, and an interesting question regarding prospects; and that is Does the Team take to long bringing up it's prospects?

Tonight's game will wrap up a quick 2 game road trip after shutting out the Montreal Canadians, 3-0 on Tuesday. It's a trip to Chicago to visit the Blackhawks and the Stars have a chance to get into the 8th & Final Playoff spot tonight with a Stars Victory and a Calgary Flames loss to the Phoenix Coyotes tonight which starts at 8:00 PM Tonight. This was possible thanks to a Los Angeles loss to Colorado last night. Also, Richard Bachman will be getting his 1st start since February 2nd where the Stars to the San Jose Sharks, 5-2.

It's a busy night across the NHL Tonight as other important games for Stars fans to follow include the Minnesota Wild playing Florida, Pacific Division Leading San Jose playing Toronto & the Anaheim Ducks playing the Carolina Hurricanes.

2/23 Mike Heika Chat

NHL Trade Deadline Tracker

Mike Heika Chat

Got a question for Dallas News Stars Insider Mike Heika? Mike will be having his weekly chat this afternoon at 1:30 PM which will get underway in about a half-hour. As always, his chats go on for about an hour so get in line to ask him anything related to the Stars.

Mike Heika Weekly Fan Chat

Online Chat with Dallas Morning News Hockey Insider Mike Heika

Earlier today, Mike Heika chatted from sunny South Florida as he chatted with Dallas Stars fans about the latest with the team. Major topics today included the latest with the Stars Ownership situation, options with Brad Richards with this year being his final year of his contract.

Also involved were questions about fixing the Special teams (Esp. PK) and if this team can find a way to make the postseason for the first time since the 2007-2008 season when they reached the Western Conference Finals.

Here's the Link to the Dallas Morning News Dallas Stars Chat

Here's some other stories from Mike Heika in the last few days as the Dallas Stars will face the Florida Panthers tonight.

Dallas Stars Success depends on fixing little Things

Kari Lehtonen plays huge role against the Florida Panthers Tonight


Here's the Game Thread that Defending Big D will be chatting about the game tonight which gets underway at 6:30 PM (FSN Southwest). I will also be on the Fan Chat as well. So look for me as tanman9.

Defending Big D Game Thread

Mike Heika's Q&A with Jonathan Cheechoo

Jonathan Cheechoo has seen both the big time highs and the very lows of his career of late. One of the biggest examples was the season after the lockout where he was among the league leaders in goals with 56. However, the last two seasons have been problematic for him as he's been disappointing the last two years with the Ottawa Senators & San Jose Sharks as he has scored just 43 points in 127 games the last two seasons.

He was let go by the Senators just after the season ended and hasn't had much interest from anyone until the Stars will give him a shot to make the team in training camp.

He will be looking to get back to his prime where he has at least 20 goals in every year except for last year and his rookie year back in the 2002-2003 season. Many believe that he has been brought in to challenge Fabian Brunnstrom for a roster spot who has gone down here extremely fast since his strong rookie season, can he make an impact for the Stars when training camp begins in PEI later this week, only time will tell but he has a proven past and will look to fight every possible way to get back to his best year when he scored 56 goals in the 2005-2006 season.


Jonathan Cheechoo Profile

Here's the Jonathan Cheechoo Q&A that Mike Heika asked Cheechoo yesterday on the Dallas Morning News

Heika: Do you look back at the last two or three years and wonder what happened? You were traded, demoted to the minors and eventually bought out. How did you see that progression?

Cheechoo: "I don't know really. I just have to put it behind me and move forward. I've had probably the best summer of work I have had in a long long time, and i'm feeling really good, better then I have in a long time.

Heika: You have gone through a lot of surgeries, hernia, shoulder, knee... and are you healthy now?

Cheechoo: "I haven't had shoulder surgery just some problems with looseness there. I've had double hernia surgery and then with me knees I had both my MCL's done last year in San Jose. But everybody has injuries and now it's a matter of I feel healthy now. I didn't get hurt last year at all, I didn't miss any games, so I see that as a positive step. Now, I want to get out there and play. I'm excited about the chances here."

Heika: How did you get connected with Dallas?

Cheechoo: "They contacted me and let me know how interestred they were. They've always been a team that i've hated to play against, so I know it's not a team that's going to miss the playoffs often. I know they missed last year, but I know it's something they want to remedy and I hope I come in and help a bit."

Heika: Do you think this is a place where you could fit? They have a need for a right handed shot and you could end up playing on a line with Brendan Morrow and Mike Riberio.

Cheechoo: "It's definitely someplace where things feel like they can fall into the right place. The opportunity is there, now it's up to me to take advantage.

Heika: How can you do that?

Cheechoo: "I feel healthier, I'm hungry. I feel strong. I feel solid out there. A lot of my game is to protect the puck and get it to the guys who make the plays. I feel like I have that strength now. A lot of it is confidence, and when you lose confidence, you struggle to get it back. I'm just working hard on that and finding my shot. I built a shooting structure in my backyard and worked a lot of there. I'm just hoping it all pays off."

Heika: You had to really battle to get into the NHL the first time. Does that help you at a time like this?

Cheechoo: "Sure. I do feel its just a matter of putting your head into the right head to the grindstone and going at it, and I do feel I have done that this summer. Hopefully, I can prove people wrong and mainly just prove to myself that I can do it."

Heika: They're looking at you possibly getting a spot on a line with Mike Riberio. You know Riberio game pretty well. Do you think they could be chemistry there?

Cheechoo: "I think the coaches are looking for anything that works, so whoever works the best together, it will have to be natural. You can't force it. He buys so much time and gives you that extra second, and when you get that extra second, you have a chance to look to see where you want to put the puck. I know Joe Thornton did that, and he did that mostly with size, but Mike does it mostly with quickness. But it definitely could work. We'll see."

Mike Heika's Q&A with Marc Crawford

Recently Mike Heika got a chance to check out some pre training camp workouts that the Dallas Stars have been doing as the team leaves for Prince Edward Island this weekend. He will look to get this team back into the post season with Modano & Turco plus Lehtinen future's uncertain, it will be up to the young guys like Eriksson, Benn & Neal to take the next step to take leadership roles this year.

He also did a Q&A with Jonathan Cheecho as well as he got an invite to training camp to possibly challenge Fabian Brunnstrom for a roster spot.

Here's Mike Heika's Q&A with Dallas Stars Head Coach Mark Crawford.

Heika: So How will this team be different this year? How will it improve?

Crawford: "I think experience will be a huge help. Our players are a year older, and they've been in this system for a year, and I do think that makes a difference. And while it maybe tough to lose some key players, I think we can look at that in a positive way. We have lost players who had a very large presence in the locker room, and now other players have to step up and fill that presence. I think we have a lot of room for growth. I think there is a freshness to our room right now. It's easy to get bogged down with negativity, but were not going to do that. We're looking at solutions and looking at positives, and were excited about the opportunity to prove were a good team. "That's all you can ask for."


Heika: How does starting training camp for three days (beginning September 18) in Prince Edward Island help that?

Crawford: "It will be fast and furious, but I also think its a great way to start the season. They do such a great job with the captain's practices and scrimmages here in Frisco, and the players are almost all here early, so that's really not a feeling that anything is different when we start camp here. But to go up there, and go into hockey country, so to speak, there is going to be real emotional boost and a real feeling that the camp has started and it's time to get serious.


Heika: What are your impressions of Kari Lehtonen so far. Do you think he's ready for a full season as a #1 Goalie?

Crawford: "He's been here so much and he's worked so hard over the summer that we do feel he's in great shape and he's ready to play. I think when you even look back at the end of last season, we were seeing a very good goalie down the stretch, and he was still just getting started. Now after a summer with J.J. (Mcqueen) and Mike Valley, I think you see a very skilled individual. He's very focused and very excited about playing here and getting the season started. I definitely think we all see that in him. He's not what you call a real emotional guy, but you see a real bounce in his step and a purpose in his preparation."


Heika: Do you have a window of how many games you would like to see him play, somewhere between 55 and 60.

Crawford: "We're not going to put that on him, because he's been through a lot of adjustments and simply want to be able to read him today. I like to look at it this way, Marty Turco played way to many games before last season and we were trying to manage him down from those games to a play where it would be better for him and better for us as a team. This year, we are trying to manage Kari up into the same area. He's our #1 Goalie, and we want to find a place where he's most comfortable, but you don't really want to put in a number one goalie on that. I will say that I have talked to him, and we have decided he will play three full games in the preseason, and that's the best way to attack the preseason. We want to get him in the game and get him used to a routine."


Heika: Defensively, you had some problems last year. How do you plan to fix those problems?

Crawford: "I think attention to detail is a big thing. I think goaltending can be a big thing. I think improving the penalty kill is a big thing. These are all things we've talked about with the coaching staff this summer. We have spent a lot of time on penalty killing. We felt that maybe we were a bit too passive at times, and we're going to make adjustments to improve our ability to play a little more aggressively when we see pressure points. I don't think you can always attack, but I do think need to recognize pressure points and force the other team to make decision. I think we will see players like Nicklas Grossman, Mark Fistric & Matt Niskanen understand their jobs better and make better decisions. We'll definitely help them with attention to detail, but I think the simple fact that they're a year older will help them a lot. And, as for goaltending, I think we will have competition throughout the org. that will really push the goaltenders to be better. I think we'll see Brent Krahn and Andrew Raycroft push each other and we'll see Richard Bachman and Tyler Beskorowany push each other. And that will help push Kari."


Heika: How do you see a player like Jonathan Cheechoo, who is in camp on a tryout? On one hand, he's been a top level goal scorer in the league. On the other hand, two teams have not been happy with him in the past two seasons and have let him go.

Crawford: "Well, I think if you want to get the most out of him, you have to give him a chance to be a goal-scorer. We're going to try him out with Mike Ribeiro and Brendan Morrow, and allow him the chance to play on a scoring line and play on the power play. He's a right handed shot, and Ribs like a right handed shot, and we just feel his skills fit there. It's a short camp and we're not going to play every line in every preseason game, so we'll have to asses things pretty fast."


Heika: Does that mean you would look at Jamie Benn as a center instead of a possible right wing on the Riberio line?

"Well, he's definitely an option up there (on the Riberio line), but I think we'll start him as a center just to see how things look. We'll probably play him with Steve Ott and then put Tom Wandell with Adam Burish and see how that looks. But our plan right now is for the first 10 days of camp, and then we'll adjust. Nothing is written in stone, so we'll take a look at how some things and then we'll adjust where we are."


Heika: Do you have a plan for how your defense pairs might look?

Crawford: "Yeah, but again, it's just how we'll start out. We like Grossman and Robi, we thought Nisky played with Skrastins last year, and we like Fistric with Daley. Past that, we'll probably run Woywitka with Blindenbacher, Fortunas with Lukowich and Ludwig with Larsen."


Heika: Do you feel there are open jobs there and that there could be a real surprise?

Crawford: "Definitely. Every Year, there seems to be some surprise, so you have to put the players in competitive situations and just let things happen. I know in talking to players who have been around that they're excited and that more plan to be on the team then we have room for, so that's going to start the competition right there."

Mike Heika's Off Season Grades

With the Icebreaker coming up on Saturday and the start of training camp next week in Charlottentown, PEI, Canada. Mike Heika is taking a look at the off season moves that the Dallas Stars did in a segment he's doing called "Grading the Off-Season".

Here's a look at the links and a few of my thoughts as well. Expect him to do segments on things like the Coaching/GM Moves, top prospects and this year's draftess lead by Goalie Jack Campbell.

Here's the Segments by Mike Heika

Defensemen

Goalies

Skilled Forwards

Depth Forwards

Stars Hope to Avoid the Same Circus with Ownership Change

With the Texas Rangers Ownership mess now behind us, the thing that Stars fans are hoping now is that the same thing doesn't happen to the Dallas Stars. For many reasons, the Stars can't afford an ownership mess as the team has missed the playoffs the last 2 years and with sagging ratings, add on the little trust with coach Marc Crawford and Joe Nieuwendyk.

And very few high level prospects in the Stars system, it would make things a lot worse for the Stars then for the Rangers as they are currently running away with the American League West with a month-and-a-half left in the baseball regular season.

Stars Fans want to see success and they need it more badly then the Rangers or even the Mavericks right now. If the ownership doesn't get done by the start of the season like Tom Hicks said it would. It could be a Tom Hicks dejavu with the Stars Ownership as the possible owners are down to 2 as the Fox News Corp. has officially withdrawn from the ownership bidding process as Mike Heika confirmed in his exclusive this morning.

In an email from FSN VP Chris Belliti to Mike Heika gave him a one line statement that read.

"Fox will not be submitting a bid for ownership for the Dallas Stars."

Belliti believes that Fox News Corp. Rupert Murdoch gotten out of the bid process and just wants to focus on keeping the Television Rights. The Rights don't expire till the 2013-2014 season, so it's not a high profile issue right now.

Here's the Full Piece from the Exclusive

The Stars are currently down to 2 with both having ties in the Western Hockey League (WHL). Bill Gallacher (Portland Winterhawks) and Tom Gaglardi (Kamloops Blazers). Both owners have taken these teams back to their former glory - and in the Portland Winterhawks - saved from them relocation as rumors of the team moving to places like Vancouver Island and Boise, Idaho were rampart just a couple of years ago.

I didn't want to see FSN get involved in the ownership, in many instances like this the ownership group usually don't care about the team. It would allow the team to sink into oblivion and just sees it as an investment and won't give the coaching staff and GM the players and know how to help the team be more success. Especially in a situation where they have been out of the playoffs the last 2 years and I wouldn't be surprised to make it 3 in a row with the team being in its current shape.

The only prominent wildcard out there right now is Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban. Heika believes that Cuban is not interested right now, but with how close he was to getting the Texas Rangers, he should never be counted out when it comes down to major sports in this town.

Personally, I would love to see Mark Cuban get into the fray here, with how the NHL has kind of sagging recently in the national and international spotlight in some places. He would have some interesting ideas to give commissioner Gary Bettman to spice up the game both on and off the ice and to help get the NHL back on the spotlight and more national television exposure.

Regardless of who the new owner or ownership group is, he needs to put a lot of pressure on Marc Crawford and Joe Nieuwendyk to put a strong team on the ice and not see another year of missing the playoffs and letting the team and the fans down. Stars fans are angry and many would like to see them both go once when the ownership comes in.

However, my take is lets see how good they are when they have the monetary resources and the ability to get be more aggressive on getting high profile players. If they don't, then it would be time to let both of them go and bring in a coach and GM.

To me, it's not critically important again yet. But to me, if we don't see much movement before the start of NHL Training Camp which on September 17 in Charlottentown, PEI. That's when I think when fans will really want to see something done as the season is getting ready to start.


Here's an article that Mike Heika wrote on Tuesday about the Ownership Situation. www.dallasnews.com

While the completion of the sale of the Rangers shouldn't directly impact the Stars, the process the Rangers went through has been educational, those who are running the Stars sale say.

"I think the biggest thing is we learned a lot with the Rangers, and we're trying y hard not to make some of the same mistakes," Stars owner Tom Hicks Said. "In that regard, we do expect it to go more smoothly with the Stars."

Hicks said he thinks the deal can get done before the start of the season on October 8, and the NHL Agrees. There are three legitimate bidders, they have all gone through the diligence and should be ready to put in bids pretty soon. However, Hicks, and the NHL and brooker Sal Galatioto have confirmed that all parties have signed confidentiality agreements and that there will not be talk of specifics about the deal.

While it has been confirmed through sources that the three potential buyers are News Corp, Portland Winterhawks Owner Bill Gallacher and Kamloops Blazers Owner Tom Gaglardi, the actual negotiations process should be different then it was with the Rangers. That negotiation was done in a public bankruptcy hearing, so fans got to see which bidders were bidding what. The Stars sale is a private one, so the bids will happen behind the scenes and probably will not be released unless the information is leaked.

Because the relationship between Hicks and Major League Baseball was strained, the sale was delayed and was eventually pushed into a bankruptcy court. Currently the relationship between Hicks and the NHL is a solid one, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said, and the two sides have agreed on Galatioto Sports Partners as the broker in the deal. That's important, because GSP is the second leading lien holder behind Monarch Investment Group, which holds the largest debt for Hicks Sports Group.

The thought there is GSP will be able to broker a deal that is fair for the lenders, because it is one for the lenders. However, there is some concern whetever the lenders can all agree, because there were moments in the Rangers Sale when they lenders were not on the same page. In fact, the relationship between the lenders could be the biggest wildcards in this negotiation.

The bankruptcy protection granted by the NHL by the loan covenants agreed to by the lenders will expire this month. When it does, the lenders could take the Stars into bankruptcy.

That's not currently the plan, especially when it comes to the NHL or the Stars. When the Phoenix Coyotes went to bankruptcy court, Ontario Businessman Jim Balsillie tried to put the Riders on the sale of the team that would allow the Coyotes to move to Hamilton, Ontario. The courts eventually decided a league could not be forced to move a team, but the decision cost time and money. The NHL eventually bought the Coyotes and is still seeking a permanent buyer.

That's not something anyone wants to happen with the Stars. The League, the Stars and the lenders would like to hold the auction without needing bankruptcy court. All would like the highest possible sale price, and buyers would like a fair shot at ownership. That's the plan right now. Whoever ends up owning the Stars, Hicks said he believes they will be in good shape moving forward.