So what happens if this team is actually bad?

[MetalGodAOD*]

Random stuff that doesn't belong elsewhere. Stuff like promos, broadcast stuff, business side of things, etc.

We have so many threads right now.

That's kind of the problem. When seasons ramp up we have line combos and general rosterbating/complaining in GDTs, Trade Talk, General talk, and random anger/fire XXX threads. Trying to consolidate a bit.

 

[SonicSpeedDash]

I'll agree. Dillon isn't good.

Him and Jordie together is like the titanic hitting an iceberg.

 

[jason9090spezza]

I'll agree. Dillon isn't good.

Him and Jordie together is like the titanic hitting an iceberg.

I'm so glad that people are finally realizing how bad of a player he actually is lol


I shouldn't be saying the obvious but...holly **** this team sucks

 

[Frozen Failure]

I think Dillon lost something. I always felt he had something of a commanding presence because of his physical play at times when he first came into the league. Will he regain that drive? I don't know.

He's kind of lost that. It's kind of like Roussel, but at least Roussel is producing at a decent clip.

It's really just, they don't seem to want to exert any sort of upper body confidence. I completely understand wanting to focus on puck possession, but these guys aren't the best at possessing the puck. So exert some confidence by crushing some guys and dropping back to a grindier type of game. I mean, our lineup is mostly bottom 6 grinders at this point.

 

[Mr Misty]

Apologies if this isn't the right place, but I strongly advise people to have a little patience when it comes to Dillon. I can't stop anyone from assuming that the last 10-15 games of Dillon and Jordie represent the next 100-150 games of their careers, but remember at one point Dillon looked like a reliable defenseman. I think Dillon will rebound when he isn't suffering from rushing back from an injury to play in the playoffs, has a full camp, is playing as part of a defense group that is confident, and has a steady defense partner.

When you don't have a good group, you are going to have a bunch of slack meaning you give responsibility to those who are doing the best and keep increasing their workload until they show they can't handle it. When players like Jordie and Dillon hit that breaking point, oftentimes you kill their confidence and their play declines past where you thought they could handle it.

 

[StarsTx]

No denying he has talent, the problem is for him to be good he has to be physical and for some reason (coaching or not) he isn't. He is not offensively aware enough to play a finesse game and be any good whatsoever. If he will just play a physical game he can be good.

 

[Hull Fan]

I fear that good Dillon wasn't 30 games ago but more like during the lockout season or the first half of the year after that. Dillon wasn't exactly on fire last season and his injury at the end sure didn't help but to say these last 20 games isn't indicative of his play seems overly kind, imo. He's not the guy he used to be and if Ruff and company either don't want him playing that physical style or he has simply abandoned it and lost what hockey iq he had without Robidas to hand hold him as a partner, he needs to go.

There's obviously going to be plenty of time to evaluate him but it sure seems more than likely that either by the TDL or the draft he's not going to be part of this team in the future.

 

[glovesave_35]

There is still a good player to be made out of Dillon. He's not playing well now but given the change in his game we've seen from last year compared to his rookie season I think we should look at the biggest factor we can isolate, the coaching change. I don't know if the cause for change is Ruff or Fraser but it seems likely Dillon is being coached to play a game not suited to his skill set. I think we can all agree that Dillon hasn't been as physical as we saw him play his rookie season. They need to play him on the natural side and with a defenseman with better hockey IQ than him.

I don't think he's playing so poorly as to drag down an actual good defender so it might be worth looking at putting him with Klingberg and see if the Swede can get him back on track. Good Dillon's skill set meshes perfectly with a heady player like Klingberg. I think it's worth a shot. If it works then you have two workable D-pairs and you can shelter Jordie and Oleksiak. If Dillon were traded to a team with halfway competent coaches and defense I have no doubt he would be the player we all thought he would be. I'm hoping we have a little patience with him.

 

[StarsTx]

I'm hoping our patience starts to run out with the coaches if they're coaching physical players not to hit when they can. It's also a little upsetting that Oleksiak is getting so little playing time despite not being any worse than Jordie and Dillon have been playing...All it's doing is hurting his confidence. Either play him a fair amount or let him be the top pair in in the AHL. Personally, I say roll with Oleksiak. As for pairs, I want to see Klinger on the top pair while he is playing this well, doesn't matter to me who his partner is as long as they are getting there minutes.

 

[glovesave_35]

Klingberg played the most minutes of anybody in a Stars jersey against Minnesota. This team doesn't really have a #1 pair but I think we are seeing that he will get his minutes.

 

[beepeearr]

I'm hoping our patience starts to run out with the coaches if they're coaching physical players not to hit when they can. It's also a little upsetting that Oleksiak is getting so little playing time despite not being any worse than Jordie and Dillon have been playing...All it's doing is hurting his confidence. Either play him a fair amount or let him be the top pair in in the AHL. Personally, I say roll with Oleksiak. As for pairs, I want to see Klinger on the top pair while he is playing this well, doesn't matter to me who his partner is as long as they are getting there minutes.

I cant remember ever disliking a group of assistants as much as this current bunch. The PP should not be this bad, and our breakouts have obviously become too predictable and that's on Fraser. We have had a string of failures at the NHL back up position, and some of that blames has to lay at Valleys feet. If Patrick is responsible for D playing softer then maybe he needs to go too.

Dillon is more effective when he's checking, if the coaches are telling him to check less thats a problem

 

[FirstRowUpperDeck]

In another thread I proposed Dillon Daley, but if Klinger keeps up as he starts, I could endorse trying Dillon with him.

It would sort of be Hatcher and Zubov lite, but not bad mix of puck carrying and hitting/physical presence, etc. At least, the best we have. Not quite all world but serviceable.

I agree its too early to bail on Dillon. It seems everyone here wants him to be Hatcher in his prime, but he isn't quite there yet. Not to say he is that bad, even if his big hits are down. It does seem like Ruff is preaching position and stick over thundering hits which can take you out of position. I actually recall Hatcher dialing it down a bit under Hitch because he had a habit of being out of position after some big hits, as would anyone.

 

[StarsTx]

Maybe, but Hatcher made sure you paid if you came in with your head down. I'll say this, the stars have lost a lot of puck battles along the boards this year it seems, and it's hard to win the puck laying on the ice. Maybe a few really good checks in the d zone is just what is needed.

 

[Mr Misty]

I'm hoping our patience starts to run out with the coaches if they're coaching physical players not to hit when they can. It's also a little upsetting that Oleksiak is getting so little playing time despite not being any worse than Jordie and Dillon have been playing...All it's doing is hurting his confidence. Either play him a fair amount or let him be the top pair in in the AHL. Personally, I say roll with Oleksiak. As for pairs, I want to see Klinger on the top pair while he is playing this well, doesn't matter to me who his partner is as long as they are getting there minutes.

I absolutely disagree. A team with a strong top 4 that was integrating a rookie would start at about 12 minutes, gradually work up to 16, and maybe get to 18 over the course of 60-80 games. Sheltering a young player is exactly the way to build up his confidence.

 

[Hull Fan]

I absolutely disagree. A team with a strong top 4 that was integrating a rookie would start at about 12 minutes, gradually work up to 16, and maybe get to 18 over the course of 60-80 games. Sheltering a young player is exactly the way to build up his confidence.

Yeah maybe but that isn't what they did during his first 6-8 games or whatever he's played. He was playing 15 minutes a night and now all of a sudden we have this regression where he's stapled to the bench most of the game while Jordie and Dillon herp derp all over the ice and cause problems. To be sure in comparison he shouldn't get the ice time Klingberg has but other than playing on the 3rd pair and trying to use matchups and zone starts to shelter him, Oleksiak was playing more and now he's not. Why?

 

[piqued]

Dillon becoming less physical is a natural reaction to being whistled for a penalty every time he hit someone. I don't think it's really being purposefully coached out of him or anything like that. It's just the direction the league has decided to take the sport.

 

[beepeearr]

Dillon becoming less physical is a natural reaction to being whistled for a penalty every time he hit someone. I don't think it's really being purposefully coached out of him or anything like that. It's just the direction the league has decided to take the sport.

He's still getting penalties, his hitting didn't decline because of penalties, they nose dived the year Ruff took over, just watch our defense its all stick checking. Oleksiak is our top defensive hitter and he plays the fewest minutes

 

[StarsTx]

I absolutely disagree. A team with a strong top 4 that was integrating a rookie would start at about 12 minutes, gradually work up to 16, and maybe get to 18 over the course of 60-80 games. Sheltering a young player is exactly the way to build up his confidence.

Fair point but it is odd to me that as he appears to be getting better, his minutes are being reduced. And as bad as Jordie and Dillon have played to me it would seem as though the coach was singling me out if I was him. You very well may right though.

 

[FirstRowUpperDeck]

Maybe, but Hatcher made sure you paid if you came in with your head down. I'll say this, the stars have lost a lot of puck battles along the boards this year it seems, and it's hard to win the puck laying on the ice. Maybe a few really good checks in the d zone is just what is needed.

Not sure just how those are related. Obviously, head shots are down now.

I used to love watching Mike Keane for one. He went into the corner, hit a guy, and then came away with the puck, as often as not.

Some guys hit hard but forget the main reason for the hit. They throw the big hit, but forget that the puck is there, and the opponent still manages to pass it somewhere. From what I have seen, focusing on really hard hits rather than a hit/steal combo, isn't really effective.

Granted, from time to time, constant hard hits can throw the other guys off their game, but that comes as a positional price, and maybe Ruff doesn't think the Stars are physical enough to play that way.

 

[Satan]

Wimp league

 

[StarsTx]

Maybe Ruff doesn't but they aren't lighting it up playing soft and a player like
Dillon has regressed. (May or may not be coaching)

And I'm not saying head hunt, but your not going to convince me the hard hits by guys like Hatcher, Stephens, and Pronger weren't series changers back in the day. No doubt the league is trying to eliminate a lot of that to the point it really hurt Hatcher and Prongers games, but there has to be a balance. Big physical defenders that will light somebody up every now and then are still playing on most of the really good teams, it seems like.

 

[Cin]

Random stuff that doesn't belong elsewhere. Stuff like promos, broadcast stuff, business side of things, etc.



That's kind of the problem. When seasons ramp up we have line combos and general rosterbating/complaining in GDTs, Trade Talk, General talk, and random anger/fire XXX threads. Trying to consolidate a bit.

Okay cool.

 

[Cin]

The whole reason you check is to take a player out of the play. So being 'out of position' after a hit is going to happen. That's the point, unless it's a forecheck.

So why not take out other teams bigger stars with our mediocre defense? It can only be a good thing.

piqued is definitely right though. This is turning into the No Hit League more each season and with more and more rules added all the time.

 

[David Castillo]

I don't think the league is trying to eliminate hits so much as they're trying to refine hitting so that it results in less injuries. But all of that is still at the mercy of the guys on the ice; as the game has gotten quicker, and as teams have emphasized puck possession, the need for "stay at home" defenders has lessened.

Coaches are no longer preaching a block the shot philosophy except for weirdos like Tortorella. I mention this trend because your stay at home types tended to be physical. If you want to throw a big hit, you be better be able to skate. So I think the change has been more philosophical than anything. But I also think Dallas is unique: our top defenders are undersized, therefore, are taught to go after the pick instead of engaging in a physical battle they're at a disadvantage on. Dillon is kind of an awkward skater, but I doubt he's being coached to not hit (remember his shot on Loui last year or this monster slam on Andrew Shaw?). I think he just suffers from an identity crisis; has has the physicality to be a defensive defenseman, but wants to be involved in a rush up ice and play run and gun instead.

 

[beepeearr]

So, with us playing Chicago on the second night of a b2b, feeling a little pessimistic, so say this team is really bad this year, we get a top three pick and somehow get Spezza resigned anyway, do we make a run at Babcock?