Monday Links: Takeaways From The Stars-Avalanche Miniseries

Nov 28, 2022 - 6:00 PM

The Dallas Stars will have to go through the Colorado Avalanche to hang onto their No. 1 ranking in the Central Division. That much seems apparent, and it will only become more pressing as what may be the most injured roster in the #MDK begins to return to full health.

So what can we learn from the past week’s Stars-Avs miniseries? Plenty as it turns out. Beat writers Saad Yousuf and Peter Baugh got together to discuss it for their new piece in The Athletic:

Baugh: Dallas always feels like a tough matchup for Colorado, and that’s more so the case with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin having resurgent seasons. Benn didn’t have his best night Saturday, coughing up a turnover that led to Nathan MacKinnon’s power-play goal in the first, but he’s averaging more than a point per game this season. He caused some havoc in front of the net that contributed to Dallas’ lone goal. If he and Seguin continue to play the way they’ve started the season, the Stars forward group looks a lot scarier, in large part because of Jason Robertson. He’s established himself as a star and was the main reason Dallas got a point Monday....

Yousuf: The Avalanche are built like a tank. Nazem Kadri, Jack Johnson, André Burakovsky and Darcy Kuemper are among those who aren’t even in the organization from that Cup-winning team a few months ago. The captain, [Gabriel] Landeskog, hasn’t played yet this season, and [Valeri] Nichushkin, a legitimate Selke talent, has been on the shelf for a while, as has Bowen Byram. If that wasn’t enough, [Evan] Rodrigues, who had an assist Monday against the Stars, joined the injury list this week and is out. All of that, and the Avalanche are 12-6-1, tied with the Winnipeg Jets for the best points percentage in the division.

But on to the important stuff – who has the sweetest reverse-retro?

Baugh: Initially, I was so-so on Colorado’s white reverse retro jerseys, but they looked much better in person. The tri-colored socks brought everything together, and the navy pants were a good choice to make the white sweaters pop. The Avalanche had an impossible task of trying to top the Nordiques throwbacks from two seasons ago, but these are a valiant effort. I give them a B+ after seeing them in person....

Yousuf: Because the Avalanche’s reverse retros are white, the Stars wore their road whites at home earlier this week and wore their home green threads in Colorado on Saturday. In between, they broke out their reverse retros Friday night at home against the Jets. The uniforms looked really nice and had the colors mixed in an appealing way instead of making the players look like stormtroopers, as they did in 2021. The Stars also did a great job with the presentation Friday night, changing the big screen to look like old Reunion Arena and playing exclusively ’90s jams throughout the game.

There’s much more behind the paywall, including some respect for Robo’s game when he’s not scoring. [The Athletic]

---

Stars Stuff

The “Jake Oettinger for Vezina” campaign is off to a pretty hot start.

Nothing but McJesus here, but if you go all the way to the end, you’ll find some quiet Hart Trophy love for JRob, tied for third in early voting with – wait for it! – Nathan MacKinnon.

And I swear this will be the last link for NHL.com, but you need to know that Wyatt Johnston is getting the good kind of attention.

Around The Leagues

In On The #Kill Taker

• Nothing but Central-on-Central violence for Sunday, as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Arizona Coyotes 4-3... [Hockey Wilderness]
• ...and the Winnipeg Jets strafed the Chicago Blackhawks, 7-2. [Second City Hockey]

Is Jakob Chychrun still available? He seems to have recovered well from off-season wrist surgery, and contenders are sniffing around.

The 2022 Para Hockey Cup has just begun, and already new records are being set.

Also from the CBC: Hockey fans aren’t happy about the rise in sports-book content in their streams – but the money means it’s probably here to stay yeah, leave it at that.

Meanwhile, Stars prospect Francesco Arcuri is setting some fires in the OHL.

Greetings From Scenic Cedar Park

The Texas Stars, currently at second in the AHL Central Division, beat the reigning Calder Cup champion Chicago Wolves in back-to-back contests at Allstate Arena.

Pictures or it didn’t happen...? OK.

Finally

Ringo may be as salty as his popcorn, but his heart is in the right place. Enjoy.