The Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup in 1999 and lost last season’s championship series. But their star right wing Brett Hull has a “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet” attitude.
“Now, we’re playing as well as I’ve seen this team play and we have the potential to be better,” said Hull, who came to Dallas from St. Louis in 1998-99.
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“This team has more of an attitude than a style. The attitude is pound, pound, pound. Sure, there will be injuries [playing that way]. You accept that.
“You have a core group of people who have been successful and are comfortable with one another. Derian Hatcher is the captain but there are five-six leaders. There are many ways to lead. There’s no stereotypical way, no one thing you have to do.”
Simon signs: The Washington Capitals, whose offense has been a bit lethargic, made a two-year $4.5 million deal Monday with holdout left wing Chris Simon, their leading goal-scorer last season.
Last season–Simon’s eighth in the National Hockey League–he had a career-high 29 goals, plus 20 assists. He also led the Capitals in penalty-minutes with 146.
One reason the Caps were slow to sign Simon was because of his susceptibility to injury. Before playing in 75 games last season Simon had played in a total of 51 games in the preceding two years and his career-highs were 64 and 42 games.
Edmonton east? Glen Sather, the New York Rangers’ new president and general manager, has formed a human bridge with the dynasty he built in Edmonton in the 1980s. Nineteen of the Ranger players, coaches and scouts were employed by Sather when he was the Oilers’ GM.
When Mark Messier, who starred for Edmonton during its hockey heyday, returned to the Rangers from Vancouver this season he found only four players remaining from the team he left in the summer of 1997–wingers Adam Graves and Darren Langdon, defenseman Brian Leetch and goalie Mike Richter.
The Rangers’ salaries resemble the Manhattan skyline. Their payroll totals $60 million.
Worldly NHL: St. Louis coach Joel Quenneville doesn’t find it strange to have two European coaches in the NHL this season–a Finn, Alpo Suhonen, in Chicago and a Czech, Ivan Hlinka, behind the bench in Pittsburgh.
“Players are from all over the place,” Quenneville pointed out. “Why should the coaches be any different? Whether you’re a coach from Canada, the U.S. or Europe shouldn’t be a factor. It’s a universal game now.”