Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin believes the Stars window to win is wide open writes The Hockey News’ Ryan Kennedy. A healthy Seguin makes Dallas a favorite Kennedy reports and with Jiri Hudler now in the fold, the Stars are quietly stronger.
Seguin believes that the second round loss to St. Louis will only intensify the “appetite” for the team to win. From Kennedy:
“A lot of it has to do with that experience,” he said. “Getting that taste in your mouth of winning a playoff round, losing a playoff round, getting closer and knowing what that feels like. Knowing the atmosphere. We’ve got that taste now.”
Seguin’s health comes at a crucial time as Jamie Benn is currently recovering from his own injury. Kennedy writes that the key to the Stars’ success comes with both Benn and Seguin being on the ice together.
Speaking of injuries:
- The Detroit Red Wings crossed two names off the list for the near future as Niklas Kronwall and Tomas Jurco are both injured and will most likely not be ready for the beginning of the season. Jurco has a back injury, aggravated during off season work outs and aside from the 4-6 weeks off and then shelved for another month following. Jurco’s absence creates a roster spot in the Red Wings current logjam at forward. Without Jurco until what appears to be late October or early November, it provides a chance for a young forward to step up in his place. While Jurco is still young himself, the winger struggled last season to find his footing on the roster. More interesting in all of this injury talk is that after speaking with Dan Rosen, Ken Holland felt that Kronwall was healthy and feeling better. Then came today’s news of Kronwall not playing in the World Cup of Hockey, and perhaps sitting longer. This provides an interesting situation for the Red Wings, a team apprehensive to place trust in younger players. Without Kronwall, and without making a deal to grab the top four defenseman Holland seeks, the Wings are now forced to consider younger players like Xavier Ouellet and Ryan Sproul to step into the spot.
A healthy Seguin doesn’t make the Stars a favorite. Sure, it gives them a better chance. However, if their goalies continue to struggle, it isn’t going to matter how good Segiuin, Benn or the rest of the team is. If the goaltenging is bad, the Stars are not going to come out of the Western Conference. Simple as that