This is the 20/20.

1. Maybe Marcus Foligno was right.

If you’ll remember the aftermath of Game 2 of this series, the Wild forward said the Stars couldn’t hang with his team at 5-on-5.

And now the Stars are facing a must-win situation in Game 6 because they haven’t been able to generate nearly enough at even strength.

In Game 5, the Stars only mustered 16 shots at five-on-five, including a horrifically disappointing start to the third period, when they were trailing 2-1, without any shots in the first seven minutes of the final stanza.

2. That lack of even strength offense was so bad, that when Michael McCarron scored to make it 3-1, everyone in the building knew this game was over because there was no way the Stars would drag themselves back into this game at even strength.

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Maybe this is feeding the SEO machine, maybe it’s a public service. Either way, after texting with my pal Stephen Meserve today, I felt compelled to write a bit about Scott White, the Dallas Stars assistant GM, who has interviewed this spring for both the vacant GM position with the Nashville Predators and Toronto Maple Leafs.

I’ve known White since 2012, the first year I started covering the Stars organization, and closely covered his work with the Texas Stars, where as the AHL GM he’s built a minor-league franchise that both wins pretty regularly and develops NHL talent.

In fact, it’s always been one of the oddities for me that White’s name hasn’t come up more often when we’ve seen other GM vacancies. While he doesn’t run the draft, which seems to be a path many assistant GMs take to eventual head roles, he’s built an impressive résumé and been a vital part of the Stars success over the past decade.

In fact, Stars general manager Jim Nill has told me, multiple times, that White could easily be a GM in the NHL at some point in the not-too-distant future.

In simpler terms, White has been largely responsible for helping the Stars build the depth of their franchise. While Nill takes input from others, like most GMs he tends to work alone on the bigger deals — it’s hard to trade for Mikko Rantanen, for example, if you have too many cooks in the kitchen — while trusting White to build the franchise depth at the AHL level and below. White has been part of the group responsible for unearthing a bevy of college free agents, including Justin Hryckowian, who has turned into a pretty nice find in Dallas.

It’s not the most glamorous role and because the AHL is typically ignored by most media members until a player is called up, White’s work doesn’t get much of the attention it probably deserves outside of places like 100 Degree Hockey.

(Side note, and I am biased on this, but the hockey world would be so much better if we had 32 Stephen Meserves covering the 32 AHL franchises.)

The other thing about White, and it probably hurt any outside chatter about him, is the fact he doesn’t play the media game.

Now let me explain what the media game is.

Those who talk and share more with media, especially national media, tend to get more love in that space. It exists in every sport, and often it’s an unspoken agreement between a reporter and a subject. This can and often is symbiotic, one side gets scoops, the other side gets some protection and more favorable coverage when they need it.

The subject doesn’t have to ask for preferential treatment, but it tends to be implied, especially when those individuals might be popping up and looking for career advancement.

To give you a real-life example, I’ve had a coach before ask me to include their name on a list of potential candidates for a job before in a story. I didn’t do it, and it led to some awkwardness the next time I saw them in person.

White hasn’t played that media game. He and I have had a professional relationship, and he’s been very kind to me in person, but he doesn’t give scoops and he doesn’t leak information for favor. He is also fiercely dedicated to his job with the Dallas and Texas Stars, and his business-like approach can come off a bit intimidating at times.

To give you a real-life example, earlier in my career, this was either 2014 or 2015, I criticized Jamie Oleksiak on Twitter for a play late in a game that I thought Oleksiak quit on. White saw the Tweet, he said something to me after the game, a little bit heated after a Texas’ loss, and while I defended myself, I was terrified I’d burned a bridge with the GM of the AHL team I was covering.

The next day, it was a Sunday game in San Antonio, I went up to White on press row to see if I needed to mend any fences and he told me it was “water on the bridge,” and that we both have jobs to do.

And it wasn’t BS. There was some gained respect on both sides since I wasn’t afraid to defend myself, and showed up to approach him the next day. Even if there was some disagreement in how we viewed the game, there was a mutual respect for how we each did our jobs.

That business-like approach, in a role that doesn’t come with draft-day glamour, limited White’s appeal in the GM job market. Like it or not, the GM job has historically required some glitz attached to it, something that teams can sell as a marketing tool and while that’s not the only reason someone gets the job, it can be a tiebreaker or give a leg up in getting on the list.

White, on the flip side, has very much operated like his boss in Dallas, Jim Nill. He’s been heavily focused on his current role, doesn’t go looking for favors, and while he’s media friendly, he’s not someone who throws out information lightly. He can be a bit more intimidating than Nill, personality wise, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing and might even be a strength in a place like Toronto.

Personally speaking, I’m not sure whether he is or isn’t the right person for a GM job in Toronto or Nashville. But I can say, in my opinion, there’s not much more anyone could have done with his post in Dallas and Texas, and that with a bit more self promotion, his name probably would have come up a couple years earlier in these searches.

It’s been a decade and two days since the Detroit Red Wings last playoff game, a 1-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5 of the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Seven of those playoff misses have come under Steve Yzerman’s leadership, creating what’s become an annual gathering each April of Detroit media members asking the general manager why and how this happened again.

On Thursday, with Red Wings head coach Todd McClellan sitting nearby taking notes, Yzerman was about as blunt as I’ve seen him during my now four years based in Detroit.

The Red Wings need to get better players, they need to take a deep look at everything, and while Yzerman plans to “see this out,” he didn’t rule anything out when it came to future bold decisions.

This naturally led to questions and discussions about Dylan Larkin, the Red Wings captain and only holdover from the Red Wings last playoff game. When it comes to Larkin, two things stick out in my mind.

1. It’s hard to be a playoff leader if you’ve never really been there.

2. The Red Wings aren’t good enough down the middle of the ice to support him.

Let’s start with first point, because it’s been on my mind since Larkin, in his media session last week, noted that he didn’t really have that experience to pass onto younger players. Larkin’s top two lieutenants, Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, have also never played an NHL postseason game.

When other teams, many of them in the postseason right now, have hit skids or slumps in the regular season they tend to elevate themselves in response. As McClellan said the league elevates itself in the final quarter of the regular season and the Red Wings didn’t.

This is where good teams lean on their leaders, the sherpas that have been to the playoffs before and understand what it takes to even get to Game 1 of the knockout tournament.

But it’s hard to be a sherpa to the playoff mountain, in Larkin’s case, if you’ve never even really reached basecamp before.

Right or wrong, the Red Wings put themselves in this position over the past five seasons. Yzerman has put such a priority on being a Stanley Cup contender, that past teams weren’t worth investing in at the deadline because even if they had made the playoffs they wouldn’t have been a threat.

I’m not sure how you reverse that, and I’m not sure how easy it is to replicate what the Buffalo Sabres did, especially when you consider the Sabres have consistently gotten 70-plus goals from their top two centers over the past four seasons, including 77 this season between Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch.

Larkin scored 34 goals this season, the next highest scoring center was Emmitt Finnie with 13 goals.

As much as teams love the “two-way” game comments or praise defensive awareness, the reality is you need to have offensive pop down the middle of the ice to actually win games in April and beyond.

Andrew Copp isn’t the answer, neither is JT Compher and as much as I like Marco Kasper’s potential, it certainly doesn’t seem like a safe bet that he could fill that role next season.

So what do you do if you’re Yzerman and the Red Wings? Can you upgrade that position, realistically, for the 2026-27 season?

Not without something bold or unexpected.

For Red Wings ownership, the Ilitch family, there’s frustration but it hasn’t boiled over to the level it has for fans. The Ilitches still trust the Yzerplan will deliver, and you can probably say Yzerman won the press conference with his bosses on Thursday by willing to admit some of his shortcomings.

And, I guess, we sit and wait for the bold move and the proof behind those statements. We wait for any evidence that they’ve actually taken a deeper look under the surface and whether there can be meaningful changes that alter the culture of a team that has become synonymous with March sadness.

The Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild went to overtime for the first time in Game 3, with the Stars taking a 2-1 series lead after Wyatt Johnston scored in double overtime for a 4-3 victory.

Here is the 20/20, if you are reading this in the immediate aftermath, please know I plan to read through and edit again in the morning with fresh eyes.

1. This one feels pretty big in the momentum category.

After opening the series with a dud back in Game 1, and then struggling a bit at 5-on-5 in both Games 2 and 3, the Stars are back in control of the series with a 2-1 lead and a chance to really take control in Game 4.

2. For Minnesota, it’s hard not to look at the pure number of penalties taken in a game where the Stars had eight power plays.

The Wild have also had multiple penalties this series, including the fatal one early Thursday morning, where they’ve heaved the puck over the glass for delay-of-game infractions.

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Unlike most pieces at this site, this aimed toward more of an NBA audience.

Now I don’t really watch the NBA, I do tune in for the NBA Finals each season, but being a hockey writer the head-to-head schedules have made it close to impossible for me to pay much attention.

So, when I saw the multitude of headlines about the Portland Trailblazers and their new owner, Tom Dundon, and the shock about his cost-cutting tactics including not sending their team reporter, photographer, and two-way players on the road for the playoffs, I was kind of surprised, frankly, at the surprise.

Maybe I’m nose blind to it or it’s my naivety, but as someone who’s covered the NHL, this was simply others realizing who and what Dundon is and it tends to mirror what’s happened with the Carolina Hurricanes, a team he’s owned since 2018.

Dundon is blunt, doesn’t care what you think about him, and doesn’t like spending money on things that don’t really impact the product on the ice (or now the court). In Carolina, John Forslund had been the voice of hockey since it moved there from Hartford, once Dundon took over he eventually left for Seattle, despite his family living in Raleigh for while after the move, because the Hurricanes wanted to turn him from a full-time employee into an independent contract with salary based on team attendance.

The Hurricanes also have reportedly paid their off-ice staff less than others and at NHL events I’ve been to, like the NHL Draft, it’s become a running joke that Hurricanes scouts are often — not always — in the most cost-efficient hotel compared to their peers from other teams. The Hurricanes also had an awkward one-year divorce from their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, largely over cost distributions, a situation that only developed after they had a prior cost-related dispute with their former AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, that is actually in their home state.

From a coaching perspective, multiple sources have told me that coaches in Carolina make anywhere from 10 to 20 percent below market rate, and that was only made public when Rod Brind’Amour’s contract details became slightly more public in his push for a larger deal to remain the head coach and then signed an extension in 2024.

I’ve also spoken to Dundon directly multiple times, he doesn’t hide from the media in my experiences and doesn’t have any qualms with being blunt. He told me directly that if he had his way, he’d put more jersey advertisements on the Hurricanes sweater, almost NASCAR-esque, and that from a revenue-driving perspective he had several ideas that would upset typical NHL status quo.

Now, players are largely protected from this, I’ve spoken to many Hurricanes players over the years and the cost-cutting rarely impacts them. They are paid well, the Hurricanes spend to the salary cap, and Dundon is willing to put the money into the 20 individuals that will wear the jersey that evening. But the surrounding stuff, like broadcasts or team photographers (in the Trailblazers case), can often be down just as well, business-wise, by independent contractors or someone willing to work for less.

That’s one of the worst-kept secrets about the sports industry, it creates millionaires and billionaires, but unless you have keys to the owners suite or are one of the players, it’s not too hard to find someone that can do your job for cheaper, especially if production on the playing surface isn’t going to matter.

Look at the Trailblazers’ recent decisions, while it’s pretty nasty of them not to bring the players on two-way contracts like every other NBA team, it’s also not really going to impact whether they win or lose their series with the Spurs. And while how two-way players were treated will be remembered by some players, the reality is most NHL and NBA deals are typically decided by money and term, not how players were treated at the minor-league/tweener levels.

The other thing that I can’t help but bring up and I think hasn’t been brought up enough in the Dundon/Trailblazers coverage is the fact that the Hurricanes are extremely lucky that Brind’Amour loves the Hurricanes. Brind’Amour worked below his market rate and still works below his market, he’s one of the best coaches in the NHL on a year-over-year basis, has built a culture, and isn’t paid like a Todd McClellan or Pete DeBoer.

When I read stories about the Trailblazers and I read the passing line that Dundon has built a winning organization in Carolina I have to scoff at it, because it’s missing the vital context that Brind’Amour really built that culture and was willing to do so at a pay scale that hasn’t always reflected his true value.

I don’t know the NBA well enough, but are the Trailblazers going to find their version of Rob Brind’Amour? I have a hard time believing that’s even possible.

Most of what I’ve written here is pretty public knowledge in NHL circles. Dundon is different and isn’t shy about it, and what he’s doing in Portland isn’t any different than what he’s done in Raleigh with the Hurricanes.

The NBA, I can only imagine, had to know this about Dundon when he purchased the team. Gary Bettman still has many close ties to the NBA and I would be stunned if NBA executives didn’t at least check in with Bettman and other NHL brass about what type of person they’d be inviting to the owner’s meetings.

Whether you think Dundon is right or wrong isn’t really the point.

The point is that none of this is new. And if the NBA is surprised, it didn’t do enough homework.

Here is the 20/20.

1. Now it’s a series, right?

While we often talk about it not being a series until someone wins on the road, when it comes to a Dallas Stars’ playoff series it’s not really a series until after they’ve lost Game 1 and recovered in Game 2.

2. Jake Oettinger took some heat for Game 1, which I think wasn’t particularly fair to the goalie after the team in front of him laid a massive egg.

But his fault or not, the Stars goalie responded really well in Game 2 with 28 saves on 30 shots.

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We had a 20/20 ready to publish on Sunday morning, but it never went out and I’ve since figured out what happened. Because it doesn’t make much sense to publish a Game 1 piece on the morning of Game 2, it’ll live in exile and we move on.

Anyways, there will be a 20/20 late tonight after Game 2 Stars-Wild, the one benefit of a ridiculous 9:50 ET (8:50 locally!) start for me is that I'll be able to return home from my beer league game, fast forward through intermissions and catch up pretty close to live in the third period.

But before we get to tonight’s game, I want to chat a bit about something that’s been on my mind after watching the opening weekend of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

ESPN’s coverage has been struggling.

I’m usually pretty careful when it comes to media criticism, and that’s intentional because I know the job isn’t as easy as it looks, and there are lots of times some of the decisions and repercussions that fall on behind-the-scenes decision makers that won’t have to answer for it.

But ESPN, now five years into a seven-year deal as the NHL’s A-package rights’ holder (Turner has the B package), has struggled to deliver a product that connects with either established hockey fans or new, equally important, viewers that only jump on during the playoffs.

Even worse, for me, it takes me out of the game.

I think that’s why I’m writing this. While there are other broadcast quips or complaints I’ve had or heard before, those are usually stylistic ones. The ESPN problem, however, isn’t stylistic unless you count being unprepared as an intentional style.

After the first Sabres playoff game in 14 years Tage Thompson was interviewed by Leah Hextall and asked about winning a playoff game with the only NHL franchise he’s ever known. A sweet sentiment, but a false one since Thompson was rather famously a first-round pick of the St. Louis Blues and played NHL games there before being traded to the Sabres.

On the intermission Mark Messier, PK Subban, and Steve Levy joked about how they were unable to say the name of Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. I know Messier and Subban got most of the heat on social media for this, but I was actually more disappointed with Levy, a pretty good play-by-play caller in his own right, for allowing the broadcast to look that disheveled.

Finding the player pronunciations isn’t difficult, in fact on the NHL Media site they have a guide, which I’m just going to embed right here for anyone else to look at.

The league also has the audio guide for all the names as well, and here is link to the audio guide for the Sabres.

We also are talking about the starting goalie for the Sabres, someone you know will come up in the broadcast discussion, this isn’t a fourth-liner that scored a big goal and surprisingly joined the spotlight.

It looks even worse when ESPN frequently gets outperformed by Turner’s broadcast. While there are some elements of the TNT broadcast I don’t particularly love, they’ve done a good job finding a way to connect with both new fans and those that have been dialed into the NHL all season. I think Liam McHugh deserves a ton of credit for this and while there are som bigger personalities on the panel, his work as host really allows TNT to both be fun and professional at the same time.

When a game is on TNT, I’ll still watch it on American television. When a game is on ESPN, I tend to switch over to the Canadian broadcast, or for the first-round, one of the local ones.

The most frustrating part of this is that this is Year 5 of the broadcast rights for ESPN, it hasn’t improved, and actively detracts from my viewership of the game. I’m going to watch either way, but what about the people that won’t?

Happy Playoff season!

As we prepare for Game 1 of the NHL playoffs, particularly the series between the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild, it’s time to get together with my pal Bob Sturm to break it all down.

Here is the schedule:

And with that, let’s get into it.

Bob: Let’s get going with this collision course that has seemed in the cards since about Thanksgiving. The Stars and the Wild and the storylines that were our destiny since the Olympic teams were named, the big Vancouver trade went down, and maybe since Jake Middleton lined up Matt Duchene back in October. We finally made it here, Sean. We can finally play hockey in what should be a two-week adrenaline buffet.

You ready for this and all that it will decide?

Sean: Absolutely Bob.

We’ve had a feeling for months that it would be Stars-Wild in Round 1, courtesy of the Colorado Avalanche’s ridiculous start to the season where they ran away from the pack in the Central Division for a while. So much so that it’s felt like an old-school prize fight to me, two opponents that are tuning up and know that in the end, how they do in the ring on that one day (or series) will determine it all.

These teams know each other so well, from both this season and past playoff battles. As much as I hate that this is Round 1 and neither of these teams should be eliminated after four to seven games, I’m so excited for the hockey perspective of this series.

Bob: Ok, I think the best place to start is the state of the Stars. They have been so good over these years, but I do think that health concerns are becoming tiresome. The team can never get this right in the spring with everyone healthy. I would not say they are injury prone at all, but they are such a different team with everyone assembled – even if it sometimes doesn’t stay assembled for any long period of time, it seems. What do you know about the state of each team’s health and I suppose in particular, that means how is Roope and Miro for Dallas? Are we going to see the full compliment for most of this series, as far as anyone could predict?

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This relates, I promise.

On Wednesday afternoon Robert Tiffin and I hosted Episode 3 of Algorithmically Incorrect Hockey. You might have watched it live on YouTube, here on Shap Shots live or over at Robert’s place, Stars Thoughts.

Stars Thoughts

Dallas Stars News, Interviews, Thoughts, and Catharsis by Robert Tiffin

By Robert Tiffin

If you haven’t don’t worry, the live replay is up at YouTube, while you can also listen to the entire show in audio form on any of your favorite podcast platforms.

Our first guest this week was Steve Thompson, who serves as the Director of Player Development for goaltending for USA Hockey. I love talking with Steve and he’s been a source for some nerdy goaltending stories in the past we’ve run here at Shap Shots.

Yesterday on the show he brought something up that I knew, but hadn’t thought about it in a bit when it comes to goalies and catching pucks, it used to hurt a lot more if you didn’t do it right.

I’ll let Steve explain here:

That was fresh in my mind last night during my beer-league game. By beer-league standards, I catch a lot of pucks and I catch a lot in the pocket, again by beer-league standards. As my knees have aged poorly, I’ve actually become better maximizing my efficiency with my hands to save wear and tear on my knees — actually trying to listen to my 36-year-old body.

But last night I took a stinger off the pointer finger, it was a slot shot through traffic during a 5-on-3 penalty kill and I didn’t have time to catch it clean. My pointer finger vibrated for a little bit and it’s still a bit sore this morning. It was fitting timing after what Steve said in the clip above, if you didn’t catch pucks clean it was going to be a long day at the office.

It was also a good reminder for me of why I probably started catching pucks well in the first place. I played street hockey before I ever played ice hockey and I played a ton of it, my favorite summer memories are playing road hockey growing up in New Jersey in those old black Mylec pads.

There was no arm protection or pads in the groin region, so you learned to protect those areas with your other tools. Catching the street hockey ball was a much safe alternative to taking it off the elbow or into the nether regions, which still happened often.

When I eventually switched to playing ice hockey, eventually playing up the high school level in New Jersey and Michigan, catching and controlling pucks was always a focus of my game. I truly never thought about how much pain was a teacher in that regard until the conversation with Steve yesterday, but it makes a ton of sense.

As Steve said, we don’t want to go backwards in time equipment wise with goaltending, but it raises a fascinating question and thought process of how natural consequences can be such an efficient teaching tool.

Anywhom, I highly encourage you listen/watch the full episode for both the interview with Steve and Utah Mammoth analyst Dominic Moore who told some great stories.

For housekeeping notes, I’ll have a Stars-Wild playoff preview coming in the next couple days here in back-and-forth format with my pal Bob Sturm. We will also have something up here each weekday — and many weekend days — during the Stanley Cup playoffs. I don’t know what it’ll be, but I can tell you that we will have 20/20s off the Dallas-Minnesota series and other select games as well as the playoffs progress.

That’s one of the reasons this past week was a bit slow, combined with my other work travels, you kind of have to refresh and re-load so you can hit the playoffs hard.

Thanks for reading and we will have more up soon.

It’s been kind of a chaotic day for me, so I’m going to take a bit of a chaotic approach to this piece, and hopefully we’ll hit on a couple things you’ll find interesting.

Firstly, Robert Tiffin and I recorded Episode 2 today of Algorithmically Incorrect. You might have watched it live here or on YouTube, while it’s also now been uploaded now to your favorite audio platform.

It’s a lengthy show, this week covered two hours and 30 minutes, but I’m pretty happy with it and we had two pretty awesome guests and sharp hockey minds in Jack Han and Rick Bowness.

Han is the author of the must-read Hockey Tactics 2026 and former AHL video coach. He’s also one of the smartest hockey minds I know and really enjoy how he tackles unique topics, including this really interesting piece about what Elite NHLers won’t tell you.

Hockey Tactics Newsletter

What elite NHLers won't tell you

What if I told you the most important skill in soccer has never been measured…

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22 days ago · Jack Han

Bowness is the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets and has coached more games than anyone in NHL history. I’ve known him pretty well since I covered him in Dallas and he was able to join us on an off-day between vital playoff stretch games against the Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres.

There’s a ton to take from both these interviews, and the conversation Robert and I have separately is also pretty good, so I highly encourage you to check the show out. I typically haven’t always been a fan of extra-long podcasts, but with a weekly format and with my rapport with Robert, it honestly doesn’t feel like that long of a show to me when we record.

And if you missed the first episode, you can still go back and watch it here:

On Dominik Shine and the Masterton

Earlier in the day it was revealed that Dominik Shine was the Detroit Chapter of the PHWA’s nomination for the Masterton Award, which “is awarded annually to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey. It is named after Bill Masterton, the only player in NHL history to die as a direct result of injuries suffered during a game.”

The Masterton isn’t a comeback player of the year award and it’s the only award that all PHWA members get to vote on. It’s a story-based award and often times it feels a bit odd that there’s a “winner” when many of the 32 nominees would be worthy of the trophy.

I will have a vote to cast, but I did want to take some time to talk about Shine and why I think he was a pretty strong nominee.

Shine wasn’t just a career AHLer, he was about to be out of hockey completely. During the 2019-20 season, when COVID started to shutdown the world he heavily considered retiring from the sport. It was a pragmatic decision, Shine was making around $60,000 per season that year in the AHL, but was about to have his salary slashed by 40 percent during the 2020-21 season because of the COVID impacts.

Shine said he heavily considered retiring and going into medical sales, joining his wife in that field, before she told him to stick with it and try it for one more season in Grand Rapids, a decision made easier because they still hadn’t had any children to support.

And that 2020-21 AHL season was wonky, there were long quarantine periods and close-contact protocols, teams commonly played with less than 18 skaters and Shine often had games where he played both defense and forward. That experience laid the groundwork for more AHL deals with the Grand Rapids Griffins and eventually, last season, he got the surprise call-up to the NHL and signed an NHL deal on a day he was planning on just buying his son his first pair of skates.

It’s one of my favorite stories I wrote last season, so it’s worth sharing again.

Also here’s an excerpt, and I’m happy to say I’ve since gotten to know Shine a lot better since I wrote this:

I was really close to being in the same camp as Red Wings coach Todd McLellan, who admitted that as of 12 hours ago he had no idea Dominik Shine even existed³.

So I don’t know Shine well, and I can’t give the best version of his story. But I can connect with his journey on Monday.

While we were waiting for players to enter the room for interviews, my wife texted me that my 4-year-old son was still up and missing me, asking me if I could send a quick picture or FaceTime with him to make him smile.

One of the things about working in sports, especially if you travel for the job, is there are times you feel like an absent father, a degenerate that’s leaving before dinner to go cover a frivolous game. “I miss you dad,” is one of the most wonderful and heartbreaking things you hear at the same time.

Shine has since played 24 more NHL games, he’s scored his first career NHL goal and at 32, he’s not taking anything for granted.

To me that’s a pretty good embodiment of what the Masterton should be about.

On German Hockey, Dallas Eakins, and passion

Another story I wanted to highlight today was from Craig Morgan, who has covered hockey in Arizona better than anyone and it’s a damn shame that he’s no longer doing it in a full-time capacity.

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I’m not really sure what to write anymore about the Detroit Red Wings.

Sunday was another embarrassing loss. A 5-4 setback against the Minnesota Wild, where they only mustered eight shots in the first two periods, and watched their playoff odds continue to crater as another disastrous March turns into another doomed April. Even if they made it close and tied the game before Patrick Kane’s horrific penalty led to the game-winning goal, the first two periods were embarrassing for a team allegedly in desperation mode.

The spring collapse has become an annual thing, in fact the Red Wings dismantling themselves in every way possible in March and April is more predictable than the midwestern weather that embattles the state.

In back-to-back nationally televised games this weekend the Red Wings all but sealed their fate in losses to the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild, not only losing, but finding baffling new ways to elicit more boos from hometown fans.

As I’ve written before, this won’t damage Steve Yzerman, but this trend has — or at least it should — lead to a full-blown review of the franchise and the makeup of the team. Tough choices need to be made, and it would probably behoove the Red Wings to do some research on why and how players often seem to succeed once they leave the organization, like Vladimir Tarasenko who put a dagger into his old team in the second period on Sunday.

The weird part of this, and maybe the most painful for Red Wings fan, is the fact that there are still five games remaining and they have a chance to theoretically figure it out.

It’s a five-game purgatory, where technically the elevator can still go either way.

While the Red Wings will have tough decisions in the summer, the New York Islanders made ballsy move on Sunday morning when they fired Patrick Roy with four games remaining and hired Pete DeBoer.

For DeBoer, the timing of this feels intentional.

I don’t know the exact ins and outs of how much was still owed to him from the Dallas Stars, but I do know most of the $4.25 million he was paid to not coach in Dallas had already been deposited into his account.

So DeBoer was able to make close to $4 million from Dallas, coach as an assistant coach for Team Canada at Olympics, and then take over a team in playoff position with four games remaining.

Pretty nice work if you can get it.

There’s some irony in the reasoning for DeBoer’s hire, too. As Emily Kaplan reported, the Islanders felt Ilya Sorokin wasn’t getting enough help.

And if you remember back to last May, DeBoer lost his job with the Stars after the Western Conference Final partially because of how he left his goalie, Jake Oettinger, out to dry as the reason Dallas lost in back-to-back Western Conference Finals to the Edmonton Oilers.

DeBoer will help Sorokin and the Islanders defensively, even if it’s more of a long-term fix than something you can tweak in a short window, but he’s also got a history of blaming the goalie when something doesn’t go his way.

I think as an organization you have to understand what you’re signing up for with DeBoer. He’s a smart tactical mind, he can put a plan into place and enforce it, but he’s not great at in-game adjustments or accepting responsibility for his inability to make those changes.

Having spoken to many people who have worked and played for DeBoer, I’ve gotten the impression he’s a taskmaster with a very particular set of skills, but also one that isn’t willing to adapt to anyone else’s view of things.

In fact, in one of his final moments as the coach of the Stars, after his now infamous press conference, I spoke with DeBoer as he walked out of the arena and he was adamant in the moment that goaltending was the difference. He later did damage control, stating he should have chose his words more closely, but the Islanders — and any Islanders fan — should know DeBoer’s actions and history are likely reflective of his future.

And that can work, for the Stars it led to three consecutive final four appearances and more playoff wins than any team outside of Florida during that time period. It’s going to be fascinating what it means for the Islanders both in the next three weeks and the next three seasons.

Let me tell you a fun “small world,” story.

On Thursday this past week I was in Toronto for the quarterfinals and semifinals of the OHL Cup, a tournament that brings together showcases some of the best 16-and-under teams ahead of the OHL draft.

Like many people, one of the reasons I was there was to watch Kade O’Rourke, a 15-year-old defenseman for the Toronto Junior Canadiens that has applied for exceptional status to the OHL.

Here’s the funny thing, I’ve known O’Rourke since he was a 5-year-old fan watching Texas Stars game. I’ve kept in touch with the family as Kade moved from Texas to Ontario to pursue a hockey career, and later this week I’m sitting down with the family for a long story that’s going to run on Kade’s journey in Elite Prospects (which I will make to link to/share here as well).

You might have heard Kade’s name this week because he was highlighted in the headlines segment on Hockey Night In Canada.

Fittingly, that segment also featured the first ever guest on Algorithmically Incorrect Hockey, Elliotte Friedman.

Anywhom, they’ll be more Kade O’Rourke stories in the future.

But I also want to talk about the small world nature of the hockey universe, and have a discussion about the “inside baseball” nature of treating people the right way.

While I was walking around the building at OHL Cup I ran into Joe Pavelski, the former Dallas Stars forward, and now accomplished golfer that we’ve highlighted before at this site.

Joe was there watching his son, Nate, play in the OHL Cup for TPH Hockey, we chatted briefly for a bit before someone else recognized it was Joe Pavelski and asked him for a picture.

A couple minutes later I started talking to the person standing next to me, just randomly about the hockey game in front of us and then his wife, who was sitting in front of us joined the conversation.

She recognized me from doing the DLLS show, expressed her sympathies about what happened there and mentioned that she would be checking out the new show that Robert Tiffin and I put together.

It was Wyatt Johnston’s parents, Margot and Chuck, who had come to watch Nate Pavelski play in the OHL Cup after the Pavelski family had taken their son in during his NHL rookie season.

We spoke about hockey journeys and Wyatt’s path, about how he was on the ice already by the time of his first birthday, and how fascinating it’s been as parents to watch hockey go from a passion to Wyatt’s profession — which he happens to be quite good at.

It wasn’t a formal interview or anything, just a couple people chatting about hockey and human journeys, and it’s one of my favorite parts of this job. There are so many stories, so many human touch points that can connect in surprising ways, and it gives you a better appreciation for it all.

It’s also a good reminder, for this field, about being human about it all. That while it’s easy for us to talk about players in a video game style, they are assets plugged into the system, we need to stop and remember the human being as much as possible, that somewhere at home their mom or dad are reading and writing everything you’ve said, and that you never know when you might see those people face-to-face.

Not to pat myself on the back — even though I am — but it’s one of the things that I believe I’ve done pretty well in my career, being respectful while also maintaining an ability to be critical. I’ve had people bring that up to me before, both players and their families, and I think it’s why I’ve been able to tell some fun and unique stories.

With that, it’s time for me to head upstairs and watch warmups between the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild. Happy Sunday and thanks for reading.

Yesterday afternoon Robert Tiffin and I recorded Episode 1 of Algorithmically Incorrect, streamed both here at Substack and on YouTube.

I was really happy with the show in the moment, and then listened to the audio version late last night as I made the drive to Ontario — I’m over OHL Cup today for some Elite Prospects work — and importantly, I’m still proud of the show.

It’s going to get better and we are going to work on figuring out the technical things, but I think it was a good first step.

If you missed it live, Robert and I opened the show discussing how we got here and then went down a wormhole on the PWHL, rule changes, and what it might all mean.

Then we were joined joined by SportsNet’s Elliotte Friedman (55 minute mark) to discuss Jim Nill’s recent extension in Dallas, some great Lou Lamoriello stories, whether Elliotte even likes the term “insider,” and how you build trust while protecting sources.

Finally (1:16:00) we talk with agent Ian Greengross of Greengross Athletic Management Enterprises about how he navigates discussions between teams and clients, how the coaching landscape has changed over his career, and what he’s learned as an agent, a lawyer, and a former hockey goaltender.

If you missed it live or if you want to re-watch it, you do so here or on YouTube page. The podcast audio is now up in both Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Subscribing to the show in any of those places and leaving a review is a huge help for us, so if you actually liked the product, leave us a nice review, please. I’m also looking for any and all feedback in the comments here, because as Robert and I said on the show itself, we want to use this to make ourselves better.

Episode 1 was really fun and I’m looking forward Episode 2 next Wednesday.

This piece is a lot more fun to write.

While sharing news yesterday that I’d no longer be working with DLLS, I also mentioned that there would be a new project coming, one that takes some of the lessons learned from my time at DLLS.

Which is why I’m very excited about introducing Algorithmically Incorrect Hockey, or AI Hockey, with my good friend Robert Tiffin.

Algorithmically Incorrect Hockey is going to be a weekly live show aired on YouTube and simulcast onto the video platforms for both Shap Shots and Stars Thoughts starting at 2:30 ET/1:30 CT each Wednesday. The show will also then be available as a podcast on your preferred podcast platform.

While Robert and I both have history covering the Stars, this isn’t a Dallas Stars or Detroit Red Wings show. Rather it’s a general hockey show that will focus on telling unique and interesting stories from around the hockey world. Ideally Robert and I are building a show that we’d want to actually listen to ourselves.

For an idea of what it might look like, we’ve already put together a preview video trying to better explain it.

One of the things that I want to reiterate from that video, is that this is about building a show and not a business. While we will be open to business opportunities with growth – and if you’d like to reach out about sponsorship opportunities I certainly won’t stop you – for me this project is more about building something the right way with Robert.

Our first show is Wednesday, we’ve got a couple ideal guests lined up already, and I’m excited. I hope you join us tomorrow afternoon.

In fact, you can even bookmark the YouTube channel and subscribe right now by clicking the video to get yourself one of those cool alerts.

When you click that video you can also click this “notify me” button so you don’t miss it.

I’ll also be sending out an alert through Substack before the show and doing our best to make sure the simulcast works smoothly here.

Again, exciting time, hope you’ll join us!

Like the three prior games, which I’ve written about before, it was a blast and I’m hopeful that sometime in the not-to-distant future they’ll be a team in Detroit.

I will have something from the emotional/fandom view up tomorrow, a story that relates to my daughter and connecting with her favorite player and what the PWHL can represent in that manner.

But today I want to write about tactical hockey things that the PWHL often makes me think about.

There a couple PWHL rules that I wouldn’t mind, in principal, being adopted by the NHL and other leagues.

The PWHL uses a “jailbreak” rule when it comes to shorthanded goals. If a team scores shorthanded, the penalty is over, the ultimate double-whammy on a penalty kill.

The league also uses a 3-2-1 point system, where teams get three points for a regulation win, zero for a regulation loss, two for an overtime win, and one point for an overtime loss.

It creates a standing page that looks like this.

From a talking head perspective, both of these changes seem simple enough, right?

A 3-2-1 point system is more fair, each game is created equal and worth the same amount of points, and if potentially applied to the NHL it could be a good counter to the dreaded slogfest we often get in a tied cross-conference game where both coaches have decided the overtime point is worth more than taking risks for a regulation win.

I was curios to ask a PWHL coach if these rule changes impact how they do their job. Are more risks taken in the PWHL in tied games or when shorthanded because of the rules we laid out?

So I asked Montreal Victoire coach Kori Cheverie, the reigning PWHL coach of the year, about it after her team practiced in Detroit on Friday.

“I guess it would depend on where we were at in the standings and the time of year,” Cheverie said. “If we needed the three points and it was do-or-die for that, you might make some late game adjustments to be more aggressive. But otherwise, it’s hard to get points, and that’s how you set yourself up for the playoffs.”

“I think it becomes similar to how you look at games in a season, when you aren’t playing your best game, don’t have your A game, what does your B game look like and can you still get points?” Cheverie said. “So unless it’s really an all-or-nothing for the three points, I think it doesn’t change how you approach the game as a coach.”

What about the jailbreak goal? Does that make teams more aggressive on the penalty kill?

“I think there are some teams that look at it that way, but our main focus on the penalty kill isn’t to score a goal,” Cheverie said. “We focus on being aggressive as we can be in moments the make sense, but really going for a shorthanded goal or a chance is more of a cherry on the top if you can get it. It’s not worth it to push for a goal on the penalty kill and then have a 5-on-2 coming back the other way.”

Cheverie did say some players have naturally become more aggressive on the penalty kill because of the opportunity, but overall, the rule isn’t one that changes the way her team plays.

Personally speaking, I like both rules, I also like the PWHL’s pick-your-opponent rule for the postseason where the top-seeded team gets a proper reward for regular season standings — unlike the NHL’s current format.

Last week was my final week at DLLS.

I’ve known this was coming for a month now, and for the sake of doing my best work till the end of the contract, neither I nor the rest of the members of the DLLS Stars show said anything about it publicly, in fact we intentionally kept it under wraps on our final show last Thursday. While this may be a public-facing surprise, it’s something both I and my now ex-colleagues have had time to prepare for.

And for me, for both self preservation and maintaining trust with my readers, I’d like to give you a bit of an idea of what happened.

Eighteen months into the adventure at All City I was informed they’d be cutting my contract, part of my deal required 30-day notice on either side to end the contract so they reached out and delivered the news at the end of February.

This wasn’t my decision nor was it the decision of anyone within the actual DLLS offices, rather it was an edict from All City higher ups that in order to help with the overall profitability of the company, and future growth, they had to cut contracts that were expendable.

It’s frustrating and I’m going to miss doing the show, especially since it was the first time I was able to truly work side-by-side with my good friend Owen Newkirk in a formal capacity and I think our off-air friendship translated extremely well to the on-air product.

Even after All City made the decision they would be cutting me, Owen fought to try and find a way to keep me. DLLS general manager Ben Rebstock also did his best to find any remaining budget to keep me around, but in the end All City’s decision and resource allocation wasn’t enough to create something that could keep me on board. There is hope that in the future they’ll bring me back in a smaller role if budgets allow, and that’s a potential conversation I’m looking forward to in the future.

Before I get into some other things, I want to say some nice things about people who deserve it.

I had the opportunity to work with two excellent producers on a regular basis in John Andersen and Ryan Vawters, who helped navigate and tackle the challenges of running a show with one of the regular participants being remote. John set an incredibly high bar for production with the show, it’s why he now runs the desk for the Cowboys show — the big-money product for any DFW media company. Ryan somehow filled those shoes and I can’t say enough for his humanity and personality behind the scenes, how when I was recently dealing with something away from work that was particularly difficult, he reached out as a friend.

I’d known Craig Ludwig for years, in fact he was one of the first interviews I did for my first book, but this was the first chance to work closely with him on a regular basis. Craig played in the NHL and sometimes those ex-NHLers who end up in the media have an air of importance, especially on a personal level, that they lord over the rest of us. That was never the case for me with Craig, he pushed me and we had some disagreements on hockey, but we always respected each other in how we viewed the game.

Again, I’d known Sam Nestler a little bit before DLLS, he even volunteered to help on a newsletter project I worked on that never really saw the light of day beyond the beta phase. He’s a good person, authentic and while it was fun to needle him for his health-related attendance issues, you can’t deny how much he cares about covering the Stars.

And then there’s Owen, who I alluded to before. Owen is one of my best friends I’ve made through media, we’ve known each other since he worked for the Texas Stars and I covered the team. We would play FIFA in the press box at the Cedar Park Center, I crashed in his guest room for a couple months when I started working for NHL.com, and we would drive to games together when I lived in Dallas, launching the organic and beloved #CarCast.

When I got the news I was done at DLLS I was frustrated, but honestly what hurt the most was the idea of losing the twice-weekly excuse Owen and I had to chat on the phone for close to an hour under the guise of show prep. We will still talk frequently, I’m sure, but there’s something awesome about being able to work with your friends and people you care about.

I’m not sure if I’ve told him that enough, but it really meant so much to me to have this opportunity with Owen.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I’m used to being on the business end of decisions by media companies. Once it happens the first time you become pretty numb to it, and while there are certain decisions that have cut deeper than others, I’ve grown a pretty thick skin for this stuff.

It’s also why Shap Shots exists, when I lost my last full-time job I made the decision to control my own fate in sports media. While I haven’t completely ruled out one full-time role at some point, for my own sanity and the financial support of my family I’m a hired gun and hockey media vigilante by choice. I intentionally work with companies, like Elite Prospects, that have been pretty open to those symbiotic relationships, where when I get a call, like the one from DLLS, it’s a minor setback and not going to financially ruin my ability to support my kids.

It’s sadly one of the realities of sports media, this industry is incredibly fun and exciting, we get to live some of the daily opportunities that others would pay big money to do. I never forget that and it’s why I get mildly annoyed when I see sports media members complaining about some of the drawbacks of this field. In my view you don’t get into sports media or journalism and last if you haven’t accepted the reality of the chaotic schedule and public judgement of your value.

It’s also a field that gets redefined seemingly daily, which is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. It’s never been easier for someone to gain a platform and it’s never been harder to get paid for it, and for young people entering the field I wish I had better advice than “work your ass off and figure it out.”

Actually, check that, I think my best advice would be “there are no failures,” in this business. There have been projects of mine that have flopped and I’ve lost jobs, but I don’t think I’ve ever left an opportunity having not learned something about myself and the field. It’s amazing what random skills will translate to a future project, and there are some DLLS-learned skills that I’m going to apply to a new project that I’ll be telling you more about tomorrow.

In the meantime, I would be remiss if I didn’t use this as an opportunity to suggest you subscribe to this site as either a paid or free subscriber. It might feel like pandering, and maybe it is, but I’m about to gain a good chunk of time that went to DLLS and I’m looking forward to pumping into making Shap Shots better than before.

If you have any questions, I’ll do my best to answer them in the comments. All City’s decision shouldn’t stop you from watching the DLLS show if you are a Stars fan, in fact in a weird way I hope they continue to grow so they can maybe bring me back for paid cameos in the future.

But most importantly, if you are reading this, thank you. Having this space to write and create, to share stories and ideas, to cover things I want and connect with an audience has been my favorite part of the job.

Twenty days ago, after morning skate before the Detroit Red Wings played the Florida Panthers, I asked Todd McLellan about his team and the month of March.

It’s no secret in Detroit, that March has left some sour memories for the fanbase over the past four seasons. In fact, if not for some of those sour memories from two and three years ago, McLellan probably never would have even been brought in to coach the Red Wings.

"Well I can tell you I haven’t walked into the locker room and stood in front of the group and said, hey four years ago this happened, and only you three were here for that. And now let’s go three years ago and only you six were here for that,” McLellan said. “It’s not about that, this is about our own group our own story, our own path. And we aren’t talking about it, we are gonna go play hockey. In April, May, June, even July when you wanna write this story, you can come back and look at it and it’s gonna fit one way or the other, so I can help all of you write it because I’ll have lived it. If it’s the March thing I’ll be right there writing it with you, if it’s hey didn’t happen then it didn’t happen. But let this team have its own run at history and not drag them into it, that’s how we are approaching it.”

Twenty days since that statement, the Red Wings have posted a 3-5-1 record. They dropped a depressingly bad loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday at home, another old ghost resurfacing, and entering Thursday are sitting outside the playoff picture by one point in the Eastern Conference.

The playoffs are still very viable, but the chances have taken a big hit and according to MoneyPuck the Red Wings now have a 42.4 chance of making the postseason.

Naturally this has led to some pretty extreme reaction within the Red Wings fanbase and the Detroit market. If you monitor social media and sports radio — always a dangerous thing — you’ll hear a hurting fanbase that was roped in by hope and now have seemingly accepted that they’ll be another playoff gut punch, especially after the loss to the Senators.

It’s also led to larger public conversation both in and out of Detroit about the future for Steve Yzerman, who’s personal seven-season playoff drought as general manager is the longest in the league, and brings up the very fair point that his playing career and status as a franchise icon — No. 19, the captain, etc…. — are perhaps the only reason he wasn’t fired after five or six seasons without a playoff series.

I think that’s important context to bring up before we dive into some deeper points here, because I think that we often paint all GMs with the same brush, that everyone should and shouldn’t be judged by the same criteria — whether they’ve won the Stanley Cup or not.

And it’s funny, because Yzerman is one of the few GMs that can actually be judged by that criteria. His job in Detroit is to win a Stanley Cup during his tenure, nothing else really matters, and while a playoff series would be nice, a couple first-round losses aren’t going to do anything for Yzerman or his bosses, the Ilitch family.

In fact, even during the playoff drought the Red Wings business has boomed. The team’s valuation increased by 20 percent year-over-year according to CNBC, the Red Wings are now worth $2.47 billion according to their projections, and I’ve had NHL executives tell me that number is heavily undershooting how much the team would actually sell for if the iconic brand was ever actually put up for sale.

The Red Wings, despite their win-loss struggles, have also been one of the NHL’s top revenue teams during all of this, consistently finishing in the top-10 of league earners, which mean they actually contribute to revenue sharing to the rest of the league.

Again, it’s funny, the Red Wings being bad is actually worse for the NHL overall business than it is for the Ilitches themselves in some ways.

While a team like the Dallas Stars, which I also know extremely well, has put an emphasis on postseason appearances for revenue and brand purposes, the Red Wings will always matter in the NHL landscape, particularly as a business asset.

So Yzerman isn’t getting the pressure to make the playoffs to improve the financial bottom line for his bosses, which is why he’s been able to make decisions, in his view, that only work toward the long-term goal of winning the Stanley Cup at some point and doing so with home-grown drafted and developed talent.

And even with some eroded trust and frustration from the fan base, the Red Wings and Yzerman are well aware there’s 100 years of history that will bring any dissenting fans back into the fold, and if his long-term plan works, all of the seasons lost in no-man’s land will have been worth it.

I think it’s important to write about this, not to defend Yzerman or the Red Wings, but to understand the reality of the situation. They might make the playoffs — and I really hope they do because my life would be more enjoyable with some local playoff hockey — but whether they do or not, the internal review and discussion from the very top will be asking Yzerman “is the long-term goal still in play?” and if the answer from the GM is still “yes,” then nothing is going to change with his employment.

On top of this, the Red Wings also live in a weirdly perfect bubble where they can rest below the surface in a town that at it’s core is more concerned about the Detroit Lions than the local hockey team, a luxury I’m sure the Toronto Maple Leafs wish they had.

So while we are letting this Red Wings team have it’s own run at March history, and we will learn a lot in the next three games, it’s not a history that really matters as much in the long-term prognostication for the owners, even if it means everything right now to Red Wings fans.

Most of that conversation was centered on the Hryckowian brothers — current Stars forward Justin Hryckowian and his younger brother Dylan Hryckowian, who just signed with the organization as a college free agent.

You can, and should, read that full story here.

As most interviews tend to go, I ended up with way more than I needed for that story and Peverley and I ended up having a longer chat about the state of college hockey and where it tends to be going in a brave new world where CHL players are eligible to play college hockey.

It’s particularly notable with the NCAA tournament starting this week — you still have time to join my bracket competition by the way — and there’s a pretty good likelihood that a former CHLer could have a lasting impact in the NCAA title game in Las Vegas next month.

Read more

Exciting news, everyone.

Expected by Whom? the interview-style podcast that I host with Prashanth Iyer has returned from hiatus and we were happily joined this week by head coach and general manager of the Medicine Hat Tigers Willie Desjardins.

Desjardin’s coaching résumé is both impressive and unique, he’s coached and won championships in Japan, the AHL, WHL, coached Hockey Canada at both World Juniors and the Olympics and won a Spengler Cup.

In addition he’s been an NHL head coach for both the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings sandwiched in between his time building one of the WHL’s best programs in Medicine Hat.

We had him on for a couple reasons, but I particularly wanted to talk to speak with him about his coaching approach with younger players, helping with their development, and how the world is changing with college hockey and the CHL.

You can see the video interview below, or you can search and subscribe for Expected by Whom? wherever you find listen to podcasts.

Expected by Whom? will return soon, we are working on other guests and that will join us soon. As always, if you have ideas/suggestions or things you’d like to see, let Prashanth or I know.

Again, thank you to everyone who understood/commented/etc… about last week and read/appreciated that nature of Friday’s piece here.

Sadly, it kind of feels a bit compounded today after the tragic loss this past weekend of Jessi Pierce, who I knew as a colleague in my olden days at NHL.com and was always. I’m kind of at a loss for words on this right now, and I think I summed it up as best as I could at the end of the DLLS show last night.

It’s hard to pivot from that, but again, appreciate the space and freedom here to be human.

Today I wanted to chat/write about a couple things.

First of all, if you are a reader at this site, I invite you to join the NCAA Hockey Bracket challenge I put together. It’s free to join and you can join at this link and use the password: ShapShots2026Bracket

As I put in a note that may or may not have been in your email, I’ll figure out some fun prizes depending on how many people enter. Either way it’s a fun way to track the tournament and I plan to some more writing the regionals later this week, and then will be attending the Frozen Four in April.

I was over at Detroit Red Wings practice this morning and caught up with Dominik Shine, who celebrated the birth of his second child this week on Friday night back in Grand Rapids.

The Grand Rapids Griffins captain, and the winner of the inaugural Bruce Boudreau Award, is one of my favorite stories in the sport. He now famously made his NHL debut last season as a 31-year-old after close to a decade in the AHL and then scored his first career NHL goal this season.

He’s also commuting back-and-forth on the daily from Detroit to Grand Rapids while in the NHL, doing his best to be home and present with the growing family, while also fulfilling his NHL duties with the Red Wings. Most players when called up from Grand Rapids, if they don’t already have a place to live, stay in a hotel in Detroit until they get told to get a place.

For Shine it’s obviously a bit of a different situation and he said he’s embracing making the drive, even if it’s meant some extra hours on the road on practice days.

It’s funny, or ironic, or whatever other term you want to use, because it’s the opposite drive that Erik Gustafsson has been making this season, playing in the AHL and commuting from Detroit each day to Grand Rapids.

I watched the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights closely last night, and while Vegas won 3-2, there’s a Stars angle and story that’s been percolating in my mind recently about the Stars shooting percentage.

Dallas is currently tied for the league lead with Montreal with a 13.1 percent shooting percentage, they are two of just five times with a shooting percentage above 12 percent in the league and that feels notable in a year where shooting percentage, on average at 10.3 percent across the league is the highest than it’s been since the 1993-1994 season when league average shooting percentage was 11.5 percent.

So for the Stars, and any team, how do we look at this?

Is it a shooting percentage bender that’s unsustainable? Is it something that we need to account for in the postseason? And, perhaps most importantly, how do we use this to redefine our expectations?

For me, and this is partially as my internally goalie apologist, I’ve redefined what is a good and bad performance when it comes to finishing and saves, a .900 for a goalie or a team is now above average and I think we need to accept that.

I’ve talked to players an coaches about it, and while there seems to be some theories that how shots are counted have some impact, and I’d like to dive more into that at some point, the more prevailing note I’ve gotten from NHLers is that players aren’t wasting as many shots as before, that there’s become a more patient approach, sometimes frustratingly, to the puck possession element of the game.

This is most amplified during 3-on-3 overtime, think about how that has evolved from a shoot-em-up experience to a wait-and-see slog.

I’ve also asked some NHL scouts and players from other teams about the Stars and their shooting percentage, about whether they think the results match the actual play on the ice and there tends to be a consensus that the Stars shooting percentage is a real thing and not a glass cannon facade.

Again, that’s based off polling some players and scouts and coaches, not looking at pure data. According to MoneyPuck the Stars rank fifth in the league in goals scored above expected at all situations with a positive 10.6, which to me indicates potential regression but not nearly as much as you would highlight the Buffalo Sabres shooting bender.

There’s time for another deep dive on this coming up, and I will probably do that, but just wanted to rip out some thoughts here while I had an hour to write.

As always, thanks for reading.