HCTB 1, Mainstream Media 0

Ok, I can't technically take credit for a "scoop" on this, because I'm not one of those fancy-pants professional journalists with their credentials and sources and legitimacy, but it looks like I at least made a really good guess on the possibility of Sergei Zubov coming to Boston. Zubov's agent reports, via SI's Allan Muir, that the Bruins have indeed shown interest in him.

The common critique of this possibility is that the B's could never fit Zubov under the cap, to which I rebut -- let's wait and see what happens with Phil Kessel. If they decide to move Kessel, they might include a cap-heavy forward in the deal. Hmmm, Kobasew ($2.3m) seems about right, and with Mark Recchi at RW this season...

Sergei Zubov. Think about it.

ESPN's Pierre LeBrun reports that Sergei Zubov is testing the free agent market after 12 year in Dallas.

Now, don't get me wrong. The Bruins have cap issues and don't know what's going to happen with Phil Kessel.

But... if Kessel signs an offer sheet, the Bruins have the option to take salary-free draft picks as compensation. That would leave about $5 million of cap space to play with. Kessel accounted for 36 goals last season, but the Bruins would be bringing in ~25-goal-scoring Marco Sturm and should see improved production from their younger guys (could Wheeler hit 30 with quality PP opportunities?).

Bruins minus Kessel plus Zubov. Think about it.

Death Watch: R.I.P. Stars

Another bubble team bites the dust.



This year's Stars had more drama than a Gray's Anatomy DVD set. Here are the top 5 reasons they won't make it to April as a serious playoff contender:


5) Sean Avery - Let's just get this one out of the way early. Avery was the wrong man on the wrong team. His Stars teammates, coaches, and front office eventually revealed him as a pariah. But by the time they had the good sense to cut him loose, the Stars were wallowing near the bottom of the conference. In a tough Western bracket, there was no room for a slow start.


4) Inconsistency - Coach Dave Tippett deserves credit for keeping the team afloat through long losing streaks, and occasionally leading them to victories over heavily-favored opponents. But the Stars couldn't sustain their winning momentum for long, and disasterous losing streaks were a regular feature of their season.

3) Massive injury problems - Think your team's injury issues are bad? The Stars have lost a league-high 322 man-games to injury. The victims have included Sergei Zubov, Brad Richards, Jere Lehtinen and Brenden Morrow... and a plethora of minor injuries that shortened the bench nightly.

2) Horrible goaltending - The biggest question-mark for the Stars is whether Marty Turco needs to move on. Turco leads the NHL in minutes-played, an indicator of how desperately Dallas needed him to carry the team. It's clear that he wasn't up to the task this season, logging disastrous numbers and generating loads of media criticism. Turco's career might not recover from this season.

1) Post-deadline meltdown - In spite of everything working against them, Dallas was still precariously in playoff position at the trade deadline. In fact, they were as high as 6th in the West as recently as March. But just as it seemed that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, the Stars nose-dived -- since March 17 they are 0-5-2. The bottom line is that you simply have to find a way to win your games, and the Stars just couldn't do it when it counted.

It'll be a contentious offseason in Dallas, as the team begins in earnest to cut ties with the Modano/Zubov/Turco era. But all hope isn't lost -- the team's core is mostly under 30, and youngsters like James Neal and Loui Eriksson should have the Stars back in the playoffs in the next couple of years.