Rangers suck! ; Who cares! Watch the Stars!

jgb0607 · February 23, 2004

They killed the Avs 5-1 on Friday and trounced the Ducks on Sunday 4-0.

They are now in 5th place in the West and 4 points behind SJ for 1st in their Division.

Zeke · February 23, 2004

Hockey is mindless turnovers one after the other. If I am gonna invest a few hours into a game - somebody better win. Miracle was a great movie. Rangers do suck.

MeanMag · February 23, 2004

They killed the Avs 5-1 on Friday and trounced the Ducks on Sunday 4-0.
They are now in 5th place in the West and 4 points behind SJ for 1st in their Division.

They are owned by the same person... dont let the different team name fool you if you hate Hicks.

UNT_92_Fan · February 23, 2004

They are owned by the same person... dont let the different team name fool you if you hate Hicks.

good point...consider me a hicks hater!

jgb0607 · February 23, 2004

Well, is Hicks the problem or the peeps he put in charge?

Hicks brought the Stanley Cup to Dallas with Hitchcock and Gainey.

As a BIG hockey fan, I tend to go a little easier on Hicks, but I can see how baseball fans would be put out with him.

John Hart needs to go and Hicks needs to sink some of that Arod money into pitching.

Rudy · February 24, 2004

Yeah, its better if somebody wins. If you don't like ties, just wait until the playoffs.

Hicks didn't exactly bring Lord Stanley's Cup to Dallas. Gainey was already here as Coach/GM. When he stepped down from coaching and placed Hitch in charge, it was possibly one of the most brilliant moves in sports. Gainey is a brilliant hockey mind. So, to be honest, Hicks didnt do much. When Gainey stepped down and Armstrong stepped it, well, not much luck so far.

That being said, it does appear that they are turning the corner and Im pretty psyched!

Texas Stranger · February 24, 2004

So, to be honest, Hicks didnt do much.

Except going out and paying for Brett Hull and Eddie Belfour. That never would have happened with the previous ownership regime.

jgb0607 · February 24, 2004

I still think Hicks has done a great job with the Stars!

As mentioned, he ponied up and increased their payroll and has done what JJ can not do: Put knowledgeable people in place and let them do their jobs unimpeded!

You might make the case that we have not looked as good lately, but lets not forget that last year we had the number 1 seed in the West going to the playoffs and probably would have won the whole thing if we could have gotten by the Disney Lucky Ducks.

Lets just be glad that we don't have a horrid team like the Blackhawks or the NY Rangers.

Brent · February 24, 2004

Except going out and paying for Brett Hull and Eddie Belfour. That never would have happened with the previous ownership regime.

He also let Hull and Hatcher go.

And traded away Sydor.

And signed Turgeon to a huge conract, and have pulled the plug on some other bad signs a la the Rangers.

Rudy · February 24, 2004

He also let Hull and Hatcher go.
And traded away Sydor.
And signed Turgeon to a huge conract, and have pulled the plug on some other bad signs a la the Rangers.

Also, those latter moves were done with Armstrong as the GM. Gainey had more to do with getting Belfour and Hull than Hicks.

jgb0607 · February 24, 2004

He also let Hull and Hatcher go.
And traded away Sydor.
And signed Turgeon to a huge conract, and have pulled the plug on some other bad signs a la the Rangers.

Hull was a MAJOR mistake!

However, the Hatcher thing was necessary!

It basically came down to signing Hatcher and losing either Lehts or Modo.

I think they made the right move considering Hatch has played all of 3 games this year!

The Sydor move was also in my view necessary as we need to give our young guys a shot at playing.

Overall our D has been good this year, as we are 4th in the NHL giving up 2.19 goals a game. The problem this year has been with the Offense, which has finally started playing well!

Turgs has been a eyesore in the past, but has played very well lately and has like 16 points in his last 14 games. Hopefully he can keep it up!

Every team makes good and bad moves, but the main issue is that the organization is very healthy and has many prospects in the minors.

Brent · February 24, 2004

I don't necessarilly disagree with you, but I don't think you get rid of 1/3 of your D in one season.

Turgeon is playing very well as of late, but I still don't think his huge contract is a good one.

jgb0607 · February 24, 2004

I don't necessarilly disagree with you, but I don't think you get rid of 1/3 of your D in one season.
Turgeon is playing very well as of late, but I still don't think his huge contract is a good one.

The D is still 4th in the league.

I agree, unless Turgeon wins the Conn-Smythe trophy in the playoffs, he is WAY overpaid.

Brent · February 24, 2004

I freely admit I didn't get to and still don't get to see much hockey, but I feel that our D had to use the first month or so of the season to learn each other. It is just real hard to replace that much of a core and not have a lull.

They have pulled it together it seems, and hopefully Dallas can move into a top 4 finish...with 3 or 4 being most likely.

Turco also has a lot to do with the D being #4 too.

jgb0607 · February 24, 2004

I freely admit I didn't get to and still don't get to see much hockey, but I feel that our D had to use the first month or so of the season to learn each other. It is just real hard to replace that much of a core and not have a lull.
They have pulled it together it seems, and hopefully Dallas can move into a top 4 finish...with 3 or 4 being most likely.
Turco also has a lot to do with the D being #4 too.

Yeah, they are now actually closer to the Nucks now than SJ!

I agree that Turco is a big reason that the D looks good, but take this in consideration:

Turco is 8th in the NHL in Goals against AVG at 2.06

However, he is 27th in Save percentage at .909%

So, that just goes to show that he is not having to face a lot of shots.

Credit the men in front of him.

That being said, Marty is crucial to our team and his puck handling skills on dump-ins are spectacular!

KingDL1 · February 24, 2004

I think the Stars have a great shot at 3rd in the West! In recent games the offense has come alive and that is just what we needed. I believe there are 20 games left and the way we are playing we may even give 1st and 2nd a run for their money! I can't stick my finger at Hicks to much

The Rangers have always sucked, except for a small glimmer in the 90's for two years.

For 31 years we have needed pitching and we still need it! The Rangers have never had a complete pitching lineup!

Hicks has had the same problem at least he gambled, and lost. Better than never trying.

I will agree that Park sucked to begin with but I imagine they saw a chance for him to turn it on or they would not have payed him.

I just wish we had picked up Pettitte and Clemens to give us a better chance to recruit other top pitchers. I did see an article saying they would go to the Rangers if the pay was right! I don't think they preferred they NL if I remember right. But it went on to say Hicks would not even consider paying them what they were asking.