Ring of Fire

We, of course, continued our Canadian roadtrip last night in Calgary as the Stars out-played, but did not out-last the Flames in front of a pretty jacked up Saddledome sellout crowd.

On Thursday’s show we talked about how the deadline should be treated by the Dallas Stars, and what we thought of the chances of the Stars winning the Stanley Cup. Well, it is no secret what I think are the Stars problems:

1) Goaltending
2) Power Play

And there was nothing you were going to be able to do yesterday to improve those spots without giving up plenty. You are married to Turco. You will sink or swim with him, so the sooner we all accept that, the better. The same goes for your Power Play. If you cannot score goals with the man advantage with Modano, Zubov, Guerin, Arnott, Morrow, Lehtinen, Jokinen, Boucher, and the rest of that insane lineup, then adding Sergei Samsonov isn’t going to help you. Those guys have to help themselves. If Turco rises to the occasion, and the PP acts like one, then the Stars can win a Stanley Cup. Just as easily, if they don’t, they can be bounced by the end of April.

So, Thursday night we witnessed the putrid power play once again display its complete impotency. Awful. And until that improves, they cannot win big in this league. That is a simple fact. Willie Mitchell is a real nice addition, but what matters is that the big scores make the enemy pay after penalties like the high stick that opened up Jason Arnott last night.

One more show in Canada, today in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Flames 1, Stars 0 …As both teams gear up for the playoffs….

The Stars opened the second period with 1:42 of power-play time on a fresh sheet of ice and still couldn't score. Coach Dave Tippett tried all sorts of different looks, including changing personnel and moving the point of attack, but none of them worked. Guerin said the blame has to fall directly on the skill players who have logged the most power-play time this season – himself, Modano, Jason Arnott, Sergei Zubov, Brenden Morrow, Jere Lehtinen and Philippe Boucher.

"It's not Tip, it's 13 and 9 and 44 and 56 and 10 and 26 and 43, those guys right there," Guerin said.

The third period was the real disaster. Dallas was on a power play three minutes into the period when Arnott received a gash above his eye from a Jordan Leopold high stick at the 4:13 mark. The ensuing double-minor gave the Stars carte blanche to fire away on Kiprusoff, and they uncorked six shots, all of which were stopped. Kiprusoff finished with 39 saves.

Tippett said he was actually pleased with several elements, including the goaltending of Turco (23 saves), as well as the team's puck control and skating, which created 12:26 of power-play time.

"There were a lot of good things tonight," Tippett said. "We didn't win the game because of the power play, and that's frustrating."

Modano says it is all the Finn Goaltender …

Dallas captain Mike Modano was more than willing to throw his praise in the goaltender's direction.

"He basically won the game for them," Modano said.

"There was nothing really special about their team, about their game tonight, besides him.

"He played great, moved well, saw the angles. We had some great chances, good looks at it but it was a great game for him."

Yesterday, The Stars grab Mitchell for a reasonable price …

Before Thursday's trade deadline, Mitchell, the man coach Jacques Lemaire called Thursday "one of the top 10 defensive defensemen in the league," was shipped to the Dallas Stars along with a second-round pick in 2007 for defensemen Martin Skoula and Shawn Belle.

"I feel relief that it's done," Mitchell said. "The last two nights, it was not fun to sleep. My stomach was churning over what would happen."

What had been a beautiful marriage since Mitchell came to the Wild from New Jersey for Sean O'Donnell in 2001 ended unpleasantly.

Mitchell, who can become a free agent this summer, accused the Wild of not making a concerted effort to sign him. Wild executives accused Mitchell's agent of never making a firm counteroffer, thus proving to them that Mitchell wanted out.

And Lemaire brushed Mitchell's departure off in a life-goes-on sermon while adding that his prized student simply wanted to hit the lottery.

"I made a lot of strides in Minnesota under the coaching staff, and hopefully I'm at a point in my career now where I'm just starting to come into my peak," Mitchell said. "This probably worked out best. As much as I would have liked staying here, obviously it was in their interest to move on."

Mavs with a pretty easy night in Portland …

Terry's flurry of 3-pointers in the third quarter sealed a game that already was tilting heavily in the Mavericks' favor as they cruised to a 109-92 victory over Portland at the Rose Garden, sweeping a home-and-home set against the Trail Blazers.
Devin Harris, starting with Terry in the backcourt, set his teammate up for three 3-pointers at the start of the second half, igniting the Mavericks to a 65-42 lead. The rest was mere window dressing.

The Mavericks, hitting the road for their first multi-game trip since Jan. 18-26, clearly were a step quicker in everything they did. They rode Dirk Nowitzki's 33 points and 10 rebounds, and their offense looked better than it has since the All-Star break as they hit 55.4 percent from the field.

"We were in an intense mode all game," said Nowitzki, "and we never really looked back."

Jason Whitlock with a barbecue of Vince Young …

The NFL doesn't recruit starting quarterbacks. It's not the Marines out looking for a few good men. When it comes to picking its quarterbacks, The League is Halle Berry on Oscar night. She can pick any designer she pleases, and the world's most renowned designers are just grateful for the opportunity to be considered.

Vince Young doesn't get this. He thinks joining the NFL will be similar to joining the NCAA. He mistakenly believes he's holding all (or most of) the cards, and that come April's draft some lucky GM is going to feel like a lottery winner when Vince Young stands next to Paul Tagliabue and pulls on a Saints or Texans or Titans cap.
Vince Young is clueless. And I'm not talking about his score on the Wonderlic test. I'm talking about his understanding of what it takes to make it in the NFL as a quarterback.

Humility is the No. 1 ingredient.

In other terribly disturbing news, Dan Campbell appears to be going away …Another BaD Radio buddy goes bye-bye…

Of the team's three unrestricted free agents, linebacker Scott Fujita appears to be the only one the team is making a priority to bring back. Tight end Dan Campbell and center Andre Gurode are expected to sign elsewhere.

Their departures will likely mean the Cowboys will need help at those positions. Campbell was the team's best blocking tight end. Gurode split time at center with starter Al Johnson last season. And the team is still not convinced that Johnson, a two-year starter who will be an unrestricted free agent next season, is the long-term answer at the position.

Javon Walker tries to get out to get paid …And we cannot blame Rosenhaus for this one; he was fired months ago…

"I just don't feel like this is the best place for me to be right now," said Walker, 27, preparing to enter his sixth pro season. "I really have no interest in being in a Green Bay Packers uniform or playing for Green Bay again."

Citing recent contract squabbles with running back Ahman Green, tight end Bubba Franks, defensive lineman Grady Jackson and cornerback Mike McKenzie, as well as his own, Walker added, "I just don't like the way the organization runs itself. They want players to come up there and play hard and work hard, but when it comes time to be compensated, it's like, 'We forgot what you've done.'"

The source of Walker's bitterness is the team's refusal even to discuss his contract, which at the time had two years remaining, the penultimate year of which paid him $515,000 the season after he made the Pro Bowl by catching 89 passes for 1,382 yards and 12 touchdowns. But Walker says that at this point, money is not the issue.