CEDAR PARK, Texas – Last year’s Texas Stars inaugural team played its way into the playoffs, and then shocked the world by playing for the Calder Cup and nearly winning it all. But this is a new year, with a lot of new young players, a slightly adjusted philosophy and maybe a target on their backs.
“(Assistant Coach) Paul (Jerrard) and I will coach this year with a totally different vision and philosophy,” Head Coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We’ll play 90% the same way, but we don’t want any comparisons to last year’s team. We want this team to create a whole new identity.”
That shouldn’t be too difficult, considering how many of last year’s players are no longer with the team. Players who were critical to the team’s success last year have taken advantage of that success and free agency and moved on to other NHL teams, by way of their AHL affiliates. This includes three defensemen, Garrett Stafford (San Antonio Rampage), Dan Jancevski (Adirondack Phantoms) and Andrew Hutchinson (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins); forwards Warren Peters (Houston Aeros), Mathieu Beaudoin (Rampage) and Landon Wilson (did not report); and goaltender Matt Climie (Rampage).
Clime nearly single-handedly carried the team through a lot of the season and the playoffs while goaltender Brent Krahn was healing from injuries.
Beaudoin (2, 2, 4) and Stafford (1, 2, 3) accounted for half of San Antonio’s six goals and four assists in the Rampage’s 2010-2011 opener against the Chicago Wolves. Clime was the winning goaltender, stopping 26 of 29 shots. Texas opens its season against the Rampage and will probably face their former goaltender.
“You can’t sign everybody,” Star’s General Manager Scott White said. “There’s only so much money to go around. Credit the players. That’s why they play. They have the right to be free agents and go up to a team that will give them a different opportunity or look.”
Last year is history and management is more focused on who they have and not on who they lost. Texas’ NHL parent team, the Dallas Stars, signed some exceptional prospects and they will have the opportunity to show what they can do at the AHL level, while hopefully filling in the gaps where players have moved on.
“The one difference this year from last year is we have some good raw talent,” Gulutzan said. “We’re gonna see some good players like (forward Tomas) Vincour and (forward Ondrej) Roman who are going to start here. (forward Sean) Backman has the speed and intelligence to get himself into space. He’s a fast, smart hockey player who likes to shoot the puck.
Dallas also sent us two defensemen in (Phillip) Larsen and (Severin) Bindenbacher,” Gulutzan added. “Those two guys will be key (players) for us.”
Vincour is a 20-year-old from the Czech Republic who scored 57 points (29, 19) in juniors last year.
“Vincour has surprised everybody,” Gulutzan said. “Every camp he’s gone to, he’s getting himself closer to the NHL. He needs time here to see if he can become a really good player. He’s got the size and ability and just needs the experience.”
Roman is just 21 years old and is also from the Czech Republic.
“Roman is going to be a cerebral player for us,” Gulutzan said. “He’s a centerman and a very intelligent player who is easy to coach because he picks things up quickly.”
Larsen, also 21, is from Denmark and is the highest drafted hockey player ever from that country.
“Larsen is a high-end defensive player,” Gulutzan said. “He played in the Swedish league for three years. It’s equivalent to the AHL, but a different type of game. He’s certainly a guy I think is going to play in the NHL.”
Richard Bachman will back up goaltender Brent Krahn. Krahn saw limited play in both the regular season and playoffs due to injuries last season. Bachman spent most of last season in Idaho where he played in the ECHL finals and led the ECHL in goaltender statistics.
“Krahn is a very established goaltender,” Assistant/Defensive Coach Paul Jerrard said. “But if he starts slipping, we have no problem putting Bachman back there. We have a lot of confidence in him.”
After losing so much on defense, the importance of the veterans taking the rookies under their wings is critical. Brad Lukowich, Maxime Fortunus and Matt Stephenson are all highly experienced defensemen who are returning from last year. Trevor Ludwig returns and Jordie Benn (NHL Star’s forward Jamie Benn’s older brother), who played in Allen, TX last year, round out the defense.
“We wanted some good experience d-wise, “White said. “Lukowich is a guy we looked at from last year in that he took so well to our young guys. He and Fortunus are essential to our depth both here and in Dallas.”
“They are great pros,” Jerrard added. “Lukowich has had a great pro career and Fortunus is knocking on the door of playing in the NHL. They take a lot of these young players under their wing.”
Forwards returning from last year who will be critical to the team’s success include Colton Sceviour (9, 22, 31), Aaron Gagnon (27, 31, 58), Scott McCulloch (5, 12, 17), Raymond Sawada (8, 11, 19), Travis Morin (21, 31, 52), Greg Rallo (19, 25, 44), Sergei Korostin (17, 14, 31), Luke Gazdic (4, 2, 6 plus 165 pims) Francis Wathier (19, 21, 40 and 106 pims) and Mathieu Tousignant (10, 14, 24 and 115 pims).
The Texas Stars had a highly successful first year run. Their goal is to make this year even more successful by being on the winning side of the Calder cup finals.
Contact the writer at: mitch.cooper@prohockeynews.com
