The Gustavsson Watch: 7/5/2009

While no real updates or news have passed throught he lips of the Swedish goaltender in some time, Dallas isn’t letting Brian Burke be the only guy who can try to push him in their favor.  Apparently, Neiuwendyk has recruited Fabian Brunnstrom – an ex-teammate of Gustavsson – to try to convince him that Dallas is indeed the place he needs to be come the start of the season.  Brunnstrom had dinner with Jonas in Sweden recently and we can only hope that he knows just what to say – I assume he’s better with his native tongue than he is with English, after all.

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The Gustavsson Watch: July 2nd

I apologize for the late post, this is a bit of a recap.

Seems Burke’s accidental dedication that found him in Sweden talking to the monster didn’t quite pay off.  According to sources and Burke, the kid is still undecided despite the Toronto GM’s prodding.  His agents say it could still be a few days before he makes a decision, which doesn’t bode well for the Dallas Stars as they are the team who the situation is more volatile for, meanwhile Burke and the Maple Leafs seem to be ready and willing to do whatever it takes to put together a winning team in the Big T – whether it means begging and pleading to Jonas or picking the best of the litter if it falls through.  Meanwhile Dallas’ internal cap will likely limit them when selecting a back-up if Gustavsson does fall through.

You have to understand the inner-turmoil that comes with a decision for any new player coming from Europe who is suddenly put into the spotlight – add the recent death of his mother who wanted him to play in Canada supposedly and it becomes all the more hard.  But that doesn’t make this any less annoying for us fans – or at least not for me.  Ed Belfour is looking better and better – I kid, I kid.

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Following Free Agency: End of Day 2

Well the day will have officially come to an end by the time this is published.  To call it exciting would be a lie – it was pretty slow compared to yesterday’s flabbergasting state of affairs.

The day had three major points (though they were probably more minor in the scheme of things) –

1. Gustavsson still delays even though Burke meets him in Sweden to talk him into Toronto
2. Zubov is apparently getting quite a few offers from other teams, NYR and St. Louis two of the top contenders.\
3. Skrastins signed for 2 years.

While Dallas finally made a move on the Free Agent market, I wouldn’t necessarily classify it as anything that resembles exciting.  But it did ease my soul a bit and made for a nice “brain apocalypse” on the Stars defensive line.  I had time to read around about the new guy.  If you didn’t read earlier or haven’t explored him since the signing – here are a few key facts about Skrastins:

• Finished with a +9 last season with the Panthers playing 80 games
• Won an Iron Man award for his lack of injuries and holds the record for most consecutive games played by a defensemen.
• Averages 20 minutes ice time per game.  For a lot of the first half of the season he played the most time on the PK of anyone else on the team.
• Blocks a ton of shots.

That said he’s a 34 year old Defensive Defensemen who was drafted by Nashville then went to Colorado for a bit before heading to Atlanta.  In between those he played in Latvia – his native country (not in Mexico).  If nothing else it will be a nice change for us to snag someone who isn’t going to go out for half a season every season after the season we had last year and the problems we’ve had with our veterans lately.

It begs the question – what role is taking up and where does that leave the defense core as a whole?

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The Gustavsson Watch: 7/1/2009

Reportedly Brian Burke (Toronto GM) is on his way to Sweden to try and coerce Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson into a Maple Leafs jersey.  This probably doesn’t bode well for Dallas though we can hope he sees this as desperate and annoying.  Let’s hope that over zealous agent of his does his job and lets the kid decide without outside influences like a desperate GM flying over seas to see him, making things difficult – or that Joe flies over there too and they battle to the death.

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