Texas Stars Report: "We Deserve What We Got"

The Texas Stars Report on Defending Big D...

The AHL playoff race is slowly becoming clearer and one thing that has become clear now is that the Texas Stars (25-28-2-2, 54 pts, #15 Western Conference) will probably be on the outside looking in come mid-April. During an intermission interview, Coach Pyle intoned as much, "Our record is what it is, and we deserve what we got." He expanded to talk about how finishing plays and games haunted them all year. It is tough to see this talented roster underachieve so heavily. The raw talent that started out the year hasn't been refined into the polished final product quite yet.

Aside from the Stars split of games in Abbotsford, BC, this weekend, Friday's news out of Stars camp was the "trade" of Ray Sawada for forwards Michael Forney "and" Shawn Weller. You'll notice a lot of quotes there; let me explain. Dallas recalled Sawada and reassigned him to the Atlantic Division leading St. John's IceCaps (Winnipeg Jets). Meanwhile, Winnipeg recalled and reassigned Forney to Texas. In an "unrelated" transaction, Texas received Shawn Weller for future considerations.In the big picture, Texas got a two for one here. Sawada was preparing to play in Friday night's game after playing just one game since December 16th due to injury. With this move, Sawada (still a Dallas contracted player) gets a chance at some meaningful hockey in the playoffs.

The biggest news though was the AHL announcement of Clear Day rosters today, a list of which 22 players can play in the remainder of the season and the playoffs. Ryan Garbutt was left off this list while Tomas Vincour was on it, meaning that Garbutt cannot be assigned to the AHL and is staying in Dallas for the rest of the season. More on the full roster inside.

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