Jussi Rynnas Named Lone Star Grille/100 Degree Hockey Player of the Week

(Credit: Christina Shapiro/Texas Stars)
Every Thursday, 100 Degree Hockey will name the Lone Star Grille/100 Degree Hockey Player of the Week. Lone Star Grille features classic comfort food and Southern dishes less than five minutes from the Cedar Park Center. If you mention the Player of the Week or 100 Degree Hockey on your next visit to Lone Star Grille, your server will take $5 off your order of any two entrees.

Back-to-back player of the week honors are handed out for the first time this season as Jussi Rynnas earns the nod again after a big effort last night to keep the Stars in the contest despite a heavy Rockford shot count. Rynnas stopped 38 of 41 last night and 33 of 36 on Friday. That's a .922 save percentage in the playoff series.

Now the offseason looms for the entire club. Goaltending is a question mark in Dallas, specifically in the backup slot. Rynnas is in pole position for the backup job if he wants it. With another year on his contract with the NHL's Stars, he will enter camp as a favorite to clinch the job if Jim Nill decides to go a similar route as this year. However, if Nill decides to sign a more clear-cut backup in the role, Rynnas would be more likely to return to Cedar Park next year.

That will bring more discussion of what exactly the team is going to do with Jack Campbell and how he will be used in 2015-16. But there's plenty of time to discuss that over the coming five months...

Comments

  1. Rynnas was the Stars' Player of the Year, in my opinion. At various times this season he really started to come into his own, and I think this guy could easily be an NHL goalie soon. Jack Campbell is not on the same level. There is just something about Campbell's play -- the way he chases almost every single puck behind the net immediately comes to mind -- that makes me feel he has a long way to go before he is even an AHL starter.

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  2. Quick question, when was the last time Jack Campbell was scored on for improperly playing the puck? He plays it frequently and stick handles very well, almost to the point of worry I agree, but when was the last time it turned into a goal against?

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    1. It's been a while. Rynnas said in exit interviews that one thing he wants to work on is playing the puck more like Campbell. He sees that as a deficiency in his game that Campbell has over him.

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  3. Ultimately goaltending let us down. We mentioned earlier it was "good but not great" and that's how it ended. I like both goaltenders but they were to up and down. I think Rynnas deserved some heat in game one when he got beat by the same shot three times, and he didn't really get any. I'll be okay if they both come back but still look at goaltending as a need to upgrade.

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