After a long break, after weeks and months of relative silence from the Dallas Stars, the team management decided to hold a press conference open to journalists as well as the general public.

Promised participation was from GM MB, furthermore - from Dallas Stars head coach Jere Lehtinen and three Dallas Stars players. Namely, it will be the two new faces of the team that arrived to strengthen the team and the ambitions that flow from it, Michael Frolik, Brent Seabrook, and finally the newly formed team captain Joel Armia.

Behind a long table with microphones, GM MB sits in the center and almost everybody is looking at him, though many eyes are looking at new players who say something like, will these players now join our team? Unbelievable. In a good way.

The moderator announces to the press conference that GM MB will answer no more than six questions, then the program will move on.

The first question is ..
Q: It is a necessary clich??. How do you rate the last season and what do you expect from the new season? I will add more context to it ??? don't you think that the team is somehow stagnant and doesnt know how to move from place? Too good to fold the cards and shuffle the deck and yet not good enough to win the whole game?

A: Excellent question. I am afraid that my answer may not reach the same level. However, I let my actions speak for themselves. Let me just say so much that I probably couldn't say it better and it is a dilemma that raged in my head not only this summer but after we had another early exitout in the playoffs for the second time in a row. I like where we're heading and I think it's clear to everyone that we're getting better and better and I'm not the type of a GM who will tank and lose on purpose only to pray to win a draft lottery.. Maybe it's pride, maybe it's stubborn, maybe it's stupid but I believe it's not, I just hate to lose and we want to win. And that's why we sat down with the entire staff and evaluated the situation. As you can see. we have decided to make major changes.


The second question ...
How will these changes affect the team's style of the game? Can we expect any changes?

Yes of course. It is necessary. They say, never change the winning team. However, even though we did not reach the ultimate goal, we looked at what we were doing well and what ultimately cost us to achieve the desired goal - the Stanley Cup. Our offense was the third best in the whole league (277 goals, an average of 3,379 goals scored per game) and we had sixth best powerplays (21.43% success rate). However, in terms of defensive play, we finished 16th overall, even though our penalty killing was the sixth best in the league. What is the result? We have very good offensive power, great special teams, but our 5 on 5 play defense is just average. This was especially evident in the playoffs. We need to improve in this area. Therefore, we decided to bring some experienced veterans, which we believe, will greatly help us. Mainly Brent Seabrook and Olli Maatta. Also the new goaltender of our future Daniel Vladar and veteran Rick DiPietro give us more confidence. Joonas Korpisalo also stays with us.


Question number three....

Who will be the starting goalie?
Daniel Vladar, Rick DiPietro or Joonas Korpsialo. It all goes down to who will be better durinrg the training camp. We would like to see some competition here. They are all different but we believe, they all have the same level of confidence and motivation. So we'll see.


Question number four...
Two words. Michal Frol??k. Is he finally the answer on that first line right wing spot? Is he worth it? Is he elite?
Yes, we believe it was totally worth it and we belive he is elite and fits perfectly to our elite first line who is not just elite in terms of our system, but elite, in terms of the league as it is.




Question number five....
And why did you decide for Evgeni Malkin? Everybody was quite surprised. Perhaps the most Mikhal Grigorenko himself.

Yes, I believe the arrival of Evgeni surprised many. Let me tell you, frankly, that this move has surprised some of our coaches and scouts as well, okay? But in the playoffs, it was so evident that having one great center is not enough. Now we have two of them and I think Mikhail Griogrenko couldn't be happier. Finally, we all want team success. They are countrymen, they know each other, I think they both understand perfectly what it takes to win and to be a great team players. They are not just great hockey players, but also great guys.


Question number six... (this will be the last one)
The team has the highest age average in the last five years. The first years of your tenture were mainly about building the future, even though the team still managed to, at least advance to the playoffs. But does it mean now that the team is older and will look at success at the expense of the future?
Yes and no. This isn't so easy to answer. But well, yes, we are more inclined to ???win-now??? than we ever was. We are not mortgaging our future to do that, but we will do everything that makes sense to do that. Winning the cup means everything. Everything. We did well but wasn't able to go as far as we wanted. Most of our veterans came from free agency, so it didn't cost us any real assets, so we're totally fine with it.


Question number seven ... (We already announced that the previous one had to be the .... )
?????????????????? (.....it's okay. Just go ahead..)

This will be the last one then. Just a simple one. Who do you think was your best free agent signing this summer?
Hard to pick one. And we'll actually see that after the seasons ends but okay, you want my guess. I'll give you my idea. (Ryan) Martindale, (Maxime) Fortier or maybe a sneaky-one (Adam) Erne? I hope the rest of them will not going to shoot the pucks on my head on the next practice.

Next up:
Head Coach Jere Lehtinen interview

Players thoughts?
Two new faces and a word from the captain Armia.

Michal Frolik
Brent Seabrook
Joel Armia,