Richard Bachman taking a break (Photo taken by me)

Yesterday the Dallas Stars organization announced the signing of Max Lagace to a entry-level contract, Lagace was an invitee to Dallas Stars development camp. He spent last season in the QMJHL with the Prince Edward Island Rocket.

Official Press Release from the Stars yesterday:

Frisco, TX – The Dallas Stars announced today that the NHL club has signed goaltender Max Lagace to a three-year, entry-level contract.

Lagace, 19, played 56 games last season for the Prince Edward Island Rocket in the Quebec Major-Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), where he posted a 12-34-5 record with a 4.51 goals-against-average (GAA) and a .867 save percentage (SV%).The 6-foot-2, 168-pound goaltender finished 2011-12 ranked sixth in minutes played (2,911:58), fourth in saves (1,422) and fourth in shots against (1,641) among all QMJHL goaltenders.

 

Earlier this year, the native of Longueuil, Quebec was selected as one of three goaltenders who will represent Hockey Canada in the Canada-Russia Challenge this August, an event that is replacing Canada’s Junior Team summer development camp. Lagace also participated in Dallas’ Development Camp earlier this summer.

Lagace had a very impressive rookie camp and caught the eye of coaches running the camp and General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk. This signing brings the Dallas Stars Organization goaltender depth to eight goalies and seven of them already signed to contracts.

Lagace numbers are not impressive by any means, but the PEI Rockets had the worst regular season in the teams history since relocating to PEI from Montreal before the 2003-2004 season began with a record of 19-43-6. The QMJHL is also not the most successful place for goalies. In 68 regular season games Lagace had the decision in 61 of them, which means he can be a work horse for a team which is common for a lot of the goalies in the Stars organizations.

Let’s take a look at the Stars and their minor league affiliates to see how this goalie depth is panned out.

» Continue reading “Dallas Stars Goalie Depth Gets Deeper”

Many of us fanatics eagerly wait in anticipation of any juicy hockey morsel that comes our way during the off-season. This past week delivered a couple new signings in the Stars organization, much to the delight of fans. The arrival of Jack Campbell aside, this past season for the Texas Stars was lacking in the goalie department. Although Richard Bachman rose to the challenge of playing backup for Kari Lehtonen in the NHL, admittedly his season did not start off with a bang in Cedar Park. Tyler Beskorowany also had a less than stellar performance this year, though it didn’t help his case that the blue liners left him high and dry numerous times.

The Dallas Stars announced this week that they were signing Swedish goaltender Cristopher Nihlstorp to a two way contract. In addition, the Texas Stars also announced that they were signing goalie Josh Robinson to an AHL two way deal. With these signings, we now have Lehtonen, Bachs, Besko, Campbell, Nihlstorp, and Robinson. Six goaltenders. According to an interview Hundred Degree Hockey had with Texas’ GM Scott White, he expects that Robinson would be placed with an ECHL team (Source: Hundred Degree Hockey). It will be interesting to see what develops with the other five goalies before the season starts and where they will go, especially within the minor leagues.