The newest member of the Dallas Stars, forward Nathan Bastian, joins Sam Nestler and Craig Ludwig on DLLS Stars to talk about his transition and what he is excited about in Big D.

“The Other 31” on the DLLS Dallas Stars podcast continues with Montreal Canadiens guests Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports and Arpon Basu of The Athletic. Are the Candiens inching back closer to Stanley Cup glory? Plus, Craig Ludwig shares memories from his first NHL championship.

Today on our summer series “The Other 31” we focus on the newly named Utah Mammoth, with special guests Belle Fraser, Mammoth beat writer for the Salt Lake Tribune, and Steve “Petey” Peters, former NHL video coach and host of Inside the Coaches’ Room. Gone is the moniker “Utah Hockey Club” and their franchise is hoping the Mammoth can become a perennial playoff contender, after the group that was the Arizona Coyotes and Utah H.C. combined for just one post season appearance (2020 Bubble Playoffs) in the last 13 years. Clayton Keller leads an up-and-coming group of potential stars, like Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley, with some high–end first round draft picks in the pipeline. The most recent rebuild under general manager Bill Armstrong has been calculated and patience, and the group appears to be trending in the right direction, but at what point will that patience run thin?

We resume our summer series “The Other 31” today, drilling down on the Carolina Hurricanes, with special guests Mike Maniscalco, Hurricanes play-by-play announcer, and Joe Ovies, host of the Ovies & Giglio Podcast. We have a lot to talk about with our guests today: from the Mikko Rantanen-Logan Stankoven trade, to the Hurricanes winning the Nikolaj Ehlers free agency sweepstakes, to Carolina losing defensemen Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov, to acquiring defenseman K’Andre Miller from the New York Rangers and signing him to an eight-year, $60 million contract. Both the Stars and Hurricanes made it to the 2025 Conference Finals, before losing to the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers, respectively. Can both teams get back there in 2026 and maybe even get over the hump?

We are hitting the pause button on our summer series “The Other 31” for today, because it is a very special occasion - the one-year anniversary of DLLS going on the air. We celebrate this big day with special guest Jeff Marek, host of “The Sheet” on Daily Faceoff, joining us to talk Stars hockey for the first 30 minutes. After Marek leaves, we will discuss Sean’s most recent article for DLLS, posted this morning, regarding how non-Stars scouts see Dallas heading into 2025-26. Then, for the last segment, Sean will join us to reminisce about the first year of DLLS Stars Podcast shows - getting started, talking a lot about missing Joe Pavelski “Ding”, the team’s Finland trip, the Four Nations Face Off, the Mikko Rantanen trade, the push to the playoffs, the seven-game winless streak to end the regular season, the dramatic first round victory over the Colorado Avalanche, Jake Oettinger out-dueling Connor Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets in the second round and then the Stars’ hopes of glory coming crashing down against the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final for the second straight year, leading to the firing of Pete DeBoer and the hiring of Glen Gulutzan.

Today on our summer series “The Other 31” we talk about the Edmonton Oilers, the Dallas Stars foil for each of the last two seasons, with special guest Mark Spector - senior columnist for Sportsnet - and Kevin Karius - morning host of The Kevin Karius Show on Sports 1440 in Edmonton. The Oilers have gotten as close as a team can get without winning it all, losing in the Stanley Cup Final to the Florida Panthers in both 2024 and 2025. With two of the top players in the NHL, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton really does seem to be in a position where anything other than winning the Stanley Cup would be considered a failure, which is an insanely high level of expectation. We’ll ask our guests their perspectives of the 2025 Stars-Oilers Western Conference Final rematch, some significant roster turnover for both squads and their 2025-26 outlooks.

We have quickly zoomed past the halfway point of our summer series “The Other 31”, as today we are on our 18th team - the Detroit Red Wings - with special guests: Ryan Hana, host of the Winged Wheel Podcast, and Max Bultman, Red Wings beat writer for The Athletic. From 1989 through 2016 the Red Wings never missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a 25-year post season streak that saw them win four Stanley Cups and reach the Cup Final on two more occasions. However, things have unraveled in the Motor City since that streak came to an end during the 2016-17 season and now the Wings haven’t tasted the playoffs in nine consecutive seasons. Steve Yzerman, a Wings legend on the ice, was hired as general manager in 2019 to turn things around, but we’re entering the seventh season of the “Yzerplan” and there are real questions on if anything has improved. We’ll get into all of it today with our guests and compare how Detroit has done since Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill left the Red Wings for Texas in 2013.

On today’s show, “The Other 31” summer series we talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are eerily similar in many ways to the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, with special guests Luke Fox, senior writer at Sportsnet and Dave McCarthy, host at Sirius/XM NHL Network Radio and Toronto correspondent for NHL.com. The biggest news in the offseason for the Maple Leafs was the loss of all-star winger Mitch Marner, who was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights on the eve of Marner becoming an unrestricted free agent. How will the Leafs replace Marner’s offense? Both Stars and Maple Leafs were two of the better high-flying, rush offense teams in the NHL last season, but both had their playoff runs end too early by more physical opponents. We’ll dive into all of that and much more!

On today’s show, “The Other 31” summer series examines the Pittsburgh Penguins with special guests Josh Getzoff, Penguins TV play-by-play announcer, and Josh Yohe, Penguins beat writer for The Athletic. After winning three Stanley Cups over a 16-year streak of qualifying for the playoffs, the Penguins have missed out on post season action for three straight years. After the 2024-25 season, general manager Kyle Dubas fired head coach Mike Sullivan (2015-2025) and hired first-time NHL head coach Dan Muse. They still have Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson, but Pittsburgh seems like a team headed towards a full teardown rather than a return to playoff glory. We’ll talk with our guests about all the trade rumors surrounding Karlsson, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell, the news of a potential sale by owners Fenway Sports Group and much more.

📬 Dallas sports in your inbox! https://alldlls.com/newsletter Today on “The Other 31” summer series we head back to the Eastern Conference and take a closer look at the Ottawa Senators with special guests Julian McKenzie, Senators beat writer for The Athletic, and Gord Wilson, Senators radio color analyst. The Senators snapped a seven-year playoff drought in 2024-25, qualifying for the post season for the first time since they made a charge to the 2017 Eastern Conference Final, losing to defending champion Pittsburgh. After playing in 512 regular season NHL games, it was Sens captain Brady Tkachuk’s first taste of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, even though Ottawa lost a very entertaining series to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games. Now the big question; can the Senators take the next step, make the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since the 2011-12 & 2012-13 seasons and then advance past the first round? We’ll ask our guests about the offseason additions of Lars Eller and Jordan Spence, plus their takes on the Dallas Stars, and much more! SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/@DLLS_Sports ALL THINGS DLLS: WEBSITE: http://allDLLS.com/ BUY MERCH: https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/dlls-locker FOLLOW ON SOCIAL: Twitter: @DLLS_Sports Instagram: @DLLS_Sports Become a DLLS Diehard and get access to premium content, our Discord channel, discounts on merch, and a free shirt! Sign up here: https://alldlls.com/join-diehard/ PrizePicks: Go to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/DLLS and use code DLLS for $50 instantly when you play $5. PrizePicks. Run Your Game! Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/dlls Gametime: Take the guesswork out of buying concert tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code DLLS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: DLLS35 for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.. Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code DLLS. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/DLLS for details. HelloFresh - Get 10 FREE meals at https://hellofresh.com/freestars. Applied across 7 boxes, new subscribers only, varies by plan. Rugged Road: Reliable, durable, and built to be used– Rugged Road is your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code DLLS for 10% off! FOCO: Check out FOCO for merch and collectibles here foco.vegb.net/DLLS and use promo code “DLLS10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

“The Other 31” summer series rolls along with our second Central Division team - the St. Louis Blues - and this one is extra special, because we have our old friend Matt DeFranks, Blues beat writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on for the full hour! Prior to his time in St. Louis, Matt was the Stars beat writer for the Dallas Morning News and still has lots of friends from the Stars beat, including us. We will discuss the coaching changes with both teams, as Blues general manager Doug Armstrong quickly fired head coach Drew Bannister mid-season and hired Jim Montgomery to a five-year contract just days after Montgomery was dismissed by the Boston Bruins. Plus, Monty was mere seconds away from leading his team to a second round playoff match up against the Stars, and so much more!

Our summer series “The Other 31” heads back to the Central Division and this time it’s a recent playoff opponent - the Winnipeg Jets - with special guests Andrew “Hustler” Paterson, host of Winnipeg Sports Talk, and Mike McIntyre, Jets beat writer for the Winnipeg Free Press. We will get the Manitoba view of the Stars-Jets second round playoff series - which Dallas won in six games, featuring hat tricks from Mikko Rantanen (Game 1) and Mikael Granlund (Game 4), two shutouts from Connor Hellebuyck (Games 2 & 5) and a series-clinching OT goal from Thomas Harley. How do the Jets regroup from losing that series? How much will the return to hockey of Jonathan Toews help soften the blow of losing Nikolaj Ehlers to free agency? Plus, Jake Oettinger and Connor Hellebuyck will probably be the top two goalies on Team USA for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, but who will be the starter?

Today’s episode of our summer series “The Other 31” zeros in on the Los Angeles Kings, with special guests Eric Stephens, LA hockey writer for The Athletic, and Zach Dooley, LA Kings Insider and Manager of Editorial Content. We will tackle multiple topics, including what happened to the Kings in their first round playoff loss to the Edmonton Oilers, a busy off season with significant roster turnover and is long-time Anaheim Ducks legend Corey Perry REALLY a member of the Kings now? Plus, we’ll get both guests’ takes of the Dallas Stars, who very easily could have faced the Kings in last year’s Western Conference Final, had things gone a little differently for Los Angeles.

Our summer series “The Other 31” has been rolling along, but today, we get our first Central Division team - the Nashville Predators, with special guests Chris Mason, Predators TV Color Analyst, and Emma Lingan, Predators beat writer for The Hockey News. One year ago, the Predators were being lauded for winning the offseason, landing big-name free agents Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, plus adding Brady Skjei and Scott Wedgewood, while signing number one goalie Juuse Saros to an eight-year, $61.9M extension. It didn’t translate to results on the ice, as the Preds started the season with a five-game losing streak and had the worst record in the NHL (7-16-6, 20 pts., 0.345) through the first 29 games, finishing 2024-25 30th out of 32 teams (30-44-8, 68 pts., 0.415). We’ll ask our guests what went wrong last year, what general manager Barry Trotz is doing this off season and if the 2023 Matt Duchene contract buyout still haunts Nashville?

Already up to the 10th episode of our “The Other 31” summer series, today’s DLLS Stars Podcast focuses on the Anaheim Ducks, with special guests Alexis Downie, Ducks Stream host, and Steve Carroll, Ducks Stream play-by-play announcer. Anaheim has missed the playoffs for the last seven-straight seasons, with their last post season appearance in 2018, when they were swept by the San Jose Sharks in the first round. GM Pat Verbeek is entering his fourth season in charge and replaced head coach Greg Cronin with 3-time Stanley Cup champion Joel Quenneville, possibly signaling that Verbeek feels his team is ready to break their long playoff drought. We’ll ask our guests about the summer signing of former Dallas Star Mikael Granlund, the trade acquisitions of Chris Kreider, Ryan Poehling and Petr Mrazek and the trade departures of John Gibson and Trevor Zegra, and much more.

On our ninth episode of our “The Other 31” summer series, today’s DLLS Stars Podcast takes a look at the New York Islanders, with special guest Brendan Burke, play-by-play announcer locally for the Islanders broadcasts on MSG Network and nationally for the NHL on TNT. We will chat with Brendan about the Islanders making a big general manager change, from Lou Lamoriello to Mathieu Darche, trading away young defenseman Noah Dobson, and much more. Plus, the Stars signed a free agent over the weekend, agreeing to a one-year NHL minimum contract to former New Jersey Devils forward Natian Bastian.

Miro Heiskanen, the Dallas Stars number one defenseman, suffered a serious knee injury last January in a game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Following surgery and rehab, he returned to action during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. In an interview with NHL.com, Heiskanen claimed that he is "100 percent back to normal after the surgery” and that he’s been able to participate in his usual summer practice routine. The DLLS Stars Podcast crew, Craig Ludwig, Sam Nestler & Owen Newkirk, discuss how important it will be for the Stars to have Miro healthy and ready heading into the 2025-26 season.

Our “The Other 31” summer series is chugging along at full steam right now and on today’s DLLS Stars Podcast, we focus on the Seattle Kraken, with special guests Alison Lukan, Kraken TV Studio Analyst, and Everett Fitzhugh, Kraken Radio Play-by-Play Announcer. After losing to the Stars in seven games in the second round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Seattle hasn’t qualified for post season play in the two years since. That has prompted the Kraken to make some major moves in the last few months, moving general manager Ron Francis to president of hockey operations, elevating Jason Botterill to the GM role, firing head coach Dan Bylsma after just one season at the helm and bringing in Lane Lambert as the new bench boss. Obviously, we also have to talk about the Mason Marchment trade to Seattle and how that will affect the Stars and the Kraken lineups - and perhaps even mascots being chased by wild grizzly bears.

Today’s DLLS Stars Episode continues the “The Other 31” summer series as we highlight the Columbus Blue Jackets, with special guests Aaron Portzline, Blue Jackets beat writer for The Athletic, and Jody Shelley, Blue Jackets TV Color Analyst. The Blue Jackets have not made the playoffs in the last five season; their last appearance was in the 2020 Toronto Bubble. Last year, under new head coach Dean Evason, started off horribly, even before the games began, with the tragic deaths of Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau and his younger brother Matthew. In spite of losing one of their most talented offensive players and having the entire hockey world shaken to the core, Columbus nearly made the post season, finishing just two points behind the Montréal Canadiens for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Today, we will ask our guests about all that went on last year, the current drama surrounding Yegor Chinakov requesting a trade and much more.

Today’s DLLS Stars Episode continues the “The Other 31” summer series as we highlight the New Jersey Devils, with special guests Mike Morreale, senior draft writer at NHL.com and Kristy Flannery, Devils beat writer for The Hockey News. After two and a half seasons with the Dallas Stars, Evgenii Dadonov is now a Devil, signing with New Jersey in free agency this summer. He joins former Stars defenseman Brendan Dillon and Plano-native Stefan Noesen on a roster that is highlighted by Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Jacob Markstrom. New Jersey changed head coaches before the 2024-25 season, saying goodbye to Lindy Ruff and hiring former Maple Leafs bench boss Sheldon Keefe. They made the playoffs, but lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 in the first round. We will talk all things Devils, and as usual, get both of our guests’ takes on the current state of the Dallas Stars.