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Dallas Stars hire former player/fitness buff Gary Roberts as new player development consultant

Gary Roberts, Rick Tocchet

Pittsburgh Penguins Tampa Bay Lightning in the period of a NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Gene J. Puskar

The Dallas Stars are looking awfully impressive at 3-0 so far, although I think that the team is still resting on a slightly shaky foundation (at least in net, considering how injury prone Kari Lehtonen is). But I’ll get into why the Stars might - or might not - be for real a little bit later.

GM Joe Nieuwendyk might have made his best move in his young career as a general manager today as the Stars hired “Scary” Gary Roberts to be a player development consultant.

While the title of player development consultant seems a little vague, I imagine the Stars hired Roberts in large part because of the training program he has been teaching during off-seasons to various players. Roberts preached stringent dietary choices and made big fitness strides with 25 players this summer (read about it here) and it’s probably no coincidence that budding Stars power forward James Neal was one of the program’s most enthusiastic beneficiaries.

If Roberts can help the Stars up their overall fitness level even by an increment or two, then this is a brilliant hire. The Pensblog popularized the phrase “What Would Gary Roberts Do?” when he was a rare physical force for the team. Yet, if the fitness freak’s training regimen indicates anything, the answer is usually: “eat right and exercise.” That might not sound very exciting ... unless you’re a member of the Dallas Stars front office, that is.