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Craig Ludwig, Daryl Reaugh keep Dave Strader's broadcast seat warm

Dave Strader, Dallas Stars helmet decal.
Dave Strader, Dallas Stars helmet decal.

LOS ANGELES – Dallas Stars television broadcasters Daryl Reaugh and Craig Ludwig are quick to point out that their current set-up isn’t for the long haul.

Are they having fun in their first year with Reaugh as the play-by-play man and Ludwig as the analyst? The answer is generally yes. It’s a new challenge for both and one that gives them some enjoyment at this stage in their lives.

But this fulfillment is tempered with sadness. The reason they were formed as a tandem was because regular play-by-play man Dave Strader was diagnosed with bile duct cancer last summer. The organization made the decision to put Reaugh and Ludwig together in order to keep the broadcasts as insightful as possible with familiar faces to the team’s fans as Strader went through treatment

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“We know who’s supposed to be sitting over there,” said Ludwig, a former Stars defenseman from 1993-94 through 1998-99. “From the people doing stats in the office to the president and the owner of the club, everybody’s wishing the best for Dave and everybody’s behind him and they’ve supported him.”

Said Reaugh: “Other broadcasters around the league have been really, really nice to say flattering things about what we’re doing and I think everyone understands that this is an awful situation to be in with Dave sick, and yet the games are going to go on and somebody’s going to have to call them. We thought the best way to go about it was to hold it together internally and not search outside, which would send an awful message to a guy who’s trying to beat cancer, that ‘It sucks for you but we’re moving on.’ Instead it will be, ‘We’re going to keep the seat warm for you and you get yourself healthy again.’”

What’s interesting with the two is how seamlessly they’ve both transitioned to roles they’ve never held before. In fact, Ludwig’s rise to being a steady television analyst was somewhat unexpected for him at the beginning.

“When I got called 12 years ago, I thought I was going to the studio to do an interview or just do a question or a segment and they kind of looked at me and they said, ‘Do you know what you’re doing here?’ and I said ‘Yeah, I’m doing a segment.’ And they said, ‘No, you’re our analyst’ so it was sort of baptism by fire again,” Ludwig said.

Reaugh, who has been the Stars’ TV analyst for 21 seasons, said he called one season as a play-by-play man in the ECHL with the Dayton Bombers about 24 years ago and a couple of Stars games on radio after former announcer Ralph Strangis was hurt in a car accident.

“The preparation is probably the biggest difference because I knew how to prepare to be an analyst. But you don’t really know what is going to be needed as a play-by-play guy,” Reaugh said. “I’m still … game-by-game you go ‘Oh geez, I’m going to need something there.’ I talked to lots of people in the business asking, ‘What should I be ready for?’”

Last summer the two did some tests on past games on television with each other and Reaugh watched past Stars games on his iPad and practiced on those as well.

They also called six of the seven Stars’ preseason games – though only one of them was actually put on air. These were affectionately called “fraudcasts.”

“It’s seamless with him,” Ludwig said. “He makes it look like he has been doing it his whole career, but it’s good because I have to lean on him for everything.”

The two have been together long enough now to where they have developed certain ‘tells’ that help them know when to talk or when to stay silent.

“What I basically do is I just watch his face,” Ludwig said. “When I see that third shade of red where he’s actually running out of air that’s when I know I’m going to chime in. But I like it. I just have to realize the ‘How and why,’ like he says all the time, so I try to find those types of things.”

One of the best moments for the two this season had nothing to do with on-ice play or the team. It was when Strader came to a game in Detroit to greet the team and see how everyone was doing. Strader didn’t call any action, but his presence gave Reaugh and Ludwig a lift.

“The hope is maybe he can do something, call a game or something in the second half here. But we’ll see. He just has to get himself healthy first,” Reaugh said. “It was as good for our group as it was for him. I think it was one of the best things that could have happened for him was to at least get healthy enough to at least travel there and do that.”

Strader, 61 is one of the most respected broadcasters in the NHL. He spent 11 years as the television play-by-play voice of the Detroit Red Wings from 1985 to 1996. From 1996 through 2004, Strader was a play-by-play announcer for ESPN/ABC. Strader was also the play-by-play announcer for the Phoenix Coyotes for four seasons and the Florida Panthers for two seasons. During that time he also called several nationally televised NHL games.

Before joining the Stars organization in the summer of 2015 he was a play-by-play broadcaster for NBC Sports.

Seeing Reaugh and Ludwig on television and how they’ve performed helps Strader as he continues this fight.

“As I continue my battle against bile duct cancer, there’s not much to update at this point. I’ve had mostly good days over the past month. I’m waiting on some test results to see if there is an immunotherapy drug that can help me,” Strader said in a message to Puck Daddy provided by the Stars. “One of the things that has helped me through this entire process is watching and listening to Razor and Luds become terrific broadcast partners. What they’ve done individually and as a team isn’t easy. I’m proud of both of them. I still hope to make it to Dallas and return to the booth at some point this season. In the meantime, thanks again to the fans and my colleagues around the NHL for their continued love and support.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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