A mess of a mess

My oh my but the Dallas Stars are in trouble. When you've got Mike Modano talking about antics he hasn't seen in 20 years and a goaltender calling out everyone else, there's trouble (although Turco wasn't mad about the Brenden Morrow gaffe right behind him that led to the second goal. Surprised at that).

And now they get five days to think about what kind of team they want to be. Well, some guys know exactly what they want to be, and others are angry at the direction this team is now taking. It's gotten nasty in a lot of ways, and it is going to be a long, long, long couple of days.

Coach Dave Tippett talked about evaluating players. Fine, but what do you do then? Where do you switch out players, and for whom?

This team does need to take a hard look at itself, and the whining's got to stop. We're starting to get into finger-pointing here, and that's never good for a team trying to forge ahead.

I get slightly aggravated when people always say it'll be better when Jere Lehtinen and Sergei Zubov will return. Yes, those two will certainly bring a calm that's desperately needed right now. But it's almost like this team is waiting for the duo to swoop in and save them. As good as Lehts and Zubie are, no two players can do that.

The entire team got itself into this mess. The entire team is going to have to get itself out.

Comments

[Tim]

I agree that Lehtinen and Zubov arent going to be the magic pills that right the ship. The team needs to establish a team identity and mentality or this is going to last a long time. These guys just arent on the same page.

[hip czech]

Ms. Myers,

I guess one could say that the Stars will get "five for fighting" starting tomorrow.

Hopefully they get it all worked out.

[hip czech]

Ms. Myers,

At the risk of being redundant.

Going back to our earlier conversation about the players having friction between them, the result of which is often that they begin lose their chemistry or bonds, thereby fracturing the room to an extent.

I know you have those unwritten rules to follow, and obviously the open sniping in the press is a tip off, but how much chemistry do you feel has been lost at this point?

[rev0lver19]

Well so much for Richards being something of an antidote...

I think we're seeing a somewhat painful re-calibration of the team. Consider the differences from last year - Norstrom, Barnes, Miettinen, Hagman, Smith etc., and the number of 1st and 2nd year players - Niskanen, Neal, Crombeen, Brunnstrum, Fistric, Grossman, Stephan... Say what you like about the subtractions, but they each effectively fulfilled roles on the team.

This is really quite a different team from the one that played into June. The new and expanded roles expected by some players will obviously take some time. The fact that Ribiero has been getting time on the PK should be evidence enough!

Here's to wishing we had a Sydor and a Hagman to throw in there...

[Mike M]

I guess we'll never know for sure, but is sure seems like the addition of Avery has really hurt the team chemistry. I don't think most of the players were too fond of Avery before his signing. His bizarre behavior (have you watched any of his interviews - playing with dolls, or calling out Iginla?) probably doesn't help either.
Sorry Tracey, but if it's a trust issue (which Turco eluded to) - then you can't discount the impact that Zubie and Lehts will have. Zubie plays half the game, and he will have the immediate trust of his partner to control his half of the ice. Lehts will do the same for his forward line and the penalty kill.

[Oliver]

I think this early season trouble might be a good thing, they'll have strong discussions and then they'll be ready to roll

[hip czech]

Oliver,

I agree that it's better to have these issues now rather than March. But how do they fix this "mess"? What are the 3 biggest problems in your opinion?