What Happened to the Dallas Stars?

Can one player really self-destruct an entire team? Can a Western Conference stalwart like the Dallas Stars really go from the Conference Finals to missing the playoffs in one season?

So far, the answer can only be yes—evidenced by the Stars' current standing of 11th place in the Western Conference.

On the surface, there's really no excuse for this.

The Stars have a collection of talent that can stand with the best: a rising star in Mike Ribeiro, a balanced wing in Brenden Morrow, a veteran center in Brad Richards, a heart of the team in Mike Modano, and a pair of elite defensemen in Stephane Robidas and Sergei Zubov.

It would help matters if Zubov and Morrow were not on injured reserve.

They have plenty of up and coming talent, like Loui Eriksson, and a hot rookie import in Fabian Brunnstrom, who chose Dallas over Detroit and Vancouver by the way.

They have a goalie in Marty Turco who could stand up with the best of them.

So what's the problem? Nothing much has changed from last season. The only real significant move that Dallas made was signing Sean Avery.

Avery's the kind of player I've always been a fan of, but wouldn't want to play against or have on my team. There was a time when he was an instigator, but not so much a distraction to his own team.

I was upset when Detroit traded him as part of a deal for Mathieu Schneider in 2003.

However, from then on, Avery's career began to get out of hand. His point totals increased over time, but his antics were increasingly out of line, culminating in the Avery Rule after his shenanigans in front of Marty Brodeur.

Still, when Dallas signed Avery, I thought it was a move to help them beat Detroit. You can't beat Detroit by beating them up, and it's damn hard to beat them by outmatching their skill, but what Detroit has always had trouble with are pests.

Steve Ott gave the Wings a lot of trouble during that series last year, and now Detroit would have to deal with both Ott and Avery.

That's not going to happen now though, and all because of some stupid comments out of Avery's mouth.

Avery was kicked off the team, and Dallas has continued to play mediocre hockey at best. The team was having problems before the events with Avery, but that negative attention certainly didn't help either.

Marty Turco is a bigger mystery. His Goals Against Average is about .90 above his career marks, which means he's giving up about a goal more per game this year than he ever has throughout his career. His save percentage is also at a career low. 

This is from a goalie who has had stellar career numbers. On one hand, everyone has their bad years, but Turco's stats make it look like he's playing for the LA Kings and not the Dallas Stars.

If Dallas still had a capable backup goalie in Smith, they might be in a different position. Often times a capable backup can push a starter who's having trouble to do better.

Tobias Stephan is not that guy though.

Many thought that the team's recent 6-5 victory over the Detroit Red Wings would be a spark that could lift the Stars to a prolonged winning streak, but up until the All-Star break the team continued to alternate wins and losses.

There's still another half season to go for the Stars, but they will have to work fast to get back into competition. In a Western Conference where a pretty good Anaheim team currently holds the No. 8 seed, Dallas is going to need consistency.

Marty Turco needs to rediscover his magic and Ribeiro needs to step it up a notch. These things are necessary to carry the team until guys like Brunnstrom and Zubov can come off the IR.

Morrow may be done for the season with a torn ACL, and that is a huge blow, but I still think this team has the talent to get in as a No. 7 or No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. They're better, talent-wise, than Columbus or Phoenix, Edmonton or Vancouver.

The Stars just need to remember that again.