Change is in the Stars

No, there wont be any dancing involved and barring some strange twilight zone scenario you probably wont see any telescopes either.  There will be Stars though.

For hardcore Dallas Stars fans this year has been pretty hard to watch, in fact possibly one of the hardest in recent years.  From the get-go this has been a year when the Stars simply were not meant to go super-nova.  

It all started right back at the start of the season when Brett Hull announced with a big smile on his face that the team signed Sean Avery to a contract worth twice his value for years double what  you’d think right through and continued til recently when Brad Richards broke his wrist, only to break the OTHER one on his first game back!

Losing Captain Brendan Morrow sure didn’t help with the teams grand plans either, nor did Zubov being out for all but 10 games and a multitude of other injuries to players like   Lehtinen, Parrish, and Brunnstrom.  In fact at recent count over 300 man hours of games have been lost to injuries this season.

This season’s Dallas Stars remind me of the old nursery rhyme…“Twinkle Twinkle little star, how i wonder what you are.”

Who are you?  Or, to be more accurate, what are you expected to be?

Brad Richards injury had the team turning to Mike Modano to fill his role.  All of a sudden the 38 year old who has spent much of the past two seasons on the third line as a checking center was expected to play 22+ minutes on the second line and do so like he was in his prime. 

Forgive me, but while Mike is a legend and still one of the best in the game, he’s not the guy he was when the Stars won the cup in ‘99.

The blue line suffered all year long with rookie mistakes, lackluster performances and a vast constellation of turnovers, pun intended.

It’s no wonder either considering you have Stephane Robidas and Nicklas Grossman expected to play No. 1 defenseman minutes with the same skill, tenacity and patience that Zubov delivered.

All that aside, mediocre defensive performances and less “punchy” top lines can still win games.  Afterall, the last line of defense is none other than “the wall”, Marty Turco.  Surely after his standout performances in last years playoffs he could help carry this depleted and fatigued to a playoff spot. 

Right? 

Normally, yes, but it would appear at some time between game one and game 71 of this season Marty Turco forgot how to stop pucks on a consistent basis.  With no quality back-up goalie to challenge Marty for the net, it appears even Marty forgot who he is.

What a year!  Many Stars fans will be happier when this season ends than they were when Sean Avery got the boot out of big D.

What now?  Clearly this team needs a change.  The Two-Headed Snake of Brett Hull and Les Jackson did not impress fans when they failed to deliver a No. 1 defenseman at the trade deadline, instead opting to get Brenden Morrison to replace Brad Richards.  An ok move, but not one that really helped this struggling team.

The off season is now the focus for many Stars fans.  What will this team get?  What do they need?  Who will stay or go?  Here are some interesting points to ponder…

Sergei Zubov and Jere Lehtinen’s contracts are both up this year.  Both are top players if they’re not injured.  Is the risk too much to re-sign them?  I believe both are worth keeping hold of if the price is right. 

Neither of these guys are able to ask for big contracts due to their ongoing injuries, but the cost of not re-signing them could be too high.

Mike Modano has another year on his contract but many fans believe he’s done and should retire.  I disagree.  Age slows him down, but doesn’t deaden his passion.  The team should not rely on Mike to be the player he was 10 years ago.

Even if Zubov returns, he’s no longer able to be relied on as the No. 1 defenseman.  Should the Stars make a post season trade to get a Bouwmeester, Kaberle or Redden?
With Brian Sutherby getting a contract extension, does that mean Joel Lundqvist is one the way out? 

Maybe we could send him to the Rangers in a deal to bring Redden here.  Brothers unite!

Marty Turco no longer has a NTC I believe after his dismall play this year, so could the team look to ship him out?

If i were to make just one change to the current Dallas Stars system, it would be this.  I would remove Brett Hull from the GM position and put him somewhere else. 

While the co-GM situation was great for a while, the Sean Avery incident proved that Brett Hull is not, and possibly never will be a good General Manager of an NHL team.

I leave you with this thought.  If the Dallas Stars had never signed Sean Avery, how do you believe the team would look right now?