What Will It Take for the NHL's Most Disappointing Teams to Turn Things Around?

How do you write a rip-job column on the most disappointing teams in the NHL when, at the time of this writing, the worst record in the league is 8-11-3? That team, the Arizona Coyotes, has earned points in one of every two games an average.

In the NPL (the newly named National Parity League), calling a team bad isn't easy. Entering Saturday's games, six points separated the worst team in the Eastern Conference (the New York Islanders) from the eighth-place team (the Washington Capitals). In the West, the difference was seven points, between Arizona and the Nashville Predators.

So no matter who gets named here in the coming paragraphs as the "most disappointing teams," their fans can rightfully say, "But we're only a few points out of the playoffs!"

Fair enough.

But there are still teams that have been disappointments to this point, and we will describe the problems and offer solutions to fix them.

So here we go with the list:

Dallas Stars (10-10-6, 26 points)

The Problems

Of the eight teams that made the playoffs in the Western Conference last season, the Dallas Stars allowed the most goals (230). But they got away with it—in fact, they had the most points of any team in the conference (109)—because they were the highest-scoring team in the league (267).

There were a lot of high-scoring Stars games last year, but they found ways to score one more than the other guys. Not so far this year.

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Entering Saturday's game with the Colorado Avalanche, the Stars' 85 goals against was the most in the league. So, yeah, the problems so far have been defense and goaltending. But the forwards deserve blame, too. Take Jason Spezza, for instance. A plus player last year, Spezza was a minus-15 through his first 18 games. His Corsi percentage at even strength last season was 55 percent, but it was barely over 50 entering Saturday (50.8), per Hockey-Reference.com.

There is no question, however, that goalies Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen have been big-time disappointments so far. Niemi's save percentage after 14 games is .902. Lehtonen, in the same number of games, is at .885.

Defenseman John Klingberg is another player whose numbers have slid. He had 58 points and was a plus-22 last year. After his first 23 games, Klingberg has 10 points and was a minus-10.

The Solutions

It's obvious: The Stars need to keep the puck out of their net more often. That starts with Niemi and Lehtonen. If they can't stop pucks at a .900 clip or better, there is no hope of the playoffs. Saturday in Denver was a good start, as the Stars handily beat the Avs 3-0. More of that, please.

Still, should general manager Jim Nill explore a trade for a goalie, maybe a Semyon Varlamov or a Marc-Andre Fleury? If anybody figures to be aggressive in the trade market to shake things up, it's Nill, who isn't known for great patience. Assuming trades involving big-dollar players will be hard to make, however, Nill knows the answers probably will have to come from within.

Maybe coach Lindy Ruff will have to change his team's style some. He wants to use his speed and skill, and with the talent on the roster, that would seem like a sound game plan. But the gaps between the forwards and defense have been too big. Maybe Ruff will need to go with a more pack-it-in approach.

Another thing Dallas needs is for captain Jamie Benn to be like his normal self. Benn has 20 points in his first 25 games, but he was better than a point-a-game guy the last two years. Only seven of his points are goals. His last three years produced 41, 35 and 34 goals, respectively.

New York Islanders (9-10-5)

The Problems

The Islanders have been much better of late, entering Sunday's game with the Detroit Red Wings winners of three straight. But they are still pulling up the rear in the Eastern Conference with 22 points. They lost in overtime to the Red Wings, 4-3.

At home, the Isles are 7-4-4. On the road, though, they are 2-6-1. This, however, may be a bit ironic given that New York played to only 78 percent capacity through its first 14 home dates, averaging 12,327 per game. Only the Carolina Hurricanes have averaged fewer fans per game at home.

Goalie Jaroslav Halak had the most appearances of any Islander entering December, but his play has been down from last year. He hasn't been awful, but the save percentage of .911 is down from his .919 a year ago.

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Another huge disappointment: The play of forward Andrew Ladd. After losing Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo to the free-agent market, GM Garth Snow went out and signed Ladd to a seven-year, $38.5 million deal.

Ladd's production in his first 23 games: two goals, three assists, minus-two. That's a problem.

The Solutions

Andrew Ladd needs to average better than five points every 23 games, that's job No. 1. We'll give him something of a pass still, given he's playing in a new conference after several years in the West.

The Islanders have not replaced the loss of scoring from Nielsen and Okposo yet (they were second and third, respectively, on the club last year), and Ladd simply needs to pick up the slack.

Could captain John Tavares be better, too? Yeah, for sure. A 70-point scorer last season, Tavares has 18 points in his first 23 games, with six goals. The Isles haven't been all that bad defensively. It's the offense that needs to be better.

Colorado Avalanche (9-13-1, 19 points)

The Problems

I'm hesitant to include the Avalanche on this list, because, let's face it, nobody picked them to make the playoffs this year. The Avs' record is identical to what it was after 23 games last season.

So why does it feel much worse this year? For starters, the Avs can't score. Their 49 goals is tied with the Buffalo Sabres for fewest in the league, and Saturday's 3-0 shutout defeat at home to the previously porous Stars was an embarrassment.

Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

Fans have no patience anymore for recent excuses such as, "They're young, they need to grow more and then things will be fine." No, players such as Matt Duchene may be still young (25), but this is his eighth season, and the losing just keeps continuing.

The Solutions

I believe it's time for GM Joe Sakic to explore a big-name trade. The young core the team has been trying to build around just isn't getting the job done. I propose moving Duchene for the best defenseman possible, and turning the team over in the middle to Nathan MacKinnon. If goalie Semyon Varlamov can be moved, too (which wouldn't be easy given his $5.9 million salary cap) for a good D-man, I'd do that as well.

Colorado needs to rebuild again with a new defense. If they can get a jump-start on that process by dealing one of their talented forwards, I think it has to be done. Otherwise, the wheels are just spinning in place.

Florida Panthers (12-11-2)

The Problems

What's a team with more wins than losses doing on this list? See the introduction. It ain't easy finding big disappointments in the National Parity League.

But last week, the Panthers became the first team to fire its coach this season. The firing of Gerard Gallant will forever go down in the annals of "Worst Public Relations" moments in sports, with the enduring image of the event being the photo of Gallant waiting for a cab outside PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Why was Gallant fired, after winning a division title? Aside from the mediocre start to the season, management wanted a more defensively structured game, something Gallant's successor, Tom Rowe, has been working to implement. The Panthers have been and remain in the top 10 in the league in fewest shots allowed per game, though (29.3), while averaging 30.4.

On paper, the offense has seemed like more of a problem. The continued absence of youngster Jonathan Huberdeau hasn't helped matters, and neither has the slow start of top center Aleksander Barkov, who has just three goals through his first 25 games.

Joel Auerbach/Getty Images

And then there has been the disappointing production of Jaromir Jagr (12 points in 25 games). But the man is 44 years old. It's amazing he's still playing. Young defenseman Aaron Ekblad hasn't been as good as last year either. He's starting to pick things up, though, which is probably the best sign Florida might still turn this thing around.

Solutions

Barkov definitely needs to score at a better pace than three goals every 25 games. His drop-off has been baffling given his enormous talent. He had 28 goals in 66 games last season with 31 assists.

Huberdeau is likely to miss another one or two months with a severed Achilles, so it's even more incumbent on Barkov to get things going.

The other guy who must be better is the former No. 1 overall pick Ekblad. He was a minus-10 his first 25 games after a strong plus-18 season. And it's not like Florida's goaltending has been bad, either. Roberto Luongo has probably been his team's best player with a 2.04 goals-against average.

Ekblad had 36 points in 78 games last season but had just seven entering Monday.

Keith Yandle, signed to a big free-agent contract over the summer, has just one goal. Not good enough. The Panthers need guys like him to just put more points on the board. If Rowe tries to turn this team into a pack-it-in, trap team, I don't see things getting a lot better. Offense is the bigger problem, not defense.

Adrian Dater covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @Adater.