MID SEASON

The Stars are 41 games (half way) into a turbulent, disappointing, odd, and lately - improving season, with the number one question going from “What the hell’s wrong with them?” to “Are they a playoff team?”

The problems have been well documented, and some have been addressed.

The playoff question is a lot tougher to answer, especially with the void left due to Morrow and Zubov’s season ending injuries.

What do they need in the final 41 tilts to secure a playoff spot?

Well they’ll need some good fortune - and these five things:

1) A drastic improvement in their goals against (Stop the shots you should and a few that most wouldn’t)
2) A big, rugged defenseman who is battle-tested. (Hello Bryan Allen, Anton Volchenkov, or, if you want to go in-house, Mark Fistric)
3) A puck moving rearguard to ease the loss of Zubov and ignite the tepid powerplay (Hello Tomas Kaberle!)
4) A strong, feisty, faceoff winning, countering checking line. (This would no doubt help the porous PK as well)
5) A better March than last year. (The Stars will play 16 games in the 31 days, their busiest month of this year’s campaign, plus another 5 contests in the first 10 days of April to close out the season. Playoffs? Playoffs!? They won’t qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs if they suffer a repeat of last year’s late season “success” rate, a stretch that saw them go a dismal 2-7-2 in March. Forty-two points will be available over the final two months, they may need thirty of those to get in. Beware the Ides of March Stars fans)

As for the individuals - here are some thoughts about their needs in the second half:

Marty Turco – a reboot button for his stats and a return to form in the crease

Tobias Stephan – caffeine tablets and hemorrhoid ointment

Nik Grossman – a shift in stat philosophy that would have minus’ be a good thing.

Stephane Robidas – a hyperbaric chamber season pass

Matt Niskanen – self defense classes and amino acids

Trevor Daley – a more aggressive, green light mentality on the attack

Mike Modano – wrinkle cream?

Brenden Morrow – futuristic, miracle rehab on that damaged knee

Krys Barch – vats of that wax fighters dip their damaged hands in.

Sean Avery – he’s still listed in the Stars game notes, so…continued absence from all other things Dallas Stars.

Toby Petersen – magic faceoff success dust

James Neal – just more proof that he is in fact “The Real Deal”. The rookie’s been awesome.

Brian Sutherby – a definitive role

Loui Eriksson – don’t change a bloody thing!

Landon Wilson – “upper body” health

Jere Lehtinen – continued health and a rekindled scoring touch

Andrew Hutchinson – uh, more of the same I guess?

Steve Ott – two hands (eventually) and “edge” therapy that keeps him from going from ice-pest to ice-crime a-hole.

Doug Janik – patience like a dog whisperer

Mark Parrish – goal production against teams not called the Ducks and/or Red Wings

Joel Lundqvist – the smarts to hit with the other shoulder…and to hit the player not the boards.

Darryl Sydor – enough energy to continue his spark and leadership for a group that really needs it.

Sergei Zubov – a clean bill of health even if he has gout, a severed arm, two broken legs, and a nasty sinus infection – cause 25% of Sergei is still better than 100% of your run of the mill NHL d-man

Brad Richards – a bigger piece of Tumi luggage so he has room to pack his production on the road with him.

Mike Ribeiro – an internal clock implant so he will know when to end a shift on the ice. “Short shifts” doesn’t mean “Under 2 minutes.”

Fabian Brunnstrom – a healthy ankle and a continuance of that first half learning curve.