WHAT NOW?

Having just wrapped up a putrid six game home stand with a dreadful 1-5 mark, and with an 0-2-1 record in the last three road games you’ll forgive anyone attached to the hockey department for stating that they’re most pressing need right now is not a center to replace Richards or a D-man that can help, it’s finding a different place to play.

Reality is the Stars aren’t losing because of location – they’re losing because they aren’t a good enough team at this moment.

And the reasons for that are multi-pronged. They are ravaged by injuries, exhausted due to overplaying the healthy, unequipped to handle the added responsibility, and all of them seem fragile as a result of the losing - and the lost.

“Work harder” isn’t going to work.

“Do more” might manifest itself in trying to do too much.

Can they pull themselves out of the tailspin? Sure they can.

Will they? We’ll know the answer to that by the time the team boards the charter bound for home at the conclusion of this week’s California trip.

A dear friend (and die-hard, day-one Stars fan) texted me following the 4-1 loss to the Pens with the question that sums up the current state of affairs, “Becky wants to know if it’s too late to change this year’s motto from ‘OUR TEAM, OUR TIME’ to ‘OUR TEAM, NEXT TIME’?