Dallas Stars Prove to be their Own Worst Enemy
The Dallas Stars can’t put two and two together right now, and it’s really starting to hurt them.
The Dallas Stars are lost. They are lacking in identity, just like they have been all season, and it is more than catching up to them.
This group of players, being that they do not play well enough to be called a team, is struggling and has been for months now. It is finally becoming evident that their rollercoaster tendencies are just the theme of this season. And the Stars are their own worst enemy.
Lack of Teamwork
Of late the Stars have been getting either extraordinary or horrific goaltending. Nothing in-between at all. They surrendered the first goal of the game in the first minute of play three games in a row. Let’s just take a second to think about how unlikely that is.
They either lost the opening face-off and never had possession or won it and eventually lost possession. Then they allowed the opposition to enter their defensive zone and take a shot at the net. That shot, however, had to be good enough to beat a duo that is worth $10.5 million a season.
Once as you break down the happenings, it is tough to call this club a team.
Teams work together and make up for weaknesses by magnifying individual’s strengths. They combine their abilities to achieve a common goal. They identify when their efforts are lacking or unsatisfactory and they consciously make changes to solve the problem.
Then they depend upon their fellow teammates to get the job done.
That has been the downfall of this Dallas group. They are not magnifying one another’s strengths. They are not achieving any goals. They are identifying when they play poorly, but their memories seem to endure one game of solid play before their unsatisfactory habits creep back in again.
A win one lose one season is not good enough. It will not result in a postseason birth. It will not allow this club to have any sort of even marginal success. And it is all because they are a group of individuals and not a team.
No Retention
Hockey is a game that requires knowledge. That knowledge is acquired from experience. Those experience make it so mistakes are not repeated.
Dallas is lacking in all of the aforementioned categories. They are able to recognize their shortcomings, but they have been unable to find solutions to those issues. As much as Jamie Benn talks to the press about how they need to play better as a team you would think changes would be made.
However, every other game the Stars find themselves answering the same questions with the same cookie cutter responses. They are not learning anything this season and that puts their future at risk.
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An 82 game season is not easy. It requires a lot of work and blood and sweat and tears. That is difficult and would be on anyone, but the Stars just are not putting in the work.
Yes, they participate in drills during practice and they try during games. Unfortunately for them, though, participation trophies are not a component of adulthood and certainly do not exist in the world of the NHL.
They need to learn from their mistakes and not only identify issues but take necessary steps to solve them. Until that happens Dallas will remain on their up and down streak with a .500 record.