Some Thoughts on What the Stars Need, Internally and Externally

There's no trick to it; it's just a simple trick

“Hey, are you a right-shot defenseman?”

There is a world in which the Stars’ victory last night was a sign of resurgence.

Matt Duchene scored twice, the penalty kill was perfect, and Thomas Harley even scored the game-winning goal. All three of those have experienced noticeable drop-offs this year, but all three were key parts of the Stars’ second straight win over the Blues last night.

Glen Gulutzan wasn’t celebrating after the game, though. Coaches are paid to fix and maintain things, much like a car mechanic. And you don’t drop your car off at the shop hoping to hear someone tell you all about how nice the dashboard looks, or how excellently you parked outside the shop, or how you clearly keep lots of coins in that cupholder because you are a very responsible boy.

I mean, maybe we actually do hope to hear all those things, deep down, because a little affirmation never hurts. But the purpose of a mechanic is to assess the deepest mechnical problems, fix them, and prevent worse ones. You might have a great relationship with your auto mechanic, but they probably don’t spend all their time with you at the desk raving about the great paint color you picked out while the car has smoke pouring out from under the hood.