TORONTO — In the words of Lindy Ruff, it’s been a “roller coaster.”
His Dallas Stars have gone from pre-season buzz team to questionable playoff participant in just 24 games, and no one can quite pinpoint exactly why.
Better goaltending? Yes, that would help.
A more experienced blue line? Sure, that sounds good.
Some poise under pressure from an often-disjointed group of forwards? Bingo.
However, what stands out most when you examine the state of this organization is just how difficult it is to find the right mix when building a team. Adding Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky sounded like a fantastic idea in July — and may still end up being one, even though the Stars have momentarily taken a step back after qualifying for the post-season last year.
When training camp opened, everyone figured the top three centres would be Tyler Seguin, Spezza and Cody Eakin. Three pillars down the middle to strengthen the foundation.
The only problem is that it hasn’t quite worked out that way, with all three players seeing some time at wing during the opening two months. Ruff again juggled the lines ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but sounded like he was growing weary of the exercise.
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“The responsibility has got to flip,” he said. “If you’re going to put lines together they’ve got to play well. It’s not me always trying to put somebody with somebody to get somebody going. Let’s put the ownership on the players.
“If you’re a good player you help get the players you’re with going. That’s their responsibility.”
They are the words of a coach that has grown tired of the highs and lows. Like most hockey observers, he looked at this roster over the summer and expected it to be a successful one.
Those who have spent time around the Leafs organization can relate to how Ruff is feeling — it was only a year ago, remember, when Jonathan Bernier and David Clarkson were high-profile additions to a team coming off its first playoff appearance in a long time.
That obviously didn’t work out like management had hoped.
Even though the Stars still look to be farther along than the Leafs in their development — playing in the tougher Western Conference has played a big role in a 9-10-5 start — there is no guarantee the roster tinkering will ever manifest itself in the way general manager Jim Nill envisioned.
“We’re still trying to find ourself a little bit as a team,” said Spezza. “At times we’ve been really good and at times we’ve been really bad. I think that’s a little bit of our inexperience in playing together right now.”
The numbers reinforce the notion that there is more than one root cause of the problems in Dallas. This is a top-10 team in terms of goals scored, but one that boasts just the 23rd-best power play.
The Stars are also scuffling along with a minus-3.2 shot differential while boasting the second-worst goals-against average (3.46 per game) in the NHL.
“I’ve broken every game down,” said Ruff. “If it was one thing, I could tell you what it was. But it’s been a number of different things — sometimes a tough goal goes in, sometimes it’s maybe a player falling down at a tough time.
“There’s been a few periods where we played poorly; there’s been periods where we played great and given up the lead.”
All of the expectations and hype leading into the season has weighed “heavy” on players, according to Ruff.
While some have prospered — Tyler Seguin has a league-best 18 goals to go with 31 points — the collective has too often been weak. For example, the Stars have blown numerous third-period leads already.
“We haven’t dictated play when we’ve gotten (the lead) in games,” said Spezza. “We’ve tried to kind of watch the clock run out instead of grabbing a hold of the puck and making plays still. I think it’s a little bit of maturity, a little bit of confidence out of our group, to just get better when we’ve gotten leads.”
That was among the topics Ruff discussed during a video session with his players at Air Canada Centre on Monday. He was hoping to refresh the group’s mindset before it was too late, having already seen Dallas slip five points back from a wild-card playoff spot.
“We’ve found ways to lose games,” said Ruff. “It’s been frustrating.”
And so the search for answers continues.