What Happened to the Dallas Stars?

Can one player really self-destruct an entire team? Can a Western Conference stalwart like the Dallas Stars really go from the Conference Finals to missing the playoffs in one season? So far, the answer can only be yes—evidenced by the Stars' current standing of 11th place in the Western Conference. On the surface, there's really no excuse for this. The Stars have a collection of talent that can stand with the best: a rising star in Mike Ribeiro, a balanced wing in Brenden Morrow, a veteran center in Brad Richards, a heart of the team in Mike Modano, and a pair of elite defensemen in Stephane Robidas and Sergei Zubov. It would help matters if Zubov and Morrow were not on injured reserve. They have plenty of up and coming talent, like Loui Eriksson, and a hot rookie import in Fabian Brunnstrom, who chose Dallas over Detroit and Vancouver by the way. They have a goalie in Marty Turco who could stand up with the best of them. So what's the problem? Nothing much has changed from last ... (link)