panoo

Scott Cullen
6/9/2007 9:22:05 PM

Another first-round playoff loss leaves the Dallas Stars looking for answers.

Off-Season Game Plan says that more offence is the primary need if the Stars are going to get over the hump.

A team that only had two 20-goal scorers, the Stars lack the explosiveness required to keep up with the best teams in the Western Conference. Their playoff loss to Vancouver was a grind-it-out affair in which the Stars played just good enough to lose in seven games.

"You need to get that guy who can score that big goal for you, who can make that play, who has that big shot, a real mind for the net," Mike Modano told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

With the Stars' current crop of forwards, there isn't anyone who would be considered to be a go-to goal-scorer.

Jere Lehtinen led the team with 26 goals, but he's a two-way winger, who is a better checker than finisher.

Modano finished second on the team with 22 goals, but he last scored 30 goals in 2001-2002. Expecting that trend to change as Modano approaches his late 30s would be foolish.

"You can analyze it all you want, but we have a goal-scoring issue," Modano told the Star-Telegram.

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