On paper, Tyler Seguin’s had a pretty successful start to the season. He leads the Stars and sits seventh in NHL scoring with 41 points and, today, was named to the NHL All-Star Game.
Yet to hear his head coach explain it, Seguin still has more to give.
“My conversation with him was: ‘Do you have another gear? I’ve seen you with another gear, and I want to see it,’” Lindy Ruff said, per the Dallas Morning-News. “There’s more there, I know there is. I get to watch games sometimes two or three times, and you see situations that turned to gold, and now they’re silver or bronze.
“I think he’s missing that little gear that I think he can find still.”
That Ruff is asking more of his star player shouldn’t come as a huge surprise.
Dallas has disappointed to start the year -- after finishing atop the Western Conference with 109 points last season, the Stars are now 17-16-8 and on pace for 84. They currently sit fifth in the Central Division and are two points back of Los Angeles for the final wild card spot.
At this stage of the game, Dallas’ big guns will need to carry the load. And with Jamie Benn sidelined to injury, the onus will fall on Seguin to provide leadership, scoring and game-breaking efforts -- especially in the coming weeks.
Tonight, Dallas will wrap a three-game road swing with a date in Anaheim, then begin a stretch of home dates. The Stars will play eight of their next 11 at American Airlines, a place they’ve had success this season -- the Stars are 11-6-4 at home this year, compared to just 6-10-4 on the road.