In this issue of 32 Thoughts, Jeff Marek and Ron MacLean discussed the Canucks boss Francesco Aquilini watching the team's road trip, Jack Eichel's surgery, the cap space vacated by the star team, and so on.

The Dallas Stars held a player-only meeting, made lineup changes—even coaching changes—and looked for answers while continuing to struggle at the beginning of the season.

"It's tough in Dallas right now, and it's another challenging week," said Jeff Marek of 4-6-2 Stars in 32 Thoughts on Saturday's Ice Hockey Night in Canada. "As for the Dallas Stars, they are the only team in the NHL that did not win the regular season. All their points come from penalty shootouts or overtime."

Some measures were taken during the offseason to allow the star team to further enter the playoffs and raise people's expectations.

"They brought in Ryan Suter to defend, and the boss is looking forward to the playoffs," Marek said. "They lost to Nashville on Wednesday, held a meeting with only players, and after the game, Rick Bowness issued a very brief, very concise 29-second press conference, he said, ' We know what is wrong with this team, and we have to solve it.

"Now John Stevens is not on the bench for the first time since he joined the Dallas Stars as an assistant coach. He was sent to coach upstairs. A few days ago, (General Manager) Jim Nill gave up Blake Comeau and Tanner Kero and sent Thomas Harley back to AHL Texas, so they freed up some cap space."

HNIC host Ron McLean asked Marek what he thought of these events.

"I can't help but wonder if this is in conflict with someone there, or if Rick Bowness and Jim Neal said,'We need to cheer up on this bench. We didn't do anything to the people. Maybe the first step to redefine this team is to do something with one of the assistant coaches,'" Marek said.

The Star Team is the second oldest team in the NHL after the Islanders. The high-paying star Tyler Seguin (4 goals in 12 games, 3 assists), Alexander Radulov (1 goal in 12 games, 5 Assists) and captain Jamie Ben (2 goals, 3 assists in 12 games).

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