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The Stars are 1-3-1 this season, which is good for 27th in a league with 30 teams. The time to act is now – but not in the way we are seeing.

Poolies are jumping off the wagon in droves, pushing goalie Marty Turco off their team in trade talks, bailing on Mike Ribeiro, and dropping Sergei Zubov. These are the owners you need to talk to.

In 2007, Dallas started out 5-6-2 and by the time November 22nd rolled around they were still just 10-7-2. At that point, Turco had just five wins and Mike Smith had peeled off three wins in a row and the fantasy world was buzzing about how he had stolen the starting job. That didn’t happen.

In fact, 34 days later Turco had 15 wins and was back on track.

Now is the time to go after this guy. Especially in one-year leagues. Granted, there is still another six weeks or so before this little funk will end, but start your trade discussions now. Turco has given up three or more goals in each of his last five starts and has clearly been off. Two or three more losses – or even just weak games, and his fantasy owner will start to fold and give you the deal you are looking for.

Offensively, things haven’t been too bad, although Ribeiro is still without a goal and boasts a minus-6. He’ll be fine, though. How can he not? With wingers such as Brenden Morrow, Jere Lehtinen (who will be back soon), Sean Avery, Fabian Brunnstrom, Loui Eriksson and James Neal, he’ll always be playing with talent. He’s another one to go after.

As for Zubov, he has another three weeks or so of recovery from hip surgery. Given his injury-riddled campaign last year, as well as his age (38), his price will be rock bottom. But for the final 60 games of this season he should still reach the 40-point mark, which makes him well worth the small price.

We’re five games into the season folks! Don’t panic – and take advantage of those who do!

Meanwhile…

Some of the prospects who were late cuts in training camp have not let the demotion to the AHL get them down in the least. In Iowa, the Chops (yes, that’s their team nickname) have been led by Bobby Ryan’s seven points in five contests…Petri Kontiola is second on the Rockford Ice Hogs with six in five games…Chris Bourque’s six in four games for Hershey has already earned him a call up to Washington…Michel Ouellet has six points in four games for the Manitoba Moose, as he tries to impress his new organization…Janne Pesonen was the final scratch for the Penguins, but he has five in three games for Wilkes/Barre in his quest to get called back up…The other big Euro import from the offseason – Ville Leino – has four points in four games for Grand Rapids…

It hasn’t been rosy for all the top prospects, however. Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux has just a pair of points in five games…Another Flyer farmhand, Patrick Maroon, is pointless…The Rangers Hugh Jessiman is pointless in four for Hartford…Atlanta’s Riley Holzapfel is also pointless in four for Chicago…Leaf fans would be interested to know that Mark Bell and Boyd Devereaux have combined for one point in eight games with a minus-5 for the Marlies…Marek Zagrapan is pointless in three games for Portland…