It isn't often when one player can make a major impact in a team sport. Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan and a few others are among the exceptions.

Maybe we should add Sean Avery to the list, but for a completely different reason.

First, give the Dallas Stars plenty of credit for turning their season around. They were floundering near the bottom of the Western Conference standings in early December, partly because of injuries - captain Brenden Morrow and defenseman Sergei Zubov probably will miss the rest of the season, and forward Jere Lehtinen was sidelined for 28 of the first 31 games - but also because of inferior team defense, special teams and goaltending.

Team chemistry also was a problem. Coaches and players mention it so often that it's become a cliche, but the willingness of teammates to cooperate with each other in order to attain a common goal really is necessary to achieve success.

"The room is so important when it comes to winning and losing," Avalanche forward Ian Laperriere said. "If you get something in the room that's not fitting right . . . "

This is where Avery, one of the NHL's most effective agitators, comes in. The Stars signed him to a four-year, $15.5 million contract as a free agent, and he apparently had been doing plenty to rile up his own teammates.

Finally, before a Dec. 2 game in Calgary, after making certain to attract as many media members as possible, Avery made crude comments about other players dating his ex-girlfriends.

The league suspended Avery for six games and the Stars haven't taken him back. Is it a coincidence that they posted a 16-8-3 record without Avery and were back in the playoff picture despite Thursday's 3-2 loss against the Avalanche?

Laperriere, who played with Avery in Los Angeles, isn't surprised.

"They're playing well, for sure," Laperriere said of the Stars, "but obviously it's because he's gone. He was a distraction. When you get a guy who's never done anything in this league - he got lucky and got a heck of a contract - and he comes in the room and tries to disturb everything they're trying to do, it's going to mess up your chemistry.

"Hockey players are regular guys, and we take pride in that. You put one totally different guy who has his own agenda and is being mean to other guys in the locker room, it's going to affect everybody."

Laperriere can be an on-ice pest, and he has been involved in 11 fights this season, yet his engaging personality off the ice has made him popular with teammates and fans everywhere he has played.

But he has never pulled punches when it comes to his feelings about Avery.

"I really dislike the guy," Laperriere said. "I've been around a long time, and that's the one guy I can say I really dislike in my career. There are a bunch of guys you hate playing against, but this guy I hated playing with."

TEAM TURMOIL

Craig Hartsburg should have been wary when Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk lashed out at local media members for suggesting the struggling team needed a shake up.

Six days later, Hartsburg was fired as head coach and replaced by Cory Clouston.

That makes four Ottawa head coaches in 11 months, counting current general manager Bryan Murray, who is likely to be the next to go when the Senators miss the playoffs two years after advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals.

"It definitely is on my shoulders," Murray told reporters. "Everything that happens here I take full responsibility for, and I should. I took this job, as I took other jobs, to be accountable."

Clouston, 39, was coaching the Senators' American Hockey League affiliate in Binghamton, N.Y., and is a no-nonsense type who said he doesn't care whether his players like him.

More than a few of them could be gone if the Senators don't show much improvement before the March 4 trading deadline.

"We've made another coaching change and now we have to watch the players over the next period of time and decide who goes and who stays as we go forward," Murray said. "There will be judgments made before the trading deadline."

CANADIENS IN TAILSPIN

The Montreal Canadiens are experiencing an NHL All-Star Game hangover, with three losses in five games since the break.

Four Canadiens started for the Eastern Conference, and two of them, goalie Carey Price and forward Alex Kovalev, are struggling.

Price, who returned from an ankle injury before the break, has allowed 17 goals in five starts after stopping nine of 11 shots in one period in the All-Star Game.

"You go from the best time of your life to the worst time of your life," Price said.

Kovalev, chosen Most Valuable Player in the All-Star Game after scoring two regulation goals and the decisive goal in the shootout, has one goal, two assists and a minus-2 rating in five games since the break.

Worse, he was benched in the third period by coach Guy Carbonneau for uninspired play in a game against Boston.

The Canadiens also suffered a major loss against the Bruins when center Robert Lang, their top-scoring forward, tore an Achilles' tendon. He has since undergone surgery and will miss the remainder of the regular season.

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