Let's begin with the obvious. The Dallas Stars penalty kill stinks. They kill off penalties at a rate of 79 percent, which is good for 24th in the league. And the worst part is, the penalty kill has been trending down for awhile.
Special teams have, I think, a very Dostoyevskyian link to a team's identity. They hold up a mirror towards specific elements within that club. And they constitute close to 20 percent of any one game. Hence why people like Arik Parnass are doing their best to understand just how beneficial/detrimental that 20 percent is to any particular team.