Jim Reeves 
Stars await the day silent Russian says, 'I'm ready to play'
Star-Telegram staff writer
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Sergei Zubov was as uncomfortable as he'd been all day, and that says a lot about a guy recovering from hernia surgery less than a month ago and fresh off a 45-minute on-ice workout.
But that -- practicing with his Dallas Stars teammates -- is Zubov's element. This was not.
He sat fidgeting, a smile frozen on his face, as a handful of reporters, notebooks and tape recorders in hand, encircled him in the cramped dressing room at Logitech, a local ice rink, where the Stars had just completed practice Saturday.
Even now, after all these years with the Stars, Zubov still isn't completely at ease as the center of media attention. He prefers to do his thing quietly and efficiently, and then to slip away while others do the talking.
The Silent Russian, if you will.
But now the Stars need him to break his code of silence. They need to hear four words from their best puck-handling defenseman, who hasn't played since January:
"I'm ready to play."
Sometime today, before the Stars and San Jose Sharks meet in Game 2 of their quarterfinals playoff series, would be just fine.
The puck, as they say, is on Zubie's stick.
"It's up to him now," Stars coach Dave Tippett said for the second straight day Saturday. "Zubie is a special player. When he comes to me and tells me he's ready to play, then he's in the lineup."
Tippett has no problem saying that even though his patched-together defense corps -- a mixture of scarred veterans such as Stephane Robidas and Mattias Norstrom combined with a cast of wide-eyed youngsters -- somehow held together long enough to dispose of Anaheim in six games in round one and skates tonight with a 1-0 series lead in the second round.
"Believe me," Tippett said, "we'll find a place for Zubie."
Of course they will, and the sooner the better.
This is not meant in any way to suggest that Zubov, 37, is a malingerer. On the contrary, he underwent a radically new, supposedly less-invasive, hernia surgery in Munich, Germany, just 24 days ago, on April 3. Recovery time for this type of surgery is reportedly around a month.
But this was Zubov's second sports hernia surgery in a year. The first one knocked him out of the seventh game of last year's playoff series with Vancouver.
He was sidelined with foot and groin injuries Jan. 17 here in San Jose, then came the second hernia surgery a little more than three weeks ago. He hasn't played in a game in more than three months.
What has he missed most?
"Everything," he said. "This is the longest I've been out of the lineup in my career. It's tough; tough to handle, tough to go through.
"It makes me look forward to getting back."
The one thing he feels he can't do on the ice right now?
"Go back to my 20s," he said with the typical dry Zubov humor.
He had to watch from the sidelines as the Stars all but cratered without him in March, slipping into the fifth seed for the playoffs. But he was gratified to see the team's young defensemen begin to come into their own against the Ducks.
"They've been playing great," he said. "The youngsters stepped up, the core group has been leading the way and Marty [Turco] is playing great."
All well and good, but that doesn't mean Zubov hasn't been missed.
"Obviously we've missed his puck play," center Mike Modano said. "He adds a dimension where maybe there's a little more poise in puck control when he's on the ice.
"There's a deliberate system to our play with our defense. It's usually take the first play and get the puck moving."
Not when Zubov is in there, though. It's like the difference between having Brett Favre and a rookie at quarterback. The game is moving too fast for the rookie to see beyond his first receiving option. Favre is checking down to his third or fourth receiver.
"Exactly," Modano said. "Sergei will sometimes look off the first and second play and go with the third or fourth option.
"He's just that good where he can find guys, can spring forwards open and make plays that not a lot of guys can do in this league."
Zubov's poise and patience with the puck makes better players out of his forwards, who know that he can hit them with the perfect pass while they're in full stride.
"That's kind of what sets him apart," Modano said. "Normally a lot of our guys just make the first read. He has that ability to be patient and find the right player with the right pass."
And it's not just Zubov's puck-moving ability and natural instincts that have been missed. He's also the Stars' point man on the power play, with an accurate, wicked shot from outside. When he's out there, it's as if the Stars have an extra attacker.
"He plays in all situations," Tippett pointed out. "The poise and experience that he brings... during a game he's almost unflappable. He makes those plays look so easy."
Tippett spoke from memory, because three long months later, that's all anyone has right now.
Just a bright and glowing memory.
The Stars wait hopefully for Zubov to break his code of silence with the four words they long to hear:
"I'm ready to play."
Game 2: Stars at Sharks
8 tonight, KDFI/Ch. 27
Stars lead series 1-0
Jim Reeves, 817-390-7760
