Not that we care too much, considering the Mavericks are on the verge of the playoffs and the Rangers are in panic mode, b
ut I'm not exactly sure why the Dallas Stars fired head coach Marc Crawford yesterday.Did the Stars underachieve in 2010-11? They amassed 95 points and were in playoff contention until the final minute of the final game. Would GM Joe Nieuwendyk have retained Crawford had Dallas beaten the lowly Minnesota Wild on Sunday and sneaked into the playoffs?
"This decision didn't come today," Nieuwendyk said at a Tuesday press conference. "I have a responsibility -- even though I am proud of what we've accomplished and I am proud of our players of the way they hung together -- I have to make a decision on how we get to the next level. We do have a lot of good things in place. I think that is probably the hard thing for Marc, is that he realizes that I don't have the confidence that he is the guy, for me, to get to the next level."
I was wrong about one thing ...
The next time we cared about the Stars isn't when they have a new owner, but more so a new head coach.
Crawford, who had one year left on his contract, was 79-60-25 in his two seasons with the Stars. Nieuwendyk says there is no timetable for hiring a new coach. For the record, Crawford was his first hire when Nieuwendyk took over as GM two years ago.
Tim Cowlishaw says bring back Ken Hitchcock. (Of course three months ago he said Crawford had the Stars on the right track.)
Hitch sounds good to me.
Any other bright ideas?
