I’ve been meaning to post for some time regarding the recent changes in the front office for the Dallas Stars, but have been side-tracked by numerous side projects. So, please excuse some of the reactions in this piece for being a little dated, but by tying it all together with the very recent head coaching change, I hope to make things a bit more topical.
At the beginning of this month, Joe Nieuwendyk was introduced as the new general manager for the Dallas Stars. This change of leadership, while not heavily rumored or leaked beforehand, didn’t really surprise too many people. In a lot of ways, the dual-GM tandem team of Brett Hull and Les Jackson wore out their welcome on December 2nd, when the Sean Avery signing exploded in the media. A lot of the positive changes they made to the team will go unrecognized because of the horrible backfire that was the Avery debacle. So, when it was announced that both Hull & Jackson had been re-assigned in the organization, and that Nieuwendyk, who was a fan-favorite in Dallas as a player, was taking up the reigns, the fan reaction was strongly positive.
I think Niuewendyk has the potential to be one of the better GMs in the league, personally. As a player, he was always a “thinking man’s” forward. He played smart and calculated, and in his young management career so far, he’s performed the same way (Niuewendyk spent one year in the front office for the Florida Panthers, and another for the Toronto Maple Leafs. In both places he served as a “special assistant to the GM”, a role that is considered a “grooming” for an eventual GM spot).
But, with Nieuwendyk’s first decision as a GM in Dallas, he has already created some controversy and turned some fans sour. It was officially announced today that Dave Tippett is out as head coach, and former L.A. Kings head coach Marc Crawford is in as a replacement.
First, I’ll talk about Tippett. In his six seasons here, Tippett compiled an overall record of 271-162-59. He led the team to a division title in his first season here (2002-2003) and then again in the 2005-2006 campaign. Last season was the first time the team missed the playoffs under his guidance, and he reached the Western Conference finals the previous season.
Tippett, 47, posted a record of 271-162-59 in six seasons (2002-2009) as head coach of the Stars. He led the club to two division titles (2002-03 and 2005-06), playoff appearances in five of his six seasons, including five straight from 2002-03 through 2007-08, and the Western Conference Finals in 2008. He will most likely be unemployed for about 2 days, and snatched up by one of the many teams looking for a great hockey mind behind the bench.
Now, on to Crawford: Marc Crawford has obviously had success as a head coach in the NHL. He is the 16th winning-est coach of all time, with an overall winning record of 470-361-156. In his 13-year career as an NHL coach, he’s only had a full-season losing record twice, and both of those came in Los Angeles in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008. He won a Stanley Cup in Colorado during the 1995-1996 season, and has posted 6 40+ win seasons. The man is accustomed to winning.
Here is one of my concerns: did a change need to be made? I argue that it didn’t. The last season (again, the only season Tippett wasn’t able to coach the team to the post-season) was so marred with locker room turmoil, drama and injuries, that it would have taken a miracle to get the team into the playoffs. And the Stars still almost pulled that miracle off. They were in the race until the final week of the season, and the players were still on board with Tippett’s coaching. His voice was not lost in the locker room. We saw the emergence of two very bright Stars in James Neal and Loui Eriksson – Tippett’s contribution to that evolution shouldn’t be overlooked.
Rumor has it that Joe Nieuwendyk felt that even if the team had made the post-season, they wouldn’t have been any more successful than they had been in the previous seasons under Tippett. Here is why I have a problem with that thinking. First, Joe is probably right. I don’t think the Stars would have made it past the first round of the playoffs. They likely would have been matched up against either Detroit or San Jose in that first round, and those teams were playing with hot hands. They also would have been playing with out Sergei Zubov, and although Brenden Morrow might have suited up, he would not be playing at full steam. And, to add to all of that, the team was out of gas. They had used it up playing short-handed most of the season. But the past was the past – this new season is a chance to start again, and return injured players to the fold. If Zubov doesn’t come back, the Stars will need to sign a top-two defensemen, which I believe is their top priority. And the rest of the team is centered around a young, talented core. There’s no reason to believe that this upcoming season couldn’t have been one of Tippett’s best in Dallas. I think it’s short-sighted to fire the man by saying he couldn’t have gotten it done this *last* season, and not to look at what he was able to accomplish with the scraps he was provided.
My second issue is this – and it will be shared by most every critic of Marc Crawford out there: his ethics are questionable. They are questionable because they’ve been called into question, and not soundly answered. For those who are unaware, Marc Crawford was the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks during the incident with Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore. Bertuzzi took a baseball swing with his stick to the head of Steve Moore, and caused serious harm to him. The ensuing fallout from this incident resulted in law suits and jail time, and accusations by the prosecution that Crawford had sent Bertuzzi out on the ice with explicit instructions to injure the Colorado forward. Now, this was never proven, and Crawford obviously denies the allegations, but sometimes all that is needed is an allegation. His ethics have been forever tainted by the incident.
Does a club, whose image and honor have already been tarnished by Sean Avery’s antics here, need to hire another person who could potentially cast shadows on the image and honor of the club? I think this is a very risky move. I would have been much more comfortable had the club stayed with Tippett through the season to see what he could do with a healthy team.
But, the move has been made. The “damage” has been done, if you will. And, Marc Crawford is now the head coach of the Dallas Stars. The team is going to welcome him aboard, even if all fans don’t, and I have no doubt he will do his best to make the Stars a winning organization again. It’s a great opportunity for him to take the focus off of his past, and get back to his previous track-record of winning. Maybe this will turn out to be a win-win situation for Crawford and the Stars. If not, the fallout from this hiring could have serious implications on Joe Nieuwendyk’s future as an NHL general manager. This is high stakes gambling at it’s best, Texas-style.
