Dave Tippett

Yesterday, my friend Woody called me at 5pm to alert me that Dave Tippett had been fired. For those who don't know, Tippett has been the Stars' coach for the last six years.

And I don't know why, but it was really surprising to me.

It probably shouldn't have been. The Stars missed the playoffs this season for the first time in six years, and the team had already "fired" co-GMs Brett Hull and Les Jackson. Their new GM, former Conn Smythe winner Joe Nieuwendyk, was very quiet in his thoughts on Tippett's future, and that wasn't a good sign.

Besides, I have been advocating for Tippett's firing since 2003...his first season in Dallas. That season, the Stars marched into the second round of the playoffs with the perfect storm of activity. Both Detroit and Colorado, the two big hurdles in the Western Conference, had been eliminated in the first round. Dallas escaped, although not easily, and got to face a Mighty Ducks team that had just beaten the hated Red Wings.

First-round upsets in the NHL were common, but usually the Cinderella story ended there.

Unfortunately for the Stars, the story didn't end until game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals...meaning the Stars lost in round two. Since that loss, I've wanted Tippett to be fired.

Until this season. The Stars make the playoffs and compete for the championship, and I want him to get fired. The Stars miss the playoffs, and I want him to be retained? Wha...?

Basically, I thought Tippett did a great job with what he was given last year. With the Avery fiasco and all the injuries, the fact that the Stars were competing for a playoff spot in April was impressive. I think a lot of that credit should've gone to Tippett, who was able to juggle a roster of journeymen and young players into a team that competed for a playoff spot until falling off in the final month.

But Tippett, like Hull and Jackson, had to fall on his sword. Dallas is a proud team that, despite no championships since 1999, is one of the best teams in the last decade. That is probably Tippett's main problem....he had a lot of regular season success but few playoff series wins.

The Stars have already replaced Tippett...less than 24 hours after his firing...with Marc Crawford. Crawford coached in Colorado, Vancouver, and Los Angeles before taking a year off last season. And while he won a Stanley Cup with the Avs in 1995, he was fired from the Kings in his most recent coaching tenure. Because of this, I wasn't really excited about the prospects of his coming here.

But then I heard Razor on with the Musers this morning, and I perked up a bit. Crawford, despite coaching for three different teams, had never taken a year off in 13 years. According to Razor, he started worrying about the little things too much...and he simply got burnt out from coaching. That he's widely known in hockey circles as one of the best two or three coaches in the NHL.

I'm hoping it works out. The Stars have a lot of talent, and their window closes as soon as Marty Turco's window closes. This was a team that was the dark horse to win the Stanley Cup last season, and if they don't have such bad luck, I imagine they could be again next year. They have some youth ready to come up and step in, and they'll get a top 10 pick in this year's draft to add to their system.

With the right coach, this team can do something. And Niewendyk obviously got the man he wanted...with no time spent on interviewing other candidates. He wanted Crawford, and he got Crawford.

Let's hope it works out.

*A couple additional comments*

1. Hockey coaches get fired all the time. According to Razor, 18 of the 30 teams have had coaching changes in the last year. That includes the Pittsburgh Penguins, who had a coaching change mid-season...and now they're a game away from the Stanley Cup.

2. Marc Crawford was involved in the famous Todd Bertuzzi incident where he severely injured Steve Moore. There are reports (and litigation) indicating that Crawford was behind the attack (ordering Bertuzzi to do so), and apparently he was laughing when the injury took place. That's not good.