In another market, Dave Tippett would be toast. It's a tribute to his r?sum? and the Stars' management approach that he isn't.
More riddled by injuries than they have ever been since moving to Dallas, the Stars march (limp?) Tuesday night against Vancouver. An optimist could say it's not over yet.
An optimist would look at being three points out of eighth place and say that a home week against the Canucks and two teams not currently in the playoffs, Florida and Los Angeles, gives Dallas time to gain ground.
That's not likely to happen.
First of all, the Canucks, who beat the Stars last week, are very good. They have 15 points over their last 10 games. That's as many as any team in the West. The Florida Panthers are trying to claw their way into the Eastern Conference playoffs. They have been one point better than Dallas over the last 10 games, and even the Kings have been even with the Stars in that stretch.
Dallas got Brad Richards back Saturday against San Jose. He had been out with a broken right wrist. He left the game with a fractured left hand.
That's how it has gone for the Stars this season. No Brenden Morrow, no Sergei Zubov, no Jere Lehtinen at times, no Richards, no hope.
The NHL is the league that is quickest to pin all the problems on the shoulders of the head coach. You miss the playoffs and you say goodbye.
Heck, you don't even have to miss the playoffs.
Ottawa was in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007. The Senators have had four head coaches since then.
Four!
Montreal's Guy Carbonneau, one of the most beloved Stars during their Stanley Cup run, came to Dallas earlier this month, picked up a win, flew home and got fired by Bob Gainey.
And the Canadiens were 11 games over .500 at the time.
After years with ESPN, Barry Melrose returned to the bench last fall to coach the Tampa Bay Lightning. He got 16 games.
Done.
That's not happening to Tippett because it shouldn't happen to Tippett. His record of winning and achieving ? often with almost as many injuries as the team has endured this season ? speaks for itself.
At times, Tippett can frustrate you with his determination to roll four lines and to not give his premier players the minutes they might get on other teams. But overall, his system has worked well enough ? getting the Stars within two victories of a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals last year ? that he deserves another season with a healthier team.
Last week's trip that produced defeats in Vancouver, Calgary and San Jose plus another injury to Richards probably ended the Stars' season.
Although they are only three points behind Nashville for the last spot, that's really not the right way to look at their chances.
Nashville is five games over .500. Anaheim and Minnesota are four games over, and St. Louis is three games over. The Stars are two games above .500.
In these final 10 games, they have to climb past all four of those teams. In an era in which overtime losses count as ties, it's unreasonable to anticipate all four of those teams losing ground in the final three weeks.
It's hard for the Stars to put together any kind of winning streak as well. They are a team that doesn't help itself much on the power play and struggles to kill penalties. Only two teams in the league have a worse combination of special teams.
That puts everything in the lap of goaltender Marty Turco, who already has played 330 more minutes than he did a year ago.
The Stars are running low on gas, low on games left, lower on hope.
Getting players healthy over the summer will help. But an absence from the playoffs for only the second time in a decade will make for a long summer, anyway.
More riddled by injuries than they have ever been since moving to Dallas, the Stars march (limp?) Tuesday night against Vancouver. An optimist could say it's not over yet.
An optimist would look at being three points out of eighth place and say that a home week against the Canucks and two teams not currently in the playoffs, Florida and Los Angeles, gives Dallas time to gain ground.
That's not likely to happen.
First of all, the Canucks, who beat the Stars last week, are very good. They have 15 points over their last 10 games. That's as many as any team in the West. The Florida Panthers are trying to claw their way into the Eastern Conference playoffs. They have been one point better than Dallas over the last 10 games, and even the Kings have been even with the Stars in that stretch.
Dallas got Brad Richards back Saturday against San Jose. He had been out with a broken right wrist. He left the game with a fractured left hand.
That's how it has gone for the Stars this season. No Brenden Morrow, no Sergei Zubov, no Jere Lehtinen at times, no Richards, no hope.
The NHL is the league that is quickest to pin all the problems on the shoulders of the head coach. You miss the playoffs and you say goodbye.
Heck, you don't even have to miss the playoffs.
Ottawa was in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007. The Senators have had four head coaches since then.
Four!
Montreal's Guy Carbonneau, one of the most beloved Stars during their Stanley Cup run, came to Dallas earlier this month, picked up a win, flew home and got fired by Bob Gainey.
And the Canadiens were 11 games over .500 at the time.
After years with ESPN, Barry Melrose returned to the bench last fall to coach the Tampa Bay Lightning. He got 16 games.
Done.
That's not happening to Tippett because it shouldn't happen to Tippett. His record of winning and achieving ? often with almost as many injuries as the team has endured this season ? speaks for itself.
At times, Tippett can frustrate you with his determination to roll four lines and to not give his premier players the minutes they might get on other teams. But overall, his system has worked well enough ? getting the Stars within two victories of a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals last year ? that he deserves another season with a healthier team.
Last week's trip that produced defeats in Vancouver, Calgary and San Jose plus another injury to Richards probably ended the Stars' season.
Although they are only three points behind Nashville for the last spot, that's really not the right way to look at their chances.
Nashville is five games over .500. Anaheim and Minnesota are four games over, and St. Louis is three games over. The Stars are two games above .500.
In these final 10 games, they have to climb past all four of those teams. In an era in which overtime losses count as ties, it's unreasonable to anticipate all four of those teams losing ground in the final three weeks.
It's hard for the Stars to put together any kind of winning streak as well. They are a team that doesn't help itself much on the power play and struggles to kill penalties. Only two teams in the league have a worse combination of special teams.
That puts everything in the lap of goaltender Marty Turco, who already has played 330 more minutes than he did a year ago.
The Stars are running low on gas, low on games left, lower on hope.
Getting players healthy over the summer will help. But an absence from the playoffs for only the second time in a decade will make for a long summer, anyway.
