Lindy Ruff out in Dallas

[Portland Blues]

Wonder where he'll end up next?

https://www.nhl.com/stars/news/dallas-s ... -288605456

[theohall]

Wonder where he'll end up next?

https://www.nhl.com/stars/news/dallas-s ... -288605456

The GM, Jim Nill, should be out with the way Ruff was handicapped by the Nill's goaltending decisions.

[glen a richter]

Vegas has a nice little crop of coaches they can pick from. Between Hitch, Capuano, Therrien and now Ruff, there's a wealth of playoff experience if they choose to go that route.

If I'm them, I still have Gerard Gallant at the top of my list though.

[glen a richter]

Darryl Sutter is out in LA. Vegas is swimming in options. They can now add a coach who no one can understand to their shortlist.

[theohall]

In terms of post-season firings, both Ruff and Desjardins were victims of bad General Manager decisions. The Canucks have been in this no-man's land of rebuild or not rebuild while supposedly trying to win with the Sedins, because of their contract stuff. So how is the coach to blame when management isn't even committed to doing what's necessary to give the coach the players to win. Same thing in Dallas with the goalie thing and the injuries this season. Ruff was basically a scapegoat for Jim Nill's failure. When Nill was interviewed on NHL.com and asked about why the Stars lost and why Ruff was fired - they lost because of injuries; Ruff was fired because that's the culture today and someone has to pay. Those two things don't go together. They weren't losing because of Ruff's coaching, but due to a slew of injuries to their top 9 forwards. And that's Nill saying this after just firing Ruff. When asked what kind of coach the Stars were looking for - one with structure and whose a winner. (You mean like the guy you just fired whose team won 40, 41, and 50 games the 3 seasons before this one when there wasn't this massive rash of injuries?) In 19 years, Ruff has been under .500 3 times and one of those was when he got fired by the Sabres 17 games into the season. Guess that's not winning enough.

[glen a richter]

I'd take Ruff as a hc any day. He won't be out of work long.

[dern17]

Hitchcock back to the Stars, per ESPN.

[glen a richter]

ESPN knows what hockey is?

[glen a richter]

Also, now that Hitchcock is back in Dallas, any chance they'll bring back Armstrong too? Dean Lombardi is available and I wouldn't be the least bit against him joining the Blues front office. Dude knows how to take an expansion 6 team that never won the Cup and build them to win the Cup... twice. Just saying.

[Toasted Oates]

Jim Nill just signed a long term extension, didn't he? Plus, overall he's done a pretty good job.

Don't like this hire for Dallas, but Hitchy Baby has proven he can turn things around in the short term. At least in the regular season.

Everyone's saying he needs a goalie but, if I had to guess, Ken probably believes "Hitch Hockey" can fix the Dallas tandem.

[glen a richter]

This screams nostalgia hire by a team that's lost their way. I had actually expected Vegas to hire Hitch, so this really opens up the field now.

[cardsfan04]

Vegas has a nice little crop of coaches they can pick from. Between Hitch, Capuano, Therrien and now Ruff, there's a wealth of playoff experience if they choose to go that route.

If I'm them, I still have Gerard Gallant at the top of my list though.

Good call. They just announced Gallant as the head coach.