The Fifth Liners

Ever since Brett Hull's controversial goal to win the 1999 Stanley Cup against the Buffalo Sabres, fans in Texas have had a very up and down ride supporting the Dallas Stars ! But this season has held an even bigger shock, a rebuilt team that looks like it has the potential to shape into something special! Last years performance was neither glorious nor disastrous as Dallas came home 11th in the Western Conference and 5th in the Pacific Division, but their season was disrupted by the trade of Captain Brenden Morrow to Pittsburgh and Jaromir Jagr to Boston which deprived the team of their two biggest scorers and ensured they limped home to the finish! Tired with the lack of progress, former Stars hall of famer Joe Nieuwendyk was given the boot as GM and replaced by Jim Nill. But the off season however gave this team a major shot in the arm as Canadian National Team coach Lindy Ruff took control and offensively a well played out trade got many critics interested in this team as T...

The other day I was presented with a very interesting question from Mike regarding the coaching changes in the NHL, “With all the coaching changes going on the league right now; instead of hiring and firing the same group of coaches, is it time to bring in some new blood?”   The question here is an interesting one and with the latest groups of hiring and firing it does make us think whether newer and younger talents are required? Let’s analyse this in more detail, Alain Vigneault has recently been fired by the Vancouver Canucks , but as of a couple of days go it appears that he has now taken the vacant post at the New York Rangers while John Tortorella was fired the same post and now seems odds on favourite to take charge at the Rogers Arena! Why didn’t they just swap jobs in the first instance? Both coaches are proven winners and they both possess fairly excellent records, but I can tell you for a fact that neither is really the right choice for those clubs and ...