Ninth place in the NHL Western Conference sounds bad, but it sounds a bit better when you consider the fact that your team was thirteenth the season before and a non-factor in playoff conversation.

That’s why the decision by Joe Nieuwendyk to fire Coach Marc Crawford seems a bit hasty. Crawford was in just his second season as head coach and had a winning record in those two seasons at 79-60-25.

Granted, the Stars’ fall from first place to out of the playoff picture was hard to deal with for Stars fans, but observers should consider the fact that Dallas was not projected to make the playoffs.

The frustration climaxed when the Stars dropped their final regular season game to the Minnesota Wild in a game that was do or die for the eighth and final playoff spot. All the Stars had to do was win a game, and Crawford still would have a job today. Instead, they completed the choke of the year in the NHL by missing out on the playoffs after being atop the conference.

To make the firing more of a puzzle, the Stars – even with their absence from the playoffs – set a record, becoming the first team with 95 points to not make the playoffs. Crawford should not have been fired based, essentially, on the fact that the Western Conference was just better than it has been in recent years.

Although the Stars were minus six in goal differential on the year, coaches have kept their jobs with less impressive numbers. Marvin Lewis was signed to a contract extension this off-season, despite going just 4-12 and finishing dead last in the NFL North, one of the toughest divisions in football.

So when you look at things like that, Crawford seems to have been unfairly fired. Crawford had the pedigree and previous accomplishments to back the fact that he deserved another year to get this team into the post-season.