Stargazing: Getting to know Marc Crawford

Stargazing is a daily assortment of Dallas Stars news, as well as a look at what's happening around the Pacific division and the rest of the NHL. Stargazing will run on Mondays and Thursdays, becoming a daily feature once the preseason begins.

This Monday on Stargazing: Marc Crawford spoke to the Morning News about his humble beginnings and family life that shaped his fiery personality, and he spent some time with BaD Radio on The Ticket to share his thoughts on the team and the players he's getting to know. Brad Richards is golfing, raising money for charity, and mentioning Sean Avery? Also, notes on Mike Ribeiro, Tom Hicks, and are the Stars a sleeper in the West?

Stars News and Notes:

Mike Heika, as he often does, wrote a great piece last Friday in the DMN about Marc Crawford and where he comes from:

..."Those games on that rink," said older brother Bob Crawford, a veteran of 246 NHL games, "were the toughest games I ever played in my life."

That environment helped produce the new coach of the Dallas Stars. The fifth of Floyd and Pauline Crawford's brood, Marc grew up understanding how to get along when it was necessary and how to fight for everything from bragging rights to the biggest pork chop.

The new Dallas skipper also sat down with Bob and Dan last week and was asked, among a slew of other things, about the Stars problems last year:

"The problems were two or three fold, they probably suffered a little bit from a hangover... they had a few sub par performances from some individuals that have a lot of pride and I'm sure are gonna try to pick their games back up....and the injury factor was huge."

Listen to both segments courtesy of Andrews Stars Page here.

Canada.com, in looking at the Habs new roster, asks the question: Why do ex-Canadiens seem to perform better after leaving?

For whatever reason, there's a history of former Canadiens performing better once they get out of Montreal. The most recent example is Michael Ryder, who was run out of town after a disappointing 2007-08 season when he had 14 goals and 31 points and was minus-4.

Last season, after signing with the Boston Bruins as a free agent, Ryder scored 27 goals, one more than Alex Kovalev, who led the Canadiens with 26.

...

Another former Canadien, Mike Ribeiro, posted 22-56-78 totals last season with the Dallas Stars - 13 points more than Kovalev.

We don't know what the answer is, and quite frankly I don't think we care. What we do know is that Janne Niinimaa for Mike Ribeiro was, to put it mildly, a good day in Dallas.

Somehow, some way, Sean Avery worms his way into the news again, as Brad Richards raises some money for charity up in Canada:

There were rumours that Richards’ former teammate Sean Avery might be in attendance. 

Avery was suspended this past season for the comment he made about his former girlfriends and their NHL boyfriends.

"Sean couldn’t make it,’’ said Richards before swinging into a joke. "So we got Ron (MacLean)?instead."

That cracked up MacLean sitting nearby.

Richards said he’s happy in Dallas, despite rumours of trades forthcoming, and said it was only injuries last season that hampered the otherwise fine team.