The Anaheim Ducks might have finally picked up their seventh win of the season, but coach Randy Carlyle won’t be around to try to put together a winning streak.
Despite the team’s 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadians, their first in eight games, the Ducks brass made the inevitable coaching change late Wednesday night, firing Carlyle and immediately hiring former Washington Capitals bench boss Bruce Boudreau.
“Randy is a terrific head coach, and did a tremendous job for us for six-plus seasons,” Anaheim general manager Bob Murray said. “We thank him greatly for his hard work and dedication to our franchise, not the least of which was a Stanley Cup championship. At this time, we simply felt a new voice was needed. Bruce is a proven winner with a great track record, and we are optimistic we can turn this season around under his leadership.”
Unlike the St. Louis Blues, who have a long-term attachment to their assistants, the Ducks also cleaned out their entire coaching staff, and Boudreau will be filling those vacancies soon.
From a Dallas Stars fan perspective, this immediately ups the entertainment level and mall-ice-cream consumption of Pacific Division coaches. The Stars will get an up-close look at any changes he might make to the team on Dec. 19 when the Ducks come to Dallas.
After the jump, more on the Stars game against the Ottawa Senators, where the Stars rank in terms of team value and the Sun chain of newspapers parties like it’s 1999.
- ESPN Dallas broke down the numbers yesterday, and Mike Heika goes into a lot more detail about what the money of November meant for the Stars in this blog. [DallasNews.com]
- If Andrew Raycroft keeps playing the way he did against the Colorado Avalanche, there might not be much of an incentive for the Stars to play Richard Bachman before Kari Lehtonen gets healthy. But Mark Stepneski reports he will be ready if called upon. [ESPN Dallas]
- The rinks might be under construction in the DFW area, but there is a new hockey-specific training center opening up in Frisco. [Dallas Business Journal]
- The stellar play of the third line is discussed in this paywalled article. Eric Nystrom, Radek Dvorak and Vernon Fiddler have been everything this team could have asked at more, at least at this point. [DallasNews.com]
- Forbes released its annual and always slightly controversial list of team values on Wednesday. The Stars come in No. 11 with a slight growth to $230 million, though the debt load is just ridiculous. On the bright side, the ownership transfer should have fixed much of that. [Forbes]
- There are several articles linked to the above database, but this is one I thought would be of particular interest. Despite Tom Hicks and all of his issues, sports teams remain a relatively profitable investment for most people with more money than all of us will ever see in a lifetime. [Forbes]
- Meet the enemy, part the first: Nikita Filatov will pull a Nicklas Grossman and return to the lineup one game after taking a pretty brutal skate to the face, but the status of defenseman Filip Kuba is much more questionable. Also check out the trip back to the 1990s with where the Sun chain of papers thinks the game is being played. [Toronto Sun]
- Meet the enemy, part the second: I don’t know why I’m so amused that the London Free Press identified the hotel the Senators are staying at in this profile about Zack Smith, but I am. Autograph hounds and stalkers, do your worst. [London Free Press]
- Around the Pacific Division: Curious about how the Stars look through the eyes of an enemy, in this case, the San Jose Sharks television provider? Here’s your chance as they analyze the division pre-coaching change. [CSN Bay Area]
- One Dallas Star makes this list of top 10 mustaches from Movember, though sadly it’s not Steve Ott and his NASCAR-stache. I can’t really argue with their choices, however. [Puck Daddy]
- The Dallas Stars official Twitter account had a very amusing picture of Adam Burish and his camo cast earlier this afternoon, and while it isn’t featured in this interview, it’s always nice to catch up with one of the more engaging interviews on the team. In the unlinked Alex Goligoski interview, he says he gets his hard cast off on Friday and once that happens, it’s a matter of figuring out how to protect it and how much function he has. Hopefully that means he can return sooner than originally expected.