The Marc Crawford that is currently coaching the Dallas Stars is not the Marc Crawford we all know and love. This is not the fiery, angry and explosive coach that won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche and helped turn the Vancouver Canucks into a respectable team. This isn’t even the same Marc Crawford that stumbled mightily in Los Angeles.
Instead, we have a Marc Crawford who seems oblivious to his team’s issues and is focused on positivity, consistently driving fans mad as he spins each loss towards the positive instead of blowing up and going nuts in front of the press like so many seemingly want him to be. After yesterday’s practice, as the Stars prepare for what should be an entertaining thrashing at the hands of the Washington Capitals, he maintained his positive outlook.
“I’ve been through this before, and I know that you can’t panic, that’s not the right response,’' Crawford said after his team went through an optional practice and some film work Sunday. ``This was a good time for us to get some rest, to refocus and reenergize, and I think that will show going forward.’'
“I believe we do have the talent and I believe we can beat these teams,’' Crawford said. ``It’s just a matter of making the right plays at the right time. If you go back and look at the film of these games, we are right there and we have great scoring chances, and we can’t get the puck in the net. Then, we play great defense, or play great on the penalty kill like we did against Pittsburgh, and we make one mistake and we pay for it.’'
For those that follow the Stars on a daily basis, it’s been painfully obvious that Crawford is not doing any of these things anytime soon. After every loss, he spins it as it’s just a “matter of time” and working on some “issues and improving”, like he expects these issues to magically repair themselves just by talking about them. It certainly doesn’t appear that he’s coaching the team to correct the “issues”.
Crawford was supposed to make this a harder, more focused and much more exciting team to watch. Perhaps its the actual players on the ice that are causing the team to falter -- the success Dave Tippett is having in Phoenix could point in that direction -- but the coach is supposed to be able adjust to his players and put them in the right position to succeed.
Is he doing the best he can with the players he has? Perhaps, but you’d like to at least hear his frustration every now and then.