Coming off of a first-round defeat at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks last spring, and faced with an aging roster that had troubles scoring goals (20th in goals for), the Dallas Stars
basically did SQUAT this off-season to improve their club. Unless you consider Toby Peterson and Brad Winchester to be major acquisitions, you could pretty much see that the Stars got worse simply by doing nothing.
Well, apparently a 7-7-3 start isn't good enough for some people, and
Armstrong was let go from his duties as the Dallas Stars' General Manager.
"As an owner I have to be responsible for one person in hockey operations and that is the general manager of the team," Stars owners Tom Hicks said in a statement. "I thought that the team needed a change in direction.
"I know that change can be healthy and it was my determination that this move needed to be made. I want the Dallas Stars to return to being one of the elite teams in the league."
Armstrong's record as a GM of the Dallas Stars isn't exactly poor. The Stars have two division titles in the past four seasons, and have won 40 games in each of those years as well.
Armstrong's detractors will point out the fact that his drafting record is spotty, the Stars have won only one playoff series the past four seasons, the fact that the Stars look like a team with a grim future ahead
(aging roster, few top prospects), and that ex-GM Bob Gainey was the real architect behind the Stars current success. In any event, Armstrong shouldn't have trouble finding another good job somewhere around the NHL.
The idea of co-general managers is not one we're likely to see often in pro sports. These days, even major league sports executives can be so ego-driven that it's impossible to share any kind of credit or properly delegate authority between two people.
