You have to love Dana White’s UFC betting approach. If a fighter loses more than two bouts in a row, he almost always gets booted from the league, at least until he finds himself.
It seems the NHL betting universe treats things a bit differently. The Dallas Stars just hired Marc Crawford as their new head coach — a man who hasn’t won anything significant in quite some time (boxing betting does it too — the Holyfields, Tysons and Foremans of the world got second, third and fifth chances).
I really, really don’t want to knock Marc Crawford. I met him a few years ago at a celebrity golf tournament and he was the nicest guy there — total class act. I respect his understanding of the game, too. But, aside form his success with the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche over 10 years ago, what has he accomplished?
Let’s look at his seasons with Vancouver from 1998-2006:
- Missed playoffs
- Missed playoffs
- First-round exit
- First-round exit
- Second-round exit
- First round exit
- Missed playoffs
Now, his most recent head coaching job with Los Angeles:
- Missed playoffs
- Missed playoffs
Pretty ugly. Now, in fairness to Crawford, he inherited bad teams in Vancouver and L.A., the kind that bled money at the offshore sportsbook, but it’s still concerning that he didn’t take those teams very far at all. I really like Marc and hope he succeeds — I think the Stars will be the best team at the start of his tenure since Quebec — but I wonder if he should’ve earned his way back as an assistant coach first.
I guess the Stars online wagering prospects have improved slightly, but Crawford needs to get some results fast.
