On Tuesday the Dallas Stars fired Doug Armstrong as their general manager, hiring Les Jackson and former NHL star Brett Hull as "co-general managers" for the remainder of this season.

Eyebrows were raised over this decision as the Stars' record was 7-7-2 at the time of Armstrong's firing, but the reason had less to do with the record and more to do with some of the stumbling performances in those losses.

Sealing Armstrong's fate was the Stars blowing a 4-0 lead over the LA Kings on Saturday, falling 6-5 in overtime.

Armstrong caught considerable flak from Dallas fans and pundits for his inability to improve the Stars roster this summer, as did owner Tom Hicks for his perceived unwillingness to spend more on the team's roster, although their current payroll of $48.3 million disproves that notion.

The sin here is Armstrong failed to build on the strong foundation left by his predecessor Bob Gainey.

Most of the Stars top players - Mike Modano, Jere Lehtinen, Sergei Zubov, Mattias Norstrom, Phillipe Boucher - are in the early-to-late thirties and appear in various stages of decline this season.

Except for Brendan Morrow and Mike Ribeiro there's no younger players either capable of stepping up now or waiting in the wings.

As one pundit observed, the Stars have in recent years resembled the New York Islanders of the mid-to-late 1980s, in that they're still a good team but one fading rapidly as management fails to bring in or develop young talent to replace aging stars.

An air of uncertainty may be hovering over the Stars right now but it's too early to predict imminent doom because of their change of management.

It'll be interesting to see what Hull and Jackson do, although it's a safe bet that rival NHL GMs will be contacting these management novices looking to fleece them.

That's not to suggest Hull and Jackson will fall prey to their experienced rivals. While some observers are either puzzled by or mocking their hiring, it must be remembered that the New York Islanders also made a puzzling management hire last year in Garth Snow and he's proven thus far to be more than capable in the role.

If Jackson and the outspoken Hull prove as capable as Snow the Stars could be in good hands.

I suspect Hull and Jackson will take some time to evaluate the club's roster, as well as determine the course owner Hicks wants to take, before making any plans regarding roster change.

What'll be more interesting is how the players respond to this change, and whether it spurs them into better performances. If nothing changes, the next person fired could be head coach Dave Tippet, or one of the current members of the roster could be changing addresses.