Lindy Ruff out as Dallas Stars' coach

The Dallas Stars announced Sunday that Lindy Ruff will not return as head coach for the 2017-18 season.

Ruff's four-year contract expired after this season and was not renewed.

The Stars, who won Central Division last year, missed the playoffs this season with 34-37-11 record.

"I want to personally thank Lindy for his commitment and professionalism over the four years that he served as our head coach in Dallas," Stars general manager Jim Nill said in a statement. "Lindy is not only a highly respected coach, he more importantly is a great person and an outstanding family man whom I have the utmost respect for on and off the ice."

The Stars' 79 points were the second-lowest total in a non-lockout season since the franchise relocated from Minnesota to Dallas in 1993-94. In 2015-16, the Stars had the Western Conference's best record and reached the Western Conference second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs before losing in seven games to the St. Louis Blues.

The Stars reached the playoffs twice in four seasons under Ruff.

"We could never get on a good run where you go 6-1 or 7-1, or you win five in a row. We never got that good run going," Ruff said Saturday of this year's team. "I said (Friday) that the probably the biggest disappointment was there were games we really deserved to win if we finished some of the plays, didn't hit posts and missed empty nets to stay on a run or keep something alive. We didn't quite have the finish we had in the previous year."

Ruff, 57, is fifth in NHL history with 736 wins. He was 165-122-41 in four seasons with the Stars after spending 15 seasons as coach of the Buffalo Sabres.