Glen Gulutzan Returns to the Dallas Stars as Coach
Glen Gulutzan believes the Dallas Stars have made the right decision twice in his coaching career, first by not keeping him as head coach 12 years ago and now by bringing him back in that same role. The Stars re-introduced Gulutzan as their coach on Wednesday, with him and the franchise in very different places than they were then. One of Jim Nill’s first decisions after becoming general manager in 2013 was to make a coaching change after spending a couple of weeks talking with Gulutzan about the players he had during two seasons in his first NHL job.Gulutzan, who will turn 54 next month, has that experience after coaching with three different teams in Canada. He was an assistant for the last seven seasons with Edmonton, including the last two reaching the Stanley Cup final after defeating Dallas for the Western Conference title, after two seasons as head coach of Calgary and a stint as an assistant with Vancouver. “Somehow, I’m kind of rebuilding this, so 12 years ago Jim actually sent me on a reconnaissance mission, and that was through western Canada,” Gulutzan said with a smile. “He didn’t tell me until about a week ago that he was going to bring me back.” Gulutzan was not only a first-time NHL head coach when he was hired by the Stars in 2011, but it was also when the franchise was going through bankruptcy and a change of ownership, and was basically run by the league. The two seasons of Gulutzan ended a streak of five consecutive non-playoff appearances, the franchise’s longest, before Lindy Ruff brought the Stars back. They had been in the postseason 10 of 11 seasons before that, including their only Stanley Cup title in 1999 and another Western Conference championship the following year under Ken Hitchcock, the only other person who had two stints as Dallas’ head coach. The current Stars are coming off three consecutive seasons that ended in the Western Conference Finals, and six playoff appearances in seven years with an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final in the Canadian bubble during the COVID-affected 2020 playoffs. When Nill decided to fire Pete DeBoer after three seasons following the last playoff loss, the general manager said he interviewed numerous coaches at all levels. His process always went back to the coach he didn’t keep in 2013. “When speaking with people he worked with, for whom he worked, all I heard is that he would do anything for you. He’s organized, he’s professional, he cares about people,” said Nill. “His resume and experience over the years have prepared him for this opportunity. … It’s one thing to be successful, but you have to go through difficult times. Everyone does. And it’s in those difficult times that you discover who you are, and that’s what Glen has done.” There were also opportunities to work with coaches like John Tortorella, Hitchcock, Dave Tippett, and Kris Knoblauch. Gulutzan had a 64-57-9 record with the Stars from 2011-13, then went to Vancouver before an 82-68-14 record as head coach of the Flames from 2016-18. He then joined the Oilers staff and was part of 79 playoff games in the last five years. The only player still with the Stars since Gulutzan’s first tenure is captain Jamie Benn, who recently signed a contract to return for a 17th season. Nill met with Gulutzan a few days after Edmonton’s season ended with a Game 6 loss to Florida in the Stanley Cup Final. “I was very impressed with the way he handled himself, how we talked about the situations, even though he was devastated by the loss,” Nill said. “The job curriculum when you’re a head coach in the NHL is X’s and O’s. It’s strategies, it’s game plans. We all know that, but in the end, character matters.” It was still a bit surreal for Gulutzan to be back in the Stars’ home arena, where he was an NHL head coach for the first time in his early 40s, and just about six weeks after being in the opposing locker room following Edmonton’s Game 1 loss in the Western Final. “I was on the other side cursing the team when they beat us in Game 1, and now I’m sitting here,” he said. “But for me, it still feels like home. So it’s an easy adjustment.”“There was a bit of a relationship formed. Now, our last meeting was, ‘Hey, I’m not going to renew you and hand in your keys'”, Gulutzan said on Wednesday, sitting next to Nill, who is still the general manager of Dallas. “At the end of the day, Jim was right. This is a league where you have to suffer some wounds, some scars. … You have to gain experience”.
Glen Gulutzan
