The NHL’s coaching carousel spun faster than ever this off-season, with a whopping eight teams changing their bench boss. And on Sunday, the Dallas Stars became likely to be the ninth as it was reported that they gave an offer to former Calgary Flames coach Glen Gulutzan to replace longtime coach Peter DeBoer and take the reins of the Stars for the second time in Gulutzan’s coaching career.
Gulutzan formerly served as the Stars' coach in 2011-12, when he led Dallas to a 42-35-5 record, a mark that wasn’t good enough to get Dallas into the Stanley Cup playoffs. And in the following year, which was shortened to 48 games by the NHL lockout, Gulutzan’s Stars once again missed the playoffs with a 22-22-4 record.
At that point, Dallas GM Jim Nill – only two weeks into his job running the Stars – fired Gulutzan and replaced him with Lindy Ruff. But Gulutzan remained in the NHL as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks. And in June of 2016, Gulutzan got his second chance as an NHL coach when the Flames hired him as a replacement for Bob Hartley.
Gulutzan lasted two years in Calgary, steering the Flames into a playoff berth with a 45-33-4 record in his first year, only to have the Flames drummed out of the post-season with a first-round loss to the Anaheim Ducks. And after Calgary regressed in Gulutzan’s second year – going 37-35-10 and missing the playoffs altogether – Gulutzan was dismissed in favor of Bill Peters.
Since then, Gulutzan has served as an assistant coach for the Edmonton Oilers. And now, Gulutzan may get his third kick at the can as the coach for the Stars. It’s certainly intriguing that Nill – who fired Gulutzan a dozen years ago – has decided that Gulutzan could be the right person for the job for a Stars team that has consistently been solid in the regular-season, but has stalled consistently when they’ve got to the Western Conference final, losing in the Western final to the Oilers in each of the past two post-seasons, and losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2022-23. But the Stars clearly needed a new voice after the spectacular flame-out of DeBoer at the end of this past season.
Indeed, one of Gulutzan’s first tasks if he becomes the Stars' coach will be to rehabilitate the game of star goalie Jake Oettinger, who was thrown under the bus by DeBoer after Dallas fell to the Oilers this past post-season. Oettinger isn’t going to be traded by Nill, and so Gulutzan needs to ensure Oettinger is in a good place mentally and competitively when the 2025-26 campaign begins.
Another challenge for Gulutzan will be to improve Dallas’ defense. The Stars’ defense corps has solid members in star Miro Heiskanen, Thomas Harley and Esa Lindell, but the depth of the defense corps needs to improve, either internally or by a roster move or two made by Nill. And Gulutzan will need to tighten things up in the team’s own zone once the playoffs roll around.
Gulutzan’s potential hiring is part of a trend in which former coaches get another shot at running an NHL team after years of serving as an assistant or associate coach. In Chicago, former Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill is getting an opportunity with the Blackhawks. In Seattle, former New York Islanders coach Lane Lambert is getting another chance with the Kraken. And now, Gulutzan might get another shot with the Stars.
Regardless of the lineup changes Nill makes, Gulutzan’s task, if he agrees on an offer, is clear: he needs to replicate the regular-season success the Stars have had in the highly-competitive Central Division, secure home-ice advantage in the playoffs, and power through the first three rounds to get Dallas into the Cup final for the first time since the 2020 post-season. Anything less than that will be considered a failure, and as we’ve seen often of late, teams are more than ready to change coaches, even just one or two years into their tenure.
Suffice it to say that the pressure on Gulutzan will be considerable if he is hired, but not so much that he’s any different than any other NHL bench boss. In the zero-sum industry that is the coaching business, Gulutzan would be taking the Stars job knowing full well that, if Dallas doesn’t improve on their performance from last season, he may quickly be dismissed – and he may never get another NHL head coaching job again.
So, saying there’s going to be an urgency to Gulutzan’s potential situation is an understatement. The Stars are built to win now, and nothing short of a Cup final appearance by Dallas will keep Gulutzan as Stars coach for the short or long term if he ends up agreeing to coach the team.
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