The Dallas Stars have announced that they have hired Glen Gulutzan to return as their head coach.
The Stars fired Pete DeBoer after three seasons straight of making it to the Western Conference Final. Because the decision to move on from DeBoer happened so late into the off-season, most of the available coaches had already been picked up by other teams, leaving slim pickings for the Stars.
In 2003, Gulutzan accepted his first full-time coaching role as head coach and GM of the ECHL’s Las Vegas Wranglers, a position he held until 2009. Under his leadership, the Wranglers won two division titles, secured a Brabham Cup, set an ECHL record with three straight 100‑point seasons. In 2009, Gulutzan moved up to the AHL, becoming the inaugural head coach of the Texas Stars. Over two seasons, he led the team to back-to-back playoff appearances, including a run to the Calder Cup Finals in their first season.
Gulutzan got the call to the big leauges in 2011 with the Stars. He coached the team for two seasons, posting a 64–57–9 record but narrowly missing the playoffs both years before being relieved in May 2013. Soon after, he joined the Vancouver Canucks as an assistant coach and stayed through 2016. After that, Gulutzan the Calgary Flames hired him as head coach; he led them to a playoff appearance in 2017 but was dismissed in April 2018 after a disappointing second season. He was picked up by the Edmonton Oilers in 2018 as an assistant coach and has been there since.
The Oilers have had great success on their power-play under Gulutzan. While this feels like a safe hire for the Stars given the circumstance, the team is in a much better place than they were during Gulutzan's first stint running the bench.
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