Report: Stars close to hiring Glen Gulutzan as new head coach

A familiar face could return to the bench in Texas.

According to multiple reports, the Dallas Stars are closing in on hiring Glen Gulutzan as the team’s new head coach. Per TSN’s Darren Dreger, Gulutzan has been offered the position, with contract talks currently ongoing.

The head coaching role became open in Dallas after the Stars fired Pete DeBoer shortly after the team was knocked out by the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final for the second year in a row. His dismissal has largely been attributed to how he handled goaltender Jake Oettinger in the season-ending Game 5 loss to the Oilers.

Gulutzan certainly has some huge shoes to fill, as DeBoer guided Dallas to three straight conference finals, even though the team came up short each time.

This isn’t Gulutzan’s first rodeo as the head coach of an NHL team. In fact, his first shot in the NHL came when he was the bench boss for the Stars from 2011 to 2013. However, Dallas failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs each season, with the Manitoba native being fired after his second year on the job.

He was also the head coach of the Calgary Flames for two seasons, helping the Flames qualify for the postseason in 2016-17, his first year with the team. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to replicate the success in year two and was fired following the 2017-18 season after Calgary missed the playoffs.

In his four years working as a head coach in the NHL, Gulutzan has a record of 149-125-23.

Along with his head coaching roles, Gulutzan previously served as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks from 2013 to 2016. He was an assistant with the Oilers from 2018 through this past season.