Greg Wyshynskijun 29, 2025, 03:57 PM ET
Closegreg Wyshynski is a senior NHL writer at ESPN.
The Dallas star is reviving Glen Gultsang as their head coach 12 years after sources confirmed by ESPN in multiple reports on Sunday.
Gurtsang, who served as assistant coach for the Edmonton Oilers, replaced Pete DeBorer, who was fired by the stars earlier this month after three seasons. An official announcement by the team is expected soon.
Gulutzan will inherit the talented roster that was runner-up at the Western Conference over three consecutive seasons. This includes Starwinger Mikko Lantanen. He signed an eight-year, $96 million extension, which the star won at the trade deadline.
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The 53-year-old Gulutzan coached the stars from 2011 to 2013, moving on to 64-57-9, missing out on the playoffs in both seasons. He was hired to replace Mark Crawford after coaching Stars AHL affiliates for two seasons.
Two weeks after being hired by Star to run the team in 2013, current general manager Jimnir fired Gurtsang and said the club had decided to “go in a different direction.” Dallas then hired veteran coach Lindy Luff.
Now, Nir is rehiring Gurtsang in the hopes of being able to lead his team to the Stanley Cup.
After being fired by Dallas, Gurtsang became an assistant coach for the Vancouver Canucks under John Tortorella and Willie Desjardin, and was hired by the Calgary Flames as head coach in 2016. He spent two seasons there, making one playoff before being replaced by Bill Peters.
Gulutzan became the assistant coach for the Oilers for seven seasons under four different head coaches. He had a good relationship with star center Conor McDavid and ran the team’s power play. This was number one in the NHL (26.8% conversion) during his time at Edmonton.
Dallas began searching for a new coach after firing DeBoer. He posted a .665 regular season point percentage, leading the star to the West final for the third year in a row. The star lost to Vegas in 2023 and lost to Edmonton in the past two seasons.
With the elimination of Game 5 by the Oilers in May, DeBoer pulled Jake Oetittinger after giving up two goals at the first 7:09 of the game, and later called him out due to the team’s lack of success against Edmonton.
Nir called the situation a “component” to his decision to fire DeBor, who left another year on his contract, but said he also took into account “what happened during the season.”
GM said the team’s assistant coaches “do great work” and they wanted them to continue to be part of the stars. But Gurtsang will need to bring in new staff after Steve Spot sets off for the Boston Bruins and Misha Donskov takes on a role in Hockey Canada.
Assistant coaches Alain Nasreddine and Jeff Reese will be back next season, Nill said recently.
