Dallas Stars new head coach Glen Gulutzan speaks before Training Camp 2025
hikes usually just me and you in here. Wait till we get on the road. Uh what have you learned in the last couple of months just about being around here and the organization? Yeah, just things have changed. Things have changed. I could see it this morning when I uh I had about 5,000 lights in different stations to go to as they were uh and I I told Joe I said that that wasn’t here when I was here in 11. I know Sebie would know that too, but um lots has changed certainly. Uh you know, it’s a it’s a top-notch organization now. I’ve been around the league and seen some great organizations and uh yeah, things have changed here. This is this is a this is a real this is a special place. Do you like the expectation because it does seem like people want you to win the st everybody wants to win the Stanley Cup, but the thought process is you guys have a team that could win the Stanley Cup. Yeah, I I’ve said this a numerous times. I think there’s six to eight teams that can legitimately win the Stanley Cup without you know some team going on a slay the dragon run, but uh you know there’s there’s six or eight and it’s one of them. And um I was asked if that’s pressure and of course it’s pressure but there’s pressure in this league no matter what team you’re on where you’re at and and and I’ve been uh up north where there’s lots of pressure and eyes on you. Um but I I think it’s real opportunity, right? It’s real opportunity. It’s not often that you get a uh you come into you get a job as a head coach in this league. Again, I know they change coaches laws, but you get a job where you got a team that’s been to the final four uh three, you know, three years and 106 points. So, when you’re at that point, it’s opportunity. That’s that’s the way I’m looking at it this year. So, you talked about changes in this organization. How how have you changed since you were last year? How much Yeah, just just experience, right? experience having experienced uh you know some guys that have retired now but that were you know top players in the league. Um coaching young top players maybe generational talent when they were young. Um, yeah, young and old balance, watching the maturation of of of a group of of young men turn into a, you know, a western powerhouse. Working with top end coaches, um, you know, guys at multiple Stanley Cups. So, a lot’s changed, right? Experience changes. Yeah. And I think as long as you got your eyes open a little bit, you can learn. You were here when Jamie was a child essentially. Toddler, we should say in athlete years, I guess. Um, yeah. I guess knowing him and having a little experience coaching him and now him as the captain of this team, what kind of relationship do you see with him and and him being the conduit to the rest of the team for you and what you want to Yeah, I I actually I just spoke with him on that yesterday. him and I had a a a long chat um in in the locker room and uh yeah, I think that a captain has to be extension of the coach, right? Um but he also can can bring me stuff that he feels that it’s not going the right way. There has to be a relationship there. And I believe in hierarchy and the whole thing, you know, Jim Nil, you know, myself, you know, you obviously got Tom and Jim and and hierarchy and you got myself and then you got Jamie and it it has to work that way. and uh if it doesn’t, things get disjointed. So, working with him is is important for me. Um he’s he’s um he’s got the the respect of the locker room. He’s got respect of the league, other coaches, other players, and uh the one thing that I’m appreciative of is I I maintain a bit of a relationship with him and and the family. Jord’s here, too, right? And I’ve had Jordy for years, so that helps when you’re trying to form relationships. Glenn, I’ve spoken to a bunch of players about how positive your initial phone calls were to them. On the other side of it, are there any themes or things you’ve heard countless times from them, from the players when you’ve had those initial calls? Uh, yeah. I I um first of all um we were just laughing in the coaches room here in the sidebars cuz everything’s positive right now. We haven’t lost yet, so every everybody’s happy. So, um you know, conversations in July are good. You know, the guys are good guys. But one thing I’ve heard about our whole team here the the whole time was just how committed they are to wanting to win. And I’m going to pray on that mindset a little bit because I firmly believe that that’s what you need. You need a collective mindset of a group of individuals that are that have basically one common goal. And and I I’m going to talk about this a little bit today, but that’s culture, isn’t it? when you have a group of people that are all trying to do or get to the same place. So, um we have a good culture here and I think I’m going to pray on that or build on that to to keep it going. Um you know, and when when we did talk to answer your question, um you know, uh we felt we needed to play a little harder and and a little grittier here and every guy said, “Yeah, they felt that too.” And because the farther you go in the playoffs, the more that becomes. So that’s something that we’re all on the same page with. What’s the process of kind of implementing that? And does it start tomorrow? Does it start, you know, a few weeks into camp and the season? I think it’s already started cuz once you talk about it, especially in this league, we don’t you almost don’t even have to practice it. You you can just show these guys on video these days and they will they they can pick it up. And now again, that collective mindset, if they all kind of believe it, it’s going to get in there anyway. Um, and but I’m just making a a clear point here. It’s not just body checking, you know, because the reality is that the if you can go if you want to go look at the stats, the teams that hit the most usually Florida Panthers were number one last year, but usually are the teams that don’t have the puck. And we would love to have the puck. So, if our hits are down, but we we don’t want to be on the bottom, but we don’t need to be on the top. So, I’m not just talking about hitting. I’m talking about everything we do from from how we we track and chase people down and how we hold pucks in the offensive zone and how we uh get in front of people and play through their hands just so that we’re a pain in the butt to play against really and that’s grit. That’s what you need come playoff time. It can’t be foreign. Toby Peterson said something similar between the two games this past weekend. Did you see a little bit of in a very different way, of course, a different context, but did their response to game two? Was that a little bit of what? First first goal, first goal, first shift. You guys all saw it, right? He he finishes a check card, which maybe you could fly by. You could do the old fly by and but he finishes it and there’s a turnover and guess who’s reaps the rewards, right? So, you could see it right in the first shift. So, I didn’t know Toby said anything, but you could tell the first shift there something had been said. So, and you know, the result changed a little bit. And I know it’s just one game, but you do have to add that into your game for for 82. You never want to be reacting, right? You never want to be reacting. Oh, it’s changed. I don’t, you know, you always want to be okay with that. So, how do you balance that with a long season, especially condensed schedule last year and this year too, without burning out, especially your top guys to the point where they’ve been, you know, going 100 miles an hour all year and they’re burn out by the time playoffs start? Yeah. I look at this as a real strength here is our depth. We I have the ability here to play four lines for periods of time when I know we’re in a heavy schedule, right? And I’m not saying playing four lines for 60 minutes, but having a good role rotation, everybody knowing their jobs, we’ve got four really solid centermen and we’ve got guys on the wings that are actually centermen. So, um, we’ve got great D the the depth of this organization is going to allow us hopefully to navigate that schedule a little bit by maybe dispersing some minutes when we’re in the heavy parts. To that end, I think one of the underrated challenges that a new head coach has is not only getting the NHL team where they want to be, but getting aligned with the AHL team so that when you do have the inevitable injuries, guys understand what the expectations are at this level. So, can you kind of talk us through how you’re going to kind of align with Toby Peterson and his staff so that you have those guys that can just fill in? Yeah, this is probably one of the best parts for me being coming back here cuz first it was a little surreal. Uh, the second part of it was I walk into the locker room and I see Jordy, skill development, Max, Fortune, assistant coach, Travis, and Toby. And I I I had them all. And so we went out to dinner. We were here for three days for coaches meetings. It was pretty seamless. So, we’re all getting on the same page pretty quick. And when you have mutual respect for each other and trust in each other, that happens really fast. So, I don’t see any problem with here and there. The lines of communication are are pretty open. I I think uh uh Mo uh Travis Morren was chirping me when I first got into the the the the meal. So, I I knew right away I was I was back with company and friends, right? So, uh and Toby and I have kept contact, right? And when he started his coaching venture, we’d be at coaching conference together. We we we’d kept in touch. So, um we see each other and chat. He did remind me though, he’s at 398 pro games, NHL games, and I was probably the guy that didn’t give him his last two to get to 400. Uh, contracts make a roster a lot of times, especially for opening day. Uh, how do you look at camp and getting that roster ready because, you know, it’s pretty short nowadays, it seems like, and you guys got to jump right into Yeah, we do. We’re going to go head first into it. Um, I think camp first two days is going to be pretty hard. I think it uh you it it good it’s good to set a tone. Um, so for for me the first couple days we we want to lay down what what we’re trying to do. And then when I look at the roster, you know, in my conversations with some of the players, I really don’t care. I’m I’m not married to I I have to be right on the roster or who’s playing with who. I will move things around until I get the best combinations. That’s the reality. We’re here to win it. We’re we’re we’re not here to uh do anything else. We’re we’re past that point as an organization. Who plays with who? Who does this, who does that? We’re here. We’ll put we’ll put things together that make sense for us to win hockey games, period. So, you look at lefty righty as far as D and then you seems like you have a hole in the left side that a right-hander might have to play on the forward group. Yeah. And I love it because the way we play uh a lot of times it is easier to be on the opposite wing and and I do want to possess the puck any a little bit more. So um just some of the stuff we did actually in Edmonton where we we we would bring uh pucks back a little bit and hold on to things rather than always just playing forward. It’s a lot easier uh especially in the neutral zone with guys that are on their offside. So any of any of these players that would love to play the offside, I’m I’m 100% for it. So, I if if I got a guy there um uh that we have to put on the on there’s things that we can give him to help him. What’s your plan over the next couple of weeks? You talked about two days being hard, but you have six preseason games. What do you want to accomplish over those two weeks or so? Yeah. Um I just want to lay down the foundation. We are going to change a few things with with systematically the way we play. And so I I just want to make sure that that I I believe in instinctual hockey. I believe in road hockey uh with a with a structure and and it’s when these guys playing within their structure can be instinctual. They’re at their best. We got to get instinctual right away. You look at the first two games, you know, we’re running through Winnipeg and in Colorado. So, I want these guys on instinct right away. On instinct and intensity right away. So, we that’s that’s the foundation. We got to lay it down so what we’re changing that it it’s not foreign and and uh they can play it without thinking. You’ve obviously talked about being with a lot of good players. I mean, Mo last year, three different teams had a solid playoff year. What do you see in a guy like that gets a fresh start, he gets to start fresh this year? Yeah, I he just so settled. I think with the the topsy turvy that he was on, I mean, he put me on that roller coaster. I said to him the other day, I was really happy when you got traded to Carolina because you got out of the the you got it into the East and then I got really sad because you were in Dallas and and because I didn’t want you back in in the West and then I said then I got to coach Dallas so now I’m happy that you’re here. So, um, but, uh, he was on that. He was on this. And I think getting him settled settled in, everybody’s here. I think that’s way way better. And he’s he’s a guy that fits a little bit of how we want to play, too. Well, he fits anyone’s way to play, but he likes to hold pucks and possess pucks and big body and bring things around and make plays. So, uh, some of the little adjustments will fit him just fine, too. I think he’s going to have a great year. Jim talked about younger players. I think you did early in the summer as well. younger players needing to fill some holes and something that could define the season. Is there any communication for that between you and the players or is it just play your game and let’s see what happens? Yeah, you know, I know who you’re talking about. So, I’ll just tell you like Niels and Bori, I told them both, I’m giving you an opportunity here. I’m giving you an opportunity and I what I see from watching them, I think there is real upside to those guys and actually you need internal growth on your team when you lose players. we, you know, we lost the uh, you know, players here. So, at the end of the day, you need internal growth and they’re ready to grow in my opinion. So, I’m going to give them an opportunity here in camp to to see what they can do because that’s really what pushes it forward. And not only that, you you need some young juice in the room, right? And a and a young player comes in and he’s he’s feeling it and he’s playing good and he’s helping the team, it it brings energy and this schedule, you need energy and maintaining energy is important. I know you talked about not just being body checking, but you did add Fox back in the mix here and of course Bastion. Are you encouraged to have a little bit extra size for your Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Um I the the size of that, you know, fourth line, Ber, but um included um at the end of the day there’s be more emphasis on a role for them a little bit. And uh what I love about that bottom uh portion of the roster is everybody has a piece of the pie. We’re going to have everybody has uh you know the top guys are going to touch the power play and and and uh the the middle guys are all going to have PK. And when you have a team a team then you want everybody to have a little piece of something that they can grab hold of and and that’s their thing. And uh for me I like that about how balanced we are. This roster construction for me is is tremendous. Do you think it keeps them more engaged when you can spread that around? Like you said, those little pieces for special teams and other roles. Yeah. And then internal competition helps too. These guys are competitive. They’re competitive. They’re not here because they’re not. They’re competitive. They’re competitive. If you’re playing pingpong, they’re comp they’re competitive. So even the internal competition, it can drive it too. And and that’s what you want. You mentioned the juice that the young guys can bring. Jim was mentioning the energy in the dressing room since you’ve arrived. Is that something you are focused on trying to bring that high energy and enthusiasm. It’s a good group here. Well, I can tell you for sure it’s hard enough to win if there’s no energy. I can tell you that it’s hard enough. And uh if if if we’re sucking the life out of the room, it’s this is 82 games. This schedule, it is hard. Our travel, it’s hard. You you got to have some fun along the way. You got to have a little joy in in in your locker room. And I mean, it’s a little easier if you’re you’re winning games every night, but but whatever organization you’re in, you need it. And that that’s one of the trends I’ve seen around the league now from the teams I’ve been on is just the ability to say, “Hey, this is hard.” It it can’t be just a grind every single day. So, um, again, we need good energy. We need energy flowing through that room. We need guys ready to play. And, uh, sometimes that’s a little jab and sometimes it’s a little fun, right? So, with a lot of these players being so close the last three years and you personally from a coaching standpoint being so close the last couple years, how does that change you as you get ready to start a new season? It it drives you. It I think, you know, I I always talk about your internal why, why you do what you do. And when I was close in Edmonton two years in a row and game sevens and game sixes, um, as you grow older in this league, and you’ll see with older players, you become fixated on I just I just want to win. But actually, when I had these guys in here and started talking to them, you know, I could see that they want it, too. And that kind of drives me a little bit. you know, we’re not in the water with as coaches, meaning we’re there’s no blood on on our hands. They’re they’re out there dying for it, right? So, when you see these young guys that want it this bad, it just drives you a little bit, too. So, how I’ve changed in the league is one from whole, I’m I’m uh really excited to be in the league. Now, I want to win the league, right? And I want these guys to win the league. And I’m again, I’m going to pray on that in there because I I I can tell they have that collective mindset to do it. voted question, but would you consider this season a disappointment if you guys don’t? No, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t because I know how hard it is to win and and and I know that so many things have to go right. So many things have to go right. One post, one crossbar, one save, one penalty, one trip, one and you could not win or you could win. And it’s hard. Um I I wouldn’t say that at all. I wouldn’t say that at all. I I think um even coming from it and this is where I come from. Uh losing in a game 7 2-1 um it’s hard. It’s it was one of the hardest things personally that I had to watch these young men go through and but after a while you realize it is still an accomplishment. It’s not everything but you you push the limits or at least you touch the ceiling a little bit, right? So we’re the goal is to push it over and to get there, but you you can’t judge yourself in this league or once every 30 some years you can think of yourself as okay, right? So one more thing on Mo. Uh Jim mentioned his leadership uh capabilities too are something that maybe we don’t always see on the outside. What have you seen from that and have you looked at the leadership group and the letters in general about whether it’s going to stay the same or would he maybe wear one? Yeah, I’m not too concerned about letters. you know, I’m inheriting guys that had letters. Um, I’m not in here to it would be naive of me to say, “Oh, I I know who the better leaders are.” And so, um, that’ll all pro probably stay the same. But I can tell you that I’ve formed two leadership groups here, too, that I I I want to rely on some of these veteran players I had. my first discussion, my actually my second discussion with Rants, you can tell that he thinks the game uh and and and the parts around it at at a very high level. And I I liked a lot of the things he said. So, yes, I am going to lean on him a little bit, too. This guy’s a bit of a worker. He’s a bit of a soldier. So, he’s uh and and he’s an elite mind and player. So, uh you got to use it. All set. Thank you. Thank you.
Full Q&A with Dallas Stars new head coach Glen Gulutzan, before Training Camp 2025.
.
.
.
.
.
#nhl #hockey #dallasstars #TexasHockey #texas #dallastx #dallastexas #hockeylife #nhlnews #hockeynews #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #explore #explorepage #dallas #dtx #stars #hockeyfans #hockeycoaches #hockeycoach #trainingcamp #hockeytraining #hockeyskills
