As Glen Gulutzan gets reacclimated to his role in Dallas, the Stars head coach shared some thoughts on a buzzy NHL discussion topic.
Gulutzan joined Sportsradio 96.7 FM/1310 The Ticket (KTCK-AM) on Wednesday, where he was asked if the league’s regular season was too long. All NHL teams play 82 games in the regular season before shifting focus to the postseason.
While Gulutzan described the slate as “grueling,” he did offer a counterargument on why so many games are needed.
“It is a long season, but I will give you the counterargument that sometimes in our sport, we look at football and we go, ‘Man, they practice a lot.’ Because our guys don’t like to practice very much. They’d rather just play the games,” Gulutzan said. “I was talking to Miro Heiskanen and Roope Hintz just the other day and I said, ‘Hey, if we don’t play a game here in exhibition season, it could be 12 days before you actually play your first meaningful game.’ They kind of both chuckled. I said, ‘You guys don’t even like to have two days of practice in a row during the regular season.’
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“On practice days, no one wants to practice. They’d just rather play the games.”
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Gulutzan and the Stars will be pretty busy in the coming months, starting with training camp this week. The team has Stanley Cup expectations and will look to adjust to Gulutzan’s system quickly.
During his news conference with media members Wednesday, Stars general manager Jim Nill he’s already noticed the energy Gulutzan is bringing to an experienced group of players.
The Stars open preseason play against the St. Louis Blues at 6 p.m. Saturday at American Airlines Center.
Listen to the rest of Gulutzan’s appearance on The Ticket here.
Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.