Familiarity often breeds contempt, but sometimes there’s content, too.
So, when Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins see Glen Gulutzan Tuesday night in Dallas, now behind the Stars bench as head coach after seven years running the Edmonton Oilers’ forwards and the best power play in the league, there will undoubtedly be some hugs.
They’re happy for Gully.
But, after that, it’s game-on.
Happens when you’ve played each other 17 times the past two seasons, including two straight Western Conference finals. Hate is too strong a word, but dislike fits the bill, and there’s certainly some givens in the first meeting since last May when Oilers sent the Stars home again, with coach Pete DeBoer losing his job after the loss.
Storylines for Tuesday at American Airlines Center:
• Miro Heiskanen, who was compromised with a rehabbed knee last playoff and not the fantastic skater he normally is, on every time McDavid comes out.
• We might not see, Jake Oettinger vs Stuart Skinner in net after Stu has gotten the best out of Jake the past two playoffs. Oettinger’s wife Kennedi gave birth to the couple’s first child and the Stars say Oettinger (.913 save percentage, 2.53 goal average) is expected to miss the game with Casey DeSmith getting the start. DeSmith has an .873 save percentage in three games.
• What we definitely won’t see is the currently-injured Roope Hintz yapping at Darnell Nurse after Nurse slashed Hintz’s foot and cracked a bone in Game 2. It seemed pretty mild stuff at the time, but it wasn’t. Hintz has missed four games this season after taking a big hit against Carolina Oct. 25.
• We won’t see Zach Hyman renewing acquaintances with Mason Marchment after his open ice check dislocated Hyman’s wrist in Game 4. Hyman is two weeks away and Marchment was traded to Seattle in the off-season for two draft picks.
Whatever, the Stars and Oilers has become appointment viewing even if the teams are meandering, in wild-card positions in the Western Conference right now.
“Both teams know they’re good even if there’s pieces missing. Players do get up for these games more than others. Energizes things, for sure,” said Gulutzan.
Only Gulutzan is now head coach of the other side.
Dallas Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan responds to questions during a news conference at the NHL hockey team’s headquarters, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Frisco, Texas.
He had been the big guy before in Dallas and Calgary when younger but seven years as an assistant here and also time in the same job in Vancouver had painted him in some quarters as a right-hand man, only. Now, he’s back in charge.
How does that change things?
“I’m not as calm,” he laughed, over the phone.
“When you’re an assistant coach you can always be the voice of reason. Sometimes when you’re the head guy you’re more vocal and emotional at times. More fiery.”
Kris Knoblauch did all the talking post-game. Now, it’s Gulutzan.
“You have to answer more questions and the buck stops with you,” he said.
“You can’t just hide in your back office.”
We often asked for Gulutzan on off-days to give Knoblauch a break, but Knoblauch seldom, if at all, wanted a break from talking. “No, no…that was me staying in my office,” joked Gulitzan.
Both guys are singing from the same song book today.
Their teams could be much better but they’ve played the most post-season games the past two years in the West—37 for the Stars, 47 for the Oilers so haven’t found their real game, yet. Dallas, without Hintz, their second best centre Matt Duchene, (injured against Minnesota Oc. 14) and captain Jamie Benn (surgery for a collapsed lung) is thin at forward but is 6-3-3 and has points the last six games.
Assistant coach Glen Gulutzan speaks during Edmonton Oilers Training Camp at Rogers Place in Edmonton, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019.
The Oilers, without Hyman, also the injured Kasperi Kapanen and Mattias Janmark in their bottom six and adding Matt Savoie, Ike Howard, David Tomasek and Andrew Mangiapane to the equation, are a frustrating 6-5-3 with no consistency, at all. They have played one team, New Jersey, that could be considered a Cup contender.
So, gentlemen, start your engines.
“We’re not playing as well as we can, certainly. We’ve got a few guys out of the lineup…not just Roope, Dutchy and Benn but we’ve had (Nils) Lundqvist on defence and (fourth-liner Oskar) Back. You’re depth’s getting tested but we’ve got a veteran team and they know now’s the time to grind out points,” said Gulutzan, who has been playing 11 and 7.
Missing Hintz, Duchene and Benn has definitely compromised their offence 5-on-5. They have a meagre 19 ES goals in the 13 games, with only Jason Robertson (3), Wyatt Johnston (5) and Mikko Rantanen (7) in double figures.
And we think the Oilers with 29 are struggling at even-strength.
“You miss your two top centremen in Hintz and Dutchy then you’re looking at it as not what we get but what we give up. We’re keeping it tight,” said Gulutzan.
Gulutzan certainly saw how Dallas struggled without Hintz in the Oiler playoff. “He touches a lot of bases. He’s your entry guy on the power play and he’s a top penalty-killer. He provides that speed up the middle. Then you take him and Dutchy out, you’re moving people to cover those bases and you get into grind mould,” he said.
The Stars PP is fourth in the NHL, and that’s saved them. Same as the No. 1 Oilers, who have 13 PP goals in 14 games, without Gulutzan’s tutelage.
“They’ve got a rinse, lather and repeat there with Connor, Leon, Nuge and Bouch. They’re so rehearsed. They’ll always be good,” he said.
The Stars and Oilers seem to be playing their way into the season, for different reasons but also because they’ve played so much hockey the last two years. The Stars have played 201 games, the Oilers 211.
“There’s a lot of expectation in Dallas but it’s like in Edmonton. You have to make the playoffs first and you want to be playing good hockey when you go in. It’s still a bit of that feeling here. We’re a veteran team though. There’s a good rationality here. They understand they have to keep themselves in the race and in good stead until we get everybody back,” said Gulutzan.
Oettinger and their PP have been very good in the first month.
And now that Canada’s 4Nations surprising D Thomas Harley has his new eight-year contract for an AAV of $10.58 million, he’s breathing easier, too. His game has been a little up and down, but Harley, whose orthopaedic surgeon dad played for the Golden Bears before moving to the U.S., still figures to be on Canada’s Olympic team. He’s an honourary Edmontonian with family here.
“The contract being done has helped Thomas. He’s a pretty easy-going guy but underneath I think he wanted to get it done and out of the way. Once that happened, you can see him becoming more fluid in his game. It kind of clears the deck for him” said Gulutzan.
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