We're finally getting confirmation on who's filling the NHL's coaching vacancies.
With Carlyle locked down, that also puts the Calgary Flames one step closer to making their decision.
So—it sounds like the Canucks will lose one member of their coaching staff, but retain another.
Ben Kuzma has a sold snapshot of Gulutzan in
The Province, which includes the tidbit that Gulutzan and Calgary general manager Brad Treliving both played some of their minor hockey with the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Treliving, at 6'4", played defence for Brandon in 1987-88, while Gulutzan, a 5'10" centre who's two years younger, suited up from 1989-91. Their time in Brandon didn't overlap, but they may have known each other a bit as WHL opponents.
As players, Treliving made it as far as the AHL, where he appeared in 15 games over two seasons, but played mostly in the ECHL before hanging up his skates in 1995. Gulutzan played four games in the IHL in 1996-97 and one season in Finland before settling in for five years with the Fresno Falcons of the WCHL, when he played until 2003.
After his playing days were over, Gulutzan had a solid six-year run as head coach of the ECHL's Las Vegas Wranglers, then moved up to the AHL's Texas Stars for two years before taking control in Dallas for two seasons.
Gulutzan admitted to Kuzma that jumping into an NHL job without experience in the league wasn't an ideal situation.
What I didn’t have — and I think what most coaches should have, especially if you haven’t played in the league — is experience in the league (NHL). There were more things that I did well, but some things that I would have changed.
I think the only way to you can get to that point is to live it or be an assistant for three or four years in the league. With more experience, I probably would have done some things differently, but that’s what experience is. It’s not so much dealing with players, it’s being in the league.
Now, of course, Gulutzan has amassed a year as an assistant under John Tortorella—where he worked alongside our latest Stanley Cup-winning coach, Mike Sullivan—and two years under Willie Desjardins. By this point, I imagine he has seen pretty much everything.
(As a side point, Willie Desjardins had only two years of experience as an NHL associate coach—one year under Marc Crawford and one year under Gulutzan—before taking the reins here in Vancouver. I wonder if some of his challenges have come from the lack of "league" experience that Gulutzan is citing here?)
I think it's safe to say that Randy Carlyle's return to Anaheim is being treated with a dose of healthy skepticism by fans and media alike. He was the architect of the franchise's lone Stanley Cup win, nearly a decade ago. In addition to having coached Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf as part of that team, he was also the bench boss for the Canucks' farm team, the Manitoba Moose, in the 2004-05 lockout season—where he coached a young Ryan Kesler, Kevin Bieksa...and Alex Burrows...to a Conference Final berth.
With that in mind, I can't say that I'm terribly surprised that the Ducks decided to go back to Carlyle. It'll be interesting to see how his coaching style holds up in today's Western Conference, and whether he's able to develop a supporting cast behind that group of veterans.
(As another side note, seeing Burrows' name on that Moose roster from Carlyle's season makes me think that Jim Benning should touch base once again with Bob Murray to see if there's a trade to be made there, before making a decision about whether or not to buy out Burrows. He might be a welcome addition to the new Ducks?)
Assuming the Gulutzan hiring goes down as expected, the Canucks will have another job opening of their own to fill. The obvious question—do they promote Travis Green?
Green has said in the past that he doesn't want to jump to the NHL unless it's for a head-coaching job. There has been plenty of speculation that if he doesn't get snapped up by another team this summer, he'll be next in line for Vancouver's top job—especially if Desjardins stumbles out of the gate to start the 2016-17 season.
Green has never coached at the NHL level, but he does have plenty of on-ice experience. The 45-year-old Castlegar native played 970 NHL games with the New York Islanders, Anaheim Ducks, Phoenix Coyotes, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins between 1992 and 2007.
What do you think?
bike trails
Mike Gillis to Serve on Board of Swiss Hockey Team
Former Canucks general manager Mike Gillis is in the news today, as
Swiss Hockey News announces that Gillis has been named to the board of directors for Geneve-Servette HC. He is joined by fellow lawyer Peter Gall, his colleague in teaching that sports law class at the University of Victoria,
according to Yahoo.
Gillis' former assistant general manager, Lorne Henning, is also part of the new braintrust, but rather than being on the board, he'll be working "on the sportive side of things," according to the Swiss Hockey News. Henning's last job was working as a scout for Team Europe's World Cup of Hockey entry.
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