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Dallas names Gulutzan as head coach, Graham as assistant

Dallas names Gulutzan as head coach, Graham as assistant

Tuesday, July 1st

The National Hockey League's Dallas Stars have named former Las Vegas Wranglers' head coach Glen Gulutzan as the team's head coach and former Idaho Steelheads' head coach Neil Graham as an assistant coach.

Gulutzan was head coach of Las Vegas from 2003-09, posting an overall record of 207-111-43 and receiving the John Brophy Award as ECHL Coach of the Year in 2005-06. He led the Wranglers to the playoffs in five of his six seasons with the team, including an appearance in the 2008 Kelly Cup Finals, where they fell to Cincinnati in six games.

After leaving Las Vegas, Gulutzan was head coach of the American Hockey League's Texas Stars for two seasons, before being named head coach for Dallas prior to the 2011-12 season. In two seasons during his first stint with the Stars, he went 64-57-9. From 2013-16, he was an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks before spending two seasons as head coach of the Calgary Flames, where he went 82-68-14. Gulutzan has spent the last seven seasons as an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oilers, culminating with back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup Final in 2024 and 2025.

Gulutzan becomes the fifth active NHL head coach to have coached in the ECHL joining Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar, San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky, Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy and Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery. In addition, Nashville Predators head coach Andrew Brunette played in the ECHL.

Graham played 18 games in the ECHL during his playing career, seeing time with South Carolina, Greenville and Idaho during the 2010-11 and 2012-13 seasons, before becoming an assistant coach with the Steelheads midway through the 2012-13 season. He was named head coach for Idaho prior to the 2015-16 season, and led the team to a 166- 91-31 record over four seasons, qualifying for the Kelly Cup Playoffs each season.

Prior to the 2019-20 season, he was named an assistant coach for Texas, and took over as the Stars' head coach during that season. Graham posted an 183-140-40 record in 363 regular-season games and led Texas to the Calder Cup Playoffs in all four of his seasons as head coach in which the AHL postseason was played, most recently guiding the team to the 2025 Western Conference Final.