Firing on all cylinders: Gulutzan pushing all the right buttons as Stars continue to roll

Glen Gulutzan was given a special challenge this year.

Sure, the veteran of 14 seasons behind an NHL bench received a great opportunity taking over a talented group of players in Dallas. But along with that gift came the responsibility of trying to improve a team that went to three Western Conference Finals and had the best regular-season record in the NHL in three seasons under Pete DeBoer.

Talk about a double-edged sword.

But, so far, Gulutzan has proved the perfect swashbuckler.

Maybe being part of an Edmonton Oilers team that took the Stars down twice in the playoffs was a huge boost. Maybe he’s just that smart. But Gulutzan laid out a plan at the beginning of the season that was designed to improve the team’s deficiencies without deteriorating its strengths. By tweaking a good team, he felt his coaching staff could make it even better.

And right now, it looks like he has done that. Through 68 games, the lads in Victory Green have 96 points. At the same time last season, it was 90, so we’re talking small differences here.

But that’s what’s so impressive about this transformation.

The Stars aren’t that different a team, and yet they are. Last year’s team relied more on puck possession and patience and veteran confidence. This edition seems to ride a bit more of an edge, a bit more youthful exuberance, a bit more sass and swag.

During the current 15-1-1 run, the Stars have shown both ingenuity and resilience. In navigating two months at nearly 100 percent point accumulation, this group has battled through injury, slumps, and some pretty good opposition. Playing without Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz and Radek Faksa has forced other players to step up. Splitting the run with a three-week break for the Olympics has allowed the coaching staff to flex its mental muscles.

The result of all of that is a team that is different than it was in October.

“We’re better,” Gulutzan admitted. “We’ve improved in some areas that we want to improve in – and not just physicality. I think we play better instinctually than we did at the start of the year.”

Edmonton last season challenged the Stars physically and kind of bullied them in the conference final, and Gulutzan took stock of that. He implemented a motto of “one degree more,” which focused on everyone being just a little more physical. But, he said the message really went beyond that – and so there was a contagious nature to getting the players on board for a more aggressive brand in every area.

“The easy thing is what I believed from playing them twice, and what the players believed, was the same thing,” Gulutzan said of coming up with a game plan in the summer. “So whenever there is alignment like that, it’s an easy sell because we all believe in the same things. We’ve done a good job of trying to implement that, but the players have done a better job of taking that personally and individually upping their game.”

There is a kind of kismet running around the organization right now, because the changes do seem to be working. On one hand, the salary cap forced GM Jim Nill to part with Mikael Granlund, Mason Marchment and Evgenii Dadonov (along with their 60-something goals) in the offseason. But the moves that Nill made brought in players that have a little bit more of what Gulutzan is looking for.

By adding Justin Hryckowian, Adam Erne and Nathan Bastian, Dallas gets a percent or two more “hard to play against.” By stirring the pot just that little bit, it pulls players like Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston and Mavrik Bourque into the battle one degree more.

If we’re giving the patient a body scan at this point, it all seems to make a lot of sense.

And that’s what’s fun. New assistant coach David Pelletier worked with Lian Bichsel during his rehab from December through February, and Bichsel has come back with smoother skating and more confidence. The Sports Science Department created new pre-game workouts and players like Robertson are notching personal bests for skating speed. That is the epitome of setting out a plan and then seeing it come to fruition.

To be fair, we are only 68 games in and there are miles to go before they sleep. And that’s the other part of the Gulutzan challenge. If they don’t get to the conference final, there will be some disappointment. If they don’t get past the conference final, they will have to start the autopsy all over again.

That is the way of the NHL – the Never Happy League, as Gulutzan likes to call it.

But the new/old head coach understands the job, and was happy to take it. Spending seven years as an assistant coach in Edmonton made him hungry to accept the responsibility and the pressure.

“You have to put the work in every day,” he said. “You do everything you can to put your best team on the ice, and then you go back and look at where you fell short. We do that over and over again.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.