Wednesday 10:35am: The Flames have indeed hired Gulutzan as their next head coach, as CTV’s Heath Brown reports. He’ll be announced as soon as Thursday.
Tuesday 10:46am: It appears the Calgary Flames have found their new bench boss as multiple reports suggest they are set to hire Glen Gulutzan as their 16th head coach in franchise history. He would take over from Bob Hartley who was relieved of his duties in early May. Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province says to “bet on it” that Gulutzan will get the job while TSN’s Bob McKenzie suggested earlier today that if the Flames can reach a “satisfactory contract situation” with him that he’s the “likely guy” (transcription from Today’s Slapshot’s Chris Nichols).
Gulutzan has spent the past three years as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks working on the staffs of John Tortorella and Willie Desjardins. The Canucks only made the postseason once in those three seasons, coincidentally losing to Calgary back in 2014-15.
The 44 year old Gulutzan has some NHL head coaching experience under his belt having coached the Dallas Stars in 2011-12 and the lockout-abbreviated 2012-13 seasons, compiling a 64-57-9 record in that stretch.
With Calgary featuring young, up-and-coming players such as Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Sam Bennett, it was expected that GM Brad Treliving would look to bring in someone who is more experienced with dealing with younger players and isn’t as much as a hard-line coach as Hartley. Gulutzan fills that bill, having spent five years in the ECHL with Las Vegas (at one point, an affiliate of the Flames) and two years in the AHL as a head coach with the Texas Stars, affiliate of Dallas.
With Anaheim’s hiring of Randy Carlyle, Calgary’s vacancy is the last one to be filled this offseason.