COACHING CAROUSEL
Gulutzan out, but who’s next?
Glen Gulutzan figures the Calgary Flames are heading for a bright future.
One day after being ousted as head coach at the Saddledome, that opinion had not changed.
“The only real regret for me is that I think it’s a great group, there’s great people here, it’s a great city and now I’m not going to be a part of a team moving forward that I think is going to be a real strong team in the years to come,” Gulutzan told Postmedia in his first interview since being fired Tuesday by the Flames.
“Their best players are their young players, and I think that’s a good recipe. I think Tre (general manager Brad Treliving) has done a heck of a job, to be honest with you, with managing the cap. So I think they’re going to be poised for success for a long time here. And that’s something you want to be a part of, but now you’re not going to …
“You sacrifice a lot of hours, a lot of family time, and I think that’s what every hockey player, every hockey coach, wants is to be a part of something that’s bigger than himself. And now you’re not going to be a part of it. So all that labour, you don’t get to see the fruits of it. But that’s the nature of our game, that’s the nature of our business.”
It’s a tradition that bench bosses often wear bull’s-eyes after an underachieving season, and Gulutzan ultimately walked the plank for the Flames’ failure to live up to lofty expectations in his second campaign as skipper at the Saddledome.
The crew from Calgary was sitting in a playoff spot in late February but folded over the next month, tumbling out of the post-season picture thanks to a dreadful home record, an ill-timed mix of leaky netminding and inability to tickle twine in the offensive zone, a lack of what Treliving termed “emotional investment” in major moments, and crunch-time injuries to key players such as Sean Monahan, Mike Smith and Matthew Tkachuk.
Two members of Gulutzan’s bench staff — assistants Dave Cameron and Paul Jerrard — were also handed pink slips Tuesday, while goaltending coach Jordan Sigalet, video coach Jamie Pringle and eyein-the-sky Martin Gelinas were retained.
Gulutzan posted an 82-68-14 record in his two seasons as head coach in Calgary, punching a playoff ticket last spring but failing to repeat that feat.
“I was a bit surprised (by the decision), but I have a real good connection with Tre so I obviously knew there were some unhappy people,” he said.
“I think we did a really good job in our first season here. I don’t know if we could have done a much better job than what we did. Playoffs didn’t go the way we wanted (in 2017), but we came from 77 to 94 points and I think we changed the whole feel of how this team should play and what style they should play moving forward.
“Then, obviously, the second year didn’t go the way we wanted. There were a lot higher expectations and I think I said at some point, we have to manage those. I think even myself had to manage them a little bit better.
“And at the end of the day, we didn’t get the job done.”
Which is why he the 46-year-old Gulutzan is now a coaching free agent.
Which is why his wife and four kids realize they ’ll likely be leaving a city they absolutely adore.
Which is why he is suddenly fielding apologetic calls and texts from the Flames’ skating stars instead of trying to figure out how he can squeeze more out of them next season.
“They want to take blame — like any good man does — and they all feel bad,” Gulutzan said.
“But they also all know this is part of the game. None of us are naive enough or haven’t been around enough to not know that if you don’t make the playoffs, there’s a good chance your coach is on the hot seat.”
He added later: “I can’t see why I wouldn’t have (remained) the head coach up until Feb. 27. And then we had a bad month. We had a bad month with some injuries and we fell short of making the playoffs, and now I’m not the coach anymore. Up until about the trade deadline, we were a playoff hockey team. We would have been a playoff team for the second straight year.
“So trade deadline, we’re looking at hitting it for two in a row. That month, we get injuries, and now you’re gone. That’s how short your leash can be.”
Gulutzan has seven seasons of NHL experience — separate twoyear stints as head coach in Dallas and Calgary and a stretch of three winters as an assistant in Vancouver.
On his next trip to the Saddledome, he will be working for the visiting team.
“One thing you’ll miss the most is the players — they ’re great players and great people, so you’re always going to hope for them,” Gulutzan said.
“But you have to move past it quickly. If you look at the players that are in this organization, some of the top players, they were here before me and before some of our management.
“Everyone contributed a little bit, so you just take that little piece of the pie with you.
“But you have to move on. In the coaching world, what you try to do is you try to move on and try to be a positive impact wherever your next job is.”