DALLAS — The Stars will be hiring a new coach this summer, following the departure of Rick Bowness on Friday afternoon.
Who are some of the candidates?
Dallas has not followed a pattern under general manager Jim Nill when it comes to coaches.
Lindy Ruff arrived after a 15-year tenure in Buffalo. Ken Hitchcock, a hire influenced by ownership, made a one-year cameo to try to relive the glory days of 1999. Jim Montgomery was a hotshot hire out of the college ranks. Bowness was an internal promotion that was the most experienced coach of all time, though he hadn’t been a head coach in 15 years.
The Stars and Nill value defensive structure, but outside of that, there are different categories the Stars could veer into.
THE EXPERIENCED NHL COACHES
Barry Trotz
Trotz is the hottest name on the coaching market right now, fired after four years with the Islanders. He missed the playoffs this season, but advanced to the final four in each of the previous two seasons in New York.
Trotz won a Stanley Cup with the Capitals in 2018 and has coached 1,812 games in the NHL. He’s already interviewed in Winnipeg, according to reports, and Philadelphia is reportedly interested, as well. Trotz’s teams have historically been very good defensively.
Peter DeBoer
DeBoer was fired by Vegas earlier this week after parts of three seasons leading the Golden Knights. He went 98-50-12 in Vegas, advancing to the Western Conference final in 2020 and the final four last season before missing the playoffs this year.
He previously coached in Florida, New Jersey and San Jose (with Joe Pavelski) and has been to the Stanley Cup Final twice. DeBoer was criticized for his handling of Golden Knights goaltenders and for an unproductive power play that ranked 25th in the NHL.
Paul Maurice
Maurice resigned as the head coach of the Jets in December, saying that he knew Winnipeg needed a new voice to lead it, and adding that he did not enjoy coming to the rink anymore. Maurice coached the Jets for the last nine seasons, reaching the Western Conference final in 2018.
He has also previously coached Hartford, Carolina and Toronto.
FROM THE COLLEGE RANKS
Scott Sandelin
The Minnesota-Duluth coach has been entrenched for 22 years with the Bulldogs, and has won three national championships. Sandelin’s teams have made the NCAA Tournament seven straight times — and won at least one game in each appearance.
Sandelin has never been a coach (head or assistant) in the NHL
David Quinn
Quinn’s last full-time job was as the head coach of the Rangers, and he was fired after three seasons when New York made changes to its front office. Previously, though, Quinn coached Boston University for five seasons. (He recruited and coached Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger.)
In New York, Quinn went 96-87-25 with one of the youngest rosters in the NHL. He’s currently coaching the United States at the World Championship.
Mike Hastings
For the last 10 years, Hastings has coached Minnesota State to seven regular-season conference championships, including a national championship appearance this spring. In the last four seasons, the Mavericks have gone 123-24-5.
Like Sandelin, Hastings has never worked in professional hockey.
THE EUROPEAN FACTOR
Rikard Gronborg
Gronborg’s name has floated around NHL vacancies as a candidate to break through as a European in a North American league for years. He’s been the head coach of Sweden’s men’s and junior teams across the previous decade, but is signed with ZSC Lions in Switzerland through 2023.
Gronborg would be an out-of-the-box hire, and the Stars have shown a willingness to try something new with the Montgomery hire.
Jukka Jalonen
Jalonen leads the Finnish national teams, meaning he’ll have immediate familiarity with franchise cornerstones Miro Heiskanen and Roope Hintz (plus the other three Finns on the Stars roster). He won Olympic gold earlier this year and the World Championship in 2019.
Jalonen played in Finland and coached in the KHL, but has never made the jump across the Atlantic Ocean.
