The Dallas Stars are an American professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They play in the Central Division of the Western Conference in the National Hockey League (NHL). The team joined the NHL in 1967 as an expansion team as the Minnesota North Stars, but moved to Dallas in 1993. The Stars won their first Stanley Cup championship in 1999. Having first played at the Reunion Arena, the Stars have played their home games at the American Airlines Center since 2001. The current head coach is Glen Gulutzan, who was hired for his second tenure as head coach on July 1, 2025.
There have been eight head coaches for the Stars' team. The team's first head coach was Bob Gainey, who coached for four seasons. In the middle of the 1995–96 season, Gainey, who was then also the general manager for the Stars, fired himself as head coach and hired Ken Hitchcock to take over. Hitchcock is the team's all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached (585), the most regular-season game wins (319), the most regular-season points (718), the most playoff games coached (80), and the most playoff-game wins (47). Hitchcock is the only Stars coach to have won the Presidents' Trophy, winning it in 1997–98 and 1998–99, the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, winning it in 1998–99 and 1999–2000, and the Stanley Cup, winning it in the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals against the Buffalo Sabres. Hitchcock returned for one more season with the Stars in 2017–18. None of the Stars coaches have been elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder.
Key #Number of coachesGCGames coachedWWins = 2 pointsLLosses = 0 pointsTTies = 1 pointOTOvertime/shootout losses = 1 pointPTSPointsWin%Winning percentage* Spent entire NHL head coaching career with the Stars
Coaches Note: Statistics are correct through the 2024–25 season. # Name Term Regular season Playoffs Achievements Reference GC W L T/OT PTS Win% GC W L Win% 1 Bob Gainey – 171 70 71 30 170 14 6 8 2 Ken Hitchcock – 503 277 154 72 626 80 47 33 3 Rick Wilson* 32 13 11 8 34 — — — — 4 Dave Tippett – 492 271 156 65 607 47 21 26 5 Marc Crawford – 164 79 60 25 183 — — — — 6 Glen Gulutzan – 130 64 57 9 137 — — — — 7 Lindy Ruff – 328 165 122 41 371 19 9 10 — Ken Hitchcock – 82 42 32 8 92 — — — — 8 Jim Montgomery – 113 60 43 10 130 13 7 6 9 Rick Bowness – 176 89 62 25 203 33 17 16 10 Peter DeBoer – 246 149 68 29 327 56 29 27 – Glen Gulutzan –present
Notes A running total of the number of coaches of the Stars. Thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is only counted once. Before the 2005–06 season, the NHL instituted a penalty shootout for regular season games that remained tied after a five-minute overtime period, which prevented ties. Each year is linked to an article about that particular NHL season.
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