Season of Retreads

The NHL off-season has seen four teams enter with a vacancy at the head coaching spot, and as of this morning, all four were filled, with each of the new coaches having had previous head coaching experience at one point. Two of the new coaches are taking over teams that didn't have deep playoff runs while two of the other coaches are hoping to lead a quick turnaround. For obvious purposes, neither Columbus nor Pittsburgh are included, as they found permanent coaches in-season, and the teams are listed from newest chronological hire to the oldest hire.

Calgary Flames: News broke this morning that they Flames named Glen Gulutzan as the new bench boss, and while his first head coaching stop in Dallas (2011-13) was anything but a success, it should be noted that he had success in the ECHL and the AHL. He was last seen in Vancouver as an assistant head coach, and is eager to prove that he learned from his first NHL coaching job.

Anaheim Ducks: Filled this week, the new head coach is pretty much the same as an old head coach, as Randy Carlyle returns for his second go-around. In his first time around, he led the Ducks to a Conference Final his first year and the Stanley Cup championship the next. However, he was unable to replicate that success the rest of his time there and was fired during the 2011-12 season. He wasn't out of work long, though, as the Toronto Maple Leafs came calling that same season. Though his time in Toronto wasn't particularly successful, he has been the only head coach to lead the Leafs to a playoff since the Lockout. This will be one to watch, as largely the same core that led the Ducks to a championship in 2007 is still there, and there was a falling out between them and Carlyle when he got canned, so how well they put their differences behind them remains to be seen.

Ottawa Senators: His first go-around in the NHL was interesting to say the least, as evidenced by a game as Lightning head coach.

While he led the Lightning to a Conference Final in 2011, the rest of his run wasn't very successful, as he would be canned midway through the 2012-13 season. He would coach in Switzerland for a season and a half, winning a title and getting canned midway through the following season. To say this will be an experiment that bears watching is an understatement.

Minnesota Wild: Bruce Boudreau has never had to wait long to find a new job in the NHL, as he found work in Anaheim shortly after being canned by Washington during the 2011-12 season. That Caps' run began with a mid-season join-in in the 2007-08 season, where he quickly gained success, at least in the regular season. However, failure (and it's ongoing for the Caps) to get past the Conference semi-finals and struggles out of the gate in 2011 led to his dismissal. A few days later, the Ducks came calling, where he continued to have success in the regular season. However, failures to win a game 7, particularly when the Ducks were up 3-1 in consecutive years were his undoing in Anaheim. The Wild will simply hope the Wild can actually find regular season success on a more consistent basis, as the Wild have always needed to make a furious run just to get there since the twin signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter in 2012.