The Dallas Stars are bringing back Stanley Cup-winning coach
Ken Hitchcock Premier Olli Maatta #3
Jersey , hoping to turn themselves back into a championship
contender. Hitchcock is returning to Dallas and will be named coach at a news
conference Thursday. A person with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed
the hire to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the
team hadn’t announced it. Hitchcock, 65, won the Cup with Dallas in 1999,
coaching there for parts of seven seasons from 1995-96 through 2001-02. He has
since coached the Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets and St. Louis
Blues. ”Congrats Ken Hitchcock on the (Stars) head coach job,” 1999 Cup winner
and Stars legend Mike Modano tweeted . ”My schedule is pretty open.” Hitchcock
was fired as Blues coach in February and replaced by Mike Yeo. Even before
that Youth Replica Jake Guentzel
Jersey , St. Louis had announced it was Hitchcock’s final season
there and that Yeo would take over. Hitchcock replaces Lindy Ruff, who was fired
Monday after four seasons in Dallas. The Stars missed the playoffs this year
after winning the Central Division last season. The Edmonton native is fourth on
the NHL’s all-time wins list, one shy of legendary New York Islanders coach Al
Arbour for third. Hitchcock can now pass Arbour back with the team that he led
to its only title in franchise history. In all, Hitchcock has 781 wins, 474
losses, 88 ties and 111 overtime or shootout losses in 1 Adidas Carl Hagelin #62
Jersey ,454 regular-season games. In addition to the Cup in 1999,
he led the Stars to the final in 2000. Dallas considered former Florida Panthers
coach Gerard Gallant and others for its vacancy but went with the affable
Hitchcock, whose recipe for success has worked through several eras of hockey.
Good friend and Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz said he believes Hitchcock
will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame one day. ”He’s a guy that tries to
teach the game,” Trotz said. ”He’s a little bit old-school sometimes because
he’s demanding and it’s funny. When you’re demanding with players, they don’t
like it at the time, but when you go away or there’s a change and they come back
10 years later and they go Womens Sidney Crosby #87
Jersey , `You had it right. I was all wrong.”’ Hitchcock made the
playoffs in all five full seasons he coached the Blues, leading them to the
Western Conference final last spring. He won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach
of the year in 2011-12 when St. Louis won its first of two division titles
during his tenure. Blues general manager Doug Armstrong was emotional about the
difficult decision to fire Hitchcock and agreed with Trotz about the coach’s
impressive resume. ”He’s not here anymore, but there’s one former guy in that
room that I think’s going to the Hall of Fame and that’s Ken Hitchcock,”
Armstrong said at the time. — More AP NHL: http://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey —
Follow Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at .. Jean-Gabriel
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