List of Dallas Stars head coaches

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).^[1] The team joined the NHL in 1967 as an expansion team as the Minnesota North Stars, but moved to Dallas in 1993.^[2] The Stars won their first Stanley Cup championship in 1999.^[3] Having first played at the Reunion Arena, the Stars have played their home games at the American Airlines Center since 2001.^[4] The most recent head coach was Rick Bowness who served from the 2019–20 season until the end of the 2021–22 season.

For the head coaches before 1993, see List of Minnesota North Stars head coaches.

The Stars have played their home games at the American Airlines Center since 2001.

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.^[5] 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.^[6][7][3] 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.^[8]

Key

#	Number of coaches[a]
GC	Games coached
W	Wins = 2 points
L	Losses = 0 points
T	Ties = 1 point
OT	Overtime/shootout losses = 1 point[b]
PTS	Points
Win%	Winning percentage
*	Spent entire NHL head coaching career with the Stars

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the 2023–24 season.

#	Name	Term[c]	Regular season						Playoffs				Achievements	Reference
			GC	W	L	T/OT	PTS	Win%	GC	W	L	Win%
1	Bob Gainey	1993–1996	171	70	71	30	170	.497	14	6	8	.429		[9]
2	Ken Hitchcock	1996–2002	503	277	154	72	626	.622	80	47	33	.588		[10]
3	Rick Wilson*	2002	32	13	11	8	34	.531	—	—	—	—		[11]
4	Dave Tippett	2002–2009	492	271	156	65	607	.617	47	21	26	.447		[12]
5	Marc Crawford	2009–2011	164	79	60	25	183	.558	—	—	—	—		[13]
6	Glen Gulutzan	2011–2013	130	64	57	9	137	.527	—	—	—	—		[14]
7	Lindy Ruff	2013–2017	328	165	122	41	371	.565	19	9	10	.474		[15]
—	Ken Hitchcock	2017–2018	82	42	32	8	92	.561	—	—	—	—		[10]
8	Jim Montgomery	2018–2019	113	60	43	10	130	.597	13	7	6	.538		[16]
9	Rick Bowness	2019–2022	176	89	62	25	203	.577	33	17	16	.529		[17]
10	Peter DeBoer	2022–present	164	99	42	23	221	.674	38	20	18	.526		[18]

Notes

• ^a 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.
• ^b 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.^[19]
• ^c Each year is linked to an article about that particular NHL season.

References

General

• "Dallas Stars Coach Register". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-01-01.

Specific

1. "Teams". NHL.com. Lincoln Hockey and the National Hockey League. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
2. Showers, Bob (2007). Minnesota North Stars: History and Memories with Lou Nanne. Beaver's Pond Press. ISBN 978-1-59298-197-7.
3. "Stanley Cup Champions and Finalists". NHL.com. Lincoln Hockey and the National Hockey League. Archived from the original on 2009-06-29. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
4. "Dallas Stars". American Airlines Center. Archived from the original on 2008-12-19. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
5. Drape, Joe (1998-05-24). "The Stanley Cup Playoffs; Not Just a Pretty Face". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
6. "Presidents' Trophy". NHL.com. Lincoln Hockey and the National Hockey League. Archived from the original on 2009-10-13. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
7. "Clarence S. Campbell Bowl". NHL.com. Lincoln Hockey and the National Hockey League. Archived from the original on 2008-07-23. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
8. "List of honoured builders". Hockey Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
9. "Bob Gainey Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
10. "Ken Hitchcock Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
11. "Rick Wilson Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
12. "Dave Tippett Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
13. "Marc Crawford Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
14. "Glen Gulutzan Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2012-12-16.
15. "Lindy Ruff Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2013-06-21.
16. "Jim Montgomery Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
17. "Rick Bowness Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
18. "Peter DeBoer Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
19. "Official Rules" (PDF). NHL.com. Lincoln Hockey and the National Hockey League. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2009-01-01.