Stars hire Ken Hitchcock as head coach

The Dallas Stars have filled their coaching vacancy quickly, signing Ken Hitchcock to lead the bench next season.

According to a report from Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News, Ken Hitchcock is headed back to Texas to replace the fired Lindy Ruff as head coach of the Dallas Stars.

Hitchcock started his NHL coaching career with the Stars and spent seven years behind the Dallas bench in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He won the only Stanley Cup of his career with the Stars, defeating the Buffalo Sabres in 1999.

After a mediocre start to the 2016–17 season, the St. Louis Blues fired Hitchcock and promoted his assistant Mike Yeo to take his place. Hitchcock was in the midst of his sixth season coaching the Blues, making the playoffs in every season but never advancing past the conference final.

This return to the coaching game catches some fans by surprise, as Hitchcock’s original intention was to retire after this season and hand the reigns over to Yeo more amicably. Nonetheless, he’ll return for his 21st season as a head coach in the NHL.

Dallas announced the firing of Lindy Ruff on Sunday after failing to make the playoffs and finishing sixth in the Central Division. The former Jack Adams Award winner found little success in his four years with the Stars, qualifying for the postseason twice and winning just one playoff series.

The Stars were plagued all season by poor goaltending from Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi, with a league-worst team save percentage of .893.

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Hitchcock is fourth on the all-time leaderboard in coaching wins, and with 781 is just one behind the third-place Al Arbour. With 277 wins in Dallas, Hitchcock is also the winningest coach in Stars history, six ahead of Dave Tippett.

Stars’ GM Jim Nill will be hoping that Hitchcock can be the man to lead the talented offensive team back into Stanley Cup contention.