Dallas Stars Reportedly Speak With Bill Peters About Head Coach Gig

There isn’t a significant market for the Dallas Stars to indulge in at the moment in their head coach search. But they are taking advantage of every possible opportunity. They reportedly spoke to Bill Peters recently about the gig.

It may not seem like it, but the Dallas Stars are doing everything they can in their search for a new head coach.

After Ken Hitchcock announced his retirement last Friday morning, the Stars immediately began the search for their next bench boss. But with this decision comes a lot of pressure when compared to the hirings of previous years.

When GM Jim Nill first came to Dallas in 2013, he fired Glen Gulutzan and hired an established NHL coach in Lindy Ruff. After four years of moderate success, Ruff and the Stars parted ways and brought in the ultimate veteran and former Stars coach Ken Hitchcock.

And throughout the 2017-18 season, Hitchcock did some good things for the Stars. He helped transform the defense into a much more effective unit, increased productivity on the penalty kill, and put the Stars’ roster through an 82-game grind.

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But he didn’t get them to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and that marked the second year in a row. As a result, there was once again a need for change. The Stars are too good of a team on paper to have missed the postseason in three of the past four seasons, so something needs to be done.

Hitchcock stepped down and now gives the Stars a chance to fix their bench boss problem for a longer term. But this decisions carries a lot of weight with it. Considering the Stars’ lack of consistent success over the past few years, their next coach needs to be one that will get Dallas on the right path going forward.

Will that be a younger coach with little NHL experience that is ready to move to the big leagues? Or will Nill once again resort to bringing in someone with NHL experience that could turn into a risky hire considering how the Stars are built.

Nill spoke about how he was prepared to look at all options this time around and take his time with the new hire. That’s a smart move, no doubt.

And it looks as though he is sticking to his word so far.

On Friday, Carolina Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters resigned from his job as bench boss for the Canes. He finished his career in Carolina (which was his first NHL head coaching job) with a record of 137-138-53 through four seasons.

Not even one day later, reports surfaced that the Stars had requested to speak to Peters about the job in Dallas. Even though other reports seem to think that Peters will end up in Calgary, the Stars still apparently have a foot in the door.

This could be an interesting candidate for the Stars. While Peters isn’t an aged NHL vet, he has experience and is still in the early portion of his professional head coaching career. He might end up being a good fit for Dallas.

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So will the Dallas Stars hire him? Or will they continue their search? Chances are that Dallas will continue looking into different avenues and keeping their options open. But it’s nice to see them getting an early jump on the search and looking at all options.

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