Wranglers enter off-season confident of future

Nick Christensen

Friday, April 23, 2004 | 10:25 a.m.

Heading into their inaugural season, the Las Vegas Wranglers had plenty of questions.

How would the team fare under first-year head coach and general manager Glen Gulutzan? Would vice president Billy Johnson be able to use his past successes in minor league baseball to build a successful hockey franchise? And would Las Vegas, notorious for rejecting minor league sports franchises, embrace its new hockey team?

A week after their season ended in a heartbreaking Game 5 home loss in the first round of the playoffs, everyone seemed pleased with the result.

Everything the team touched turned to gold, said Johnson. "Even when things didn't go perfect, they turned out OK."

Right from the start, he said, when the team went until late December before losing a game at home in regulation.

"The best time for a team to not lose 15 straight games at home, is when you're noticed because you're so new," Johnson said.

Compiling that team fell on the shoulders of Gulutzan, who before taking the reigns of the Wranglers was a player-assistant coach with the Fresno Falcons. The Falcons and Wranglers share the same ownership.

"I think the best thing this year was the quality of guys I brought as GM here," Gulutzan said. "We did have a real good group of guys, that was important, and they worked hard, they got us a second place finish as an expansion franchise, and for us that definitely was a plus."

The Wranglers' fan base grew through the season, and the final average attendance surprised just about everyone. An average of 4,981 fans watched Wranglers games.

"I really thought maybe 4,000, then 4,200," Johnson said, "and we did work hard for it, but we kept working, and we worked hard for 4,900. I thought the level of cynicism with the past and Las Vegas would be something that would take a little bit longer to overcome."

Although the team closed the year in the red, Johnson was expecting that result. He said that more important than whether the team made or lost money was where the franchise stood in terms of getting ready for next year.

That got a big boost from season ticket renewals. Despite a renewal deadline set before the regular season even ended, 77 percent of season ticket holders bought tickets for next season. That, Johnson said, enables the franchise to start selling season tickets throughout the summer, instead of a typical two month selling season.

Gulutzan had high praise for putting together a fan base to support his team.

"The elements are here for the organization to be a success. For our first year, it was important that the office staff worked real hard, got out there in the community getting butts in seats," Gulutzan said. "It was equally as important that the Orleans was an unbelievable facility."

But while Johnson was able to enjoy relative success after coming into his new situation, Gulutzan was still sounding disappointed and frustrated about his team's postseason collapse. After a strong run through mid-March, the Wranglers tumbled into the playoffs, won the first two games of their best-of-five series with the Idaho Steelheads, then lost three in a row.

The Steelheads Thursday advanced to the ECHL semifinals after defeating the Alaska Aces in the second round.

"As a player, you feel like you have some control on ice of what happens and how hard you play," Gulutzan said. "As a coach, you always wonder where you went wrong or what happened, and that's the biggest difference."

And so Gulutzan second-guesses himself and some decisions he made in his first year.

"I'd like to do a little better job coaching and implementing systems. We could have been in a little better condition," he said. "Other than that, I'm still new enough as a coach to know if players want it bad enough they can get it, and that is hard for a coach to instill in this game."

From the general manager standpoint, Gulutzan said he also thought he might have been better off pulling the trigger on trades a little earlier.

Near the trade deadline, Gulutzan attempted to trade Kevin O'Flaherty, Kayle Short, and Blaine Bablitz to various clubs for all-star center Morten Ask and defenseman Nick Bilotto.

O'Flaherty, a rookie, refused to be traded, and was suspended by the team for the rest of the season. The team was able to acquire Ask, but had to make up for the lack of defenseman by signing two rookies.

After a hot start with the Wranglers, Ask wound up being a non-factor due to injuries.

The team concluded the year 43-22-7.

The good regular season and lessons learn gives Gulutzan plenty of room for hope. He said he expects to have a core of about eight players returning next season, making it easier for him to put together a team since he doesn't have to start from scratch.

He also anticipates an extension of the team's player development affiliation with the Calgary Flames.

Johnson said he expects next season to bring minor "behind the curtain, Wizard of Oz type stuff," as he put it, changes in the front office, and an even greater turnout from Las Vegas' hockey community.

"We're looking forward to next year, we're really looking forward to having a dramatic increase in attendance," he said. "We're looking to gain credibility, because nothing speaks louder than having people pay you to buy tickets."