Last season’s success won’t satisfy Gulutzan

Nick Christensen

Thursday, Oct. 21, 2004 | 9:45 a.m.

In their first season, the Las Vegas Wranglers went 26-9-1 at home, and didn't lose a game at the Orleans Arena until late December.

Their general manager wasn't satisfied.

As a first-year team, the Wranglers finished second in their division, behind the league's best team in San Diego.

Their coach is still bitter about the Game 5 loss in the first round of the playoffs.

A team of veteran players, the Wranglers outscored opponents 227-186 in 2003-04, second-best in their division.

Still, Glen Gulutzan focuses on how his team was outshot game after game.

Some would think that after Gulutzan put together the expansion Wranglers then coached them to the playoffs last season, he wouldn't try to tinker with the breakout success.

But a day away from the Wranglers' opening weekend, Gulutzan's team looks little like last season's older roster.

To be sure, that's not all because of Gulutzan's dissatisfaction with how things went last year. Currently, 10 Wranglers are American Hockey League players on assignment from Las Vegas' Triple-A affiliate in Lowell. That number could go up as the season goes on, because NHL prospects who might be seeing time with the pros are instead playing in the high minor leagues while the big league sits idled by the lockout.

It was watching the Wranglers' NHL affiliate, Stanley Cup runner-up Calgary, that convinced Gulutzan that he wanted a team with an up-tempo style of play.

"Any coach who watched Calgary wants their team to play that way," Gulutzan said. "We'd all like to have that ideology, but only one team can do that, and that's Calgary. You need the personnel."

Of the 12 Wranglers signees still on the roster, four are 25 or younger. Gulutzan elected to return only five members of last year's team.

"We had a good veteran team, but I don't think we ever jelled," he said. "We had a good veteran club that could win games in 20 minutes."

One of the players who returned was 30-year-old team captain Jason McBain, an AHL veteran who played alongside Gulutzan for the two years the Wranglers' coach was a player-assistant. He said he's noticed a change in attitude with his coach.

"He's a lot more convinced in what he's saying," McBain said. "He knows what works and what doesn't work. He knows what kind of guys are going to make up a good team."

And in this year's ECHL, what made up a good hockey team has changed from last year, particularly in the Pacific Time Zone. Last year was the first year in the ECHL for six teams that merged from the West Coast Hockey League. The older, more established WCHL teams such as Bakersfield, Alaska, and Long Beach underwent major facelifts this summer, to meet the new ECHL image.

"This is a younger, hungrier league. Teams like Bakersfield and Fresno got a little younger and hungrier," Gulutzan said, adding that he expects two teams -- Idaho and San Diego -- to run away from the pack in the ECHL's West Division while three or more teams, including Las Vegas, vie for the two remaining playoff spots.

Despite the prediction, the other West Division coaches picked Las Vegas to finish second, and two voted the Wranglers first.

The biggest signing this summer was, in contrast to the youth movement, 30-year-old center Rejean Stringer, who in just 37 games with an Austrian team last year scored 38 goals and 48 assists. By comparison, no other Wrangler had 30 goals last year.

Other key free agent additions include rookie forward Dana Lattery and AHL veteran defenseman Christian Chartier. But Gulutzan said one thing he learned last season was to not be afraid to cut players loose.

"I was giving players too much benefit of the doubt. In 10 or 12 games, if players don't respond, as a GM I have to evaluate and see if they fit into what we want to do here," he said. "If we're not going to get the job done, either I'm going to go or the players are going to go. Which happens first? I'm not thinking the players or myself have to go. It's a reality, though, that we're here to win."

As for the personnel decisions he can't change, playing time for players sent down from Lowell or Calgary is still at his discretion

The evaluation process for the Wranglers begins with Friday night's season opener at Fresno, followed by a Saturday night game at Long Beach. The Wranglers then have 10 days off before their home opener Nov. 2 against Long Beach.

"This is training camp, except points are on the line," Gulutzan said. "I'm going to tell our guys, you're still vying for spots."