Calgary Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan is without a job after the team fired him and assistant coaches Dave Cameron and Paul Jerrard on Tuesday.
Gulutzan led the Flames to the playoffs in his first season in Calgary, but the club missed the post-season in 2017-18 after posting a 37-35-10 record.
Gulutzan had been with the club for two years.
WATCH: Calgary Flames GM Brad Treliving says he came to the decision to fire three coaches after a season where the team “underperformed.”
“These are never easy decisions,” Flames general manager Brad Treliving said Tuesday. “And they’re made more difficult because of the character of these individuals. I grew to have a close relationship and we want to wish them nothing but the best, thank them and wish them nothing but the best in their future endeavours.”
Treliving went on to thank all three of the coaches, saying they were assets to the organization and the community.
Treliving said that while the restructuring of the team comes in the form of a coaching overhaul, the coaches are not the only ones to blame for the team’s “underperforming” this season.
“There’s responsibility to bear on a lot of shoulders and our players are not exempt from that,” he said.
“We underperformed. So when you go through the process of underperforming, you pull everything. Starts with myself, player decisions, personnel decisions, you go into the players’ performance – who played well, who didn’t and why.
“I felt, in order to get our team to the level it needs to get to, and each individual to the level it needs to get to, that we had to make this decision.”
The team was a favourite to make the playoffs, but struggled through the season, leaving many fans disappointed.
Treliving said a big part of the issue was that they “relied too much on too few” when it came to on-ice performance.
“I think, certainly, the lack of depth or the lack of contributions by many was a big part of the problem we had,” he said, adding that the club hasn’t ruled out further changes like to the roster.
WATCH: Calgary Flames GM Brad Treliving says the Flames issues this year came down to a lack of depth on the team.
He said there are no further coaching changes in the works at this time aside from hiring.
The players cleaned out their lockers on April 9 to head into the post-season.
As for what’s next for the coaching staff, Treliving said the team will start looking for replacements right away, but don’t have anyone specific in mind.
“I’m clear in the profile we have, but it certainly isn’t defined by ‘new guy,’ ‘experienced guy,’” he said. “I think having experience in this league is critical. I think knowing the league is an important aspect, but defining that… we haven’t got to yet.”
He wouldn’t comment on whether potential replacement candidates factored into the decision to fire Gulutzan.
With a file from The Canadian Press.