Mike Heika

DALLAS -- Joe Nieuwendyk has dealt with a lot of tough decisions since being named Stars general manager in May 2009, but you would think firing the very coach he hired in just two seasons would have been the toughest. Not so. "It's never easy, but I knew it was best for the team, and so you just have to make a decision and then do what's necessary," Nieuwendyk said of his decision to fire Marc Crawford after last season. "I think once you understand the team and the organization are above everything else, you see things pretty clearly."

The Dallas Stars on Friday officially announced Glen Gulutzan as their next head coach. Gulutzan becomes the second youngest head coach in the NHL at 39 but said he will rely on a wealth of playing experience and coaching experience in the minors.

Gulutzan played in major junior, Canadian college, several minor leagues, as well as in Sweden and Finland, and said those experiences have helped shape him as a coach. He answered questions Friday. Here are some of the excerpts:

McKINNEY, Texas -- Confidence might have been the toughest tool for Loui Eriksson to acquire.

The Dallas Stars winger has good size (6-3, 193). He's a heck of a skater. He can handle a puck and shoot with accuracy and velocity. But for him to believe in those skills -- now that took a while.

DENVER -- The Stars have been lucky this year.

They've been relatively healthy, especially compared with 2008-09, when they lost 378 man-games in one of their most injury-plagued seasons.

DALLAS -- Joe Nieuwendyk said the impression that he's the new sheriff in town ready to crack the whip is a little simplistic. But the new Stars general manager said he does a have a standard that everyone will adhere to.

"Am I looking for as much accountability as I can get from the players and everyone involved? I think that's fair," Nieuwendyk said of training camp. "I feel just as competitive now as I did when I was a player, so I don't think that I've changed much."