Five Former Flames Head Coaches: Where are they now?

When would you define the beginning of the current era of Flames hockey?

Mikael Backlund’s first full season in 2010-11? Perhaps it was the firing of Darryl Sutter in the summer of 2023. Even the firing of his brother, Brent, in 2012 or when Jarome Iginla played his last game as a Flame on March 26, 2013.

Let’s go with the hiring of Bob Hartley. Today, we’ll catch up with the last five head coaches of the Calgary Flames going back to when Jay Feaster was given the green light to rebuild, and also provide some follow-up on where their careers have led them for the 2025-26 season.

Bob Hartley – Lokomotiv Yaroslavl – KHL  

Notable players on roster: Rushan Rafikov, Byron Froese, Alexander Radulov, Ilya Nikolaev, Alexander Yelesin 

Joining on for the 2012-13 season, Bob Hartley led the Flames through the formative years of their early 2010’s rebuild. It was only when an upstart 45-30-7 2014-15 season (followed by a venture into the second round of the playoffs) adjusted expectations across the city. 

Despite winning the Jack Adams for his efforts, he was fired a year later after leading the team to a very .500 35-40-7 record in 2015-16. All while seemingly driving his players nuts.  

“The thing for me is that it’s crazy around Calgary,” Former Flames defenceman Cory Sarich reflected on the Barn Burner podcast in 2024. “It’s such a small town, and you know so many people, and I have a ton of great friends here, and everyone coming up to me like, “he seems like a great coach” because everybody sees him behind the camera, and I’m like, oh boy, not the perspective that I have.” 

Taking his trade overseas following his summer 2016 termination, Hartley got back to pro coaching in 2018 with Avangard Omsk of the KHL. Four seasons and one Gagarin Cup (2021) later, he resigned from his position citing travel and remoteness from his family.  

Rumoured to be going on one last ride, Hartley signed on with league-champion Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in July.  

Glen Gulutzan – Dallas Stars – NHL  

Notable players on roster: Jake Oettinger 

It’s been seven seasons since Glen Gulutzan concluded his time as head coach of the Calgary Flames.  

His lone playoff appearance, a 4-0 sweep at the hands of Randy Carlyle and the Anaheim Ducks, was about as sour as it gets. One-and-done goaltender Brian Elliott was picked apart, allowing bad goal after bad goal. The UFA-to-be allowed 12 goals on 88 shots—so many of them at crucial moments of the series. Facing elimination, Elliott allowed his final goal as a Calgary Flame early in game four. 

#TBT: Flames pull Brian Elliott after going down 1-0 facing elimination pic.twitter.com/bgCHb8AAw6

— Justin Giampietro (@justingiam) May 30, 2025

Flames President of Hockey Operations at the time, Brian Burke, reflected on Gulutzan’s time in Calgary in his autobiography, Burke’s Law. 

“He had a different, lighter style. He’s a great guy and a really good head coach, and I think we made some progress with him behind the bench. But what happened to him, and what eventually led to his firing after two seasons, was that our senior player group influenced him too much.” 

Glen got another kick at the can with a better goaltender in Mike Smith the following season and looked pretty good prior to the stretch drive. The Flames were 32-24-9 by the Feb 28, 2018 NHL Trade Deadline. Just two points out of a playoff spot with 17 games to go. 

Once again goaltending became an issue for Gulutzan. Mike Smith, who had been a driving force in Calgary’s strong record, simply began to fall apart. Whether it was his groin or his mental groin, his play fell well below his and the organization’s standards.   

Flames Goaltenders – March 1 to April 7, 2018   

Mike Smith: 2-6-0, .880 
Jon Gillies: 1-4-1, .882 
David Rittich: 2-1-0, .921 

Maybe leaning on the upstart David Rittich, clearly the hot hand, more than three starts and two relief appearances down the stretch would have resulted in a better record than a 30^th-worst 5-11-1 to finish the season, but we’ll never know. The Flames finished 20^th with 84 points, and Brad Treliving had already traded that year’s first round pick in the Travis Hamonic deal.  

Into the volcano Glen went.  

“He’ll get another chance to be head coach in the league some day—and he won’t make that same mistake again.” Burke reflected on Gulutzan’s future.  

And here we are. Gulutzan, who coached the AHL Texas Stars for two seasons and the Dallas Stars for another two between 2009 and 2013, returns to his old stomping grounds. A place completely free of goaltender/coaching controversy. Yes, completely, absolutely free of anything like that.  

Bill Peters – Augsburger Panther – DEL  

Notable players on roster: Madison Bowey, Joseph Cramarossa 

Resigning from his head coaching position on Nov. 29, 2019, we saw a little over a season and a half of Peters helming the Flames roster. 

The sole entire season was impressive. A 50-25-7 record and 107 points in the standings was good for the second-best regular season in franchise history at the time. The Flames were beat in five when the best defenceman on the planet decided to begin his NHL career in the playoffs by flexing on his hometown.  

The second year—not so much. The team had a very .500 record of 12-12-4 when Akim Aliu, who played for Peters on the AHL Rockford Icehogs in 2009-10, alleged that the coach had directed a racial slur at him. 

Aliu used the term “YYC” in his allegations instead of naming Peters directly.  

Off to the KHL Bill went.  

Almost two years to the day of his resignation in Calgary (Nov. 30, 2022) Peters was fired from his position of head coach of Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg after posting a very .500 record of 14-15-5 record to start the year.  

Last season, Peters was a finalist for the Dunc McCallum Trophy for WHL Coach of the Year in 2024-25 after leading the Hurricanes to their second straight playoff appearance. Lethbridge bowed out 4-0 to the juggernaut Medicine Hat Tigers in the Eastern Conference Championship Series, but the season, as a whole, was seen as a major success.  

Despite the strong results, Peters opted not to renew his contract with the Lethbridge Hurricanes. 

“It’s the right time, it’s the right time to turn the [coaching job] over to somebody new and whoever they elect to pass it on to, it will be in more than capable hands and I’m sure [General Manager Peter Anholt] already has a plan in place,” said the former Flames skipper of the direction of the team he was leaving.  

“It’s been fantastic and I’ve enjoyed every day.  But it’s time to look at some different challenges whether that’s in private business or overseas. Or maybe just go back and put my feet up and enjoy time with my family.” 

Overseas it was. Bill is now pegged to coach the Augsburger Panther of the German DEL.  

One great aspect of rapidly growing DEL is that the league is sprinkled with former NHLers. Micheal Dal Colle, Zach Boychuk, Will Butcher, Tobias Reider, Kenny Agostino; you generally turn a game on (if you can find a stream) and will have a hey I know that guy moment at some point of the broadcast.  

On Bill Peters’ Panther roster, the guy is 30 year old defenceman Madison Bowey, whose NHL career spanned five seasons and 158 games.  

As for Peter’s off-ice incident that saw him depart from his position in Calgary, his new team appears confident that he’s grown as an individual.  

“He has also developed and grown as a person over the past few years,” said Augsburger Sporting Director Larry Mitchell. “We have conducted extensive research, spoken extensively with Bill personally, as well as with numerous former colleagues, and have come to the conclusion that we can place our trust in Bill.” 

Geoff Ward – Lausanne HC – NL  

Notable players on roster: Austin Czarnik, Erik Brannstrom, Drake Caggiula  

Geoff Ward steadied the wake of the Peters fallout and led the Flames to a 24-15-3 record over the remainer of 2019-20. Another step in the duality between developmental head coaches and the guys that drive players through a wall (see the next guy), Ward used a more light-handed approach during his season and a half in Calgary.  

Despite his strong start, Ward posted a very .500 record of 11-11-2 approaching the halfway mark of 2020-21. He was fired on March 4, 2021 and replaced by the legendary Darryl Sutter, who coached the Flames to a very .500 record of 15-15-0 to finish the season.  

More on Darryl in a bit. Where did Geoff go? 

Following a campaign as an assistant coach in Anaheim under Dallas Eakins, Ward took his trade to Switzerland, where he has led Lausanne HC for the past three seasons. The last two postseasons have seen his team reach the Finals of the NL Championship.  

With the addition of a scorer that he’s familiar with from his time with the Flames and Bruins in Austin Czarnik this offseason, Ward will seek to get over the Finals hump and take home his first ever Swiss Championship. 

Czarnik led the NL last season in assists (36) and points (56) and was voted Best Player by the media.  

Rob Cookson, who served as an assistant coach for the Flames for nine seasons, is also on Ward’s coaching staff. Former Habs netminder Cristobal Huet serves as the goaltending coach.  

Darryl Sutter – Ranching – The Viking, Alberta area

Like so many great leaders in the past, things ended in a mutiny.  

The Darryl Sutter 2.0 Era ended on May 1, 2023 after posting a 38-27-17 record and missing the playoffs by three points. Rumors swirled that the dressing room was divided, high talent acquisitions Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri were clearly not simpatico with their head coach; it was time for a new voice.   

“And there are lower-level rumblings,” said league insider Darren Dreger of TSN on the Sekeres & Price Show during the week leading to Darryl’s termination. “And I’m not going to mention the players here, that there are some players who are willing to not come back, even under contract, if Darryl is still on the bench of the Calgary Flames…” 

The season prior, Darryl won the Jack Adams after the Flames posted a 50-21-11 record.  

The duality demanded a more approachable leader, and the freshly promoted Craig Conroy gave Ryan Huska the tap.  

As for Darryl, for a time he was seen haunting the upper sections of the Saddledome during Calgary Wranglers games. His son Brett, now head coach of the Calgary Wranglers, was playing for the Flames AHL affiliate during that time.  

These days, he’s spending more time about 11km east of Viking, Alberta on his family ranch.  

“Summertime, we get up with the daylight,” Sutter explained to David Stubbs of nhl.com on his current lifestyle. “It’s a little different in the winter, now we’re just feeding cattle and plowing snow. In the summer, you’re putting your feed up, checking fences, calving cows ….” 

It certainly doesn’t hurt that Darryl signed an extension with the Calgary Flames prior to his termination. A two-year agreement that paid out 4.2 million annually. One less thing to worry about.  

For more on Darryl’s conservation efforts in the Viking area, be sure to check out Stubbs’ nhl.com exclusive linked above.

Stats via Puckpedia, Elite Prospects, Hockey Reference, and the National Hockey League. Images courtesy of Flames TV, Derek Wills, and Pat Steinberg.

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