The Stars as an organization have made several changes over the summer. Head coach Pete DeBoer was fired in early June, and Glen Gulutzan was named the new head coach in Dallas on July 1. AHL head coach Neil Graham was promoted to be one of Gulutzan’s assistant coaches, so Petersen was hired away from Colorado to fill the spot vacated by Graham. The decision had a lot to do with the familiarity of the group, as Petersen played with both Fortunus and Morin, and Gulutzan coached all three of those players.
