A familiar face could soon be taking over as the Dallas Stars’ next head coach.

The Stars are closing in on hiring Glen Gulutzan as the franchise’s next head coach, a person familiar with the team’s search confirmed to The Dallas Morning News.

Gulutzan, who was most recently an assistant for the Edmonton Oilers, served as the Stars’ head coach for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons before being fired by Jim Nill as one of his first acts as GM.

But for the second time in his career, Nill could be hiring a former Stars coach to take over the team. He hired Stanley Cup-winning Ken Hitchcock for his second stint in Dallas in the 2017-18 season.

The likely hire comes three weeks after the Stars fired Pete DeBoer after three years leading the team.

Gulutzan has not served as a head coach since the 2017-18 season. After his two years in Dallas, which followed two seasons as the Texas Stars’ head coach, he went on to coach the Calgary Flames.

Giroux stays in Ottawa; Fabbro gets new deal

Veteran Senators forward Claude Giroux is staying put in Ottawa for one more season, and Blue Jackets defenseman Dante Fabbro has a new four-year contract that keeps him in Columbus.

Meantime, forward Conor Sheary’s tenure in Tampa Bay is ending after being placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose to terminate his contract on Sunday, as teams took stock of their rosters two days before the start of the NHL’s free agency period.

The Senators announced re-signing the 37-year-old Giroux to a one-year, $2 million contract that features an additional $2.75 million in bonus incentives.

The Blue Jackets locked up Fabbro to a four-year, $16.5 million contract. Columbus acquired the 27-year-old by claiming him in November after Nashville placed Fabbro on waivers.

The Seattle Kraken placed forward Joe Veleno on unconditional waivers for the purpose to buy out the final year of his contract, in which he was due to make $2.275 million.

The Anaheim Ducks maintained their depth at goalie by signing Ville Husso to a two-year contract extension.

Minor league baseball

Saints lose finale, split series with Lousville

Carson McCusker hit his 16th homer of the season to help the St. Paul Saints avoid being shut out, but St. Paul took an 8-3 loss to Louisville on Sunday at CHS Field, splitting the six-game series.

Randy Dobnak (0-5) allowed four runs in four innings in a start for the Saints.

St. Paul was kept off the board until McCusker’s three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth innning. Royce Lewis was 0 for 3 while playing third base on his rehab assignment.

The Saints travel for a series at Gwinnett starting on Tuesday.

— Staff report

motorsports

Elliott snaps NASCAR winless streak

Chase Elliott couldn’t have picked a better setting for a drought-breaking win.

Fans roared in approval after Elliott, the home-state favorite, passed Brad Keselowski on the final lap to end a 44-race drought by winning the NASCAR Cup Series at Atlanta on Saturday night.

Elliott’s 20th career victory pushed him to second place in the Cup Series points race, putting him in prime position to return to the top of the NASCAR world after winning his first championship in 2020.

Elliott earned a spot in the NASCAR playoffs with his first victory since April 2024 at Texas.

Elliott has 594 points, 37 behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, who has 631. A third Hendrick Motorsports driver, Kyle Larson, is third.

Norris wins Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix

In the week when the “F1” movie hit theaters, Formula 1 delivered some real-life cinematic moments of its own.

Teammates fought for the lead and came close to colliding as Lando Norris held off a race-long challenge from his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to win the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday and lift his title hopes.

Norris and Piastri battled for the lead early on, with the Australian briefly into the lead before Norris took the position back. A rash lunge by Piastri nearly caused a collision soon after.

Piastri lost ground at the pit stops and was run wide onto the grass by Alpine’s Franco Colapinto while cutting through traffic. He soon made up ground on Norris but couldn’t get close enough to try another overtake.

Horse Racing

Hall of Fame horse trainer Lukas dies at 89

D. Wayne Lukas, the Hall of Famer who became one of the most accomplished trainers in the history of horse racing and a face of the sport for decades, has died. He was 89.

His family said Sunday that Lukas died Saturday night at his Louisville, Kentucky, home. Lukas had been hospitalized with a severe MRSA blood infection that caused significant damage to his heart and digestive system and worsened pre-existing chronic conditions.

Lukas won 15 Triple Crown races, including the Kentucky Derby four times. Only good friend Bob Baffert has more Triple Crown victories, and Lukas owns a record-tying 20 in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

Briefly

MLB >> Washington slugger James Wood became the first major leaguer since Barry Bonds to be intentionally walked four times in a game in the Nationals’ 7-4, 11-inning win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday. Bonds was intentionally walked four times in four different games in 2004. The only other players since at least 1955 to be intentionally walked four times in a game are Wood, Roger Maris, Garry Templeton, Manny Ramirez and Andre Dawson — who drew five intentional passes for the Chicago Cubs against Cincinnati on May 22, 1990.

MLB >> Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Dennis Santana will serve a three-game suspension, reduced from four, for an altercation with a fan during a game at the Detroit Tigers on June 19.

WNBA >> Candace Parker’s No. 3 Los Angeles Sparks jersey was retired and raised to the rafters of Crypto.com Arena during Sunday’s game against the Chicago Sky.

— From news services