Carbonneau returns to Stars

by Chuck Carlton for The Dallas Morning News, May 28, 2002

Guy Carbonneau was doing just fine fielding questions Monday about his return to the Stars when he finally came across a question that stumped him: What is your job title?

"I don't know. Doug, what is it?" he asked general manager Doug Armstrong.

Special assistant to the GM is what he was told.

The designation is less important than what Carbonneau can do and bring to the organization in a front-office capacity.

"My main job is to help make the Dallas Stars a better team," Carbonneau said. "Whatever it's going to be, it will be fine with me. Whether it's helping Doug or [coach] Dave Tippett or trying to find players, it's going to be a mix of things."

Carbonneau left Montreal, where he had been an assistant coach for two seasons, to sign a three-year contract with the Stars.

The move brings back one of the Stars' most popular players. As a gritty checking center, Carbonneau helped win the 1999 Stanley Cup and was a locker-room presence. His jersey No. 21 has remained in unofficial retirement since Game 6 of the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals, where he left the Reunion Arena ice to chants of: "Guy, Guy."

The Stars hope he can be a liaison to the players in the way that former general manager Bob Gainey was.

"What Guy was as a player, I think he'll be that as management," Armstrong said. "He brings that understanding of on-ice experiences that regardless of where you watch the game from, he can talk to all the players on a different level than I could.

"That's what the players enjoyed with Bob Gainey. As infrequently as he spoke, when he spoke he carried a lot of weight. I think Guy carries that kind of weight in our group."

Armstrong emphasized that Carbonneau wouldn't be in daily contact with players or overlap the duties of Tippett or his staff.

Carbonneau's move to the Stars is interesting, especially because of the choices he's made.

Gainey contacted him when the Stars fired coach Ken Hitchcock on Jan. 25, but Carbonneau decided against pursuing the coaching position. He was concerned about coaching players with whom he won a title. And Stars left wing Brenden Morrow is engaged to Carbonneau's eldest daughter, Anne-Marie.

"We had talks. I'd rather be in the office upstairs," Carbonneau said. "If I would have been an experienced coach, maybe it would have been different. Having no experience as a head coach and coming into this situation would have been really hard."

Carbonneau's name had been mentioned in conjunction with several head-coaching positions. He also could have remained as an assistant in Montreal. Instead, he came back to where he spent his final five seasons as a player.

Still, Carbonneau wouldn't rule out coaching at some point.

"I think it's still there, but I have to find that passion to go a step higher," Carbonneau said. "I think there's a big difference – I saw it the past two years – between head coach and assistant coach.

"I'm still young. I'm only 42. This is where I want to go, and I have to find that passion."