The Jake Oettinger pull. The far-too-honest comments from then-head coach Pete DeBoer that helped cost him his job. The depth withering, the lack of timely scoring.

“In the long run, I feel like I’m gonna look back on it as something that helped me,” Oettinger said Thursday, on the opening day of training camp for the Stars. “And when we do win it all, it’s going to be, you know, look back and laugh and feel like that was something I had to go through in order to get to that.”

Things are different with the media darlings of the league. Led by general manager Jim Nill and his three straight Jim Gregory GM of the Year awards, DeBoer was canned for his get-you-there-but-not-quite-good-enough runs and the head-scratching finger-pointing at one of the franchise’s cornerstones.

So sleeper agent Glen Gulutzan, of Edmonton Oilers power play fame as an assistant coach, returned to Big D. He’s the man they believe can right the ship.

I admit, I was surprised. I figured it was high time for Kris Knoblauch to have his own staff, but for the Stars to go back to Gulutzan caught me off guard.

“I’ve been up north where there’s lots of pressure, but I think it’s a real opportunity,” Gulutzan said at a training camp press conference Wednesday.

The Stars have been the third stop of the Oilers’ last two Stanley Cup Final runs, and for all the talk about depth and goaltending, they were slain in six and five games, respectively. They have a vice grip on the Central, champions three years running. Beyond a bubble run to the Final, they knock and knock and knock, but haven’t opened the door.

What could make him most valuable is whether his new Stars will use his old knowledge of the Oilers to find a way to succeed if they meet again in the postseason.

The Stars are annually chosen as the next champs and have been since the bubble. Depending on where you shop, they are around 10:1, sixth-best in the league.

Gulutzan seems like a good hockey man, a solid choice. But is he Stanley Cup-contention worthy? For all of DeBoer’s foibles in the Western Conference Final, he still gets his team there. Gulutzan has big shoes to fill.

As he pointed out, the Oilers have won six of the last seven playoff matchups against the Stars. Sure, Edmonton’s annual series with the Kings might feel like a more natural rivalry, but for fans from the late ’90s and early aughts, the pretzel these Oilers have put the Stars into the past two years is delicious.

What’s more likely: the Oilers return to the Stanley Cup Final for a third straight year, or the Stars return to the Western Conference Final for a fourth? I’m biased, obviously, but Gulutzan has a lot to prove right now, good team and all. Is he the breath of fresh air after a toxic exit, or still lacking the ultimate team success that marked his first two head coaching tries?

Time will tell. Just pay attention on Nov. 4, when these two go head-to-head for the first time.

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