Erin Bolen on Nov 7, 2011 6:01 AM CST in Dallas Stars

Defensive plays like this came about because Glen Gulutzan trusted the players to fix their own mistakes. Lost in all the dazzling over the developing Jamie Benn-Loui Eriksson romance after yesterday's 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, I found this wonderful gem that made me love Dallas Stars coach Glen Gulutzan a little more.

While many coaches (hi new St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock!) would have spent hours breaking down all the defensive miscues that led to the 7-6 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday, Gulutzan took a radically different approach. He didn't do any team video. Instead, he trusted the players to analyze themselves and correct their own mistakes.

"We didn't do any group video from that game. What we did is we just had the guys look at their own shifts and they wrote down comments on each one of their shifts," Gulutzan said. "Then we went through those shifts and wrote down our comments and gave them back to the players so we could all get on the same page. It's funny, you make the players write down what they think of their game and they're a lot harder on themselves than us coaches are."

Gulutzan's said he's used this approach before, but he doesn't do it often. "Usually, we do it once a year. Most of the players watch their own shifts anyway, but when you write things down, you're committing them to memory. I think it's a good learning tool every now and then," Gulutzan said. "If you tried it every day, you'd have a mutiny, but if you do it once or twice a year over 82 games, it isn't a big thing and I think some of the guys liked it."

It's a remarkably adult way to treat the NHL players, and I suspect they learn as much or more from it than they would from a team session. In addition, I would assume it makes the players feel like the coaching staff trusts them, something that can go a long way to making both sides work together well.

After the jump, more on the Stars victory over the Hurricanes, the national media takes on the Stars road trip and everyone person in professional hockey has been tempted to go after a fan with a hockey stick at least once.