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“Then, obviously, the second year didn’t go the way we wanted. There were a lot higher expectations and I think I said at some point, we have to manage those. I think even myself had to manage them a little bit better.

“And at the end of the day, we didn’t get the job done.”

Which is why he the 46-year-old Gulutzan is now a coaching free-agent.

Which is why his wife and four kids realize that they’ll likely be leaving a city they absolutely adore.

Which is why he is suddenly fielding apologetic calls and texts from the Flames’ skating stars instead of trying to figure out how he can squeeze more out of them next season.

“They want to take blame — like any good man does — and they all feel bad,” Gulutzan said. “But they also all know this is part of the game. None of us are naïve enough or haven’t been around enough to not know that if you don’t make the playoffs, there’s a good chance your coach is on the hot seat.

“I can’t see why I wouldn’t have (remained) the head coach up until Feb. 27,” he added later. “And then we had a bad month. We had a bad month with some injuries and we fell short of making the playoffs, and now I’m not the coach anymore. Up until about the trade deadline, we were a playoff hockey team. We would have been a playoff team for the second straight year.

“So trade deadline, we’re looking at hitting it for two in a row. That month, we get injuries, and now you’re gone. That’s how short your leash can be.”

Gulutzan has seven seasons of NHL experience — separate two-year stints as head coach in Dallas and Calgary and a stretch of three winters as an assistant in Vancouver.