Report: Texas Stars assistant Doug Lidster likely to join Desjardins with Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks are reportedly set to name their 18th head coach in franchise history early next week, with multiple reports suggesting that it'll be 57-year-old Texas Stars head coach Willie Desjardins who succeeds John Tortorella behind the bench in Vancouver. 

The Canucks and Desjardins still have a contract to hammer out and formalize and an official announcement to make, but it seems like we already know who Desjardins' assistant coaches will be next season. 

When the Canucks fired John Tortorella and Tortorella's lieutenant Mike Sullivan in early May, they retained Glen Gulutzan - a coach who worked with Desjardins on Marc Crawford's coaching staff in Dallas. 

So Gulutzan will likely be one of Desjardins' assistant coaches next season. The other assistant? It's expected to be Desjardins' current Texas colleague and ex-Canucks defenseman Doug Lidster, according to a report from Sportsnet's Dan Murphy.

Lidster coached with Desjardins with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL a decade ago, and has worked with Desjardins with the Texas Stars for the past couple of seasons. He played 666 games with Vancouver during his playing career, and is fourth among Canucks defenseman in points all-time.

So in less than 24 hours Desjardins has gone from being close to taking over the head coaching position with the Pittsburgh Penguins, to having essentially his whole staff probably in place in Vancouver. That's a quick turnaround, and one made more interesting by reports that one of the reasons Desjardins declined Pittsburgh's offer, was that he wouldn't have been authorized to select his own assistants.