Ken Hitchcock is returning to the city where he won his first and only Stanley Cup as he'll take over head coaching duties of the Dallas Stars next season. 

Hitchcock will take over for Lindy Ruff, who parted ways with the organization last week after the team decided not to renew his contract. 

Hitchcock was fired by the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 1 in favour of Mike Yeo with team in a playoff spot in the Western Conference. 

Hitchcock, 65, had coached the Blues for the past six seasons, posting a record of 248-124-41. St. Louis had made the playoffs every year under Hitchcock, getting as far as the Western Conference Final last year where they lost to the San Jose Sharks. He signed a one-year contract in the summer, at which point Yeo was scheduled to take over as the team’s head coach for the 2017-18 season after joining as the team’s associate head coach for 2015-16.

The Edmonton native joined the Blues in 2011 after a 15-year head coaching career with the Dallas Stars, Philadelphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets. Hitchcock won a Stanley Cup with the Stars in 1998-99 and a Jack Adams award in 2011-12, his first year in St. Louis.  

Hitchcock's first stint in Dallas from 1995 to 2002 was also his first NHL head coaching job of his career. Over parts of seven seasons, Hitchcock posted a 277-154-60-12 record, making the playoffs five times. After beating the Buffalo Sabres in the 1999 Stanley Cup Final, thanks to Brett Hull's game-winning goal in the triple overtime of Game 6, Hitchcock led the Stars to another final the following year, but lost to the New Jersey Devils. The Stars fired Hitchcock midway through the 2001-02 season.   

The veteran bench boss takes over for a Dallas squad which finished second-last in the Central Division with a 34-37-11 record. They allowed the second most goals-against per game with 3.2 and netted just 2.7 goals per game on offence in the 2016-17 season.