Prior to that he was head coach of the Charlotte Checkers in the American Hockey League for two seasons winning the Calder Cup in 2018-19.

[2] Selected 131st overall in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft by the Hartford Whalers, Vellucci played professionally in the IHL, AHL, ECHL and BHL from 1986 to 1989.

[3] Vellucci was with the Detroit Compuware Ambassadors of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) from 1994 to 1999, where his teams went 241–82–27 in the regular season and captured U.S. national championships in 1994 and 1999.

Vellucci stepped down as head coach of the Whalers in December 2007, as he wanted more time to concentrate on his general manager duties, and he was replaced by Greg Stefan.

Vellucci left the Whalers after the 2013–14 season and took a job as an assistant general manager and director of player development with the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League.

After three seasons, he became the head coach of the Hurricanes' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers in 2017.