The Dallas Stars announced the firing of head coach Pete DeBoer on Friday following the club’s loss to the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Finals.
“After careful consideration, we believe that a new voice is needed in our locker room to push us closer to our goal of winning the Stanley Cup,” Stars general manager Jim Nill said in a statement. “We’d like to thank Pete for everything that he has helped our organization achieve over the past three seasons and wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”
DeBoer had 1 year remaining on his contract, but came under scrutiny after a 3rd straight loss in the conference finals. The media attention intensified after 56 year old took some not so subtle jabs at star goaltender Jake Oettinger in his most recent press conference.
“Any time you pull a goalie the reasoning is to always try and spark your group,” DeBoer said after Game 5. “So that’s for your first reason. We had talked endlessly in this series about trying to play with the lead, and obviously, we’re in a 2-0 hole right away. I didn’t take that lightly, and I didn’t blame it all on Jake. But the reality is, if you go back to last year’s playoffs, he’s lost six of seven games to Edmonton.”
Oettinger was pulled after allowing goals on the first two shots he faced against Edmonton in their Game 5 elimination game. Dallas would eventually lose the contest 6-3, ending their season just shy of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals once again.
With the 26 year old netminder about to enter the 1st year of an 8 year contract extension, it was fairly clear who amongst the two of them would be leaving if the relationship couldn’t be mended.
The timing of the coaching change however is an interesting one for the Stars. When the Boston Bruins named Marco Sturm their new head coach on Thursday, it filled the final head coaching vacancy in the NHL. Prior to the latest hiring/firing cycle wrapping up, there were 8 NHL franchises without a head coach. Now, Dallas brings that total to 9, but will have significantly fewer options to choose from with many of the highly sought after candidates already landing roles elsewhere.
It also likely means that DeBoer will need to take this season off, or accept an assistant position somewhere if he wants to remain in the NHL coaching ranks.
Possible candidates to fill the hole behind the bench include the club’s AHL head coach Neil Graham who has worked with several prominent Stars players on their way to the NHL including Oettinger. Gerard Gallant is another name to watch out for given his connections to Stars GM Jim Nill.
Whomever the franchise taps to become the next head coach will have their hands full, not only with sky high expectations from the fanbase, but also helping the front office navigate an offseason in which Dallas is short on cap space, and high on pending free agents.
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