Eight days after falling in their third straight Western Conference finals, the Dallas Stars announced Friday they fired head coach Peter DeBoer.
DeBoer, who had a year remaining on his contract, had his future with the franchise come under question after the Stars lost to the Edmonton Oilers in five games.
“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.”
The Stars opened Game 5 by watching franchise goaltender Jake Oettinger give up two goals on his first two shots to fall into a 2-0 deficit. DeBoer pulled Oettinger in favor of Casey DeSmith hoping it would wake the team up. The Stars pulled within a goal twice but lost 6-3.
“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.”
The statement led to even more questions about his relationship with Oettinger, who is one of the biggest reasons why the Stars have emerged as a perennial Stanley Cup favorite over the past three seasons.
Especially with Oettinger set to enter the first year of an eight-year contract extension that will see him go from earning $4 million to $8.25 million annually.
DeBoer doubled down on his decision to pull Oettinger two days later during the team’s season-ending media availability. He said that there isn’t “a bigger fan” of Oettinger than himself, later adding that he hadn’t spoken to the 26-year-old netminder.
Oettinger, who didn’t speak after Game 5, also spoke in the same availability.
“The reality is if I make one or two or two of those saves, then I’m still playing in the game,” Oettinger said. “The way I’m looking at it is, how can I get better from that? How can I make those saves that I made all playoffs?”
Oettinger was also asked if he had any concerns about his relationship with DeBoer.
“My job is to stop the puck. And I feel like I’m one of the best in the world, when I’m playing well, doing that. So that’s all I’m in a focus on,” Oettinger said. “All the extra stuff is just extra stuff to me. … If I go out there next year and I’m the best goalie in the world, it doesn’t matter. One of you guys could be coaching, it doesn’t matter. Just try to be the best I can be, learn from the experience.”
The Stars had no comment about DeBoer’s handling of Oettinger, but the results are what they are. Dallas joined the 1975-77 Islanders as the only teams in the expansion era to lose in the round before the Stanley Cup Final for three straight seasons.
The Stars’ need for a new coach will now reignite a coaching carousel that appeared to have come to a full stop Thursday with the Boston Bruins hiring former forward Marco Sturm.
The Stars now become the ninth team this offseason to seek a head coach in a cycle that saw Mike Sullivan leave the Pittsburgh Penguins to join the New York Rangers, Joel Quenneville sign with the Anaheim Ducks and Rick Tocchet depart the Vancouver Canucks for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Hiring a new coach also comes in an offseason in which PuckPedia projects the Stars will have $4.955 million in cap space to address a roster that has seven pending unrestricted free agents. It’s a list that includes captain Jamie Benn and center Matt Duchene.
