Dallas Stars fire coach Pete DeBoer after losing in West final and
pulling Oettinger
Stephen Hawkins
| The Associated Press | Posted: June 6, 2025 3:34 PM | Last
Updated: June 6
Move came less than a week since Stars were eliminated by
Oilers
Image | Pete DeBoer
Caption: Pete DeBoer, top, made the curious and much-discussed
decision to bench Jake Oettinger after his star goalie gave up
two goals on two shots in the first 7:09. (Sam Hodde/Getty
Images))
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Dallas Stars coach Pete DeBoer was fired Friday after three
seasons with the team, getting to the Western Conference final
each time but never advancing past that for a shot at the
Stanley Cup.
The move came a week since the Stars ended their season in a
6-3 loss at home to Edmonton in Game 5 of the West final.
DeBoer made the curious and much-discussed decision to bench
Jake Oettinger after his star goalie gave up two goals on two
shots in the first 7:09. Two days later, the coach acknowledged
he still hadn't talked to Oettinger about that decision.
"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," longtime general manager Jim Nill
said.
The Oilers won four consecutive games in the series after the
Stars had a five-goal outburst in the third period of Game 1 to
win by that same 6-3 score.
Dallas became the first team to reach the conference finals
three seasons in a row without winning at least one Cup title
under the playoff format that began in 1994. The Stars didn't
even give themselves a chance to play for one.
DeBoer, who turns 57 this month, had a 149-68-29 record in
regular-season games and 29-27 in the playoffs with the Stars,
whose 113 points during the 2023-24 season were just one off
the franchise record set by their only Stanley Cup-winning team
in 1998-99. He is 662-447-152 overall in 17 seasons with
Dallas, New Jersey, Florida, Vegas and San Jose, plus 97-82 in
10 postseason appearances.
Stars owner Tom Gaglardi said the day after the season finale
that DeBoer was a seasoned coach, top three to top five in the
league, and that he didn't see firing DeBoer being on anyone's
agenda.
Something certainly changed since then with DeBoer, who had one
season remaining on his contract.
This was the sixth time in seven seasons, with three different
teams, that DeBoer took a team to the brink of the Stanley Cup
Final. That included the NHL semifinals during the 2021 season
with Vegas when there were no conference-based playoffs because
of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Stars last went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020, the
playoff held in the bubble in Canada because of the pandemic.
They won the West final that year in five games over
DeBoer-coached Vegas. Dallas was led by Rick Bowness, who
replaced the fired Jim Montgomery during the season. DeBoer was
hired after the Stars moved on from Bowness.
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