The Dallas Stars under Pete DeBoer were under almost every metric a success. They dominated in the regular season, made it consistently further than most in the playoffs, but notably failed three seasons in a row in the conference finals.
This past conference finals, tensions flared, especially between goaltender Jake Oettinger and DeBoer as both tried but ultimately were unable to put their best feet forward in the conference finals, leading to the loss.
DeBoer's decision to bench Oettinger in Game 5 of the conference finals ended up being the decision that likely cost him his job, pinning the blame on Oettinger as the team in front struggled to keep up with the Edmonton Oilers.
In an interview with NHL.com, DeBoer wanted to clear the air that ultimately the Stars loss in the third round was a team failure, not an Oettinger failure.
“When all the questions at the postgame press conference were about Jake, I should have redirected the topic to reflect that this wasn’t just about him, this was about all of us. We -- and I stress the word 'we' -- did not get the job done. We were on a run in which we’d lost six of our past seven games against Edmonton in the third round dating back to 2024. In one of my answers, I said he’d lost six of seven to them. But it wasn’t just him. It was all of us. That’s not on just one guy. I should have made that clearer.”- Pete Deboer to NHL.com
Despite this, DeBoer doesn't regret pulling Oettinger in the first period of Game 5.
“I felt our group had been to this point for a third year in a row and you could tell that in the group, there was a defeatism to them," DeBoer said. "You could feel it. I could feel it on the bench. And so, at that point, you use every tool you have in your box in order to try and shock them out of that."
The 58-year-old coach of over 1200 NHL games remains without an NHL gig, however he is still set in stone to serve as assistant coach for Team Canada at the 2026 Milano/Cortina Olympic games.
Make sure you bookmark THN's Dallas Stars site for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.
Wild GM Has High Praise for Stars Forward
Season Ticket Sell Out in Dallas
Dallas Stars Sign Adam Erne To Professional Try-Out