Former San Jose Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer was relieved of his duties on Friday, as the Dallas Stars officially announced his firing. The move comes just days after the Stars were eliminated from the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
There was a lot of speculation that this decision stemmed from DeBoer’s postgame comments about Jake Oettinger, along with how he handled the goaltender—specifically how he pulled him during their Game 5 loss.
Stars GM Jim Nill released a statement following the firing.
“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,” Nill said. “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 posted a 149-68-29 record over 246 regular-season games and went 29-27 in 56 playoff games behind the Stars’ bench. But hockey is a results-based business—and when expectations aren’t met, change usually follows.
The Stars were DeBoer’s sixth NHL team since beginning his coaching career in 2008. His previous stops include the Florida Panthers (2008–11), New Jersey Devils (2011–15), San Jose Sharks (2015–19), and Vegas Golden Knights (2019–22).
During his time as the Sharks head coach, he had a record of 198-129-34 in 361 games and a 32-28 record in the playoffs over five seasons.
With the Pittsburgh Penguins hiring Dan Muse and the Boston Bruins bringing in former Shark Marco Sturm earlier this week, all head coaching vacancies across the league are now filled. That means DeBoer may have to wait a while before landing his next opportunity behind an NHL bench.
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