Peter DeBoer Fired as Stars HC After NHL Playoffs Loss, Team Wants 'New Voice'

The Dallas Stars reached the Western Conference Final in each of the last three seasons under head coach Peter DeBoer, but that wasn't enough for him to keep his job.

Dallas announced Friday it fired DeBoer following the playoff loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

"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," general manager Jim Nill said in the announcement. "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."

It is difficult to argue with DeBoer's success. He led the 2019 San Jose Sharks, 2020 and 2021 Vegas Golden Knights, and 2023-2025 Stars to the Western Conference Final.

His 2012 New Jersey Devils and 2016 Sharks teams also reached the Stanley Cup Final.

However, he has never broken through as a head coach to take the next step and win the Cup.

The latest near miss came when Dallas lost to the Oilers in five games in a relatively quick series, even though the Stars won Game 1. It was all downhill from there with DeBoer's team losing the next four by a combined score of 19-5.

A moment with starting goalie Jake Oettinger also stood out, as Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News detailed. DeBoer benched him a mere seven minutes into the Game 5 loss after the Stars fell behind 2-0 and yelled at him to get off the ice.

Rather than settling any tension in the postgame press conference, the head coach instead told reporters: "I didn't blame it all on Jake, but you know, the reality is if you go back to last year's playoffs, he's lost six of seven games to Edmonton, and we gave up two goals on two shots in an elimination game. So it was partly to spark our team, and partly that the status quo had not been working."

After DeBoer threw his goalie under the bus, Assimakopoulos said reports suggested many players were not happy with the coach and expressed as much in exit interviews with Nill.

It created a situation of uncertain job security, as NHL insider Elliotte Friedman highlighted:

Ultimately, the Stars decided to move on and start their search for a "new voice" who could help them get over the hump and reach the Stanley Cup Final after coming so close in three straight seasons under DeBoer.

He ended up going 149-68-29 during his three seasons in Dallas but might be best remembered for just missing out on reaching the sport's biggest stage and throwing his goalie under the bus in the aftermath.