The Interview: Peter DeBoer

A good Friday to everyone.  On the heels of Sean Avery's mere six game suspension, I have something more fun and upbeat for everyone. 

In the fall of 2006, I was part of one of Sports Management Worldwide's inaugural Hockey GM & Scouting courses.  As part of the program, we had to interview people who work in professional hockey. 

At the time, I was a regular at the Jr. B Kitchener Dutchmen games, so it wasn't much of a stretch for me to throw a phone call across to the other side of the arena to the then-Head Coach of the Kitchener Rangers, current Florida Panthers Head Coach Peter DeBoer.

(I did have a picture to upload, but for some reason the upload button wouldn't work, so a generic Panthers pic it is.)

We spoke for 30 minutes, and I can't even begin to tell you how impressed I was with him, as an exceptionally knowledgeable hockey person, and even more so as a man.  So without any further ado, from November 2006, my interview with Peter DeBoer.

When did you first become interested in coaching/managing a hockey team?

PD: I had just retired from playing, and had decided to go back to law school.  When I was finishing up my law degree, Paul Maurice had asked me to help him out in Detroit (with the OHL’s then-Jr. Red Wings).

You put up good numbers in your final two OHL years and both your IHL years, not to mention you had pro-level size.  What made you decide to stop playing?

PD: (Laughs) It was right when the big influx of Russian players was coming over to the NHL, when things had opened up to them.  I had decided to give it two years, and if I didn’t make the NHL in two years, I would stop playing.

In your pursuit of a law degree, were you attempting to follow in the footsteps of such NHL management figures as Brian Burke and Pat Quinn? Or is it more of a coincidence that you have a law degree and a career in the management side of hockey?

PD:  Well, I knew both Brian Burke and Pat Quinn well, and I played under Quinn while in Milwaukee (IHL).  Brian Burke even wrote a letter of recommendation for me when I applied to the University of Windsor’s Law School.  I looked up to both of them and they were major influences for me.

In researching you, there is a three year gap from 1991-1994 where I can’t find any info on you, as you had gone to the University of Windsor to obtain a law degree.  Were you also doing any coaching at this time, trying to get coaching experience in youth and junior leagues?

PD:  Actually, I played a year of hockey in University—I had to sit out a year because of my pro experience, but I played the year after that.  I didn’t exactly have the commitment that year…I wasn’t…committed to playing hockey by any means. 

I did do a bit of coaching with Windsor, then went to Detroit (Jr. Red Wings of the OHL) with Paul Maurice.

What was it like making the transition from a player to a coach?

PD:  It was tough…very frustrating.  I went from playing to not having control of what was happening on the ice, and that was very difficult to get used to.  I was used to going on the ice and making a difference, that was my background, so I had to learn to trust my players and that they would follow through on the game-plan.

What was involved in you going from assistant coach with the Jr. Red Wings to becoming their Coach/GM, as that sounds like quite a leap on paper.

PD: I replaced Paul Maurice—on paper really, I was the Assistant Coach and Assistant GM; I performed a lot of the Assistant GM duties, having spent two years with Paul.  So it really wasn’t that big of a leap for me.  It was a leap however, for (Jr. Red Wings’ owner) Peter Karmanos, who wasn’t sold on the idea at the time.

Having played on an OHL Championship-winning team, and having coached Kitchener to a Memorial Cup in 2003, it’s safe to say that you know what it takes to win.  When scouting players, what do you look for that lets you know a player is a winner, even/especially if he is not playing for a winning team?

PD:  There are always question marks about players when scouting, no player is ever a guaranteed sure-thing.  I leave the majority of scouting to my Head Scout, Mike Sadler, who has over 30 years of scouting experience. 

Mike Richards for example, he’s won everywhere he played, *laughs* he was a safe bet.  But most players don’t come from that background.  There’s a lot of luck and timing involved, there’s no real formula to scouting. 

How were you able to juggle the Coach/GM duties well enough to win back-to-back coach of the year awards in the OHL and a CHL coach of the year award in 2000, the second of those back-to-back years?

PD:  My winning those awards was a reflection of the players, who were a reflection of our scouts.  My name is the one that’s on the award, but that’s the truth. 

All the time you see coaches who go from winning “Coach of the Year” one year to not making the playoffs the next.  They didn’t get dumb overnight.  It’s the players they have playing for them, the players the scouts bring in.  Those years, we were lucky with who we brought in.

As a GM, when does having a law background come in handy?

PD:  Everyday really.  Contract, contract stuff of course.  But I use it everyday.  A lot of tools that I use in hockey are things that I learned in Law School.

In your experience, what is involved in the process of making a trade?

PD:  First you have to identify a need, which is not nearly as easy as it sounds.  Do you need a power-play rushing defensemen, a checking forward, a goal-scorer?  Are you buying or selling, trading players to build for the future?  It then becomes a shopping trip, filling holes in ways that make sense for your team.

On draft day, depending on how much you have seen a player, if the decision on a draft pick comes down to either your choice or that of your head scout, who gets the final say and why? 

PD:  I get the final say, as they say, the buck stops with me.  But I’ll be honest with you, that situation has only ever come up a few times because I don’t see players as much as he does. 

It’s dangerous to overrule your scouts who are out on the road every single night watching these players over and over again.  The only time I’d ever do it is if I know a player really well and am sure that he’ll be good.

With your background and track record speaking for themselves, you must have had plenty of opportunities to work in the NHL or the AHL, including a rumour I heard that Toronto was interested in hiring you to coach the Marlies before they hired Paul Maurice in 2004. 

Why have you foregone moving up to pro hockey to remain working in the OHL? 

PD:  I have had the opportunity to move up into the NHL, but I love this league, the affect you can have on young players growing up. 

There is probably more work in the OHL (doing what he does) than the NHL, you have to deal with getting players housing, schooling, dealing with teens and teenage problems, and a lot of people I think get scared off from working in the league because they don’t to deal with that.

For someone such as myself, whose ultimate goal is to be an NHL General Manager, knowing full-well the odds are extremely stacked against this ever happening, what words of advice do you have as to how I could get there?

PD:  Jay Feaster (GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning), I don’t think he ever played hockey at a high level, and I know of others in management both in the NHL and here (in the OHL) that didn’t either. 

It’s not as big a pipe dream as you may think it is.  It just takes hard work; don’t take “No” for an answer.  *Laughs* If you’d have told me 20 years ago that I’d be on my 12th season running an OHL team, I never would have believed you. 

MC: Thank you very much for your time today, it’s been a pleasure talking with you.

PD: Likewise Mike, and best of luck with everything in the future.