The Dallas Stars have been one of the NHL’s better teams in the past three regular seasons, finishing either first or second in the highly competitive Central Division. But ultimate playoff success has eluded the Stars in the past three years, as they’ve lost in the Stanley Cup playoffs’ Western Conference final for three years running.
Still, it was a notable shock the way veteran Dallas coach Peter DeBoer handled his public relations with the media, as he made particular criticism of Stars No. 1 goalie Jake Oettinger after he pulled Oettinger in the deciding game of the Western final in favor of backup Casey DeSmith. DeBoer’s criticism of Oettinger may have accelerated DeBoer’s eventual parting of ways with the Stars by a handful of weeks, because the bottom line is that DeBoer’s teams haven’t been able to get over the competitive hump. So, unless DeBoer got to the Stanley Cup, his job security in Dallas could’ve been and probably was going to be jeopardized.
DeBoer did damage control Sunday in an NHL.com interview in which he took accountability for the way he went after Oettinger. And he defended his relationship with Oettinger in his first public comments since the Stars fired him just one week after his Game 5 comments.
“I know the stories immediately came out that I’m hard on goalies,” DeBoer told Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com. “But the fact is, I only pulled (Oettinger) once in 57 games in the regular season. That’s a fact.
“The first 30 seconds of that (Game 5) timeout was me blasting our team and, if I could have, I would have blasted myself and our coaches too. I mean, you're mad and disappointed in that moment, at everything, at the team, at the start, at the goalie, at yourself, at everybody. Why are we in this spot? You know, we have this opportunity and we're in this spot. So, it's a scattergun of anger, of bitterness.
“And it was made out to be about Jake Oettinger. But that wasn't the case. I love Jake Oettinger, and Jake and I met after the season ended. He knows how much respect I have for him as a goalie and even more as a person and a family man. And you know, I've said repeatedly throughout our playoff run, we would have never even gotten that far without Jake.”
DeBoer’s words aside, it’s his reputation as a solid coach with a lot of regular-season success that is going to make him a frontrunner option for teams that fire their bench boss either during the 2025-26 season, or next summer. The coaching wheel spins faster than ever, and teams will look at DeBoer’s 1,261 games of NHL coaching experience – and the 662 wins and 814 games in which he got the game to overtime and beyond – and see a viable choice to hire him for what would be his sixth NHL team.
DeBoer does still have hockey responsibilities, as he’s an assistant coach for Team Canada’s team at the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics. Not having an NHL job leaves DeBoer more time to focus on those responsibilities, but it won’t be long before DeBoer is a candidate for an NHL job opening. And when he does get hired again, the only test he has left is to find a way to win a conference final and earn his first Cup.
If he can’t do that, DeBoer is likely to bounce around between jobs again. But as the 2025-26 season looms large on the horizon, DeBoer has time to reset his focus and find a team that will give him a good shot at making it to the Cup final and winning it all once they get there. You never know when your next shot may be your last shot, but DeBoer is almost certain to get another shot sooner or later, and he’s got to make the most of the opportunity or face future job insecurity with his next gig.
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