Stars Ask Knicks To Hold Their Beer; Fire Head Coach Pete DeBoer After Western Conference Final
Deboer has reached the conference final six of the last seven years with three different clubs
Dallas Stars think the Dallas Stars saw the New York Knicks' stunning coaching change this week and then respectfully asked them to hold their beer…
On Friday morning, the Stars dropped a surprising move by announcing that head coach Pete DeBoer, who has led the club to three straight Western Conference Final appearances, has been fired.
"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 a statement. "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."
This was an unexpected move, but not a surprising one in light of details trickling out of the team after they were sent off to Cancun after five games with the Edmonton Oilers. There were rumblings that some of the team's players were not happy with how DeBoer had handled some moments during the series and some things he said to the media afterward.
With one year left on his deal, DeBoer is going to be back on the NHL coaching market. He'll be a desirable option for some teams given his track record of success, with DeBoer having led three different teams to the conference final in six of the last seven seasons.
Of course, he hasn't turned any of those appearances into Stanley Cup victories.
However, the first batch of teams looking to make coaching changes have already done so, with teams like the Flyers, Rangers, Bruins, Penguins, Kraken, Blackhakes, Ducks, and Canucks having already made decisions.
Perhaps another vacancy will come up between now and the start of the season, but otherwise, DeBoer will likely need to wait for someone to get fired mid-season or sit out for a season before he's back behind a bench. Although joining the staff as an assistant could also be an option.
Now, the Stars' front office has the job of finding a new coach, and they should have some serious interest as this is, without question, the most Stanley Cup-ready team to have a vacancy open up this season.