Dallas Stars coach Pete DeBoer is one of hockey's most accomplished bosses, but a Stanley Cup has proven frustratingly elusive.
Conference titles in 2012 with the New Jersey Devils and 2016 with the San Jose Sharks resulted in two Cup Final losses. He's coached 55 playoff games in three years with the Stars—and none past the Western Conference final.
How, on Thursday, did DeBoer cope with yet another conference final loss to the Edmonton Oilers? By appearing to blame star Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger, who he pulled after two goals allowed in the first period.
"I didn't blame it all on Jake, but the reality is if you go back to last year's playoffs, he's lost six of seven games to Edmonton. And we give up two goals on two shots in an elimination game," DeBoer said via Mark Lazerus of The Athletic. "That's a pretty big sample size."
While true, an ever bigger sample size would be Oettinger's star-caliber 2025—a 36-18-4 campaign with a 2.59 GAA and .909 save percentage. Oettinger, in fact, is the NHL's active goals-against average leader.
Playing this kind of blame game would be one thing if either party seemed on his way out the door, but DeBoer remains one of the best coaches in hockey and Oettinger is under contract through 2033. The Stars would appear to have some soul-searching in front of them.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Stars Coach Pete DeBoer Throws Goalie Under the Bus After Team’s Elimination.
