After coaching the Stars to the Conference Finals in year one, it’s important for Stars fans to know Pete DeBoer’s track record after year one.
In 2008, DeBoer got his first NHL head coaching job with the Florida Panthers. The Panthers were in the middle of an eight-year Playoff drought. In the 2008-09 season, the Panthers recorded 93 points and missed the Playoffs by one point behind the Montreal Canadiens.
The next two seasons, Florida struggled. In the 2009-10 season, the Panthers finished with 77 points and 14th in the Eastern Conference. In the 2010-11 season, the Panthers finished with 72 points and 15th in the Eastern Conference. DeBoer was fired after the 2010-11 season
During DeBoer’s tenure in Florida, the team lost important players. The team traded defenseman Jay Bouwmeester to the Calgary Flames in June 2009. The next summer, Florida traded Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell to the Boston Bruins.
Michael Florentine, a Panthers fan at the time, still remembers the Bouwmeester trade. “They lost their best defenseman and never quite recovered from that,” Florentine said. “When he was fired, I don’t think it was really his fault.”
After three seasons with Florida, DeBoer was hired by the New Jersey Devils in 2011. The Devils in 2011 missed the Playoffs for the first time since 1996 when they hired him.
In DeBoer’s first season in New Jersey, the Devils made the Stanley Cup Finals before losing to the Los Angeles Kings in the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals.
However, just like in Florida, New Jersey lost important players in his tenure. Devils captain Zach Parise returned home to Minnesota and signed with the Wild on July 4, 2012.
After the Devils finished with 48 points in the lockout 2012-13 NHL season, Ilya Kovalchuk retired from the NHL on July 10, 2013, with 12 years remaining on his contract. Devils fan Luis Muller still remembers the gut punch of losing Parise and Kovalchuk in a two-year span.
“Those two were probably the two biggest reasons as to why the Devils made it far in 2012,” Muller said. “Watching Parise leave then Kovalchuk leave a year later for nothing in return, definitely leaves a roster barren of top tier talent.”
The Devils also lost leading goal scorer David Clarkson after the 2012-13 season as he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In the 2013-14 NHL season, the Devils missed the Playoffs with 88 points. The Devils did not re-sign legendary goaltender Martin Brodeur after the season as the team was prepared to move forward with Cory Schneider as its future goaltender.
In the 2014-15 season, the Devils fired DeBoer with a 12-17-7 record. Devils fan Michael Ostrowski talked about why DeBoer taking the Devils job in 2011 made sense looking back at the end of his tenure.
“Kovalchuk was locked in for a decade plus and who would’ve thought Parise would leave us,” Ostrowski said. “We were definitely built to be a Playoff team even though we missed it the previous year.”
In 2015, DeBoer was hired by the San Jose Sharks. In his first season with San Jose, the Sharks, just like the Devils, made the Stanley Cup Final in DeBoer’s first season as head coach. The Sharks fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals.
In 2017, the Sharks were eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers in round one. In 2018, the Sharks were eliminated in round two by the eventual Western Conference Champions Vegas Golden Knights.
In 2019, DeBoer’s Sharks made it to the Western Conference Finals after winning two game 7’s against the Golden Knights and Avalanche. San Jose lost in the Western Conference Finals to the eventual Stanley Cup Champions St. Louis Blues.
In the 2019-20 season, DeBoer was fired by the Sharks with a 15-16-2 record. After being fired, the Golden Knights hired DeBoer after Vegas fired Gerard Gallant.
In 22 games with Vegas before the NHL suspended the season due to COVID-19, Vegas went 15-5-2 with DeBoer as coach. The Golden Knights made the 2020 Western Conference Finals before losing to the Dallas Stars.
In his first full season as Vegas coach in the 2020-21 shortened 56-game season, Vegas finished with the second-best record in the NHL. However, the Golden Knights were upset by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2021 Semifinals.
In his first and only 82-game full season as Vegas coach, the Golden Knights finished with 94 points and missed the Playoffs for the first time since joining the NHL in the 2017-18 season.
Injury problems were a major concern for Vegas’ 2021-22 season. Reilly Smith played 56 games, Mark Stone played 37 games, Max Pacioretty played 39 games and Jack Eichel played 34 games. Vegas fired DeBoer after missing the Playoffs.
DeBoer signed a four-year contract with the Dallas Stars in June 2022. DeBoer had success in his first year in Dallas finishing with 108 points as the Stars made the Conference Finals. Dallas lost to Vegas who previously fired him and would win the 2023 Stanley Cup over the Panthers.
DeBoer got breakout years with forward Jason Robertson and defenseman Miro Heiskanen. Robertson recorded 109 points breaking the single season record for points in a season by a Dallas Star and Heiskanen set a record for most points scored by a Dallas Stars defenseman with 73.
Dallas got a resurgence from captain Jamie Benn as he recorded 78 points. Joe Pavelski recorded 77 and Tyler Seguin recorded 50.
Dallas got strong goaltending from Jake Oettinger as he finished with 37 wins in 61 games started and recorded a 2.37 GAA. Wyatt Johnston scored 24 goals as a rookie. In the 2023 Playoffs, Roope Hintz broke out as he recorded 24 points and signed an eight-year extension.
In the 2023 off-season, Dallas signed Matt Duchene for one-year, $3 million after Max Domi signed with the Leafs. AJ Chasan, from Breaking the Ice Podcast in New Jersey, talked about Dallas signing Duchene.
“Depth wasn’t something they struggled with last year, but being able to essentially steal away Matt Duchene for essentially nothing cap wise was insane.” Chasan said. “It just makes them that much stronger.”
Stars fan Reagan Harris and Chasan both talked about how Dallas is a cup contender in 2024 with DeBoer. “They have a fairly young squad locked in for the future with no reasons to believe they can’t make it far next year,” Harris said.
“This team is going to be stronger when it comes to games in April and May due to the Playoff experiences they’ve had over the past few seasons,” Chasan said.
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