Dallas Stars Fire Head Coach Pete DeBoer After Third Consecutive Conference Final Loss

The Dallas Stars are making a change in the locker room just one week after team leaders scoffed at the idea.

Pete DeBoer, head coach of the Stars for the last three seasons, was fired, the team announced Friday. Under DeBoer, the Stars made it to three consecutive Western Conference Finals before getting knocked out of playoff contention.

“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,” Stars 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.”

Just one week ago, team owner Tom Gaglardi rebuffed questions that DeBoer’s place with the team may be called into question after the Edmonton Oilers bested the team in five games. Gaglardi called DeBoer a “top three, top five coach in the league,” whose leadership would be impossible to replicate or replace.

DeBoer has a perfect record in Game 7s, and a 149-68-29 record in three seasons of games at the Stars’ helm.

“You think I want to be going into the coaching market right now, do you see who’s getting hired? Pete’s a seasoned coach. I’m just one voice in the discussion, but I don’t see [firing] Pete being on anyone’s agenda,” Gaglardi told the media after the season ended.

Momentum for DeBoer’s ousting gained in the days following that Game 5 loss. Seven minutes into the game, DeBoer pulled goalie Jake Oettinger from the ice after Oettinger gave up two goals. While the decision shocked fans, DeBoer doubled down on the choice in a post-season press conference, stating that between Oettinger’s performance against the Oilers in last year’s conference final and this year’s, he determined that “ the status quo had not been working.”

Seven days later, it seems the Stars' front office agrees, and DeBoer is out of a job. The head coach had one season left on his contract with the Stars.