Yesterday, after the strangest and most awkward goalie pull ever, followed by blaming an entire team failure on your franchise goalie, the Dallas Stars did the right thing and finally shit-canned head coach Pete DeBoer.
That quote above, DeBoer says he didn't blame it all on goalie Jake Oettinger, but if you watch the post-game press conference, he did.
First let's talk about the pulling of Oettinger. I get pulling a goalie after your team gave up two quick goals. I grew up in the age of Mike Keenan regularly yanking his goalie, to wake up his team and/or light a fire under the goalie. Keenan yanked good goalies, bad goalies, elite goalies, he didn't care. He often yanked his starter and at the next stoppage in play, sent him back in. So, I have no problem with pulling Oettinger to try and make something happen. But how it happened was odd. He calls timeout. Oettinger goes to the bench, drinks some water hears what the coaching staff has to say and then heads back to his crease. Then as he's almost back, DeBoer is yelling at him to get off the ice and then tells the backup to go in. It was odd and fucked up. You could see the tension between Oettinger and DeBoer throughout the rest of the game.
Second, after the game DeBoer trashed his netminder. He doesn't say how poorly his team played defensively in front of their goalie. He doesn't mention how they suddenly in the Conference Finals his team couldn't figure out how to score on an average goalie like Stuart Skinner...And he throws Oettinger's record against Edmonton the last seven times (6 loses) in his face and for the media to go wild with...
Problem is Pete, that's your record against Edmonton the last seven times as a head coach. That's your team's can't figure out how to score against Edmonton the last seven times, record. Your team that can't figure out how to shut down two guys, but they figured out how to shut you down.
This year, Oettinger one of the NHL's top Goaltenders signed an eight-year contract extension with the Stars, averaging $8.25 million a year. You can't trash your franchise goalie the DeBoer did and think you're really going to keep your job. He upset the locker room, the fanbase, upper management and the goalie. The rift was going to be too big to fix. Dallas drafted, developed and locked in an elite goalie. He's staying and the coach with a career winning percentage of .591 is going.
The hockey world all says DeBoer is a good coach. 662-447-152 in 17 seasons and 97-82 in 10 post seasons. Yeah, he's good, but he's not great and he doesn't have any rings. You can't meltdown, trash your star goalie and take no blame for your entire team shitting the bed.
My prediction, Oettinger wins the Vezina next year, and takes the #1 Goalie job from Hellebuyck for Team USA when the Olympics roll around.
