You'll Never Find A Coach Who Hates His Goalie More Than Pete DeBoer After These Comments On Pulling Jake Oettinger
I get it. Pete DeBoer is sick of this shit. He lost in the conference finals in 2019 with the San Jose Sharks. He was fired the following season, but hired by the Vegas Golden Knights halfway through that season. He then went on to lose in the conference finals in 2020 and 2021 with Vegas. The Golden Knights missed the playoffs in 2022, so Pete DeBoer was fired and went to the Dallas Stars. Now he's lost 3 straight conference finals with the Stars in 2023, 2024, and 2025. That makes it 6 times in the past 7 years for Pete DeBoer losing in the conference finals.
The man is sick of it. He can't take it anymore, so he's going to be a little unhinged. And I'll give him this--the decision to pull Jake Oettinger was absolutely the right one.
I'm sorry but you can't give up 2 goals on the first 2 shots of an elimination game. You just can't. Even if you barely had a chance, it's just horrific optics. For everybody who says "Jake Oettinger is the only reason the Stars are in the Conference Finals in the first place"? Sure. That's definitely partially true. But it's crazy to think that means he should be able to stay in the net when clearly the moment got away from him. Pete DeBoer had to make a decision that was best for his team, not just a decision that was best for Jake Oettinger. That decision was to pull him because he's had a track record of getting worked by Edmonton, and because the team obviously needed a shot in the ass.
All of Pete DeBoer's reasoning was right. The issue is....well those are all things you say to the goalie in the locker room after the game. Those are all things you just say to the player in their exit meeting in a day or two. Those aren't things you jump up to the podium and say to the media in a post-game presser. The decision to pull Oettinger was fine. The decision to throw him under the bus, and then have the bus run him over a few more times on the way out in the presser was insanity.
The best part about it is that there's a 100% chance that Pete DeBoer ends up getting another job in the NHL, he's going to lose in the conference finals a few times with that team, and he's going to run that goalie out of town as well. It's the greatest cycle currently going in hockey.
@JordieBarstool