Former Stars HC Gets Honest About Playoff Failures

The 2025 Western Conference Finals were the final games Peter DeBoer would coach for the Dallas Stars. His tenure ended in controversial fashion after pulling his starting goalie in a pivotal Game 5 loss to the Edmonton Oilers and some postgame comments made where he seemed to place blame on the goalie, Jake Oettinger. He was fired shortly after their playoff exit and the comments.

Several months later, the former Stars head coach has opened up on the playoff failure and the subsequent comments that factored into his firing. He spoke with Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com in his first recorded interview since his dismissal, and he took the opportunity to correct his statements after losing to the OIlers.

“Listen, we were all to blame for coming up short again, and it starts with me,” he admitted. “It was on me, it was on all the coaches, it was on all the players, it was on the organization as a whole. We all created the disappointment. We were all to blame, not just one guy.”

That sentiment was a bit different than how he came across when standing at the podium after that Game 5 defeat. Upon reflection a few months later, DeBoer wishes he’d made it clear that the loss was the responsibility of the entire team and staff, not solely because of Oettinger’s struggles.

“When all the questions at the postgame press conference were about Jake, I should have redirected the topic to reflect that this wasn’t just about him, this was about all of us,” he said. “We -- and I stress the word 'we' -- did not get the job done. We were on a run in which we’d lost six of our past seven games against Edmonton in the third round dating back to 2024. In one of my answers, I said he’d lost six of seven to them. But it wasn’t just him. It was all of us. That’s not on just one guy. I should have made that clearer.”

After being let go by the Stars, DeBoer is one of the top free agent coaches in the NHL. While he waits for the phone to ring on his next opportunity, he’s keeping plenty busy in his role with Hockey Canada. DeBoer is an assistant coach for the Men’s 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy. He’s taking the next few months to focus solely on his responsibilities with Team Canada and the goal of securing another gold medal in international competition.