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'Glad He Said What He Said': Stars’ Jake Oettinger Responds to Pete DeBoer’s Comments

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Antonio Losada | Last updated Sep 20, 2025 12:45 PM ET

Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger has publicly backed former Stars coach Pete DeBoer’s attempt to clarify the fallout from last spring’s playoff exit.

DeBoer, fired eight days after the Stars’ elimination, admitted last week that his postgame comments about Oettinger in the Western Conference Final were mishandled and unfairly shifted the focus onto his goalie.

The incident stemmed from Game 5 against the Edmonton Oilers, when Oettinger was pulled just over seven minutes into an elimination loss after allowing two quick goals.

At the time, DeBoer pointed to Oettinger’s struggles against Edmonton in recent postseasons, sparking speculation about a rift.

"The reality is, if you go back to last year's playoffs, he's lost six of seven games to Edmonton, and we gave up two (goals) on two (shots) in an elimination game," DeBoer said of Oettinger.

Jake Oettinger using Pete DeBoer’s comments from the WCF as motivation for this season?

(via @NHLdotcom) pic.twitter.com/uCBZYwYmSi
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) September 15, 2025

Three months later, the coach acknowledged he should have stressed that the entire team shared the blame.

“Listen, we were all to blame for coming up short again, and it starts with me,” DeBoer told NHL.com. “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.”

Asked about DeBoer's explanation and latest remarks, Oettinger did not hesitate to endorse them at the start of camp.

“I think he hit the nail on the head with what he said, so let’s leave it at that,” Oettinger said. “I agree with what his reflection was. I’m glad he said what he said.”

Oettinger admitted after the Game 5 loss that the quick hook had been both "surprising" and "embarrassing." Now, he believes that moment was a lesson that helped his development.

“In the long run, I feel like I’m gonna look back on it as something that helped me,” Oettinger said. “And when we do win it all, it’s going to be, you know, look back and laugh and feel like that was something I had to go through in order to get to that.”

The goalie is entering the first year of an eight-year, $66 million extension and is now focused on leading Dallas past the conference final barrier that has stopped them three straight years.

DeBoer, meanwhile, keeps looking for his next NHL job while currently in an assistant coach position with Hockey Canada ahead of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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