Stars name DeBoer their new coach
The Stars announced on Tuesday that Peter DeBoer will be their new coach, a month after he was fired by the Golden Knights.
DeBoer, who previously led the Devils and Sharks to the Stanley Cup Final in his first season with both of those clubs, was let go by the Knights after they missed the playoffs for the first time in the franchise’s five-season history.
He had been their coach for 2 ½ seasons after replacing Gerard Gallant, who took the Knights to the Cup Final in their inaugural 2017-18 season and back to the playoffs in 2019.
The Stars were in the Cup Final two summers ago with Rick Bowness as their interim coach before he got a two-year contract that went through this season. Bowness was 89-62-26 with two playoff appearances in his nearly three seasons.
This will be the fifth head coaching job for the 54-year-old DeBoer, who over the last 14 seasons has coached the Panthers (2008-11), Devils (2011-15), Sharks (201520) and Knights.
DeBoer has a 513-379-123 record in 1,015 regular-season games. His 68-55 playoff record includes the Cup Final with the Devils in 2012, and four years later with the Sharks.
DeBoer will be the fifth coach for the Stars since Jim Nill became their GM in April 2013.
DeBoer follows Lindy Ruff, Ken Hitchcock, Jim Montgomery and Bowness.
The Oilers gave coach Jay Woodcroft a three-year contract extension for taking over the team in February and leading them to the Western Conference final as interim coach. He took over Feb. 10 after Dave Tippett was fired following a 7-13-3 run that had the Oilers sitting fifth in the Pacific Division. The Oilers underwent a rapid turnaround under the 45-year-old Toronto native, winning their next five games by a combined score of 22-8. They went 26-9-3 with Woodcroft at the helm for the final 38 games of the regular season to finish second in the division.
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