TheDallas Starsfired head coach Pete DeBoer after three seasons in which he led the team to three consecutive Western Conference finals appearances,the team announced Friday. The move comes after the Stars were eliminated in five games by theEdmonton Oilersin the Western Conference finals, despite having home-ice advantage. In Game 5, DeBoer was questioned for benching goalie Jake Oettinger after he gave up two goals in the first seven minutes and admitted he didn't talk to Oettinger about his decision making. "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. "It was partly to spark our team and wake them up and partly knowing that status quo had not been working. That's a pretty big sample size." DeBoer had a year left on his contract. He finished his Dallas tenure with a 149-68-29 record. "After careful consideration, we believe that a new voice is needed in our locker room to push us closer to our goal of winning the Stanley Cup," Stars general manager Jim Nill said. "We'd like to thank Pete for everything that he has helped our organization achieve over the past three seasons and wish him nothing but the best moving forward." Under DeBoer, Dallas had a 149-68-29 record and made major moves to put them in position for a championship run, including a March trade that landed them forward Mikko Rantanen from theCarolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes received a haul in the exchange, which included forward Logan Stankoven, a conditional 2026 first-round pick, a conditional 2028 first-round pick, a 2026 third-round pick, and a 2027 third-round pick. Rantanten, who had nine goals and 13 assists during the 2025 playoffs, was immediately signed to an eight-year, $96 million contract extension. DeBoer, 56, had one year remaining on his contract with the Stars and has taken three different teams to the conference finals in the last seven seasons, including the Vegas Golden Knights in 2020, who lost to the Stars and the San Jose Sharks in 2019. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Stars fire Pete DeBoer after Western Conference final appearance
