Dallas Stars’ Players Reportedly ‘Voice Concern’ Regarding HC Peter DeBoer Following Game 5 Loss Against Oilers

The Dallas Stars players were reportedly not pleased with how head coach Peter DeBoer handled things following the Game 5 loss against Oilers.

Dallas Stars’ Players Reportedly ‘Voice Concern’ Regarding HC Peter DeBoer Following Game 5 Loss Against Oilers

Peter DeBoer (Image via Fox News)

The Dallas Stars suffered yet another heartbreak last week as they lost 6-3 loss in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final. Reports are now emerging of players voicing their concern regarding the actions of head coach Peter DeBoer.

The 56-year-old suffered a third straight elimination from the WCF. It turned out to be the 6th time he had lost in this stage in the last 7 years.

One big talking point following Game 5 revolved around goaltender Jake Oettinger. After conceding two goals in the opening 8 minutes, he was replaced by Casey DeSmith. After the game, DeBoer made some strange comments regarding his goaltender.

He took an indirect swipe at his team’s No.1 goalie and seemingly threw him under the bus while pointing out his performances from this series and last year’s playoffs.

I didn’t blame it all on Jake. But the reality is, if you go back to last year’s playoffs he’s lost six of seven games to Edmonton. We gave up two goals on two shots in an elimination game. It was partly to spark our team and wake them up, and partly and knowing the status quo had not been working.

These words from DeBoer have raised some eyebrows in the Stars’ locker room. As per NHL insider David Pagnotta, the players are not ‘pleased‘ with how he handled things after the loss against the Oilers.

Noise out of Dallas re: Pete DeBoer. Per multiple sources, players are not pleased with how he handled several situations during the WCF, along with post Gm5 & exit media remarks. Told players voiced concerns during internal exit interviews. DeBoer has 1yr left on his contract.

As mentioned by the NHL insider, DeBoer does have 1 year remaining on his contract. He has a 149-68-29 record with the Stars.

Jake Oettinger gave a blunt response on getting pulled out by Peter DeBoer

Dallas Stars’ head coach Peter DeBoer found himself on the receiving end of huge backlash among fans following his decision to pull out Jake Oettinger and then for his explanation regarding this move. When asked about his reaction, the goaltender dropped a blunt response.

Peter DeBoer and Jake Oettinger
Peter DeBoer and Jake Oettinger (Image via Sporting News/Reddit)

The American goalie was expected to play a huge part in Game 5 as his team’s season was on the line. However, he gave up two quick goals in the first period, which took the game away from his team. The move to change him did not work out as DeBoer would have hoped, as Casey DeSmith conceded within 1 minute of coming on.

While speaking with the media regarding this whole saga, Oettinger dropped a blunt answer instead of talking about his relationship with his head coach.

I think for me, it’s just the whole experience, just have to learn from it. It’s going to help me grow and be a better person, be a better goalie. My job is to stop the puck. I feel like I’m one of the best in the world when I am playing well, doing that. That’s all I’m going to focus on. The extra stuff is just extra stuff to me. If I go out there next year and I’m the best goalie in the world, (this incident) doesn’t matter.

In the 18 games he played in the playoffs this year, the 26-year-old won 9 of them and had a Goals Against Average (GAA) of 2.82 while having a .905 Save Percentage. Despite this numbers, he was unable to help his team reach the Stanley Cup finals.

Peter DeBoer’s record in WCF worsens following 3rd straight elimination with Stars

While Peter DeBoer has an impressive Game 7 record, he also has some unwanted records. The loss against the Edmonton Oilers marked the 3rd straight year where the Dallas Stars had been eliminated from the Western Conference Final with DeBoer as their head coach.

Peter DeBoer
Peter DeBoer (Image via WFAA)

It also marked the 6th time in the last 7 years that he had lost in the WCF. He lost in 2018-19 with the San Jose Sharks and then twice with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2019-20 and 2020-21. He is 0-6 in his last 6 attempts in this finals.

He, though, has reached the Stanley Cup Final twice before (once with the New Jersey Devils and once with the Sharks). Unfortunately for him, he has suffered defeats on both occasions, so the wait to hoist Lord Stanley goes on for another year for him.

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