DeBoer Still Bothered by Dismissal from Golden Knights

This past May, the Vegas Golden Knights surprised many when they announced that head coach Pete DeBoer was being relieved of his duties.

While the Golden Knights missing the playoffs in 2021-22 was extremely disappointing, there were several circumstances outside of DeBoer’s control that led to their failure. One of those circumstances came as a result of his general manager making a trade for Jack Eichel, as it put the team in a position cap-wise where on more than one occasion they were forced to dress just 17 skaters in a game.

It appears the fans weren’t alone on the confusion, as DeBoer, who since has been hired as the Dallas Stars bench boss, is still troubled by what he could have done differently as well. He recently spoke with Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal in regards to his dismissal.

“You for sure move on,” he said. “Coaches compartmentalize things. The coaching part of my brain has moved on. I’m excited about Dallas and the group and the people I work for. Excited to get going.

“But it’s tough to completely walk away from what happened in Vegas because of the circumstances and situation. That’s going to stick in my head for a while.

“What could we as a staff have done differently? There are always things we could have done better, for sure.”

Ed Graney, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Credit to DeBoer here, who, despite being unfairly fired by Kelly McCrimmon, has not once spoken poorly about his former boss. As he was through his entire tenure with the Golden Knights, DeBoer has continued to be a class act, and should go on to do good things with a talented Stars roster moving forward.