The Vegas Golden Knights become the second non-playoff team to make a big coaching change this offseason. Peter DeBoer was fired by the team, reported Monday morning. This move comes after Vegas missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
More coaching changes today. Peter DeBoer out in Vegas.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 16, 2022
Peter DeBoer Fired By Golden Knights
Just after his second full season as the bench boss for Vegas, DeBoer will look for a new job. In his approximately two and a half years behind the bench, DeBoer posted a 98-50-12 record. These numbers certainly aren’t mind-boggling, but they are solid enough for a competitive team. However, the real issue came from this past regular season. At a 43-31-8 record, Vegas struggled for most of the season. Fans and analysts predicted them to be on top of the Pacific division, or at least a lock for the playoffs.
DeBoer is now the second big-name coach to be let go recently, as Barry Trotz was also fired by the New York Islanders exactly a week ago.
What This Means For Vegas
This seems to be an overreaction from Vegas. The fans have playoff hockey every year of existence, so having one bad year is the end of the world. DeBoer had an incredibly tough situation, with injuries to key players like Robin Lehner, Mark Stone, and Jack Eichel. What made it worse was these players were hurt towards the end of the regular season, making a playoff push that much more difficult. To make matters worse, the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers were better than expected, and the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks were not cakewalks. This meant a struggling Vegas team was matched up against good opponents, and couldn’t pull out crucial victories.
Is the coach to blame for this? Everyone is, from the players up to the coaches. But it still seems that one season below expectations shouldn’t lead to a firing of the coach that brought this team success.
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