Dallas Stars make official decision on Coach Pete DeBoer after players complain

Reports surfaced that multiple players reportedly complained to management about DeBoer's decisions in the series, especially around Jake Oettinger. Now, DeBoer is paying the price.

The Dallas Stars announced the news on social media this morning, along with a statement from GM Jim Nill explaining a new voice is needed in the locker room.

Pete DeBoer has spent the last three full seasons as head coach of the Dallas Stars, and taken the team to the conference final each time. It's commendable success, but they've been unable to take the next step to a Cup Final - and now DeBoer simply lost the room.

DeBoer started raising alarm bells with his criticism of Jake Oettinger through the series against the Oilers, and finished off by throwing his goalie under the bus for the entire loss. Oettinger was pulled in Game 5, and the Stars went down with their backup in net.

Comments like these clearly didn't go down well with the locker room, giving the Stars no choice but to fire DeBoer. Players never like to be criticized so openly in the media, and will always rally around their teammates instead of the coach.

Shaping up for next season, the Dallas Stars will be a much different group. With a full season of Mikko Rantanen, a new coach, and presumably much more changes, they'll be making a hard push to finally reach the Stanley Cup Final. Unfortunately for them, they'll have to go through Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers for a long time.