Stars HC says Dallas-Vegas Conference Final not about getting revenge

The irony was not lost on Dallas Stars head coach Peter DeBoer.

Fired by the Vegas Golden Knights for missing the playoffs after back-to-back conference final appearances, DeBoer’s new team will play his old team on Friday in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final—a series that the 54-year-old coach admitted he had a little extra motivation to win.

"Obviously, there's no hiding from the fact that it means a little more,” DeBoer told reporters on Tuesday. “That would be for anybody in this situation. This happens all the time in the world, right? You move on from a job and you go to the next job, except now we're playing with each other in the conference final immediately after. The important thing for me here, though, is the hockey and the focus on the players. It's not about Pete DeBoer and his history with Vegas.”

DeBoer spent parts of three seasons with the Golden Knights, leading them to the Western Conference Final in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. Vegas fired him in May 2022 following a 43-31-8 season that resulted in a fourth-place finish in the Pacific Division and a missed postseason.

Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon stated his decision to go in a different direction was less about the job DeBoer did as coach and had more to do with having a new voice leading the team’s future after having several conversations with DeBoer.