Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill has announced that Head Coach Pete DeBoer has been relieved of his duties following the loss in the Western Conference Finals.

Nill announced the change on Friday morning, and the franchise has stated that the search for a new head coach will begin immediately.

“After careful consideration, we believe that a new voice is needed in our locker room to push us closer to our goal of winning the Stanley Cup,” said Nill in a statement posted to social media. 

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“We’d like to thank Pete for everything that he has helped our organization achieve over the past three seasons and wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”

Although DeBoer has established himself as one of the most effective coaches in the league with a record of 149-68-29 record across three seasons with the Stars, the team has struggled to get over the hump during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Overall, DeBoer has amassed a record of 662-447-152 overall across 17 seasons with the Stars, New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, and San Jose Sharks.

This record has given DeBoer the 17th most coaching wins in NHL history and the fourth most among active coaches.

Western Conference Finals losses have seemingly become a consistent theme for DeBoer over the past few seasons. Although he has managed to make six of the past seven conference finals, he has never advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.

The most recent loss in this playoff round came when DeBoer shockingly decided to bench goalie Jake Oettinger in the final game of the season. Oettinger is one of the best goalies in the NHL.

DeBoer justified the benching by saying that the “reasoning is always to try and spark your group.”

“Obviously, we were in a 2-0 hole right away, and I didn’t take that lightly and I didn’t blame it all on Jake, but the reality is … he’s lost six of seven games to Edmonton,” he explained, per Athlon Sports.

However, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported after the series loss that “players are not pleased with how he handled several situations during the WCF,” along with many having concerns about how DeBoer handled post-game questions.

Dallas has managed to reach the Western Conference Finals in three consecutive seasons, but the team has yet to advance beyond this round during DeBoer’s tenure and was widely expected to undergo significant change this offseason.

Many expected these moves to come from the personnel department, as Dallas is expected to lose multiple players in free agency, but the team has also now committed to finding a new voice in the head coaching role.

One potential candidate to fill this role is current Texas Stars Head Coach Neil Graham, who has been the organization’s head coach for the past five full seasons.