Stars coach Pete DeBoer made a critical decision that could help the Colorado Avalanche in the future.
The Stars may have just helped the Colorado Avalanche for future seasons. In Game 5 of the conference finals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Stars surrendered three goals in the first period in what ended up being the final game of the series against the Edmonton Oilers.
The killer here? All three of those goals scored by the Oilers came within about eight minutes into the game. Specifically, the first goal was surrendered just 2 and a half minutes in. The second goal was scored just over seven minutes in. Finally, the third goal was surrendered about a minute later.
DeBoer has been the head coach of the Stars since the 2022-23 season. In that time, he’s led the Stars to the postseason each time. However, Dallas was just eliminated by the Oilers on Thursday, and that marks the third year in a row that DeBoer has failed to make it to the Stanley Cup Final.
This is especially surprising given that the Stars have a quality goaltender in Jake Oettinger.
Dallas went down 2-0 in under eight minutes of game time, and Oettinger was pulled. DeBoer’s decision to replace Oettinger with Casey DeSmith shocked Stars fans, even to the point where chatter of the Stars firing DeBoer surfaced due to the decision.
You just don’t pull your starting goaltender in this situation. It was a terrible look.
Colorado Avalanche could benefit from Stars’ collapse, DeBoer’s decision
If the Stars fired DeBoer, who knows what sort of team they would end up being over the next couple of years? The hope for Avalanche fans would be that if the move happened, the Stars would end up being on a downward spiral for years to come. It would be huge for the Avalanche if this happened because Dallas was competitive enough to finish second in the Central Division.
Third in the division was the Avalanche. The Avs were just four points shy of tying Dallas for second in the division. That, to me, points to the Avalanche not being far behind.
Colorado has to take advantage of what might end up being a shaky offseason and potentially 2025-26 season for the Stars. They will just have to figure out who they can and will be able to sign to compete. Maybe we see the Stars in the first round next season. If that happens, the Avalanche have to show up better than they did this postseason.
Being eliminated by the Stars again would be a crushing defeat, especially if Colorado is confident that they can make it further in the postseason than Dallas, which should always be the mindset.
