Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press via AP
Golden Knights new head coach Peter DeBoer is seen on the bench as they take on the Ottawa Senators during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020 in Ottawa, Ontario.
Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020 | 2 a.m.
The fan reaction to the Golden Knights’ coaching change was a combination of shock and disgust. Not only did the team fire a beloved coach in Gerard Gallant, it replaced him with former public enemy No. 1 in Peter DeBoer.
If you asked a casual Golden Knights follower to name another coach in the league at the beginning of the season, he or she probably would have said DeBoer—and not for a good reason. He’s same guy who coached the San Jose Sharks as recently as December, the same guy who accused Gallant of “chirping” at players during last year’s playoffs, the same guy Gallant called a “clown.” Few could have guessed DeBoer would be coaching the Golden Knights some seven months later.
And it’s not just fans who felt that way. The move also stunned Golden Knights players, who left a 4-2 loss January 14 in Buffalo with Gallant as their coach and discovered the next morning that DeBoer had replaced him.
“We had that hatred for the team that he coached,” forward Mark Stone said of DeBoer. “It was weird. Ten months ago, we probably wouldn’t have said a nice thing about him. We don’t say anything nice about the San Jose Sharks in our locker room.”
Like it or not, it’s DeBoer’s team now. Vegas management feels like the Golden Knights haven’t reached their full potential, and are looking to DeBoer to get them there. Those changes started right away.
The first glimpse of the new coaching approach related to player usage. In DeBoer’s second game as head coach, January 18 at Montreal, his team went down 3-0 in the first period. In that instance a coach has two choices: Pack it up and call it a night or go for it. DeBoer chose the latter, particularly with his deployment of defensemen—and it helped the Knights rally to tie it up and earn a hard-fought point on the road.
Shea Theodore logged 28 minutes, 43 seconds of ice time in that game, a career-high by nearly two minutes, and Nate Schmidt played more than he had in any game this season but one. Meanwhile Deryk Engelland played his second-fewest minutes of the season. In other words, DeBoer opted to go with his offense from the blue line, a throwback to his time in San Jose.
“That’s the Brent Burns/Erik Karlsson rule,” DeBoer said. “[Theodore is] an elite defenseman. I thought he was excellent … and we don’t come back in that game without him.”
With the Sharks, DeBoer relied heavily on Burns and Karlsson, who ranked seventh and 12th, respectively, in the NHL last season in average ice time. Neither Theodore nor Schmidt has a Norris Trophy on his résumé like those San Jose stars, but they have a similar scoring touch. And to put that nose for the net to better use, DeBoer has implemented a new practice drill that had defensemen taking a greater role in breakouts and joining the rush.
DeBoer’s use of his top forwards seems more peculiar thus far. In his first game with Vegas, in which the Golden Knights scored early and ran away with a victory at Ottawa, nearly every regular scoring threat played under his season average in ice time. When the Knights needed a comeback in game two, he played those forwards more, but not an eye-popping amount of time like the defensemen.
“We can’t wear people out,” DeBoer explained. “One of the strengths of this team is its depth, and that’s going to be something we’re going to look for every night.”
VGK fans won’t get a full look at DeBoer’s system until the team returns from the all-star break and its bye week January 31 at Carolina, but the coach has given us some clues as to what the Golden Knights will look like going forward, in terms of lines and ice time. It’s too early to draw definitive conclusions, but so far DeBoer hasn’t messed with the team’s lines and has instead shifted toward a style that conserves forwards and leans on defensemen.
“He’s got a lot of systems in place, and it’s just about executing,” Theodore said. “It’s going to be a bit of process, but I think we have a smart enough group to do it.”
Meanwhile, DeBoer has done what he can to endear himself to his new team on a personal level. He accepted an olive branch offer of 7Five Brewing Co. beer from brand co-founder Ryan Reaves, and a funny video of him puffing the smelling salts with the players circulated after the first game.
“I needed to clear my head,” he joked. “So they suggested I take a puff to clear things. I was all right with that.”
Vegas fans—some of whom remain loyal to Gallant and unsure about DeBoer—won’t get their first in-person look at the new coach until his T-Mobile Arena debut February 8. But success cures all, so if the Golden Knights come home on a roll after this long road trip, lingering doubts should subside—especially if the Golden Knights not only make the playoffs but make a long postseason run.
“I’ve taken two teams to Stanley Cup Finals [and] went to a Western Conference final last year,” DeBoer said in his introductory press conference. “I feel I know what buttons to push to have success that time of year. If we can get in, everybody starts fresh and no one remembers where you were sitting in January.”
This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.
