There is a long list of NHL coaches that have been fired this season and the newest addition is Gerard Gallant, who was fired by Vegas this morning.
Vegas lost to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night, causing them to drop from second in the Pacific Division to now being tied for the second wild card spot. The Golden Knights announced the decision to fire Gallant and hire former San Jose Sharks head coach Peter Deboer. Assistant coach Mike Kelly was relieved of his duties as well, but no replacement has been announced at this point.
"In order for our team to reach it's full potential, we determined a coaching change was necessary. Our team is capable of more than what we have demonstrated this season," Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon said in a team statement. "We would like to thank Gerard and Mike for their service to the Vegas Golden Knights. They were both instrumental to the success we have enjoyed in our first two-plus seasons and we wish them the best moving forward."
In Peter DeBoer, we have a proven, experienced head coach who we believe can help us achieve our ultimate goal. We are excited to welcome Peter and his family to the Vegas Golden Knights organization. We look forward to a strong finish to the 2019-20 season with Peter at the helm and a successful tenure in the seasons to come."
DeBoer was fired by the Sharks on Dec. 11, 2019. He spent just over four seasons with the Sharks where he had a record of 198-129-34. He helped the Sharks reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 2016, where they ultimately lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins. DeBoer has also coached with the Florida Panthers and New Jersey Devils. He will join the team on Thursday, ahead of their game against the Senators in Ottawa.
Gallant was hired to be the first ever coach of the Vegas Golden Knights on April 13, 2017. In two and a half seasons, Gallant was pretty successful; he has a regular season record of 118-75-20. Vegas made the playoffs in both of the years that Gallant was head coach. In 2017-18, in their first season ever, they made it all the way to the cup final, only to lose to Washington. The following playoffs, they looked like they were primed to make another deep run, but they fell victim to a questionable call during Game 7 of the first round against San Jose, which resulted in them giving up four power play goals and eventually losing the game in overtime.
Gallant was selected to be head coach of the Pacific Division team at the All-Star Game on Jan.25 in St. Louis.
Deboer will try to get the Golden Knights back on track and back into the battle for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. Right now they sit tied with Winnipeg for the last wild card spot, but sit only three points behind Arizona who is first in the Pacific.
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