Vegas Golden Knights: Three reasons why DeBoer was hired
2. A fresh voice
I think we are starting to see a trend in the NHL now. I really do.
After the St. Louis Blues changed coaches at the midway point of the 2018-19 regular season, going from bottom of the NHL to Stanley Cup champions in a matter of months, that put the rest of the league on notice.
And it didn’t start with the Blues, either. Go back to the Pittsburgh Penguins when they hired Mike Sullivan in December 2015, a hiring that led to two Stanley Cups.
Both Craig Berube with the Blues and Sullivan with the Penguins reaped instant rewards after taking over their respective teams, proving that a fresh voice can have a positive effect.
So, did those two examples come into play when the Vegas Golden Knights front office decided to fire Gerard Gallant and bring in Peter DeBoer?
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It is impossible to say for sure but listening to General Manager Kelly McCrimmon, it is clear that this was somewhat of a panic move and they felt they needed to do something.
You can’t sack a team full of players but you can cut the head off the snake, so the Knights will be hoping that DeBoer shakes things up in that locker room and his arrival gives this team the kick up the backside it needs.
And Vegas is in a better position than the Blues were when they hired Berube and when Pittsburgh promoted Sullivan.
This is a clear attempt, in my eyes at least, to shake things up in a big way by inserting a fresh voice behind the bench and we will see if DeBoer has the same effect as a Craig Berube or a Mike Sullivan did with their respective teams.