FRISCO, Texas – Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger looks to the future with optimism, hoping to laugh one day about how last season ended. He was quickly substituted after conceding two goals on the only shots he faced in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final.
“In the long run, I feel like I’ll remember it as something that helped me,” Oettinger said on Thursday, during the start of training camp. “And when we win everything, we’ll remember it with a smile and feel like it was something I had to go through to get to that point.”
Jake OettingerThe Stars have reached the playoffs for four consecutive seasons with Oettinger in goal. They lost in the conference finals the last three seasons, with Edmonton being the team that eliminated them in the last two.
Oettinger was substituted at 7:09 minutes of the 6-3 defeat last May, in what was a curious decision and much commented on by the now former Stars coach, Pete DeBoer.Los dos primeros tiros de Edmonton sobre Jake Oettinger resultaron en goles, incluido este de Mattias Janmark, lo que llevó a una rápida sustitución del portero de Dallas.That decision raised questions about the relationship between the coach and the 26-year-old goalkeeper, who signed an eight-year, $66 million contract extension last October, which will come into effect this season.
The two did not speak immediately after the decision.
“It was a little more exaggerated than it really was,” Oettinger said. “I think things happen, emotions run high, and people say and do things on impulse that they may regret. I mean, I’ve done it in my life. I’m sure everyone here has… You just learn from it, and that’s what I did.”
Jake Oettinger
Eight days after the defeat, the Stars fired DeBoer. General Manager Jim Nill said then that the players’ opinion and the consequences of Oettinger’s change were not the only factors in the decision to dispense with the coach, who had a record of 149-68-29 in regular season games and 29-27 in the playoffs during three seasons in Dallas.
DeBoer stated that he did not regret having substituted Oettinger, but he did regret how he handled the narrative after the game.
“Listen, we all had a part in coming up short again, and that starts with me,” DeBoer said. “It was my fault, it was the fault of all the coaches, it was the fault of all the players, it was the fault of the entire organization. We all created the disappointment. We all had a part, not just one person.”
Pete DeBoerRegarding his reference to Oettinger losing six of the previous seven playoff games against Edmonton in two years when answering a post-game question about the change, DeBoer said he should have made it clear that those losses were everyone’s fault.
“It wasn’t just him. It was all of us,” DeBoer said. “It was all of us.”
Pete DeBoer
When asked on Thursday about DeBoer’s comments, Oettinger said: “I think he hit the nail on the head with what he said, so let’s leave it at that.”
In 251 regular season games (242 as a starter) over five NHL seasons, Oettinger has a record of 149-66-27, a .912 save percentage, and a 2.52 goals-against average. In 65 playoff games, he has a 32-30 record with a .912 save percentage and a 2.56 GAA.
“I think he’s certainly one of the top three goalies in the league,” said teammate Mikko Rantanen. “It’s a huge advantage to have a goalie you can trust. And he works hard off the ice. You know he wants to get better, which is really good too.”
