The Vegas Golden Knights have relieved Gerard Gallant of his coaching duties and named Pete DeBoer as their new head coach.
NEWS
The Golden Knights have made the following coaching changes:
Gerard Gallant & Mike Kelly have been relieved of their coaching duties
Peter DeBoer has been named head coachhttps://t.co/rQsULKgYzR
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) January 15, 2020
Gallant is two seasons removed from taking the expansion team to the Stanley Cup Finals and the Golden Knights have the ninth-best record (118-75-20) since coming into the NHL.
They fire Gallant in the midst of a four-game losing streak and one game into a four-game road trip before the All-Star break. Despite going 4-5-0 since Christmas, Vegas leads the league in xGF/60 (2.96) and is fifth in xGA/60 (1.91) over that span, suggesting that they’re playing great but not getting the results. (per naturalstattrick.com)
In steps DeBoer, who was on the other side of the Pacific Division rivalry with San Jose but was let go in mid-December. During his time with the Sharks, DeBoer was 10-13-2 head-to-head with Gallant’s Golden Knights.
It has been a tough season for NHL head coaches. Gallant was the seventh coach to be fired to-date.
- – Toronto fired Mike Babcock; hired Sheldon Keefe
- – Calgary fired Bill Peters; named Geoff Ward as interim head coach.
- – New Jersey fired John Hynes; named Alain Nasreddine as interim head coach.
- – Dallas fired Jim Montgomery; named Rick Bowness as interim head coach.
- – San Jose fired DeBoer; named Bob Boughner interim head coach.
- – Nashville fired Peter Laviolette; hied Hynes.
- – Vegas fired Gallant; hired DeBoer.
As of the firing, the Golden Knights are just outside of the wild card, sitting on 54 points (24-19-6). They are tied for 16th in GF/gm (3.02), 15th in GA/gm (3.04), t-8th in PP% (22.1) and t-19th in PK% (78.8).
Twitter Reaction
It’s a shame to have to say this because Gerard Gallant is such a good person full of respect and humility. But for those asking, this was entirely performance based.
— gary lawless (@garylawless) January 15, 2020
Earlier this season, Gallant and Vegas were talking about an extension. Just a crazy year
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 15, 2020
April 2019: Gerard Gallant calls Pete DeBoer a “clown”
January 2020: Gerard Gallant is replaced by… Pete DeBoer
— Brodie Brazil (@BrodieNBCS) January 15, 2020
What's keeping the Red Wings from bringing in Gallant or even Peter Laviolette right now? Yes, the team is terrible right now, but you have Steve Yzerman in charge and you're not getting anything out of Jeff Blashill. https://t.co/sQqh04v47d
— Brayton J. Wilson (@BJWilsonWGR) January 15, 2020
The Golden Knights firing Gallant is like a rich kid running away from home because the car his parents got him for Christmas was the wrong color
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) January 15, 2020
Fire Blashill and go get this man right now Steve #LGRW https://t.co/VIfWiDAoLa
— 🅱️rock 🥅 (@Brock_Seguin) January 15, 2020
No question that something was not right in Vegas but firing Gallant on the surface seems like a panic move. Not sure this move gets made if someone like Pete DeBoer was not available.
— jonathan davis (@westcoasthky) January 15, 2020