For Golden Knights’ DeBoer, first time back in San Jose is a reunion

By Justin Emerson

Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021 | 2 a.m.

Vegas coach Pete DeBoer recalled the day he was fired by the San Jose Sharks.

It was Dec. 11, 2019, and he had just finished a winless road trip as part of a five-game losing streak with the Sharks. Then-assistant coach Bob Boughner drove him home from the airport, and soon afterward general manager Doug Wilson came over to deliver the news of his dismissal.

DeBoer was hired just over a month later by Vegas, where he’s made his mark on the team in the year-plus he’s been coach. 

He’ll return to San Jose at 1 p.m. today when the Golden Knights take on the Sharks at SAP Center.

“I wish it would have been under normal circumstances, but you get a chance to see some great friends and some great people that work around that rink and around the team,” DeBoer said. “When you spend four, five years around a place, you get to know it pretty intimately.”

DeBoer insists there are no hard feelings. 

He was also replaced in San Jose by a friend in Boughner. They went to high school together, played junior together and have been longtime friends. When DeBoer took the job with the Sharks, he hired Boughner from the junior ranks to be his assistant, and the duo helped lead the Sharks to the Stanley Cup Final in 2016.

Boughner left to coach the Florida Panthers a year later, then returned to be an assistant under DeBoer in 2019. Boughner was named interim head coach when DeBoer was fired, then later named permanent coach.

“We had such a special bond in what we went through, going on the Stanley Cup run and our history of knowing each other from the past and the junior days and there’s a lot of connections there,” Boughner said. “It was really tough, it was bittersweet. I was thankful to get an opportunity, but nobody really wants to get an opportunity in that situation.

“Fast-forward a year and everyone is back to work and feeling good and it’s going to be good to see those guys.”

DeBoer still has good relationships with plenty of the Sharks players, including captain Logan Couture, who DeBoer elevated to that position in 2019. Couture said Thursday he keeps in touch with both DeBoer and Vegas assistant Steve Spott, who was an assistant with DeBoer in San Jose and was fired at the same time.

“Oh yeah, big time,” Couture said when asked if it will be odd to see DeBoer and Spott on the opposite bench.

“We’ve had a lot of good times together — a few good years, some great runs. It’s tough to cheer for them obviously with them coaching the Knights, but those are two guys you pull for and you want them to be successful no matter where they go. But not tomorrow night and not when they play us.”

In addition to DeBoer and Spott making their returns to San Jose, it will also be the first game against the Golden Knights for Sharks assistant Rocky Thompson, who was the coach of Vegas’ AHL affiliate for three seasons.

The reunions aren’t just happening in a game between any two teams. This is the Sharks, the team that danced with the Golden Knights for seven games in 2019, a controversial playoff series that spilled into the next regular season.

While the Sharks’ teal uniforms may make Vegas fans’ blood boil forever, it’s a different world than it was two years ago. The obvious example is the Sharks coach in that series is running the Golden Knights now.

Many Golden Knights regulars like Robin Lehner, Alex Pietrangelo, Alec Martinez, Chandler Stephenson, Cody Glass, Nicolas Roy and Nicolas Hague did not play in that series. Longtime San Jose stars Joe Thornton, who was suspended in the series, and Joe Pavelski, whose injury sparked the famous five-minute major, play for different teams now.

The Golden Knights and Sharks haven’t shared the ice since Dec. 22, 2019. It’s hard to keep the flames of rivalry hot when you go more than a year between meetings.

“The rivalry did fade off a little bit,” forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “It’s not the same rivalry as we had two years ago. So, it’s nothing to worry about. We’re going over there just like any other team, just to win a game.”

The Golden Knights have made the trip to SAP Center plenty of times, and DeBoer has been there hundreds more times, but it’s been a long time since he had to find his way to the visitor’s locker room.

And when he does get to that room, he’s determined to make sure he leaves it a winner.

“Anytime you get fired it’s humbling and it’s a little shot to your ego because you obviously are told what you’re doing wasn’t good enough,” DeBoer said. “For me, taking this job, starting on Day 1 you’re out to prove the formula you use and what you do can work. I don’t think it’s about the game (tonight), I think that started on Day 1 of my new job with Vegas. That’s always something that motivates you.”