When the Stars hired Pete DeBoer as their next head coach last month, they asked him to handle simultaneous tasks: Squeeze juice out of veterans and introduce top prospects to the NHL.
It’s a balancing act that DeBoer may have to juggle as soon as this fall, when the Stars will invite elite junior players (and recent draft picks) Wyatt Johnston, Logan Stankoven and Mavrik Bourque to training camp. It could be up to DeBoer to determine how to allocate their playing time, when to use them and in what situations.
DeBoer will help transition the Stars’ next wave of contributors, and it’s something he’s not been afraid to do in the past.
While DeBoer may not have had the prospect pool that he inherits in Dallas — which features the CHL player of the year, the OHL player of the year and the QMJHL postseason MVP — at previous stops, he is no stranger to trusting young players.
In Florida, he asked 19-year-old rookie defenseman Dmitry Kulikov to play almost 18 minutes a game. In New Jersey, he funneled minutes to Adam Larsson as a 19-year-old (20:37), to rookie Jon Merrill (19:14) and to standout scorer Adam Henrique (18:10).
During his time in San Jose, DeBoer oversaw the development of Timo Meier, increasing his ice time 2 1/2 minutes in his second season, and two more in his third season. Tomas Hertl saw his ice time immediately increase a minute and a half when DeBoer arrived in 2015, and peaked in 2018-19 with 74 points in 77 games.
When asked which young player’s development he was most proud of, DeBoer pointed to sixth-round pick Kevin Labanc, who was a 48-point player (per 82 games) with DeBoer and a 35-point player without him.
“An example, we had Kevin Labanc, who was a [sixth-round] pick who came in and had a really poor development camp,” DeBoer said. “We worked with him. Our coaching staff put in hours with him, and he developed into a legitimate NHL player and scorer. That’s one that jumps off.”
Even in Vegas, where the Golden Knights gave DeBoer only two first-round picks to work with — and then traded both of them away — he found success with young players on the blue line.
“When I went into Vegas, I had a little bit of an older group on defense,” DeBoer said. “We immediately put Zach Whitecloud and Nic Hague into the lineup, and those two guys are going to blossom into very good NHL players for a long time that are just starting to scratch the surface of what they’re capable of doing. Those are guys that come to mind right off the top of my head, but I’m sure there are others in there.”
Whitecloud’s ice time was up 3 1/2 minutes per game in DeBoer’s first season. Hague assumed more responsibility last season, creeping toward 19 minutes per game.
So what does this mean for the Stars?
DeBoer’s history with trusting young defensemen and encouraging (even requiring?) defensemen to be involved offensively bodes well for a player such as Thomas Harley. He was not trusted by the previous Stars coaching staff as a 20-year-old last season, pushed aside in the playoffs and not given power-play time.
But DeBoer has shown the ability to allow talented first-round defensemen to earn big minutes, and this could be Harley’s chance to take a big step forward.
Are the development curves of Meier and Hertl ones that could be applied to Johnston, Stankoven or Bourque? Is Labanc a template for late-round forwards such as Jacob Peterson, Riley Damiani or even Antonio Stranges?
“In the end, the players dictate whether they’re ready or not,” Stars general manager Jim Nill said. “It’s easy to sit here and say, ‘Well, I’m just going to put this on the team.’ Our job is to make sure we win and have the best players to win. If they come in and these young guys show that they’re ready to do it, they’ll be on the team.”
Johnston and Stankoven will be either playing in the NHL or returned to their junior teams, according to the NHL-CHL agreement. Bourque will turn pro next season and can play in the AHL, if needed.
But if it’s not this season, it will surely happen at some point during DeBoer’s four-year contract in Dallas.
“Pete mentioned these younger players are different and maybe these guys are ready,” Nill said. “They’re going to have a good shot. They’ve been the top players in junior. They’ve been on the Canadian World Junior teams, these guys. They’re playing at elite levels.”
