Pushing the right buttons behind the bench

When you look back at how the Stars came together this year, the hiring of Pete DeBoer was perfect.

The Stars decided to move on from Rick Bowness, and DeBoer had just been let go in Vegas. Shuffling coaches is an every-year proposition in the NHL, and last summer was one of the most successful, as Bowness ended up in Winnipeg, Bruce Cassidy took DeBoer's place in Vegas, and DeBoer took Bowness' place in Dallas. All three worked out, and there's a good reason for that. All three are good coaches, and they brought new ideas to places where they would fit.

DeBoer has a history of winning quickly, and he brought longtime assistant coach Steve Spott with him. They added Alain Nasreddine to coach the defense, and things fell together very quickly.

"As a group, they definitely have us prepared," said forward Joe Pavelski, who previously worked with DeBoer in San Jose. "They're on top of things, and they have a lot of fun, and that's been great."

DeBoer, 54, has coached with five NHL teams, getting to the Conference Finals six times and to the Stanley Cup Final twice. He has been good friends with Spott, 54, since they were teens. Spott has coached with DeBoer in the NHL in San Jose, Vegas, and Dallas. Nasreddine, 47, is a former NHL defenseman who spent seven seasons as an assistant coach and interim head coach with the Devils.

"It's been a good process," DeBoer said. "We're on the same page, and we're moving forward."

One of the main reasons the staff is on the same page is the history between Spott and DeBoer. The two met through mutual friends when they were younger and kept in touch along the way. Spott played college hockey at Colgate and then briefly in the AHL. DeBoer played junior hockey in Windsor and then had a couple of nice seasons in the AHL. However, DeBoer decided to end his playing career to pursue a law degree.

"You reach a point where you realize it's probably not going to work in hockey, and I did that," he said. "It was a really tough decision, but it was the right decision at that time."

DeBoer received degrees from the University of Windsor and the University of Detroit, and in the process, worked for local law firms. However, at age 27, he received a chance to get back into hockey as a coach with the Detroit Junior Red Wings. He accepted the offer and hasn't looked back.

DeBoer moved on to coach Plymouth and Kitchener in the OHL, and of course, he brought Spott with him. When DeBoer got his big break in 2008 as head coach of the Florida Panthers, Spott took over as head coach of Kitchener. He stayed there for five seasons, eventually coaching a young Radek Faksa. DeBoer moved on past Florida to New Jersey, and Spott landed as an assistant coach with the Maple Leafs. And then in 2015, the stars aligned and DeBoer was named head coach of the Sharks and welcomed Spott as an assistant coach.

It was a bit of a challenge, but with the wives and kids of the two coaches good friends already, there was an easy flow to the relationship.

"We've tried to separate the two," Spott said. "Our kids are the best of friends, our wives are the best of friends, and we have a personal relationship outside the rink. But inside the rink, we're very professional, and I know my boundaries. When we're in these buildings, he's the boss and what he says goes."

DeBoer's a good boss. His teams in San Jose, Vegas and Dallas all found fast starts, possibly because of the relationship between the two.

"One, he's a tremendous coach and a tremendous friend," DeBoer said of Spott. "I've got a lot of respect for him, both personally and professionally. I've known him forever, and any time you're taking over a new team, you don't want to have to coach the coaches and coach the players at the same time. Steve knows exactly what I want, what I'm looking for, how I want to play, and he can help me deliver the message. I think it's a big credit to him that we've been able to get things in place quickly. I don't think it's been an accident."

Spott and DeBoer were honored together during the regular season when the Stars played in Vegas, their old team. It was an appropriate moment, as the two really do coach well as a team. And the "outsider," Nasreddine, has fit in perfectly.

"Pete and Steve had the relationship, but it didn't take long for me to work in," Nasreddine said. "For me, you're around them, and it's easy. That's how I feel. They made me feel welcome right away and important right away, and that's all you want. We spend a lot of time together, and I feel I've been with them just as long as they've been together."

Nasreddine runs the defensemen during the game and coaches the penalty kill, among other things. DeBoer said he's been impressed by the man who had the Stars second in the league in penalty kill success at 84.0 percent.

"He's an excellent coach. I'm so glad we jumped on him when we did," DeBoer said. "It's been a seamless fit, both from a personality perspective with our group, and strategically as well. I consider myself a pretty good penalty kill coach, that's something I've done at times in the past, and I've learned from him. That's another important piece of a coaching staff. When you're hiring people, make sure they're people you can learn from."

Nasreddine had some choices to make when he wasn't offered a new contract by the Devils, but he said he's happy this is the place he landed.

"I definitely thought, `Wow, this could be nice,'" he said of his initial read on the Stars. "Dallas is a good team that's contending now with the veteran leadership and young players it has. And when you look at the front office, Jim Nill, I can't say enough good things about him. It starts there, and it trickles down."

It sure looks like Nill has landed on a coaching staff that could stick together.

"They've been great," Stars captain Jamie Benn said. "Very well detailed, consistent with what they do. They're focused on what we have to do to win every night. We focus some on the other team, but the main thing is focusing on us and what we need to do. They've got a lot of insight on things we need to do better, and that's helped both individually and as a team."

Benn had a bounce-back season with 78 points (33 goals, 45 assists) this year. Jason Robertson (109 points), Roope Hintz (75 points) and Miro Heiskanen (73 points) posted career-highs. Wyatt Johnston was one of the league's best rookies at age 19. Jake Oettinger was one of the league's best goalies at 24. The coaching staff has helped shepherd the group and bring them to a good place.

Earlier in the playoffs, Dallas was in an emotional series with Minnesota and found a way to stay calm despite some rough hits and rough words. Then, against underdog Seattle, the Stars found their inner strength while battling through a seven-game series. Players said DeBoer was a chief reason why.

"There's a belief that what he's teaching and what he wants us to do is the right formula," said Oettinger. "If your coach is back there freaking out and hitting the panic button every time you lose, that trickles down. He's the exact opposite of that in this group of guys, and he believes if we do what he's teaching us, we can win the Cup. Belief starts and ends with him, and his demeanor trickles down to our whole group."

And looking back now, after 103 games with Dallas, including 19 postseason tilts, and becoming one of the final three teams left standing, he seems like the right coach at the right time for this franchise.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika