Veteran head coach Pete DeBoer thinks the sky’s the limit for the New York Islanders as he enters his first full campaign as the team’s bench boss.
Given the state of the NHL, with a couple of unexpected teams making deep runs in last year’s playoffs, and with what he saw in his own team in four games behind the bench at the end of the 2025-26 season, DeBoer thinks there could be a quick turnaround on Long Island.
DeBoer joined First Up on TSN1050 on Friday morning to discuss his experience joining the team in April, his expectations for the coming season and how excited he is about star defenceman Matthew Schaefer.
“A little bit of a whirlwind,” DeBoer said, talking about his experience being hired to coach the Islanders. “I’ve obviously never taken a team over that late in the season ... So to go in with four games left was something totally different. Looking back now, I’m glad I did it. I got to spend two weeks with the guys, I got to do exit meetings, I got to coach some games and see what they’re like on the bench, so I feel way further ahead than had I been showing up to training camp without having done that this year.”
The Islanders were in the thick of the playoff race until the finish line last season. The team finished with 91 points at 43-34-5, but sputtered late in March and missed the playoffs after losing seven of their final eight games. A four-game losing streak prompted the firing of head coach Patrick Roy, and DeBoer coached the team to one win in his four games behind the bench.
It marked the second consecutive season that ended without a spot in the playoffs for the Islanders, after qualifying for the postseason in five of the preceding six seasons. DeBoer thinks that the team can make a quick turnaround, given the current state of affairs in the NHL.
“We all want to win and we want to win a Stanley Cup,” DeBoer said. “I think the league’s different than it was even five years ago.”
The 2026 playoffs featured four teams that were playing in the postseason for the first time in over five years - the Utah Mammoth (last played in 2020), the Philadelphia Flyers (2020), the Anaheim Ducks (2018) and the Sabres (2011). Three of those teams won a playoff series, though none of them advanced beyond the second round.
“I think five years ago there was two or three teams that legitimately could win, and I think last year showed with what [the] Montreal [Canadiens] did, the run they went on, the run [the] Buffalo [Sabres] went on, that you can turn things around pretty quickly,” said DeBoer. “Some of these teams that you feel aren’t contenders can turn it around quickly if they have the right personnel.”
DeBoer said that speaking to Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper - who he worked with extensively in Olympic preparation for Team Canada - revealed a lot about how Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche operates, and that was reassuring for DeBoer. But the main factor that pulled DeBoer to New York was the roster.
“What I liked with the Islanders’ situation was some of the names on paper, starting with, obviously, Schaefer, who I got to watch a lot during my Olympic process and being involved in picking the Canadian Olympic team,” DeBoer said. “But they’ve got a lot of young players underneath that, you combine that with some really good veteran guys there - Bo Horvat, Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock, and they got one of the best goalies in the world in Ilya Sorokin.”
DeBoer, predictably, focused on Schaefer more than any other player. The 18-year-old defenceman is coming off a season in which he was a unanimous Calder Trophy winner after tallying 23 goals and 59 points in 82 games. The first-overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft was even in the conversation to feature on Team Canada at the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
Former Islanders captain Anders Lee signed with the Mammoth in the off-season, leaving an opening to wear the ‘C’ next season. DeBoer laughed when asked whether Schaefer could serve as captain in his age-19 season, but was effusive in his praise for the burgeoning star.
“He’s got future captain written all over him, whether it’s this year, or next year, or three years from now,” DeBoer said. “He’s already a voice in that room. He’s a really special kid. It’s amazing going through the Olympic process - Canada, with Macklin Celebrini and [Schaefer], these guys are generational players, but they’re both generational people too, which is really special. Cut from the Sidney Crosby-type cloth, so Canada’s in really good hands for the next 15 years with those two guys leading the way.”
DeBoer has a long history of success in his first season coaching a team. He took the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup finals in his first season behind the bench in 2012, he guided the San Jose Sharks to the Stanley Cup finals in his first season there in 2016, and he took the Vegas Golden Knights (2020) and Dallas Stars (2023) to the Western Conference finals in his first season with each of those teams.
He wouldn’t commit to another run of that level at this point, but he is expecting his team to take a step forward from last year’s finish.
“[Making the postseason is] the plan, that’s the million dollar question,” DeBoer said. “We’re gonna go in and we’ve looked at some things from a coaching perspective that we want to fix. You’re not making the playoffs with a 30th-ranked power play, and you’re not making the playoffs bleeding high-danger chances like they did last year and relying on your goaltender that much so we’ve got to dive in and fix some of that stuff.”
