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DeBoer knows he could lose his job, because that’s ‘pro sports’

Peter Deboer

Head coach Peter DeBoer works the bench against the New York Islanders during a preseason game at the Barclays Center on September 21, 2013 in Brooklyn borough of New York City.The game is the first professional hockey match to be held in the arena that is slated to be the new home for the Islanders at the start of the 2015-2016 season. (September 20, 2013 - Source: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America)

The results of the past two NHL seasons have been tough to accept for Devils coach Pete DeBoer.

After the lockout-shortened campaign of 2013, DeBoer said he thought his team deserved a better fate than missing the playoffs.

Then, in 2013-14 -- after star forward Ilya Kovalchuk “retired” from the league -- the Devils missed the playoffs again, thanks in large part to an absurd 0-13 record in the shootout.

So, despite a pair of non-playoff seasons that could be tempting to chalk up to bad luck, does DeBoer believe he’s on the hot seat heading into 2014-15?

Yep, he does.

“In this business, you go in every year knowing that that’s a fact,” DeBoer said, per The Record. “There’s no hiding from that. It doesn’t matter whether you have a 10-year contract or a one-year contract. I approach every year like we have to get this team to overachieve and play to its potential or there’s consequences. That’s the reality of pro sports. That doesn’t even factor into my mind. That’s just, being a coach for 20 years, something you deal with yearly.”

DeBoer has coached six seasons in the NHL. He missed the playoffs all three tries in Florida, after which he was fired. The only time his team qualified in New Jersey, it went all the way to Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Kings in 2012.

But that trip to the Final is becoming more of a distant memory for Devils fans. At the very least, they’re pining for some playoff excitement again. And if they don’t get it, DeBoer knows he may pay the price with his job.
“Obviously, whenever a team doesn’t get where you want it to go, [the possibility of getting fired] crosses your mind,” he said. “At the same time, those are things that you can’t control. You do the best job you can, you get the team to play as hard and as well as they can and be as prepared as they can and you hope that is noticed.”