Brian Burke slams Peter DeBoer for embarrassing Jake Oettinger.

The Western Conference Final has officially wrapped up and we are all now looking forward to the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers, a rematch of last year's final. While the hockey world looks forward to crowning a champion in 2025 however there are teams still dealing with the fallout from their playoff failures this season, with perhaps no team under the microscope more right now than the Dallas Stars.

The Stars' season ended in major controversy when head coach Peter DeBoer made the decision to pull goaltender Jake Oettinger in the 7th and deciding game of the series after Oettinger coughed up 2 goals after just 2 shots. Oettinger is the Stars clear #1 goaltender with a massive contract that kicks in next season to prove it, and there are many who feel DeBoer handled that situation very poorly.

Not only was Oettinger a big part of the reason the Stars got so deep into the playoffs in the first place, but the manner in which DeBoer pulled him from the net in the biggest game of the season was frankly humiliating for the Stars star nerminder.

This week, former National Hockey League general manager Brian Burke was asked if he had ever witnessed something like that during his decades long career in the NHL, and Burke admitted that it was a first.

"No I haven't and I hope I never do again," admitted Burke. "I didn't like that."

Burke, who expressed that he has a great affinity and respect for DeBoer, could not make sense of the decision.

"I can't understand this it doesn't make any sense," said Burke.

Things were so bad behind the bench in Game 5 that Burke argued the assistant coaches should shoulder some of the blame, with Burke insisting that one of the other coaches should have pulled DeBoer aside to calm the situation down.

"I blame the assistant coaches here, someone should have grabbed Pete," said Burke. "I think Pete lost his temper, someone should have grabbed him and said 'Calm down, whatever you say next is not gonna be smart, calm down.'"

As we all know that didn't happen and instead DeBoer would humiliatingly pull Oettinger out of the net after he had already started to return to the net following a timeout.

"I've never seen a pull after a timeout and then a pull," said Burke. "Especially the way he emphatically embarrassed the goalie with a big hook sign, not knowing what was going on... I think Pete DeBoer would love to have those 30/45 seconds back."

Despite his respect for DeBoer, Burke clearly did not agree with how the situation was handled.

"I don't think this was right, I don't think it was right," said Burke.

That being said, Burke believes this is a situation that can be repaired internally, although I must admit I don't believe that to be true myself.

"Pete DeBoer is a great coach.... this is something that can be repaired," said Burke. "I don't think it's irreparable."

While Burke does think the situation is fixable, he also admonished DeBoer for his behavior in Game 5.

"I think it was poor judgement and he lost his temper," said Burke. "And you can't ever lose your temper."

In the end however hockey is a team sport and Burke isn't willing to lay the blame solely at the feet of the Stars head coach.

"Someone should've stepped in," said Burke.

Do you agree with Burke here? Can this situation be fixed? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

You can see a condensed version of Burke's comments in the short clip below: