Peter DeBoer has the magic touch.
His San Jose Sharks became the first team since the 2012 New Jersey Devils to reach the Stanley Cup Final after missing the playoffs, and DeBoer was the head coach of that Devils team, too.
The similarities don't end there. DeBoer took New Jersey to the final in his first season behind the bench with the club, and did the same this year with San Jose. Whatever he's selling when he arrives, his guys are buying.
But DeBoer is far from satisfied. His 2012 Devils came up short in the Stanley Cup Final, so he knows what it's like to get so close to the Cup, only to watch another team lift it.
"I've been this far once before," DeBoer said. "As great a night as this is, if you don't win the next round, it's still not a great summer. I think we'll enjoy this (Wednesday night) and our focus will turn to the big prize."
More than anything, DeBoer said, he's the product of good timing.
"(The Sharks) were coming off a down season, but they were coming off a decade of great hockey. They'd been well-coached," DeBoer said. "Todd McLellan and the previous staff are as good as there are in the business. These guys had a great foundation. Right place, right time.
"Everyone was ready for something a little bit fresher and newer, not anything that much different. The additions that (general manager Doug Wilson) made, it just came together. I inherited a similar team in New Jersey when I went in there. First time they missed the playoffs for a long time the year before I got there.
"I think when you go into that situation, when you have really good people like there was in New Jersey when I went in there, like I was with this group, they're pissed off, they're embarrassed by the year they just had, and they're willing to do and buy into whatever you're selling to get it fixed again. I think I was the benefactor of that."
