At first blush there is not a lot to recommend a guy like Peter DeBoer as a viable head-coaching option in the NHL.
He has just 217 career wins in 494 games, and one playoff appearance. This is over six-ish seasons worth of hockey (obviously he only coached 48 post-lockout, then got fired 36 games into this season) and, well, one playoff appearance in seven years, on its surface, seems to be the kind of thing that San Jose should be trying like hell to avoid. And yet here they are hiring this guy, who has broken 40 wins in a season just twice, and none since 2011-12.