DeBoer visited Milan in early October to gather firsthand knowledge of the situation on the ground. He watched video of players, attended management meetings and contributed to discussions on roster construction.
“That was totally different for me and an exciting kind of wrinkle in what we usually normally do as coaches,” he said.
He helped general manager Doug Armstrong communicate with Cooper.
“As a head coach, he knows the rhythm of a head coach, so he could get that information to ‘Coop’ at a more appropriate time than maybe I would have,” said Armstrong, who also is GM of the St. Louis Blues. “I’m doing my job at home, and Pete was able to really focus in on that, and it’s been great.”
DeBoer arrived at the Olympics a week ahead of the main contingent of coaches and players.
“He went on the train,” Armstrong said. “He went on the subway. He went to the village. He went to the hotel. So when everyone got here, he had a wealth of information that he could share that just helped us along.”
DeBoer downplayed that, deferring to Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s senior vice president of high performance and hockey operations.
“Got lost a few times,” DeBoer said. “I was just kind of along for the ride on that. … The work behind the scenes Hockey Canada did as far as how we’re going to move around the city, how we’re going to move back and forth to the rink, all the way down to pregame meals, things like that, it was months of work.”
It was important, because Team Canada landed Sunday morning, giving the coaches and players four days to adjust and prepare for their first game.
“A lot of the grunt work is done, whether that’s video or technical packages, scheduling,” DeBoer said. “We did as much of that as we could to try and alleviate the pressure on the group that was just arriving.”
The fun part was that DeBoer got to live at the village and attend the Olympic opening ceremony, something most of the NHL contingent didn’t get to do.
Now he’s responsible for the defense corps and penalty killing.
“I love it,” DeBoer said. “I’ve said all along: I’ve represented Canada numerous times as an assistant coach, and I love the different role as opposed to the responsibilities that come with being a head guy.
“It’s a great learning opportunity. It’s a great opportunity for perspective. You always come back with a little more appreciation for your assistant coaches after you come to one of these and are an assistant, so I think you always come back a better head coach.”
And make no mistake: DeBoer wants to come back to the NHL as a head coach.
“Oh yeah,” he said with a laugh. “I’m a head coach, yeah. I’m a short-term assistant coach.”