Ducks name Dallas Eakins as new head coach

[OccamsRazor]

 

 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/ducks-name-dallas-eakins-new-head-coach/

 

The Anaheim Ducks have officially named Dallas Eakins as their new head coach.

The club announced the hiring Monday.

 

“Dallas is an outstanding head coach who has worked well with our players since joining the organization four years ago,” Ducks executive vice-president and general manager Bob Murray said in a press release. “He is a tremendous leader and strategist, and deserves this opportunity.”

 

Eakins has long been suspected to be the next man up for the job, having coached the Ducks’ AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls, for the past four seasons. His time in San Diego saw the Gulls earn an overall 154-95-23 record with three trips to the Calder Cup playoffs.

“This is a tremendous honour for my family,” said Eakins, who will be the 10th bench boss in franchise history. “I am truly humbled. It was a privilege to serve as head coach of the San Diego Gulls during our first four seasons, and I look forward to building off that success here in Anaheim.”

 

This will be Eakins’ second stint as head coach in the NHL, having coached the Edmonton Oilers from 2013 to 2015. Prior to that, he served as head coach of the AHL’s Toronto Marlies for four seasons.

[yave1964]

This was a no brainer, he has coached most of the young kids who are going to make up the rebuild, guys like Steel, Kossila, Troy Terry and Max Jones are all going to be top nine forwards as soon as this year, he is a perfect transition coach to help acclimate them to the NHL.

[JR Ewing]

So, I was one of those people that wasn't convinced that he was the Oilers big problem, though a lot who follow the team insisted on it: like all of the coaches in that city, he was stung by an incredible roster imbalance and lack of support past a few quality players. He came in with a lot of fire, and I think he made some missteps in trying to make the team his own (immediately got the press on his bad side by removing junk food from the table) and made some assumptions about what sorts of things Oilers management stressed to the players. When he saw that a number of the players hadn't been taught some fundamentals, he ended up in what turned out to be counter-productive whiteboard sessions where the boys sat around for a half hour at a time, watching him draw Xs and Os.

 

But, you could also see him thinking about hockey. He talked about having more than one game plan. At a press conference, he was asked by a reporter if he was unhappy about the low number of hits the Oilers had that night, and I was so happy with his response. It went something like "Well, what's a good number of hits? I've been trying to figure that out. I could come up with a number, but maybe we had the puck a lot that night, and you can't get as many hits on those nights. Maybe we had it less, and we could have hit more. I'm still trying to figure this out."

 

I think he was hurt by the aforementioned lack of roster quality, and also ran afoul of a few key players who

a) Been gifted minutes and money before it was earned.

b) Had never been held to account. Even mentioning this in public saw David Perron traded within 24-hours.

c) Have since admitted that they didn't take things very seriously.

 

It struck me as very unlikely that his good work with the Marlies could indicate a coach that was bad. Nazeem Kadri has pretty much said that he has an NHL career because of Dallas Eakins' teaching and insistence on playing like there are two nets on the ice. The Marlies saw steady and consistent improvement when he was there, just like the Ducks farm club has.

 

I'm glad that Dallas Eakins has another chance at the NHL, and hope he can make a go of it.

 

[Podein25]

2 hours ago, JR Ewing said:

So, I was one of those people that wasn't convinced that he was the Oilers big problem, though a lot who follow the team insisted on it: like all of the coaches in that city, he was stung by an incredible roster imbalance and lack of support past a few quality players. He came in with a lot of fire, and I think he made some missteps in trying to make the team his own (immediately got the press on his bad side by removing junk food from the table) and made some assumptions about what sorts of things Oilers management stressed to the players. When he saw that a number of the players hadn't been taught some fundamentals, he ended up in what turned out to be counter-productive whiteboard sessions where the boys sat around for a half hour at a time, watching him draw Xs and Os.

 

But, you could also see him thinking about hockey. He talked about having more than one game plan. At a press conference, he was asked by a reporter if he was unhappy about the low number of hits the Oilers had that night, and I was so happy with his response. It went something like "Well, what's a good number of hits? I've been trying to figure that out. I could come up with a number, but maybe we had the puck a lot that night, and you can't get as many hits on those nights. Maybe we had it less, and we could have hit more. I'm still trying to figure this out."

 

I think he was hurt by the aforementioned lack of roster quality, and also ran afoul of a few key players who

a) Been gifted minutes and money before it was earned.

b) Had never been held to account. Even mentioning this in public saw David Perron traded within 24-hours.

c) Have since admitted that they didn't take things very seriously.

 

It struck me as very unlikely that his good work with the Marlies could indicate a coach that was bad. Nazeem Kadri has pretty much said that he has an NHL career because of Dallas Eakins' teaching and insistence on playing like there are two nets on the ice. The Marlies saw steady and consistent improvement when he was there, just like the Ducks farm club has.

 

I'm glad that Dallas Eakins has another chance at the NHL, and hope he can make a go of it.

 

 

I was going to say, but that speech (the one he made the day he was fired, which was weird), but then I saw this clip and I think I love him:

 

 

 

 

 

[JR Ewing]

@Podein25

 

Yeah, that's the presser I was talking about. Really good stuff.

 

Re: his speech the day he was fired... What a tough time for him. On December 23rd, he and his wife found out that they had fallen victim to a ponzi scheme and were wiped out financially. On December 24th,  Craig MacTavish drove to Eakins' house and fired him. That's much better treatment than Ralph Krueger got from MacT mind you, who was fired on a Skype call.

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by JR Ewing

[Podein25]

1 hour ago, JR Ewing said:

@Podein25

 

Yeah, that's the presser I was talking about. Really good stuff.

 

Re: his speech the day he was fired... What a tough time for him. On December 23rd, he and his wife found out that they had fallen victim to a ponzi scheme and were wiped out financially. On December 24th,  Craig MacTavish drove to Eakins' house and fired him. That's much better treatment than Ralph Krueger got from MacT mind you, who was fired on a Skype call.

 

 

OMG