Well, of course, nothing is automatic. It's sports. Bad decisions are always going to be made. But this man has proven he has way too many warts to continue on with him. He's not taking these guys anywhere and if you don't keep marginal players, there's no reason to keep a marginal coach. It's a business. What have you done for me lately? In the case of Eakins it's what have you ever done in your career? Time to move on.
Our defense is infested with a lot of marginal players acquired by Verbeek: Vaaks, White, Klingberg, Kulikov, and Beaulieu. Strome and Vatrano brought offense, but they also brought a lack of defense with their -29 and -28 rating, respectively. Verbeek snatched up Leason and Megna off of waivers, but passed upon Tolvanen.
Ducks | 2021-22 | | | | | | | | | | |
|---|
Games | GM | GF | GA | GD | | Games | W | L | OTL | Pts | Point share |
All Games | Total | | | | | | | | | | |
Gm 1 to 48 | Non-Verbeek | 141 | 137 | 4 | | 48 | 23 | 21 | 9 | 55 | 0.573 |
Gm 49 to 82 | Verbeek | | | | | | | | | | |
Verbeek surely knows how to takeaway talent and replace it with marginal talent. He didn't do a great job in the 2022 summer.
I see what Eakins has done when given a lot of healthy talent. But I don't believe many on here comprehend the beyond shit roster Verbeek has assembled for 2022-23 season. Anaheim should have the worst record by a long mile because we have the fewest RW (regulation wins), worst GA, and worst GD, but we're in the tank thread counting points to see if we might finish 4th worst record. Too many were scared we would win b/c Eakins' group doesn't give up. I've said this often throughout the season, we're a shit roster that overachieves.
We've seen teams quit on coaches often. Carlyle had players quit on him.
Eakins' tenure with the Ducks:
2019-20: Finished 5th worst. Year 1 of Murray rebuild. (TDL: lost Kase and Ritchie)
2020-21: Finished 2nd worst.
2021-22: Finished 10th worst. (see the splits table above for Non-Verbeek vs Verbeek) Reset rebuild.
2022-23: Finish bottom-3. Year 1 of Verbeek reset rebuild.
Players haven't quit on Eakins, as shared in Stephens article from old vets like Rico and Fowler to a rookie like McTavish.
People forget that when Verbeek took over the Ducks, Anaheim was 3rd in the Pacific.
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Blashill's name comes up because of the Red Wings-Verbeek connection. Blashill was kept around until the team was ready to take the next step, which was three years later under GM Yzerman.
I think Verbeek has pegged Matt McIlvane to be his future NHL head coach. McIlvane isn't a retread of a former NHL/AHL coach. Yet, McIlvane still needs to prove himself at the AHL level first. Anaheim is waiting for its blueliners to develop, which is still two more years. In those two years, McIlvane will have two years worth of coaching in the AHL and a grasp on a lot of the Ducks young prospects. He can growth with them at the NHL level.
I know Terry, Z, McTavish, and Jones continued to progress despite having far fewer talent around them. Fowler hit his new career high in scoring for the second season in a row. Rico has been stellar after being waived two seasons ago. Benoit has incrementally improved his defensive game. Vatrano hit a new career high in scoring with the Ducks. The two youths who took steps backwards are Lundy (could be injury related) and Drysdale (injury related b/c he missed the season). That's most of our talented players, which means we're missing a whole helluva lot of talent on the team. You can't make lemonade with only lemons.
At least with the devil I know in Eakins, the talented players will keep producing and/or improving. Eakins will set up McIlvane perfectly in three years.
But if we're to replace Eakins, then it better be for a known product. I don't want to gamble on a "Bouchard" with our youths burgeoning onto the NHL ranks. What coach is willing to be plug coach? Eakins is an exception since he's grown with these players and org. I just don't want our players quitting on a coach next year as it could truly hamper our youths. I already seen what has happened for the past two seasons in the AHL.
