Was passing up on Dallas Eakins a mistake?

[TankNationTillDeath]

Now that we are where we are, and anyone who knows anything about hockey can see Carlyle for the Wilson he is, was perhaps the biggest mistake (Burkie) ever made letting Eakins go?

Now, forget about the season Edmonton is having with the ADHD kids, but think about the fact that mostly all of the troubled youth in the TML lineup was developed by Eakins, someone they had already gained their respect for. Carlyle and Eakins appear as opposites to me.... Eakins is a player's coach, a motivator. Carlyle is a broken tape record, Mr. "We aren't playing to the required level for success" idiot.

Kadri and JG, two of our most underperforming, underconfident players this season played to their full potential under Eakins. It was when they went back to the Marlies where they found their confidence, and brought it back with them to the NHL, only for Carlyle to destroy it once more.

Listening to guys like JG talk about Carlyle is difficult. They try to be so politically correct as to not say their true feelings. "Randy is very black and white and players need that".

Would we be in the mess today if Eakins was the coach? Would the players be listening to him?

Or is the issue based on leadership and GM?

Click to read more...

 

[Patience]

Eakins' results in Edmonton have been horrible to date. That team makes the Leafs look gritty, tough, disciplined and organized. Eakins simply rode the veteran wave with the Marlies, got along famously with the Toronto media and got that Edmonton gig.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Maybe he would've been succesful, but results aren't good for now.

His team right now, is a ****-show, though.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Other than Gardiner and Kadri, how many of the players that we have know him? None, he'd just be another coach for those guys.

 

[TootooTrain]

He might be good motivating young kids, but nobody knows how he is motivating grown men.

 

[tacoburrito]

all aboard the noel hypetrain!!!!

 

[Guy Boucher]

Is "Eakins" a code word for Boudreau or Dale Hunter?

 

[Pyrophorus]

all aboard the noel hypetrain!!!!

Eww, no.

The conversations with MacLean would be funny though.

 

[TankNationTillDeath]

Other than Gardiner and Kadri, how many of the players that we have know him? None, he'd just be another coach for those guys.

Reimer, Ashton, Bodie, Orr, D'Amigo, lol.. understandably, these aren't the guys who lead the team by any means, but, these are the guys that don't quit.

 

[showtime8]

At what point do people move on from blaming Carlyle for the team's brutal effort and actually blame the team. I know it would be easier to fire one person instead of 18, but the cart will only as fast as the horses in front of it.

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

At what point do people move on from blaming Carlyle for the team's brutal effort and actually blame the team. I know it would be easier to fire one person instead of 18, but the cart will only as fast as the horses in front of it.

Probably when Carlyle stops employing a terrible system that clearly isn't working.

 

[tacoburrito]

At what point do people move on from blaming Carlyle for the team's brutal effort and actually blame the team. I know it would be easier to fire one person instead of 18, but the cart will only as fast as the horses in front of it.

completely agree. if the players played they way they are are supposed to, carlyle wouldn't need to keep repeating himself. What makes you guys think a coaching change will help when we are back in the same situation wilson left us in? who comes after carlyles replacement?

 

[TankNationTillDeath]

If Eakins can help motivate Colton Orr to make an NHL come back I think he can motivate anyone

 

[tacoburrito]

If Eakins can help motivate Colton Orr to make an NHL come back I think he can motivate anyone

yeah, hes really motivating the oilers players!

 

[TankNationTillDeath]

completely agree. if the players played they way they are are supposed to, carlyle wouldn't need to keep repeating himself. What makes you guys think a coaching change will help when we are back in the same situation wilson left us in? who comes after carlyles replacement?

Okay so your answer is wait until we miss playoffs and don't even attempt to salvage the season?

Trading players also won't be the answer, it'll just fracture the broken system even more.

What about Steve Spott? It's his guys this year that are pumping any form of life into our team. Dougie Gilmour anyone??

 

[showtime8]

Probably when Carlyle stops employing a terrible system that clearly isn't working.

What system would work with the players that are currently on the team?

 

[showtime8]

Here is the answer:

With the players that are currently on the defence, you can not have a successful DEFENSIVE structure. Gardiner, Rielly, and Franson all have an offensive mindset and that's fine because that's their style of play. But the biggest issue here is they aren't paired with a player that best suits their style. Phaneuf is a tweener in the eyes of the Leafs organization. They're hoping that he provides offense and also can shut down the other teams top players. There aren't too many defencemen around the league that actually do it. But Phaneuf is paired with either Gunnarsson. So that leaves you the option of pairing 3 offensive defencemen with 1 of Gleason, Fraser or Ranger.

Take a look around the league with all of the stanley cup winners or successful teams:

Los Angeles
Muzzin - Doughty
Mitchell - Voynov
Regehr - Martinez

St. Louis
Pietrangelo - Bouwmeester
Jackman - Shattenkirk
Cole - Leopold

Anaheim
Beauchemin - Lindholm
Fowler - Lovejoy
Vatanen - Fistric

I could go on but what is the obvious combination that you see there?

You have a young, talented, smooth skating offensive defenceman paired with a VETERAN defensive defenceman that can help your young prospect develop properly.

Of course this won't fix all of the problems, but it alleviates a lot of problems that will happen with a rookie. Instead you find yourself having Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner, 2 guys that are suspect to getting beat in their own end, paired together!!! How does that make any sense?

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Now that we are where we are, and anyone who knows anything about hockey can see Carlyle for the Wilson he is, was perhaps the biggest mistake (Burkie) ever made letting Eakins go?

Now, forget about the season Edmonton is having with the ADHD kids, but think about the fact that mostly all of the troubled youth in the TML lineup was developed by Eakins, someone they had already gained their respect for. Carlyle and Eakins appear as opposites to me.... Eakins is a player's coach, a motivator. Carlyle is a broken tape record, Mr. "We aren't playing to the required level for success" idiot.

Kadri and JG, two of our most underperforming, underconfident players this season played to their full potential under Eakins. It was when they went back to the Marlies where they found their confidence, and brought it back with them to the NHL, only for Carlyle to destroy it once more.

Listening to guys like JG talk about Carlyle is difficult. They try to be so politically correct as to not say their true feelings. "Randy is very black and white and players need that".

Would we be in the mess today if Eakins was the coach? Would the players be listening to him?

Or is the issue based on leadership and GM?

I've cooled on Eakins, he is a good developmental coach, but he is miles behind Hitchcock. If I had my way, I would try to get him this summer, he has an out this summer from St. Louis.

 

[dubey]

*Checks where Edmonton is in the standings*

Yes

 

[Stephen]

Eakins is having a hard enough time in Edmonton, I don't think that's what this group needs.

The core of Phaneuf, Kessel, Lupul, Bozak, Kadri might need to get trimmed down by two or three bodies, replaced with some real leadership and a smart disciplined coach to come in and change the culture.

If Carlyle is fired, I think it establishes that this core is a bit of a coach killer. With all these long term deals in place I think the "boys" will just play like garbage if they don't like a guy and then have their coach replaced again.

 

[The Caveman]

If RC is fired, then it will be because he tried to implement a system that wasn't right for the talent that he had playing for him.

And no, it wasn't a mistake. Eakins hasn't proved anything yet.

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

What system would work with the players that are currently on the team?

Cut out the dump and chase on lines that can't handle it (pretty much all of them) and keep forwards higher up on the points, for one. This wouldn't cure all of the problems, but it should help.

Peter Laviolette was reasonably successful with a poor defense corps in Carolina and weak goaltending in Philly. He could probably get more out of this roster than Carlyle is right now.

 

[Hibachi]

Eakins has no team to coach, I mean Shultz, you know that offensive dman everyone was raving about? he knows nothing about defense yet he gets the most ice time. Maybe Eakins is trying to build him into a defender by playing him more...who knows.

But to say Edmonton sucks and that means Eakins sucks is beyond stupid. It will take more then 1 season to judge how good Eakins is as a coach, but Edmonton's roster is a ****show.

Who knows how well Eakins could have done here, one thing that worries me about Eakins though is he's had some iffy moments with the media there, could only imagine what would happen here. However he's been fine with the media when he was coaching the Marlies.

 

[showtime8]

Cut out the dump and chase on lines that can't handle it (pretty much all of them) and keep forwards higher up on the points, for one. This wouldn't cure all of the problems, but it should help.

Peter Laviolette was reasonably successful with a poor defense corps in Carolina and weak goaltending in Philly. He could probably get more out of this roster than Carlyle is right now.

I agree that you should have the forwards higher up and not collapse so much, but do you know the reason that they collapse so much? The way I see it is because the defence isn't capable of retrieving and making the first pass on their own. If they were, I think that having the forwards on the half wall would be a smart idea because then it would lead to the identity that the Leafs are--- a rush team!

 

[gamer1035]

Eakins sucked while he was here. We had a bunch of beast ahl vets which is why we won so much. Give any coach in the nhl that team and they will do the same/better. He also didn't develop prospects. He would always sit them for the ahl vets.