Was passing up on Dallas Eakins a mistake?

[Penalty Kill Icing*]

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.

Our GM credited the coach for last season's success. If he gets credited for success, then he is fair game for being blamed for failures too.

I am not saying players are not at blame, they are; but I also have no doubt that any other coach can do a better job with these assets. We have been on 69 points pace for 2 and a half months now.

 

[Penalty Kill Icing*]

People forget that this is 3rd (or 4th?) coach for Oilers in a quite short time frame. When you keep shuffling through coaches at that pace, it has an adverse effect on players.

And tbh, Eakins is one of the least worries for Edmonton. Entire hockey world (except owner) knows it is Kevin ****ing Lowe.

 

[Kyle Doobas*]

was perhaps the biggest mistake (Burkie) ever made letting Eakins go?

 

[MaskedSonja]

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!

But wouldn't this lead back to run and gun and exposing goalies-the stuff that Wilson got fired for?

Don't get me wrong, I can certainly see the value in your idea. The problem I see it is Toronto doesn't have the forwards to keep playing defensively, and the defense still more offensive than defensive men.

The problem with rush hockey now is that you'd better be VERY good at it with some defensive good awareness-because in today's NHL obstruction isn't called much anymore and if your forwards are getting pinned down by defensive minded teams-well, look what happened during Wilson's reign.

Either way, Nonis has to make a decision-he wants to be rush, fine, he wants defensive, fine. But he's got make a choice and build the team in that direction: half and half just isn't cutting it.

 

[rdawg1234]

I dont understand what a new coach is going to do with this defense.

Franson thinks he's playing tennis at this point and is singlehandedly causing us to lose games at times.

Rielly is still a rookie and learning.

Gardiner is still making many mistakes.

and none of our vet guys like gleason or ranger are really that good(sometimes they're okay)

If you want us to do well, we need to add to this d-core, otherwise we'll just either outscore our problems(run and gun) or continue losing

 

[BiggestLeafsFanEVER*]

ha ha no, not a mistake.

he's been horrible in edmonton. pretty much all the players are worse than last year and so are the special teams. not to mention they're even worse int he standings.

 

[Hero]

Dale Hunter <3

I don't think RC is that bad. And I think the team will slowly turn it around.

 

[Mizral]

I don't know how good of a coach Eakins is - it's almost impossible to tell with that Oilers team. However I can say the media in Toronto would ***HATE*** Eakins. The guy is very gruff and hard to get along with when things are not going his way.

 

[hotpaws]

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.

ha ha no, not a mistake.

he's been horrible in edmonton. pretty much all the players are worse than last year and so are the special teams. not to mention they're even worse int he standings.

Well said .

I also don't like his attitude , he acts like he has a fistful of cup rings instead of realalizing he's an unproven rookie .

 

[leafstilldeath*]

according to some rumours Burke wanted Carlyle but Nonis wanted Eakins. Not sure if true though

 

[unstuck]

Regardless of where Edmonton is in the standings, Eakins' behaviour this season make me feel we dodged a bullet.

- The way he singled out Lars Eller was shockingly unprofessional

- He insulted the fan that threw his jersey on the ice (a veteran coach would say "Fans pay their money, they have the right to do what they want, we have to be better, etc.)

- declared that the team was "in mourning" over Taylor Hall not going to Sochi (drama queen much??)

He's either defensive because he knows he's in over his head, or he's purposefully playing the clown to take the heat of his players. Either way, DO NOT WANT.

 

[CanadasTeam]

Regardless of where Edmonton is in the standings, Eakins' behaviour this season make me feel we dodged a bullet.

- The way he singled out Lars Eller was shockingly unprofessional

- He insulted the fan that threw his jersey on the ice (a veteran coach would say "Fans pay their money, they have the right to do what they want, we have to be better, etc.)

- declared that the team was "in mourning" over Taylor Hall not going to Sochi (drama queen much??)

He's either defensive because he knows he's in over his head, or he's purposefully playing the clown to take the heat of his players. Either way, DO NOT WANT.

This.

 

[colchar]

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.

Did you ever consider that they played better on the Marlies because they were facing lower level competition?

 

[colchar]

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.

Guys like Ashton, Bodie, and D'QAmigo don't quit because they can't - they are trying to make the NHL full time!

 

[ShaneFalco]

I don't think a rookie coach would have been the way to go
Having said that, RC certainly isn't doing anything to keep his job, and I fear Nonis will make trades involving someone like Kadri or Gardiner, before he gives RC the axe.

 

[LeafsNation75]

If the Marlies had never made the Calder Cup Final in 2012 and etc, would everyone had wanted Eakins over Carlyle when Ron Wilson got fired? So I'm wondering how much did people see his winning record and think he should have been the next Leafs coach?

 

[Commander Clueless]

Yeah, considering how Eakins is doing so far, there is zero evidence he would be better than Carlyle is with the Leafs right now.

 

[Eb]

*Checks where Edmonton is in the standings*

Yes

I think you mean no,,,,

 

[mikebel111*]

Heck no!
Eakins had a bunch of veterans with marlies.
Look at marlies this year, still a good team but playing mostly kids this year.
I like eakins but no i dont think it was a mistake

 

[Salgari]

Carlyle seems like a stubborn, outdated coach. Eakins appears to be a terrible one.

 

[hockeygeek]

Regardless of where Edmonton is in the standings, Eakins' behaviour this season make me feel we dodged a bullet.

- The way he singled out Lars Eller was shockingly unprofessional

- He insulted the fan that threw his jersey on the ice (a veteran coach would say "Fans pay their money, they have the right to do what they want, we have to be better, etc.)

- declared that the team was "in mourning" over Taylor Hall not going to Sochi (drama queen much??)

He's either defensive because he knows he's in over his head, or he's purposefully playing the clown to take the heat of his players. Either way, DO NOT WANT.

-ragged out the media for alerting Crosby that he never scored against Edmonton

He's been crazier than Bryzgalov and they hate him in Edmonton….and note to the op…Kadri had his best season under Carlyle. He was always in the Eakins doghouse so not much has changed with Naz

 

[Warden of the North]

If the Marlies had never made the Calder Cup Final in 2012 and etc, would everyone had wanted Eakins over Carlyle when Ron Wilson got fired? So I'm wondering how much did people see his winning record and think he should have been the next Leafs coach?

I dont understand your reasoning.

A winning record is an indication that someone is doing something right.

 

[LeafsNation75]

I dont understand your reasoning.

A winning record is an indication that someone is doing something right.

I should have said that better so let me try again. During the season when Randy Carlyle got the job over Dallas Eakins, had the Marlies been going through a lossing season how many people would want him to get the job? So in my opinion it's very to say at the time Eakins should have got the job based on the Marlies record.

Also this past Saturday on HNIC I heard Glenn Healy say if Carlyle ever got fired they should consider giving the job to Steve Spott, because of the Marlies record so far. Now do you honestly think he has a chance at it based on that, because he is still a 1st year head coach in the AHL.

 

[highslot]

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.

this. i mean if spott, who was vilified by fans at the world's essentially has a similar record without kadri, gardiner, frattin, reimer, scrivens, etc. either he's better than we thought, or eakins wasn't as good as we thought.

 

[zeke]

Eakins is the most overrated coach ever, based mostly on the underrating of Leafs' prospects.