Rumor: Dallas Eakins pegged as replacement for soon to be fired NHL head coach.

A return to the NHL for Eakins?

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Published 5 years ago
Rumor: Dallas Eakins pegged as replacement for soon to be fired NHL head coach.
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I have to admit this is one name that I did not expect to see associated with another National Hockey League franchise during my lifetime, but it seems that hard work and dedication have created a road to redemption for former National Hockey League head coach Dallas Eakins.

Unfortunately for Eakins most fans around the National Hockey League will only know him for his rather catastrophic time as a head coach in the National Hockey League, a time that saw him become head coach of the troubled Edmonton Oilers organization. Upon taking over for the team Eakins had a terrible run of success as the bench boss of the Oilers, although given that the team has continued to be dysfunctional long since past his tenure behind the bench you really do have to wonder how much of a role Eakins played in that failure. No doubt he should shoulder some of the blame but a lot of good coaches have since gone to Edmonton and seemingly failed to turn the culture in that organization around. 

Prior to that however Eakins had been very successful as an assistant head coach coach for both the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League as well as the Toronto Maple Leafs in the National Hockey League. So successful in fact that the Maple Leafs would eventually name him head coach of the Marlies prior to him taking on the job as head coach of the Oilers. After his failure as a head coach in the NHL however Eakins went back to the minors and once again plied his trade in an effort to rebuild his reputation as a good hockey coach. 

Since being fired by the Oilers Eakins has gone on to become the head coach of the very successful San Diego Gulls franchise, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks, and it sounds like his strong performance in the AHL has once again earned him consideration for an NHL job. Obviously things have become quite bad for the Ducks franchise this season and recently TSN NHL insider Darren Dreger hinted at the fact that Eakins could soon be back in the NHL.

While providing an update on Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray Dreger revealed that Eakins is now the logical replacement to take over as head coach in Anaheim should the Ducks fire head coach Randy Caryle, something many expect the Ducks to do in short order. For Eakins sake I hope this run in the NHL goes better for him than his last shot with the Oilers did.

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