Anaheim Ducks Top Five Head Coaches of All-Time
A Coach’s job includes creating a winning style of play and then executing said style. In 24 years, eight men have held the honor as Head Coach of the Anaheim Ducks. Today we present the top five head coaches in franchise history.
Pucks of a Feather continues our All-Time lists. This time around, Jacob Robles ranks the best head coaches in Anaheim Ducks history. This list is solely based on accomplishments as the head coach. Criteria included record, playoff results, and length of stay.
5. Craig Hartsburg (1998-2001)
Our list starts with the Anaheim Ducks third head coach in franchise history. Hartsburg’s first season as coach of the Ducks came in the 1998-99 season when he took over for then-coach, Pierre Page, after a poor 1997-98 showing.
Hartsburg led Anaheim to only one playoff appearance during his time in Anaheim. The Ducks went down in four games to the Detroit Red Wings for the second time in three years, this time in the first round. In total, Hartsburg coached 197 games over three years in Anaheim, with a record of 80-82-29-6. His teams reached 83 points twice but in his last year fell to 66. Hartsburg was fired mid-season during the 2000-01 season as Anaheim continued to struggle.
Hartsburg makes this list at number five, mostly because he was one of the longer tenured guys on this list that had some success so with the franchise. Other coaches that could have been considered just weren’t around long enough to be included.
4. Ron Wilson (1994-1997)
Ron Wilson was the first Mighty Ducks of Anaheim’s head coach in franchise history. In their inaugural year, Wilson’s Ducks went 33-46-5. They (and the Florida Panthers) bested the point totals of previous expansion teams.
Wilson’s time as head coach saw one playoff appearance and one playoff series win. His lone series triumph came in the1997 postseason when the Ducks beat the Pheonix Coyotes in seven games. It wasn’t enough to save his job, he was replaced as head coach after his team was swept in the next round. Wilson would go on to coach the Washington Capitals the following season.
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Over his four-year tenure, the Ducks had a record of 120-145-31. Anaheim would have record-setting years in three of four under Ron Wilson. Anaheim reached 71, 78, and 85 points in Years 1, 3 and 4, respectively. Anaheim’s best season under Wilson came in his last. Anaheim finished 2nd in the Pacific behind Colorado.
Ron Wilson would have made it higher on this list if it wasn’t for what the next entry had accomplished. He will always go down as a key piece in Ducks history as its first head coach. Wilson’s contribution in leading the earliest iterations of the franchise to milestone years so early in its history can’t go unrecognized.
3. Mike Babcock (2002-2004)
A change was in the air after two abysmal seasons under Guy Charron and Bryan Murray. Mike Babcock was brought in to run the team at the start of the 2002-2003 season. Babcock’s tenure as head coach would prove to be the most successful of the franchise, up to that point. The Mighty Ducks finished his first season with 95 points, good for second place in the Pacific Division and the conference’s seventh seed. Anaheim’s first playoff appearance since 1999.
Anaheim faced Detroit in the first round of the 2003 playoffs. They swept the powerhouse franchise in an upset no one saw coming, thanks to an overtime goal from forward, Steve Rucchin. Anaheim then beat Dallas in six games. This series is highlighted by Game 1 being the fourth-longest NHL game in history. Petr Sykora capped off the contest, with a goal, to give the Ducks the win in the fifth overtime. A sweep of Minnesota occurred in the subsequent Western Conference Finals.
Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils ended Anaheim’s cup run in thrilling seven-game Stanley Cup Finals. The Ducks regressed in the 2003-04 season, finishing in 4th place in the Pacific Division. This would mark the end of Babcock’s time as head coach as he’d leave for Detroit after the 2004-05 lockout.
During his short stay, Babcock led the Ducks to a record of 69-62-19-14 and 16-6 in the postseason. The only reason Babcock is higher on this list, with a much shorter tenure than Wilson, comes to down to the fact that Babcock led the team to a Stanley Cup Finals appearance after two awful seasons in which the Ducks finished last.
2. Bruce Boudreau (2012-2016)
Bruce Boudreau was brought in to coach the Anaheim Ducks on November 30, 2011. Randy Carlyle was let go after a rough start to the 2011-12 season. Boudreau’s Ducks career didn’t start out too hot. The team struggled for the rest of that year due to their miserable start. From there, Boudreau led Anaheim to four straight Pacific Division titles from 2012-2016 surpassing the100-point mark three times.
Boudreau’s shortcomings seemed to always show up in the postseason. His teams would ultimately succumb to defeats Game 7’s. The last of these Game 7 losses came at the hands of the Nashville Predators in the first round of the 2016 playoffs. It would mark the end of the road for Boudreau in Anaheim. When the Ducks were eliminated, he was shown the door. In his five year tenure behind the Anaheim Ducks bench, Coach BB went 208-104-40.
Boudreau’s place on the list at number two seems like a no-brainer. His teams always looked like contenders, and in some cases, heavy favorites. Coach BB just could never get over the hump when it mattered most.
1. Randy Carlyle (2006-2011, 2016- Present)
First Tenure: After the lockout in the 2004-05 season, Anaheim hired former player and Norris Trophy winner, Randy Carlyle. Ducks GM Bryan Burke, familiar with Carlyle’s coaching style, from his days running the Canucks, made the hire.
His first season as head coach, the Anaheim Ducks made the playoffs as the sixth seed. They would lose in the Conference Final to the Edmonton Oilers in five games. The Ducks proved they had a short memory; they went into the next postseason with a bolstered lineup. 2007 marked the first year Anaheim had ever taken home a Pacific division title in franchise history.
Anaheim took the Western Conference’s second seed going into the playoffs. After defeating Minnesota, Vancouver, and Detroit, the Anaheim Ducks would go on to make history, becoming California’s first team to win the Stanley Cup.
Following their Championship season, the Ducks situation became increasingly complicated. Many key players left, retired or were traded. The Ducks would make the playoffs just three more times but never go farther than the second round. Carlyle was relieved of his duties after 24 games into 2011 with a record of 7-13-4. Carlyle went on to coach the Toronto Maple Leafs the next four years.
Second Tenure: After Bruce Boudreau’s firing in the aftermath of the Anaheim Ducks 2016 playoff elimination, GM Bob Murray would bring back Carlyle. In his first seasons back behind the bench, Carlyle would lead his team to the Western Conference Finals before falling to Nashville.
Legacy
All totaled, Carlyle has coached the most games in franchise history (598). His record as head coach in eight seasons stands at 320-203-75.
Carlyle making this list at number one is going to rustle some feathers, but hear me out. Yes, Carlyle may not be the best-suited coach in today’s game with how the focus has switched from heavy hitting to pure speed.
Next: Grading the 2017-18 Anaheim Ducks Centers
His contributions to this franchise in his eight years as Anaheim’s bench boss are far greater than that of any before him. Winning the Stanley Cup is his major accomplishment. Also, he isn’t given much credit for his ability to lead the team to the playoffs the last two years, especially considering how different his style is to Boudreau’s.