Anaheim Ducks: Randy Carlyle Has Been Canned, What Now?
So, What’s Next?
Anaheim Ducks General Manager, Bob Murray, himself is stepping behind the bench in an interim basis. That title is most definitely true, and not a job interview like other coaches in the league are subjected to. So why is a General Manager, who’s never coached a day in his life, getting one of the 31 most prestigious coaching jobs in the hockey world without any experience?
There are actually a couple reasons, and while I give Murray a lot of flack for his moves and decision making, namely his over conservative nature, I think this isn’t one of those bad moves, even if I’m not so high on what the end result is and here’s why.
1. Bob Murray Will Use This Time to Get a Real Feel for the Roster
He’s going to be on the ice a lot more. During that time, he’s going to be seeing the players up close and personal. GMBM will get a beat on not only their play from afar but their body language and the little comments they may make that he would not hear otherwise. He will get a feeling for how the locker room interactions go.
It’s a rare thing for a GM to have that kind of insight; they usually have to hear it from the coaches rather than witnessing it for themselves. This will help him evaluate the roster, and find the pieces that are key components, and which ones aren’t. He will have an inside look at which players are working hard in practice and which are tuning out the coaches.
2. Bob Muray Likely Won’t Be Making A Lot of Coaching Decisions
Any coaching decisions Bob Murray does make will likely be used to pump up a players value or see where they may fit this team in the future. I don’t expect Murray to start implementing a gameplan that he wrote up from scratch while watching game film and using the whiteboard. I think that he’s likely going to be the figurehead for the coaching staff while doling out the actual coaching responsibilities to Marty Wilford, Mark Morrison, and Rich Preston.
The one thing I do expect to see from Murray is some line juggling, and that could give us a bit of insight into his thinking. If we see someone elevated from the 4th line to the top line for a full game, Murray could be looking to move that player, pumping up his value to show that he can play with the top end talent of the team.
Conversely, if he’s putting a known top 6 forward in the bottom 6 he might be sending a message, and seeing how that player responds. Again, it’s rare for the guy who’s making the decisions regarding players futures to have a direct hand in how the players are deployed. It’s going to be interesting to see how the Anaheim Ducks respond to this.
3. Dallas Eakins is the Next Head Coach
I’m just going to say this, the Anaheim Ducks next head coach is Dallas Eakins. If he wasn’t penciled into that slot, the Ducks would likely have taken a flier on a guy like Alain Vigneault, Dave Hakstol, or Todd McLellan. The other possibility is that they would have promoted one of the assistant’s to the head coach position, giving them an on the job interview without having to commit to them long term.
If they do a great job, then he could hire them long term. If they don’t, no harm no foul. At least he tried. It’s similar to his waiver wire and bargain basement pickups in free agency. The fact he didn’t do that and said he doesn’t want to mess up what he’s got going in San Diego tells me that he doesn’t want to make his assistant’s look bad by having them named as a head coach, only to have a team play terribly under them. He’s opting to take that bullet himself or, he doesn’t feel he needs to give another coach the chance, he has instead basically made the job Eakins’ to lose.