Why Haven’t the Anaheim Ducks Chosen a New Head Coach?

The Anaheim Ducks have yet to choose someone to fill up their head coach vacancy. Why is it taking them so long?

Since Bob Murray fired Randy Carlyle in February, after three embarrassing losing streaks, we’ve been in limbo waiting for the Anaheim Ducks to announce who their new head coach is. We’re now almost three months into the postseason and every team with a head coach vacancy has found their successor behind the bench. Everyone except for the Anaheim Ducks.

The Philidelphia Flyers have hired Alain Vigneault, D.J. Smith will take over the sinking ship that is the Ottawa Senators, and Todd McLellan will coach the L.A. Kings. The Florida Panthers snagged the coveted Joel Quenneville, Ralph Krueger hopes to make the Buffalo Sabres a contending team again, and most recently, the Edmonton Oilers hired Dave Tippett. So, why haven’t the Ducks made a decision yet?

Dallas Eakins has seemed like the frontrunner since before Randy Carlyle was even given the boot. With the San Diego Gulls Calder Cup run officially over, it was rather shocking that Eakins has not yet been announced as the next coach of the Anaheim Ducks. Nevertheless, the fact that Bob Murray has yet to announce a new head coach has somehow renewed our faith in him.

A Renewed Sence of Faith in Bob Murray

Bob Murray spent most of the 2018-19 season in Ducks Nations dog house. He watched idly by as the team Henry Samueli entrusted him with was ran into the ground by his closest friend, Randy Carlyle. Murray earned some brownie points when he put his reputation on the line and took over the head coaching duties after firing RC.

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While he did a great job behind the bench, Murray isn’t what the Ducks needed to get back to their winning ways. He has too much on his plate as it is, and he needs to focus on the business side of things. So, finding a new head coach must be at the top of his summer to-do list.

Hiring Dallas Eakins from the get-go would be taking the easy way out. He’s the most convenient seeing as he is already in SoCal and he’s on the books. Eakins already knows the young players and has aided in their development to become NHL ready.

However, taking the easy route hasn’t always proven to be the most effective. We saw as much with Randy Carlyle. He was a familiar option and in the grand scheme of things, he was the furthest thing from the best option. So, in a way, Bob Murray owes Ducks Nation and his team by doing his due diligence, being meticulous, picky, and leaving no stone unturned. Dallas Eakins, Lane Lambert, and Todd Nelson currently seem to be the frontrunners in the Anaheim Ducks head coach race.

Is Dallas Eakins the Right Man for the Job?

There are a lot of reasons to be confident in Dallas Eakins. The San Diego Gulls would not have made it as far without him. He is deeply invested in his players and making sure their environment is conducive to being a cohesive and productive team. There is no doubt that he will make a great head coach for the Anaheim Ducks, should he be chosen.

However, there is also room for doubt. Eakins seems ready and willing to jump into the position as head coach, but his time with the Edmonton Oilers looms like a dark cloud over his head. No one can put all of the blame on him for what went down in Edmonton, but Eakins is more than willing to take all the blame. While that may be a humble trait of the 52-year-old coach, for some of us, it has shaken our confidence in him.

“Instead of going with what I knew, a slower approach that I think I’m half decent at, I went the other way.“I went in there with a f—ing blow torch, and a can of gasoline, and I tried to hit everything head on. And I tried to hit it all in two weeks. ‘We’re going to get this changed, right away!’ Obviously it backfired. The first season was a disaster. Then, after a lot of self-evaluation, I’d learned my lesson. We started to build it. The team was playing better. The (scoring) chances now weren’t 20-8, but suddenly the chances were 14-13.“When I got fired, I think I was way better coach than when I showed up. Funny – I screwed that up, right from Day 1. Instead of trying to reason, teach some lessons, take a couple of years to cultivate it, I tried to bang it out in one or two months. In the end it was burnt down, and I was the last guy standing.” -Dallas Eakins, Inteview with Sportsnet.ca

The Anaheim Ducks have a lot of issues that need to be sorted out, and going in with a blow torch and burning the whole thing down is not conducive to bringing them back to their winning ways. It must be a slow process of teaching, training, and slowly uprooting the real problems. Bob Murray needs to make sure his next head coach isn’t going to suffocate his team, and it is no wonder he has yet to make a clear decision.

As previously mentioned, if chosen, Dallas Eakins will be a great choice for the Ducks. However, I applaud Bob Murray for not rushing into things. It is a breath of fresh air to see him take a different approach and be willing to exude patience as he endures the process.

Who do you think is the best candidate to take over as the Anaheim Ducks next head coach? Should Bob Murray stick with what he is familiar with or reach out and take a gamble with an unknown coach? Let us know in the comment section down below!