IRVINE — For the Ducks, the page flipped over to the first day of next season on Friday and events took place at warp speed, starting with the end of the Dallas Eakins era.
Eakins is out after four seasons as Ducks coach with official word coming down in the morning, less than 12 hours after the completion of their regular season.
The Ducks announced they would not renew the coach’s contract. In four seasons, Eakins’ record was 100-147-44, punctuated by this season’s last-place finish in the NHL. They went 23-47-12 and went without a win for nearly a month down the stretch, dropping their final 13 games on their way to a franchise-worst 58 points.
“When I looked at it, there were three things: I wanted a fresh start. I wanted a new voice speaking to the team and I wanted a different direction,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said in a media briefing at Great Park Ice.
“There’s a lot of good things about Dallas. He’s a good person. He was in a difficult situation. I think he handled himself with the utmost professionalism, great dedication to the organization and work ethic. … Today was not a fun day for anybody. It’s never fun to have to do this.”
The new coach, in conjunction with Verbeek, will determine the status of the remaining assistants on the coaching staff. Preferably, Verbeek would like to get the coaching hire done before the NHL draft, which is June 28-29 in Nashville, adding, “But I’m not going to limit myself to that. I’m going to open the search up, wide open. I’m not going to limit any candidate to this job. Obviously, there’s still a lot of work to do.
“I feel we’re on a path with younger players getting infused in the lineup. Now we’ve got to have those players start taking bigger steps.”
Another meaningful piece will be added in Nashville, a silver lining to the season of futility. The Ducks’ late-season swoon helped secure the spot in the league’s cellar and the best odds (25.5%) of winning the draft lottery on May 8. By finishing with the worst record in the league, the Ducks can drop no lower than third. The big prize, of course, is generational talent Connor Bedard of the Regina Pats.
Even if the Ducks don’t win the lottery, the ‘consolation’ prizes might be considered worthy of top-pick status in a non-Bedard year, headlined by forwards Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson and Matvei Michkov.
Failing to win a game after March 17 and a slow start – 1-6-1 in their first eight games – created a feeling of inevitability that change would be coming after the Ducks failed to make the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.
“We got off to a bad start,” Verbeek said. “I expected our team to compete harder. And so, got behind the eight-ball and eventually we got better. But not at a level that I want. It’s not the standard that I want. It’s certainly not near the standard of winning.”
This was the first major move in what is expected to be an eventful offseason for the Ducks. Eakins was first hired by the organization as coach of the San Diego Gulls in the AHL, starting in the 2015-16 season. In a statement released on social media, Eakins thanked the team’s ownership as well as the two general managers for whom he coached – Bob Murray, who hired him in June of 2019, and Verbeek.
“I will be forever grateful for my eight years in the Ducks organization. From jump-starting San Diego to dealing with COVID to a full-on rebuild was an inspiring and rewarding challenge,” Eakins said. “Every staff member and player made me a better coach, but more importantly, a better person. The enthusiasm and patience of the fans will never be forgotten. Thank you to Bob Murray and Pat Verbeek for giving me a chance. I will always be in your debt.”
“Thank you to Henry, Susan and Jillian Samueli for the inspiration. Your leadership makes the Ducks organization an incredible place to work. You remind us all that community and others come first. But most of all, thank you to my three wonderful ladies at home who support me like no other. I look forward to our next great adventure! #GoDucks #WinToday #DFM”
— Dallas Eakins (@dallaseakins) April 14, 2023
For the Ducks, there was individual improvement on a number of fronts this season. Defenseman Cam Fowler reached career highs in assists (38) and points (48), as did leading scorer Trevor Zegras with 42 assists and 65 points. Rookie center Mason McTavish demonstrated maturity beyond his years as he played in 80 of 82 games, finishing with 43 points as a potential Calder Trophy finalist. Troy Terry adeptly took on leadership duties and showed that his breakthrough season in 2021-22 was no fluke, recording 61 points (23 goals, 38 assists) in 70 games.
But cohesive play was lacking on many nights. Ducks goalie John Gibson also noted after the season finale, “The only thing we were consistent at was being inconsistent.”
The Ducks’ power play and penalty kill each ranked 31st and their goals allowed (338) was the most since the San Jose Sharks gave up 357 in the 1995-96 season. Goalies were under siege more nights than not. Earlier this month, the Ducks broke the NHL record for most shots on goal allowed in one season. Their final total of 3,207 shots against easily eclipsed the 3,080 established by the San Jose Sharks in 1992-93.
Organizationally, there was plenty of blame to go around. One key factor was a flawed roster construction. Eakins was dealt a rough hand when Verbeek moved out one-third of the Ducks’ defense corps (Josh Manson to Colorado and Hampus Lindholm to Boston) at the trade deadline last year and the replacements were inadequate on most nights. The acquisition of free-agent defenseman John Klingberg was a big miss and the return for him at the deadline in February – receiving defenseman Andrej Sustr, forward Nikita Nesterenko and a fourth-round pick in 2025 from Minnesota – only compounded the mistake as the worst four-year stretch in franchise history lurched toward its conclusion.
Verbeek, who wrapped up his first full season as Ducks GM, was asked to assess his own performance and declined to do so.
“Haven’t really thought about it,” he said. “I’m too busy trying to worry about the whole thing. I guess I could do a self-evaluation somewhere down the road. But not right now.”
Verbeek said he didn’t see this dismal season as tanking, acknowledging that “a lot of things that I tried during the summer didn’t work out.”
He was optimistic about the Ducks’ future, noting their 11 picks in the upcoming draft and nine in 2024.
“You can’t put a time or an exact period on when some of these young guys are going to take steps,” Verbeek said. “I feel comfortable in the players that we drafted. I feel comfortable in the players that are coming, that we’re going to be challenging for playoffs. But experience, time, development, that’s going to be important.”
He was vague when asked what he meant by “a different direction” for the team.
“I think that just a style or an identity is going to be important,” Verbeek said. “When you look at where we were (with) time spent in our zone … my concern down that road was it could be difficult for more development if we had stayed on that kind of path.”
