The morning after the Ducks completed their season with a 13th consecutive loss, general manager Pat Verbeek didn’t waste time in letting Dallas Eakins know he would not proceed as head coach.
There are semantics when those decisions are made. Contract isn’t renewed. Parted ways. Let go. Fired. It isn’t to say those terms aren’t important when putting out the official word but call the separation what you want, the simple thing is, Verbeek wants someone else in that seat.
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When will that happen? Well, Verbeek is going to take a lot more time with this one.
The strange, unique run for Dallas Eakins as #NHLDucks coach is over and the pressure is now on Pat Verbeek to start building a winner.https://t.co/dTFqDVNdHQ
— Eric Stephens (@icemancometh) April 15, 2023
“Ultimately, I’d like to get a coach in place before the draft, but I’m not going to limit myself to that,” Verbeek said after his team finished a woeful 23-47-12 season. “I’m going to search. Going to open the search up wide open. Not limit any candidate to this job. Obviously, there’s still a lot of work to do. I feel that we’re on a path with younger players getting infused into the lineup and now we got to have those players start taking bigger steps.”
Anaheim isn’t the only open NHL job. Washington, Calgary and Columbus can be intriguing opportunities. But there are appealing attributes to leading the Ducks. It’s hard to imagine going any lower than the fewest points in the league or the worst record in franchise history. The new coach will have a base that features the forward trio of Trevor Zegras, Troy Terry and Mason McTavish, a young top-four defenseman in Jamie Drysdale and a prospect pool rich with talented blueliners.
And we’ll find out in Monday’s draft lottery where the Ducks will pick on June 28. If they win — and they have the best odds of doing that — the new coach will have Connor Bedard added to that promising foundation. When asked how attractive he felt the Anaheim job was, Verbeek said, “It depends on the perspective of the candidates that I talk to.”
“Some of them might be wanting to go into a winning situation,” he continued. “Some might be not looking for that. There’s going to be different scenarios that certain candidates are going to be looking for. Now, can I say that we’re down the road here a little bit? We’ve got some good young players coming. We’ve got 11 picks this draft, we’ll have nine the next draft. There’s a lot of promise and hope. But at the end of the day, it still takes time and patience.”
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Who could be part of that wide net Verbeek is promising to cast? It won’t be Matt McIlvane, though the new coach of their AHL club might be in line for an NHL job down the road. Verbeek can go in a few directions here. We’ll limit the names to those who aren’t current NHL head coaches. (Although Gerard Gallant aired his feelings about possibly being on shaky ground in New York.)
Peter Laviolette
Laviolette, 58, stepped aside from Washington after three seasons as he and the Capitals agreed to mutually part ways. He’s obviously got loads of experience and he’s been able to win at every stop, most notably winning a Stanley Cup with Carolina and getting to the Final with Nashville. He’d be very different from Eakins but also doesn’t mind letting his players have freedom in the offensive zone. While he indicated that he wants a new challenge, this one might be too big for his taste.
Kevin Dineen
Dineen, 59, knows the Ducks’ terrain as a coach of their AHL teams on two occasions and he had success both times. He’s been behind NHL benches as the lead guy in Florida and as an assistant with Chicago, where he was part of the 2015 Stanley Cup champions. Dineen was the first pro coach for Zegras and Drysdale and has coached at AHL Utica the last two seasons. Don’t forget that he and Verbeek were teammates in Hartford.
Travis Green
Green, 52, spent parts of five seasons with Vancouver before the Canucks replaced him with Bruce Boudreau in December 2021. Getting back into the grind with Anaheim for his second NHL head coaching job would be very appealing, as he and his family live year-round in south Orange County. He has experience coaching youngsters, as he had Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser at the start of their careers.
Travis Green talks about his time with the #Canucks, where it went wrong (and right), the advice he gave his old friend Rick Tocchet about managing the Vancouver market and being ready for what’s next
My latest via @TheAthleticNHL: https://t.co/fLxwJ3g4pg
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) April 28, 2023
Benoit Groulx
Groulx, 55, has applied for other NHL jobs and you wonder when his time will be. He’s been leading Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, for seven seasons and has won quite a few games, though his deepest Calder Cup run came when the Crunch made the finals in his first year. But he has plenty of head-coaching experience at different levels and has guided the development of several current NHL players. His son, Benoit-Olivier (Bo), is a center in their system.
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Jeff Halpern
Halpern, 46, has put in the time as a Lightning assistant for five seasons and has been in the middle of their championship run. Before that, the Maryland native got his start in the AHL under Groulx. Former Tampa Bay assistant Derek Lalonde got his first head-coaching turn with Detroit this season and it feels like Halpern is primed for his chance. There won’t be pressure to win right away. The glitch here might be Washington being interested in bringing home the Maryland native and one-time Capitals captain.
Claude Julien
Few have a track record that Julien, 63, carries around. Julien’s 667 wins put him in 16th place all-time. He’s got a Stanley Cup and a Jack Adams Award. Credibility should not be a problem if you go in his direction. As with a few others with vast experience, Julien might be seen as a retread choice, but he’d be one with deserved cachet.
Jeff Blashill
Blashill, 49, coached Detroit for seven seasons. His Red Wings teams made the playoffs only in his first and he lost plenty of games in Motown, but he was also tasked with overseeing a major rebuild. Verbeek certainly knows him, and he’d be in a familiar situation guiding young players in Anaheim. He spent this past season as an assistant to Jon Cooper in Tampa Bay, so he’s still well thought of.
Todd Nelson
Nelson, 53, applied for the job in 2019 but lost out to Eakins. His only NHL head-coaching experience came in an interim role with Edmonton after Eakins was fired, but he was an assistant in Atlanta long ago and spent four seasons in Dallas, serving on Rick Bowness’ staff that got to the 2020 Stanley Cup Final. Currently, Nelson has the AHL’s Hershey Bears in the Calder Cup playoffs. Verbeek’s former boss, Steve Yzerman, can be a sounding board, as he also headed Detroit’s AHL affiliate for three years.
Spencer Carbery
Like Halpern, the 41-year-old Carbery could be on the Capitals’ list after coaching their AHL affiliate in Hershey, Pa., for three seasons prior to joining Sheldon Keefe’s staff in Toronto for his first NHL assistant job. In his two seasons with the Maple Leafs, Carbery has been credited with taking their talented offensive personnel and fashioning a power play that was the NHL’s best last season and was the second-ranked unit this year.
Rikard Grönborg
The 54-year-old Grönborg has long eyed the NHL but also has been content to wait until a team is serious about hiring him. He interviewed with Buffalo in 2021, though the Sabres took the interim tag off Don Granato. Grönborg has a long association with the Swedish national team but also spent a decade coaching in North America after different levels. He’s reportedly taken the top job with Tappara Tampere in the Liiga, but his contract is believed to contain an out clause allowing him to pursue an NHL opportunity.
Nate Leaman
Leaman, 50, has been a coach at Providence for the last 12 seasons. Before that, the Ohio native coached at Union College. He has not coached at the NHL level so he would be a shift away from the usual, but Leaman led the United States to the 2021 world juniors title. A few current and future Ducks know what he’s about. Zegras was the star of that tournament while Jackson LaCombe and Drew Helleson were also part of Team USA’s winning effort.
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Ryan Warsofsky
At 35, Warsofsky is the youngest among these potential candidates, but he’s considered a fast riser in the coaching community. Before joining David Quinn’s staff in San Jose, Warsofsky coached the AHL’s Chicago Wolves to a Calder Cup title, becoming the youngest coach to do that since Peter Laviolette in 1999. With the Sharks, Warsofsky coached a top-10 penalty kill, even though the club won an NHL-low 22 games.
Jay Leach
Leach, 43, has been on an upward path since transitioning into coaching after a vagabond pro career. The native of Syracuse, N.Y., coached the AHL’s Providence Bruins for four seasons and was in talks with possibly joining Boston’s staff but opted to sign on with expansion Seattle to work under Dave Hakstol. The Kraken are in the second round of the playoffs and Leach has managed a solid defense that’s featured Vince Dunn’s breakout season.
Steve Ott
One of the NHL’s most effective agitators when he was at his peak in a 14-year career, Ott has transitioned into an assistant coach with St. Louis for the last six seasons. He has overseen the Blues’ power play under Craig Berube and was part of their Stanley Cup run in 2019. The thread that could connect Ott, 40, to the Ducks is assistant GM Rob DiMaio, who spent many years in the Blues organization before coming to Anaheim.
Dan Bylsma
Is Bylsma due for one more turn as an NHL head coach? The 52-year-old has AHL Coachella Valley in the Pacific Division semifinals after guiding the Firebirds to a 103-point regular season. Bylsma served on Blashill’s staff for three seasons after his stints in Pittsburgh (where he won) and Buffalo (where he didn’t). Another option to consider on Bylsma’s staff is Jessica Campbell, a 30-year-old from Saskatchewan whose star is on the rise.
Bruce Boudreau
Hey, he’s available. You know he loves to coach — he’ll want to do it as long as he is able — and he also knows how to turn teams around. The last time the Ducks consistently won was when he led them from 2012-16. Four division titles. Sure, there were early playoff exits but there was also a Western Conference final run mixed in. The Bruce Bump didn’t last in Vancouver, but he often does best when expectations are low.
Randy Carlyle
Breathe. Chill out. You would have an issue with Randy 3.0? I mean, he did win the Cup and has won more games than any other Ducks coach. (The author now quickly exits from this story.)
(Photo of Peter Laviolette: Matt Kartozian / USA Today)
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