On the latest episode of Daily Faceoff live, NHL insider Jeff Marek dropped a new name reportedly in the mix for the Toronto Maple Leafs head coaching job:
Dallas Eakins.
Who is Dallas Eakins?
Eakins has had two head coaching stints in the NHL, most recently from 2019-2023 with the Anaheim Ducks, and before that with the Edmonton Oilers from 2013-2015.
Before landing his first NHL head coaching job, Eakins spent eight years in the Maple Leafs organization. His first coaching experience was with the Toronto Marlies as an assistant coach in 2005-06, then Eakins became an assistant coach and director of player development with the Maple Leafs for four years, before returning to the Marlies as their head coach for three years.
Since then, Eakins has been coaching Adler Manheim in the German league (DEL) for the past four seasons.
Why is Eakins linked to the Leafs?
I’m not convinced Eakins is a legitimate head coaching candidate. He recently appeared on Leafs Morning Take and had quite a few interesting things to say about the state of the team.
He talked about how culture is so important to every team and how you can’t win without it, how the Leafs need to conduct an honest assessment of where they’re at and whether they truly believe they are a team that can win with its current makeup, and complimented Craig Berube’s decision to give Easton Cowan an elevated role on the team at such a young age.
He’s no dummy, but at the same time, I don’t think you can’t assume that Eakins is an actual candidate to be the Leafs’ next head coach. He doesn’t have the pedigree or experience to fit the criteria that John Chayka has identified as requirements, and his track record is short of unimpressive. He has won exactly nothing in his coaching career and I think his name floating out there indicates something else entirely.
Sometimes, organizations float lesser names to juxtapose their actual candidates and make them look better. That’s what could be happening here.
Other candidates naturally look a bit better when their name is next to that of Dallas Eakins. So, we should expect some other out-of-the-box names to come up in the next week or two.
