Dallas Eakins

Dallas Eakins
Date of birth	February 27, 1967
place of birth	Dade City , Florida , USA
size	188 cm
Weight	88 kg
position	defender
number	# 6
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1985 , 10th round, 208th position Washington Capitals
Career stations
1984-1988	Peterborough Petes
1988-1989	Baltimore Skipjacks
1989-1993	Moncton Hawks Winnipeg Jets
1993-1995	Cincinnati Cyclones Florida Panthers
1995-1996	Worcester IceCats St. Louis Blues
1996	Winnipeg Jets
1996-1997	Springfield Falcons Phoenix Coyotes
1997	Binghamton Rangers New York Rangers
1997-1998	Beast of New Haven Florida Panthers
1998-1999	St. John's Maple Leafs Toronto Maple Leafs
1999-2001	Chicago Wolves
1999-2000	New York Islanders
2000-2002	Calgary Flames
2003-2004	Manitoba mosses

Dallas Franklin Eakins (birth name Dallas Franklin Yoder ; born February 27, 1967 in Dade City , Florida ) is a Canadian ice hockey player and current coach of American origin. His active career was characterized by the constant changing between various teams, whereby he was never able to establish himself in the National Hockey League and was on the ice for a total of 18 teams from three leagues. As a trainer, he worked for a long time with the Toronto Maple Leafs and their farm team, the Toronto Marlies , before he was head coach of the Edmonton Oilers from June 2013 to December 2014 . Since June 2019 he has been active in the same position at the Anaheim Ducks , having in the meantime supervised their farm team, the San Diego Gulls , in the American Hockey League .

Career

As a player

youth

Dallas Eakins was born as Dallas Yoder in Dade City, Florida. His father, who lived without a permanent residence, was a direct descendant of American Indians , according to Eakins' own statement, the Cherokee . His parents separated shortly after he was born, whereupon his mother met and married a Canadian truck driver named Eakins . Subsequently, at the age of seven, Dallas moved with his mother and younger sister to Peterborough , Ontario , and took the name Dallas Eakins .

Upon arriving in Canada, Eakins began playing ice hockey. In his new home he played in the youth field for the Peterborough Travelways and for the Peterborough Legionnaires , before joining the Peterborough Petes from the Ontario Hockey League in 1984 . After his first season in one of the top Canadian junior leagues , he was selected in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft in 208th position by the Washington Capitals . For the time being, however, he stayed with the Petes and increased his statistics to 38 scorer points from 64 games by the 1987/88 season, in which he also led the team as captain .

Professional between NHL, AHL and IHL

After his professional debut with the Baltimore Skipjacks from the American Hockey League (AHL), the Winnipeg Jets signed him in 1989 because the Washington Capitals, which had secured the NHL rights to Eakins through the Entry Draft , had no interest in him showed. The next four years the defender spent with the farm team of the Jets, the Moncton Hawks , in the AHL and came only in the 1992/93 season to 14 appearances in the NHL. This made him only the second Florida-born player in the NHL, as well as the first to score a point.

After this season, the Florida Panthers signed him, where he was more likely to be used by the Cincinnati Cyclones in the International Hockey League (IHL) than the Panthers. In 1995 Eakins was then given a four-round vote in the NHL Entry Draft to the St. Louis Blues , where he only stayed six months until the Winnipeg Jets signed him on the waiver . At the end of the 1995/96 season, the jets were relocated to Arizona, where they traded as Phoenix Coyotes from then on . But Eakins only stayed there for almost half a year (with mainly AHL season) and joined the New York Rangers , who placed him in the AHL with the Binghamton Rangers . After another year with the Florida Panthers (1997/98) he signed for the 1998/99 season with the Toronto Maple Leafs , where both himself and the media expected him to be with the Maple Leafs as a defender in the NHL could establish. However, he came in Toronto only to 18 missions in the NHL and was sent to the IHL to the Chicago Wolves as a result. These should be one of the few constants in his ending playing career, since he was active for the Wolves from 1999 to 2003, although he continued to find changing NHL employers in the New York Islanders and the Calgary Flames . With the Wolves he won the Turner Cup of the IHL in 2000 and the Calder Cup of the AHL in 2002 , after the Wolves had switched to the latter due to the dissolution of the IHL.

The defender spent his last active season in 2003/04 with the Manitoba Moose in the AHL, leading the team as captain and exchanging his mostly-used jersey number 6 for the 37, reminiscent of his former teammate and friend Dan Snyder , who in October Died in a car accident in 2003. In May 2004 he officially ended his active career. After a series of transfers between various NHL franchises and their farm teams, Eakins came to a total of 882 games in the minor leagues (AHL and IHL) and only 120 NHL appearances.

As a trainer

Toronto

Just a year after Eakins had ended his active career, he was introduced as the new assistant coach under Paul Maurice at the Toronto Marlies , who now serve as the farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the AHL. In the course of this appointment, Eakins said of his aptitude as a coach that his playing skills were limited and that he therefore had to study every aspect of the game carefully to be successful. In addition, his close friendship with Roger Neilson is important, as he was a kind of mentor for Eakins. Eakins attended Neilson's ice hockey school at the age of 12, while in later years he mainly learned from him the importance of video analysis as part of ice hockey training. The video analysis in turn was also a big part of the training philosophy of Paul Maurice, so that Eakins took Eakins to the Maple Leafs in the NHL after a season with the Marlies, as he had taken over their head coach position.

After two years as assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Eakins acted as Director of Player Development during the 2008/09 season and was thus responsible for the development and expansion of the player roster. At the beginning of the 2009/10 season, the Canadian was appointed head coach of the Toronto Marlies and held this position for four years. In the last two seasons of his tenure, the team took first place in the North Division and Eakins took part as a coach in the AHL All-Star Game . In addition, the team reached the final of the Calder Cup in the 2011/12 season . In the same game year in March 2012, the position of head coach of the Maple Leafs was vacant, but General Manager Brian Burke preferred the more experienced Randy Carlyle to the younger Eakins. The latter was very disappointed with this development.

Edmonton Oilers

Eakins as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers (2014)

In June 2013 he was appointed the new head coach of the Edmonton Oilers from the NHL, succeeding Ralph Krueger . Other NHL franchises, including the Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers , were also reportedly interested in his signing.

In December he was sacked as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers after the team had won just seven of 31 games. With a win rate of only 32.1%, Eakins is statistically the worst coach of the Oilers (apart from Bryan Watson , who played 18 games as an interim coach). Todd Nelson was introduced as his successor , who had previously trained the Oklahoma City Barons , the oilers' farm team from the AHL, and who took over the post of head coach on an interim basis until the end of the season.

San Diego and Anaheim

After a six-month break, Eakins was introduced as the new head coach of the San Diego Gulls from the American Hockey League in June 2015 . The team did not start playing until the beginning of the 2015/16 season and acts as the Anaheim Ducks farm team . He then looked after the Gulls until June 2019, when he returned to the NHL by succeeding Randy Carlyle and interim coach Bob Murray at the Anaheim Ducks .

Achievements and Awards

• 2000: Turner Cup with the Chicago Wolves
• 2002: Calder Cup with the Chicago Wolves

Career statistics

Player statistics

				Regular season							Playoffs
season	team	league		GP	G	A.	Pts	+/-	PIM		GP	G	A.	Pts	+/-	PIM
1984/85	Peterborough Petes	OHL		48	0	8th	8th		96		7th	0	0	0		18th
1985/86	Peterborough Petes	OHL		60	6th	16	22nd		134		16	0	1	1		30th
1986/87	Peterborough Petes	OHL		54	3	11	14th		145		12	1	4th	5		37
1987/88	Peterborough Petes	OHL		64	11	27	38		129		12	3	12	15th		16
1988/89	Baltimore Skipjacks	AHL		62	0	10	10		139		-	-	-	-	-	-
1989/90	Moncton Hawks	AHL		75	2	11	13		189		-	-	-	-	-	-
1990/91	Moncton Hawks	AHL		75	1	12	13		132		9	0	1	1		44
1991/92	Moncton Hawks	AHL		67	3	13	16	–7	136		11	2	1	3	–6	16
1992/93	Moncton Hawks	AHL		55	4th	6th	10	+2	132		-	-	-	-	-	-
1992/93	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		14th	0	2	2	+2	38		-	-	-	-	-	-
1993/94	Cincinnati Cyclones	IHL		80	1	18th	19th	+26	143		8th	0	1	1	+4	41
1993/94	Florida panthers	NHL		1	0	0	0	± 0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
1994/95	Cincinnati Cyclones	IHL		59	6th	12	18th	+19	69		-	-	-	-	-	-
1994/95	Florida panthers	NHL		17th	0	1	1	+2	35		-	-	-	-	-	-
1995/96	Worcester IceCats	AHL		4th	0	0	0	± 0	12		-	-	-	-	-	-
1995/96	St. Louis Blues	NHL		16	0	1	1	-2	34		-	-	-	-	-	-
1995/96	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		2	0	0	0	+1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
1996/97	Springfield Falcons	AHL		38	6th	7th	13	-2	63		-	-	-	-	-	-
1996/97	Phoenix Coyotes	NHL		4th	0	0	0	-3	10		-	-	-	-	-	-
1996/97	Binghamton Rangers	AHL		19th	1	7th	8th	+8	15th		-	-	-	-	-	-
1996/97	New York Rangers	NHL		3	0	0	0	-1	6th		4th	0	0	0	-1	4th
1997/98	Beast of New Haven	AHL		4th	0	1	1	+3	7th		-	-	-	-	-	-
1997/98	Florida panthers	NHL		23	0	1	1	+1	44		-	-	-	-	-	-
1998/99	St. John's Maple Leafs	AHL		20th	3	7th	10	+25	16		5	0	1	1	+1	6th
1998/99	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		18th	0	2	2	+3	24		1	0	0	0	± 0	0
1998/99	Chicago Wolves	IHL		2	0	0	0	-1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
1999/00	Chicago Wolves	IHL		68	5	26th	31	+3	99		16	1	4th	5	+4	16
1999/00	New York Islanders	NHL		2	0	1	1	+3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
2000/01	Chicago Wolves	IHL		64	3	16	19th	-2	49		14th	0	0	0	+1	24
2000/01	Calgary Flames	NHL		17th	0	1	1	-1	11		-	-	-	-	-	-
2001/02	Chicago Wolves	AHL		54	2	15th	17th	± 0	58		25th	0	6th	6th	+6	53
2001/02	Calgary Flames	NHL		3	0	0	0	+1	4th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2002/03	Chicago Wolves	AHL		72	4th	11	15th	+22	84		9	1	0	1	+4	31
2003/04	Manitoba mosses	AHL		64	1	7th	8th	± 0	68		-	-	-	-	-	-
OHL total				226	20th	62	82		504		47	4th	17th	21st		101
IHL total				273	15th	72	87	+45	360		38	1	5	6th	+9	81
AHL total				609	27	107	134		1051		59	3	9	12		150
NHL overall				120	0	9	9	+6	208		5	0	0	0	-1	4th

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

NHL coaching statistics

team	season	regular season						Playoffs
		Games	S.	N	OTL	Pts	space	S.	N	result
Edmonton Oilers	2013/14	82	29	44	9	67	7. ( Pacific )	-	-	not qualified
Edmonton Oilers	2014/15	31	7th	19th	5	19th	7. (Pacific) *	-	-	not qualified
Anaheim Ducks	2019/20	71	29	33	9	67	6. (Pacific)	-	-	not qualified
NHL overall		184	65	96	23	153	-	-	-	0 Stanley Cups

S = victories; N = defeats; OTL = defeat in overtime or shootout ; Pts = points
* at the time of discharge

Personal

Eakins is married to Canadian actress Ingrid Kavelaars and has two daughters with her.

Web links

Commons : Dallas Eakins  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

• Dallas Eakins at eliteprospects.com (English)
• Dallas Eakins at legendsofhockey.net (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} edmontonjournal.com: "The must-read story if you want to know about Dallas Eakins, as reported by the Toronto Star" (English, June 14, 2013, accessed November 15, 2014)
2. ↑ hockey-reference.com: List of all Florida-born NHL players (accessed November 16, 2014)
3. ↑ cbc.ca: "Why Oilers coach Dallas Eakins can never be counted out" (English, October 12, 2013, accessed November 16, 2014)
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} edmontonjournal.com: "The must-read story if you want to know about Dallas Eakins, Part 2" (English, June 16, 2013, accessed November 16, 2014)
5. ↑ thestar.com: "Last year's Marlies: A team with a dream" (English, April 18, 2013, accessed November 16, 2014)
6. ↑ nhl.com: “Oilers fire Eakins; Nelson eventually to take over " (December 15, 2014, accessed December 15, 2014)
7. ^ Curtis Zupke: Eakins excited for AHL return with Gulls, Ducks. nhl.com, June 28, 2015, accessed June 29, 2015 . 
8. ↑ edmontonsun.com: "A couple of factors give a very busy Dallas Eakins a sense of job security with the Edmonton Oilers" (English, June 12, 2013, accessed November 15, 2014)