Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
Again, Eakins's performance with the Oilers was among the worst in franchise history, and coaches with the SAME ROSTERS managed consistently better finishes. While it is true that Eakins's rosters were terrible, his contemporaries somehow managed too get better results from the same players.
Dallas Eakins is a terrible NHL coach. Terrible.
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I would also like to mention that the Oilers 13-14 roster is far from the worst it's ever been. They actually had decent top end talent and also some fairly decent depth players, and it could be argued that on paper, the 18-19 roster for example was even worse than what Eakins had at his disposal.
That said, he did spend his entire tenure with the Oilers trying to force square pegs into round holes, desperately trying to adapt the players into what he thought was a great system, instead of doing what every successful coach does, namely to look for a way to use the players to the strength of their abilities. If he continues being that stubborn, he will likely fail again, but I would think that it's just what he's been working on. If he can adapt his systems to fit the skill set of his roster a bit more he might not be as terrible this time around. He probably won't be great, but at least not terrible.