Who is Dallas Eakins? Meet the coach who was fired by Anaheim Ducks

After four seasons as head coach of the Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Eakins has been fired. The official announcement was made on Friday morning (April 14), less than 12 hours after the conclusion of the team's regular season. The Ducks cited Eakins' record of 100-147-44 during his tenure with the team as the reason for his departure. It was punctuated by this season’s last-place finish in the NHL.

Eakins' season started slow, with the Ducks going 1-6-1 in their first eight games. That was followed by a late-season swoon, where they dropped their final 13 games. It created a feeling of inevitability that change would be coming after the Ducks failed to make the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.

This decision is the first major move in what is expected to be an eventful offseason of change for the Ducks. There is no immediate word on the status of the rest of the coaching staff. But Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek was scheduled to be available to the media later Friday morning in Irvine at Great Park.

Dallas Eakins was first hired by the organization as coach of the San Diego Gulls, starting in the 2015-16 season. He was named Ducks coach in June 2019, but his tenure with the team was ultimately unsuccessful.

Despite this, the Ducks' owner, Henry Samueli, praised Eakins' commitment to the community in both Anaheim and San Diego. This included countless charitable initiatives. Samueli believes that Eakins will succeed in his future endeavors.

More on Dallas Eakins and Duck's season plagued by injuries

Dallas Eakins was born to a Native American father, Ted Yoder, and his mother, Carol Ploof, who was a native of Macon, Georgia. His parents split up shortly after his birth, and Ploof later married Jim Eakins, a Canadian long-distance truck driver. Dallas adopted his stepfather's last name.

In October 1974, Eakins' family relocated to Peterborough, Ontario, where he played in the 1980 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Peterborough.

Overall, Dallas Eakins' tenure with the Anaheim Ducks was a disappointment, and the team is hoping that a fresh perspective and new voice will help them improve in the future.

But there's another possible reason for the Ducks not making it to playoffs. A big problem for the team was the injuries to their star players, which hampered the team's progress.

Their goal-scorers Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry faced injuries. There was also Adam Henrique's knee injury. Jamie Drysdale, Urho Vaakanainen, and Anthony Stolarz not playing for the rest of the season was negativelyimpactful.