The Anaheim Ducks have amassed 390 regular season wins (43 AVG) over nine seasons since winning the Stanley Cup. They have missed the playoffs just twice since the 2007 win. In that stretch, the team has bowed out in the first round four times and made it to the Conference Final just once. The latest playoff defeat got Bruce Boudreau fired. Unlike the NES game, the Ducks were the ones on a hunt for a new head coach. They’ve gone back to the man that led the team to glory in ’07, Randy Carlyle.
BREAKING: #NHLDucks officially name Randy Carlyle head coach. https://t.co/eAZ8gU0BDG #LetsGoDucks pic.twitter.com/aV7IYxWp2U
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) June 14, 2016
Randy Carlyle Re-Hired By Anaheim Ducks
Coming off of its fourth straight Pacific Division title, Anaheim failed to make much noise in the postseason again. This time the Ducks fell at the hands of the upstart Nashville Predators in Game 7 in Orange County. The Ducks faltered in in a Game 7 at the Honda Center for the fourth straight year.
The Ducks fired Carlyle in December of 2011. The team’s 7-13-4 start was their worst since ’03-04 (29-35-10-8). That slow 2004 start saw the Ducks let go of Mike Babcock and hire Carlyle.
Carlyle’s Time in Toronto
Now at 60, Carlyle carries ten seasons of head coaching experience in the NHL compiling a 364-260-80 record in his career. His latest stop was in Toronto for parts of four seasons, where in 2013 he, with the help of James Reimer who did some things (.924 save %) that Carlyle later termed as “ok,” led the team to its only postseason appearance in 11 seasons since the lockout. However, like that fateful night in Boston, the Leafs collapsed at the end of the 2013-14 season losing 13 of the final 16 games, all in regulation.
Even though the team was in a playoff spot at the time of his firing through 40 games in the 2014-15 season (21-16-3), the team was again plagued by awful puck possession that was evident throughout his tenure. Through the two full seasons he coached from 2013-15, the team ranked dead last in the league in team CorsiFor% at 43.48%, signifying the reliance on Reimer and Jonathan Bernier.
The Situation in Anaheim
He comes into an Anaheim situation that is quite favorable in comparison. The Ducks are just two years removed from their best season in franchise history (54 wins, 116 points). They led the league in both penalty kill (87.2%) and power play (23.1%), finished with the 5th-best team CorsiFor% at 52.39%, and had an incredible stretch winning 22 of 28 games from the start of the new year to March 5th en route to winning the Division after a 1-7-2 start. Then, as it has come every season since Teemu Selanne lifted that chalice over his head through his tears, the playoffs came with disappointment.
That is the reason General Manager Bob Murray has brought him back.
#NHLDucks Bob Murray on Carlyle: “I believe Randy is the coach who can lead us to playoff success & our ultimate goal, the Stanley Cup.”
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) June 14, 2016
It will be interesting to see if Carlyle can be “the guy” that breathes life back into the Ducks come playoff time with the core of Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Hampus Lindholm, Sami Vatanen, Frederik Andersen. In his last tenure with the Ducks, the team lost in the first round twice and the 2nd and 3rd rounds once, just like Boudreau’s teams. They’re really betting on that Stanley Cup ring.
At this point, who could blame them with a team this good?
Main Photo:
