Should Randy Carlyle become Ducks’ next coach if Boudreau is canned?
The Anaheim Ducks have had an uncharacteristic slow start (1-3-1) this season, although Sunday’s win over the Minnesota Wild could easily be the reversal of that course.
The idea that Bruce Boudreau would be on any hot seat that wasn’t a result of thermal capacity always seemed a little asinine to me. Sure, you have the lack of playoff success vs. expectations, but you’re talking about a coach that has a .647 winning percentage in 275 regular-season games with the Ducks and hasn’t led a team to first place in their division just once in his seven-year NHL coaching career – the year he was fired by the Washington Capitals and hired by the Ducks.
GM Bob Murray made that hire, but for years it’s been a poorly kept secret that there’s animosity between the coach and his boss. This isn’t exactly rare – see also Bruins, Boston, only in that case it’s the team president – but it’s usually seen as a harbinger of an itchy trigger finger.
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Again, it’s hard to imagine Boudreau’s in trouble unless the first 25 games are a disaster for the Ducks, and even then it’s probably not his fault. But if Murray does fire him, who could ride in and lead the Ducks to the promise land?
Why, the only guy that ever did lead them there before: Randy Carlyle!
At least that’s how TSN’s Gary Lawless sees it, in a very, very, very, very complimentary column about Carlyle and what he can do for the Duckies. It’s basically an infomercial:
Carlyle isn’t easy on an organization. He likes things done a certain way and there’s no grey area. It’s either right or it’s wrong and there’s hell to pay when it’s the latter. From the training staff to the players to the P.R. department, he can be thorny. He demands a high standard of everyone involved and he’s not much of a politician. He can be caustic and cutting.
But there aren’t many better bench managers in the game. Carlyle knows how to handle a veteran group and how to get the most out of a lineup.
Four key members of the Ducks – Getzlaf, Perry, Ryan Kesler and Kevin Bieksa – have all had success with Carlyle. Getzlaf and Perry won a Stanley Cup with him and Kesler and Bieksa skated for Carlyle in the AHL with a strong Manitoba Moose club.
As Lawless notes, Perry and Getzlaf also helped get Carlyle fired, and Murray fired him:
But it’s been nine years since they last won a title and they’re in their 30s. The opportunities to win again are diminishing. Would they take another dose of Carlyle in order to win? Absolutely.
I don’t think the Ducks are firing Boudreau in-season unless this team is out of a playoff spot after 25-30 games. And it’s hard to imagine Carlyle would be the choice to replace him, given the history there. I think he can be a good coach in the right spot, although he’s one of these guys where the glare of the Stanley Cup ring blinds you from the overall accomplishment – check out the postseason record.
I’m just not sure if that spot is Anaheim if Murray turfs Boudreau.
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