Ryan Getzlaf calls Randy Carlyle 'a great solution' for Ducks

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Anaheim Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf still sees Randy Carlyle as the same “intimidating guy” that stewarded the team during Getzlaf’s early years in the NHL.

That type of ‘tough as nails’ demeanor is ingrained in Carlyle’s coaching DNA, and Getzlaf doesn’t believe that element of Carlyle’s persona has changed as he heads into his second stint with the team.

“Young guys coming in and stuff, it’s a little bit different, you have to grow on him. You have to earn his trust and his respect. I think that at times Randy got a little bit too caught up in other things, but we’ll see,” the 31-year-old Getzlaf said after taking batting practice as part of a team promotion at Angel Stadium. “He’s a great coach and the best bench coach – you know one of the best bench coaches out there. So when it comes to in-game adjustments, all the things we were really looking for, he was definitely the front-runner.”

The relationship of Getzlaf and Corey Perry with Carlyle will be one of the big storylines for the Ducks this season. When Anaheim hired Carlyle as a replacement for Bruce Boudreau, general manager Bob Murray said the team’s leadership was on board with Carlyle, even though the group seemed to struggle with Carlyle’s disciplinarian ways near the end of his first tenure.

Getzlaf affirmed Murray’s message adding that his own personal growth should help align his views more with Carlyle’s.

“(Randy and I) sat down, we had a meeting, we had lunch one day for a while and went over a few things. Randy’s leaned on me – towards the end of his stint I was kind of slowly molding into that role,” Getzlaf said. “We’ve built that trust of one another over the years and hopefully we can continue on that.”

Murray requested more accountability from the team’s leadership after the decision to fire Boudreau, and Getzlaf said the message was heard, but not much action can be taken in the offseason.

“I’m in the summer right now, so I don’t have a direct answer for you,” Getzlaf said on if any changes had been made based on Murray’s comments. “I can make something up for you, but until we get to the season to see where our team is at and what we need to do, then we’ll have to step up and do those things.”

There is a belief that Carlyle shuns the puck possession of a game – a theory that he denied after he was hired. The Ducks said they hired Carlyle in part for his playoff success with the team along with his steady hand behind the bench. Getzlaf focused more on that part of Carlyle as a coach rather than the puck possession criticism.

Part of the reason why Boudreau was fired was for his inability to win four straight Game 7s at home in Anaheim. 

“We were trying to get to a point where we were going to be a little bit more organized and a coach we can trust in the playoffs,” Getzlaf said. “Randy is a proven guy that in the short-term is going be a great solution and a great asset for our team.”

Even though Carlyle is familiar to the Ducks organization, many of the current players haven’t had him as a coach so his message will be fresh to some players.

“I think it’s a great hire in terms of what our team needs right now. I really do,” said forward Andrew Cogliano who played for Carlyle in 2011-12 for 24 games before Carlyle was let go. “I think we need an experienced coach that might be able to push us to that next step and I think his type of style, he has a hard style of coaching and he likes to play a game this team has been playing for a while, like I said, I think it’s a good fit for our team right now.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper