Last month, the Anaheim Ducks announced that AHL affiliate Gulls’ head coach Dallas Eakins would become the Ducks’ new head coach. Dallas Eakins, who has coached the San Diego Gulls for the past 4 years, held a 154 win, 128 loss campaign in San Diego. Eakins will become the 10th head coach in the history of the Anaheim Ducks.
“With where this organization is heading and what we’re doing as we’re turning a page, this is just a natural progression from a guy who has coached most of the guys from this team and a guy who wants to win.” Anaheim’s Executive V.P./GM Bob Murray said at Eakins’ press conference.
Early in his coaching career, Dallas Eakins joined the Toronto Maple Leafs organization as the assistant coach to Greg Gilbert for the AHL Toronto Marlies. In 2009, he was hired as the head coach for the AHL-affiliate of the Maple Leafs. While he was the head coach, Eakins represented the Western Conference for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 season AHL All-Star games. He left the Marlies to become the head coach of the NHL Edmonton Oilers for 113 games (2013-15), before being fired mid-season in his second year as head coach.
In 2015, the Anaheim Ducks hired Dallas Eakins as the head coach of their new AHL-affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. Eakins finished second twice, and third and fifth once in the newly-founded Pacific Division. On his resume, Eakins has 3 playoff appearances, 7 playoff series, 17 playoff wins, and a Western Conference Championship in his last season with the Gulls.
“We are not starting from scratch.” new Ducks’ head coach Dallas Eakins said. “We are starting with experience.”
With the Gulls’ head coach position empty, the Ducks hired 21-year hockey player Kevin Dineen. The 55-year-old out of Quebec, Canada played for 5 NHL teams over his long career. Dineen was selected 56th overall in the 1982 NHL Draft by the then-Hartford Whalers.
“San Diego is considered just one of the premier franchises in the American Hockey League. Whether you’re talking the players, talking the coaches, management, they just rave about our team and our fanbase and the support we receive from the community.” Kevin Dineen opened up with. “We’re thrilled to be a part of that.”
After retiring as a player in 2002, Dineen became a coach in professional hockey. Kevin Dineen is familiar with the Anaheim Ducks organization. Despite not playing for them, he did coach in their organization for 6 years with the Portland Pirates to begin his coaching career. Between the 2005-06 and 2010-11 seasons, Dineen made the playoffs 5 out of 6 years, with 2 Atlantic Division Championships. After the 2011 season, Dineen left the Pirates to become the head coach of the NHL Florida Panthers. In his first season, Kevin Dineen won the Southeast Division, but lost in the first round in 7 games. After that, his team failed to qualify and the next season he was fired mid-year after the team under-performed. From 2013-14, he was the head coach of Team Canada’s women’s national ice hockey team who won a gold medal in Sochi, Russia. He also coached Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 team, who won bronze that year.
Kevin Dineen will have large shoes to fill after replacing Dallas Eakins as the San Diego Gulls head coach. Eakins was very successful as the head coach of the AHL San Diego Gulls, making the playoffs 3 of 4 years and taking the team to the AHL Semi-finals in the 2018-19 season.
