The San Diego Gulls have a new head coach. Dallas Eakins was officially handed the job on Friday.
Eakins was most recently the head coach of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers from 2013-14. He has extensive experience in the American Hockey League. As a head coach of the Toronto Marlies, Eakins had a 157-114-41 record. The Marlies won their division during Eakins’ final two seasons and won four of their six playoff series.
Eakins was on the short list for the Philadelphia Flyers head coaching job (Philly decided to go with Dave Hekstol). His professional playing career was quite interesting. He was a 10th-round draft pick by the Washington Capitals in 1985. Over the next 20 years, he played for 18 different professional teams.
Eakins bounced up and down, spending 120 games in the National Hockey League. Those games were with the Florida Panthers (41 games), Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes (20 games), Calgary Flames (20 games), Toronto Maple Leafs (18 games), St. Louis Blues (16 games), New York Rangers (three games) and New York Islanders (two games).
The rest of the defenseman’s career was spent in outposts like Peterborough, Moncton and Manitoba. His minor league playing career was successful, though. Eakins won both the Calder Cup (2002) and Turner Cup (2000).
