5 Takeaways: Eakins, Murray on the Hot Seat?

The Anaheim Ducks dropped two games to the St. Louis Blues at Honda Center over the weekend, losing 6-1 in the first and 4-1 in the second. Notably, they trailed 3-0 just 2:06 into the first game, which led to a rare sight: John Gibson skating to the bench to be replaced by Ryan Miller. The second installment saw some improvement, as the Ducks took the early lead on Sunday night. However, it ended up being for naught as the Blues would take the game over. Here are five takeaways from a weekend that saw Anaheim’s playoff hopes take another hit.

1. David Backes Draws In, New and Improved Fourth Line?

With Derek Grant sidelined and Troy Terry scratched heading into Saturday’s contest, head coach Dallas Eakins gave Backes the nod, slotting in next to Max Comtois and Sam Steel to start the night. Given Anaheim’s disastrous start, Eakins would throw his lines into a blender for the rest of the game, with Backes ending up on a line with Nicolas Deslauriers and Carter Rowney. 

The new fourth line would not take off right away, as they got shelled to the tune of a 24.23 xGF%. On Sunday, though, their expected goals-for percentage would jump up to 51.14. Even in the first game, it was clear that Backes was a greater threat off the rush, while also being able to use his size along the boards to put pressure on the opposition:

Backes will probably draw out once Grant becomes available again, given how highly the organization seems to value the latter, but Eakins would be wise to give Backes a longer look. He’s been a much better defensive player than Grant at five on five over the course of his career and looks to remain so. 

2. Regression in Net

John Gibson looked human over the weekend, first by getting pulled on Saturday night, and then by allowing four goals on 26 shots the night after. Perhaps getting shelled night in and night out thanks to the Ducks’ porous defensive structure is beginning to take its toll, which could be really bad news for Anaheim moving forward. Ryan Miller made some big stops in relief duty but still gave up three goals on 24 shots. Given how bad the Ducks have been defensively, any slippage in net is going to pull the proverbial rug out from underneath their playoff chances. 

3. Kid Line No More

Eakins tried to be as patient as possible with the “kid line” of Terry, Max Comtois, and Sam Steel. However, the results were no longer good enough to warrant keeping them together. The split started with Terry getting scratched Saturday, and then all three of them were on different lines Sunday. As much as Eakins has been criticized for leaning on the fourth line so much, his persistence in keeping the kid line together may be worthy of equal or greater criticism. 

Since the start of the season, the three have posted an ugly stat line: 35.54 xGF%, 42.55 CF%, 22.22 HDCF%. Steel and Comtois struggled defensively last season, so it should be no surprise how much the Ducks have struggled to suppress opposing offense with the two of them on the ice at the same time. Perhaps even more worrisome is how their own offense really began to fade as the season wore on. With Terry next to Getzlaf, Comtois with Rakell, and Steel with Silfverberg, all three now have veterans to lean on, which should help mitigate some of their lapses. It feels unlikely we those three together again this season.

4. Adam Henrique Scratched

To scratch a developing player like Terry is one thing. To scratch a veteran in Henrique, though, who the club is paying $5.825 million this season is an entirely different matter. Eakins has made accountability a theme in his media availabilities, so scratching a veteran would seem consistent with that. His explanation for the decision was anything but convincing, however, as he told The Athletic that “We could have taken five guys (out) but we still had to put a lineup out there”. 

If there were multiple players that could have been scratched, then why did the one who did indeed get left out have to be Henrique? Eakins has been tough on his veterans publicly this season, so maybe he didn’t feel the need to go into greater detail given how strong of a message he was already sending. The likeliest explanation is that Henrique was on the ice for the first two St. Louis goals on Saturday, which also happened to be his first two shifts. 

He has struggled this season, no doubt, ranking in the bottom third in individual shot metrics among Anaheim forwards. To insert Andrew Agozzino, a career AHLer, in his place though makes the club unquestionably worse, even despite his struggles. The Ducks cannot afford to ice an inferior roster as they chase a playoff spot, and although Agozzino played a fine game on Sunday, the decision is still highly questionable

5. Time for Change

General manager Bob Murray essentially declared any kind of re-tooling was over this past off-season, bringing Kevin Shattenkirk into the fold to signify a renewed commitment to pushing for a playoff spot. However, no other substantive changes or improvements were made to the roster. In Murray’s view, the existing players would simply play better, and that in and of itself would be enough to drive the Ducks into the playoffs. Now, the current roster is probably better than it’s shown so far, especially given the lack of an effective system or optimal lineup construction provided by the coaching staff, but even the most generous of projections for the Ducks had them as a fringe playoff team. Many seem to think that Eakins was not Murray’s choice and that ownership may have pressured him into it. 

Yet, Murray seems to have no issues selling his bosses on just about everything else, and he surely would have received praise for the hire if the Ducks were winning games. Simply put, Eakins was Murray’s hire (the third hire of his tenure), and he built the roster. Neither has panned out, which only deepens a three year stretch of ineptitude. The franchise needs a fresh set of eyes and a new approach. Unless things get dramatically better in what remains the season, significant changes ought to be made both in the front office and behind the bench.

All stats per Natural Stat Trick. Contract info per Cap Friendly