I’ve been saying this for a while, Eakins is not NHL caliber coach. He never was and shouldn’t be our coach.

You can have Leo Komorav for free he’s a real character guy

I had Anaheim being the surprise team for this season. Might have been a misjudgement on my part...

Idk but it's been a downfall since they fell off a cliff in 2019. The team has been going downhill from there. I think the team needs to just rebuild from scratch to be real honest, and that starts with management and coaching.

I never want to be a tear it down guy but once I saw Gibson just head for the bench and Eakins looking down it gonna happen sooner or later.

I think expectations are way too high for this team and I think fans underestimate the power of elite talent. I mean we Duck fans see first hand what a truly elite player in Gibson is capable of doing (literally stealing games), but then assume a bunch of 2nd line forwards should be able to match that level of play without any support. I truly believe that elite players, particularly Cs, lift an entire team. You see that with teams like NYI (didn't bat an eyelid losing JT because they had Barzal), TOR (Matthews), EDM (He who shall not be named), CAR (Aho)... I mean, why do people think that, even after going all the way the SCF, Vegas has continued to add elite wingers to their team in Pacioretty and Stone? It is because they know that elite players lift and team and, despite their deep run, they didn't have enough proven elite talent... and now they've solidified themselves as one of the top teams in the league. We don't have any elite talent outside of Gibson. Honestly, having at least 1 elite level forward would do us a world of good.



Genuinely interested to hear your reasoning behind this opinion. IMO, he's got arguably the worst constructed team in the league to work with and it was no better in EDM, but please do provide specifics on Eakin's deficiencies as an NHL coach.



The team was in downfall before then, probably since we lost in WCF to Chicago in 2015. The run in 2017 with RC was a result of the poor teams we faced in rounds 1 and 2. Facing a real team in NSH was proof of that.

I disagree with the "start from scratch" approach. I mean, how many teams have been lifted by adding a truly elite talent? I'm not even talking about the McDavids. Look at guys like Barzal, Matthews, Aho... all non-generational talents but who have lifted their teams from mediocrity. We don't have that in our line-up. Perhaps Zegras is our saving grace. Who knows? I think there is a good argument for moving on from GMBM, but I'd given Eakins are couple more years.

Blues don't have a Generational Talent, it's just a good depth squad. You don't need a top end player, but I do know none of the players you have are working, and the coaching staff you have hasn't worked.

At no point did I mention "generational". In fact, I said non-generational. Kind of ridiculous to say that STL is a team of depth. Whilst STL has talent throughout the lines, they also have ROR, arguably the best 2-way C in the league, and an elite winger in Tarasenko. The Ducks best forward doesn't sniff either of those players jockstrap. You also had an elite 1D in Pietrangelo for many years, alongside an already strong D-core. Again, we don't have any of that.

It is nonsensical to suggest that you can be a competitive team without elite talent in the line-up. Even the Ducks 2003 team had Paul Kariya and he was pivotal in our deep run.

Name one generational player on the Blues team.

Tarasenko is injured hasn't been playing over the past 2 seasons. Bergeron still arguably better, quite a few people would argue about 5-6 other centers better. O'Reilly maybe hits 15th in the league.

Okay bro... nice wind up.



Tarasenko had 30 season and 11 playoff goals in your SC winning season and ROR won the Selke and Conn Smythe. There is no denying their impact in the years you've been a competitive team... and the seasons they haven't been good you've been decidedly worse... and you had Pietrangelo for years, an elite 1D. Anyway, I'm not going to sit here arguing that STL has had elite players on the team that were pivotal to their success.

Good luck to STL in the season. I'm sure you're going to do well playing multiple bottom-feeder teams in ANA, LA, SJ and ARI for most of the season. I'm not sure it really proves that STL are legit contender, but we'll see when we get to the playoffs.

Okay, but look at the team rn. We don’t have a 100 Point f’king Draisaitl, MacKinnon, Stone, McDavid, Kucherov, Point

Agreed, but you do have an elite 2-way 1C + a wealth of legit goal scoring wingers. Please tell me who on the Ducks is equivalent to ROR? or Schwartz? or Perron?.

I wouldn't call him elite, he's definitely not playing elite right now. Schenn and Kyrou are playing at more of an elite level than O'Reilly. He's a good presence but this is again where I say we are more of a good depth team Kyle Clifford, and Oskar Sundqvist on the 4th line both have 2 goals, O'Reilly doesn't have a single goal. I'm not saying you don't need good players you do, but you don't need star players. Because ROR, Schwartz, Perron aren't MacKinnon, Draisaitl, Stone, McDavid, Kucherov, Pastrnak, like these guys are lower down the board in their positions.

Ducks I still feel like they have more to offer, because while the team looks garbage. Manson, Lindholm, Fowler, Shattenkirk are no slouches. Rakell, Silfverberg, Henrique while not like amazing players they aren't completely garbage bottom feeder players. John Gibson is still arguably a Top 3 Goaltender in the league regardless of what happened against St.Louis. Troy Terry, Max Jones, Sam Steel, Jamie Drysdale, Trevor Zegras are really good young pieces to build around, so why not completely blow it up with the pieces you do have, get more draft capitol to build that prospect core up, and grow them right (I don't think Dallas Eakins & company is the right staff to grow a prospect group like this) which is why I would say blow up the organization and build it right, because what you had worked for a couple years, but Getzlaf, Perry, Kesler that's the old core and you have to make a transition from old to new. Anaheim isn't doing that right now. It's more they are optimistic on what could happen, and are holding on to the old identity that never found it's way. I personally think that you have a ton of talent in the minors you just need to grow them the right way around the right people. Getzlaf as a Mentor, or maybe even adding him into the organization to grow the team is probably a great step in the right direction of developing skaters.