Source: Ducks to bring back Randy Carlyle as head coach

ESPN logo
Tuesday, June 14, 2016

The Anaheim Ducks are expected to hire Randy Carlyle for his second go-round as coach, a source told ESPN's John Buccigross.

The remaining candidates for the opening, created when the Ducks fired Bruce Boudreau on April 29 following another disappointing playoff performance, have been told the job is going to Carlyle, a source told Buccigross.

Carlyle coached the Ducks to their only Stanley Cup championship, in the 2006-07 season, when they beat the Ottawa Senators in five games in the Cup finals.

But over the next four seasons, Carlyle and the Ducks did not get past the second round, getting knocked out in the first round twice and failing to make the playoffs in 2009-10.

Carlyle was fired 24 games into the 2011-12 season, but resurfaced later that season as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, with whom he started his 17-year playing career as a defenseman in 1976-77.

He lasted in Toronto just a little more than three years, getting fired midway through the 2014-15 season with a Maple Leafs record of 91-78-19. He has a career winning percentage of .574.

Boudreau led the Ducks to four straight Pacific Division titles but couldn't translate his success to the postseason, where his Ducks got past the second round only once. This season they were bounced by the Nashville Predators in the first round in seven games.

Boudreau was quickly scooped up, taking over as coach of the Minnesota Wild just 11 days after saying goodbye to Anaheim.

If Carlyle is hired by the Ducks, that would leave the Calgary Flames as the only NHL team without a head coach.