Randy Carlyle is making the most of his second tour of duty with the Anaheim Ducks.
Eyebrows were raised when the old-school veteran head coach was re-hired by general manager Bob Murray on the heels of the firing of Bruce Boudreau, but Carlyle deserves credit for getting the Ducks over the Game 7 hump and back into the Western Conference Final - a stage of the postseason the team had reached only once since he led the team to a Stanley Cup win in 2007.
Defenseman Cam Fowler, who was with the Ducks when Carlyle's previous tenure as head coach ended in 2011, explained a subtle but important difference in the coach's approach this time around.
"All the fundamentals and everything he believes in are the same," Fowler said, according to Lisa Dillman of NHL.com. "I think he's softened a little bit just based on some of the things with the rookies and stuff like that. But at the end of the day, he's a demanding coach who brings the best out of his players. He's always going to be that way."
Carlyle, who was fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2015, has a reputation for being a taskmaster and therefore not very player friendly, but his willingness to adapt to a younger, faster NHL is a big reason why he's been able to guide the Ducks to the third round.
After practice Thursday, Carlyle acknowledged the need to rely more and more on young players in today's NHL. A good coach, then, has to demonstrate some patience and grace when sending a message to his players.
"You can hold younger players accountable in the moment, but you can't park them," Carlyle told reporters. "You have to give them another chance to come back and prove you wrong, or prove themselves. And that's always the continuing model that we're going to go with.
"Our expectations are young players are going to get an opportunity, but if they make a mistake, they're no good parked at the end of the bench for the whole night, or they don't go into the stands for the month. They might get taken out for a game but then they get another opportunity very shortly to come back in and prove themselves."
This is particularly key on the blue line, where Anaheim's mobile, puck-moving defensive corps is made up of players aged mainly 25 and under.
The Ducks also rely on a bunch of young forwards up front, though, with 21-year-old Nick Ritchie scoring the game-winning goal in Game 7 against the Edmonton Oilers.
Yes, the Ducks are still led by Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Ryan Kesler, but there's a new wave of forwards - namely Ritchie, Rickard Rakell, Jakob Silfverberg - helping the team score a second-ranked 3.18 goals per game so far in the playoffs.
Carlyle's also managing the crease well, pulling young John Gibson when need be, but going right back to him with full confidence.
In short, his ability to get the most out of veterans and younger players is paying dividends, and making Murray look a wise GM.
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