This is SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NHL. Each week, SB Nation sends out questions to the most plugged in Anaheim Ducks fans, and fans across the country. Sign up here to join Reacts.
The success or failure of any team is dependent on a number of factors. Not only do the players need to be at the top of their game, but coaches and the front office need to put them in the best position to win.
None of the responding Anaheim Ducks fans said they are confident the team is headed in the right direction, according to the most recent SB Nation Reacts survey. There is mixed feelings, at best, for the organization’s leadership. A similar zero percent of responding fans are confident in general manager Bob Murray and only 50 percent are confident in head coach Dallas Eakins.
The feelings toward Murray make sense — the 2021 season started with the expectation from the front office that the team should be in playoff contention, but failed to build a roster that is able to compete against the best of the division.
As for Eakins, that number is a little more surprising, given the roster he’s working with. Then again, last night against the Arizona Coyotes, he held rookie Trevor Zegras to just 7:40 at 5-on-5, and Troy Terry to 9:13.
From a national perspective, confidence is very split. Just over half of hockey fans around the league said they are confident in Gary Bettman as NHL commissioner. The mark has dropped a few points from 56 percent over last summer.
No doubt that the league’s handling of COVID-19 in a non-bubble format has drawn some criticism of Bettman. The league that boasted zero positive COVID-19 test during the postseason bubble in 2020 has since gone on to tens of game postponements amid several outbreaks of the coronavirus on teams in nearly every division.
To vote in the Reacts surveys and have your voice heard each week, sign up here.