Dallas Eakins

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Dallas Eakins bigraphy, stories - American ice hockey player

Dallas Eakins : biography

February 27, 1967 –

Dallas Franklin Eakins (born Dallas Yoder on February 27, 1967 in Dade City, Florida) is a former Canadian ice hockey defenceman and current head coach of the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League.

Coaching career

Eakins was named as an assistant coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 20, 2006. Eakins served the same role the year before for the Toronto Marlies of the AHL.

On August 4, 2009, Eakins was named the head coach of the Toronto Marlies.

Eakins was named as one of two head coaches representing the Western Conference for the AHL All-Star Games for both the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 seasons.

On June 10, 2013, Eakins was named the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers.

Playing career

Eakins played 4 seasons in the OHL for the Peterborough Petes, being named the caption in his final year and also the team’s best defenceman that season. Jeff Twohey who was with the Petes for 3 decades called him the best captain the team ever had, saying "He was a great leader. He was a hard worker, loyal, tough, and never afraid to confront people. He knew how to keep players in line."

Eakins was drafted 208th overall by the Washington Capitals in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. He went on to play 120 career NHL games, scoring no goals and 9 assists for 9 points, thus becoming the second Floridian to play in the NHL, and the first to ever record a point. However, the majority of Eakins career was played in the AHL and the IHL. In those two leagues, Eakins played 882 games, scoring 43 goals and 179 assists for 222 points while playing on 10 different teams (not to mention the 8 NHL teams Eakins played on during that time). Eakins also won a Calder Cup and a Turner Cup as a member of the Chicago Wolves in the AHL.

Eakins once made a bet with Cincinnati radio personality Dennis "Wildman" Walker of WEBN while a member of the IHL Cincinnati Cyclones that he would not score more than 3 goals in one season. Wildman Walker known for his "Big Hair" stated that Eakins could shave his head at center ice of the Cincinnati Gardens if he eclipsed that mark. Eakins not only scored six goals, but did it in 30 games. The head shaving took place at center ice prior to a game in December 1994 in a game against the Long Beach Ice Dogs.

While serving as the captain of the AHL Manitoba Moose in 2003–04, Eakins switched from his number 6 to number 37 in honor of friend Dan Snyder who was killed in a car accident in Atlanta, GA. Snyder was a member of the NHL Atlanta Thrashers.

Personal life

Eakins is married to actress Ingrid Kavelaars.

Eakins’ career is profiled in the book, by Kurt Dusterberg. Eakins also rents out vacation properties in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Early years

Eakins’ mother, Carol Ploof, was a native of Macon, Georgia. His birth father was a Native American, Ted Yoder, who Eakins believes was "Cherokee". Both parents split up shortly after his birth. Ploof later married Jim Eakins, a Canadian, long-distance truck driver, and Dallas subsequently adopted his stepfather’s last name.

On October, 1974, Eakins’ family relocated to Peterborough, Ontario.