from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,

The Oilers have had five coaches since they were last in the Stanley Cup in 2006 — current general manager Craig MacTavish, Pat Quinn, Tom Renney, Ralph Krueger and now Eakins — and Hall won’t abide with anybody saying this is Eakins’ fault.

“Absolutely not. I would be extremely disappointed if that (Eakins being fired for the Oilers’ woes) happened. It would be so unfair if that was the case. For Dallas to take the brunt of the blame is not true. It’s on us as players, what we do on the ice,” said Hall.

Eakins knows a coach is always in the crosshairs, and with a team that has had a four-, a five- and now a six-game losing streak after just 21 games, this a hellish start, for sure.

“I face this head-on. If I wasn’t up to the task, I’d go do something else. I’d have taken another line of work,” said Eakins, who signed a four-year contract in 2013. “For me, I’ll get out of the rink, probably won’t sleep much, spend a day with my family, then be back at work (Monday). This is the only way we can go about it. If we’re going to sit and cry over the losses, then we’ll never, ever get out of them. The whole feeling sorry for yourself doesn’t work. The pain I feel is for our organization and our city.”

Nevertheless, Eakins looked like he’d been through a washing machine spin cycle after the game. “Probably the longest night I’ve had as a player or a coach,” said Eakins. “To come out against the Chicago Blackhawks with our players and the fans energized, then the first shots go into our net, and that will suck the life out of a team that’s been struggling. We couldn’t recover.”

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