GDT: #15 ⋅ VGK @ ANA ⋅ 7:00 PM PST

[Terry Yake]

Hate that ugly fck

why would you hate noesen lol

he played like 10 games here a decade ago

 

[robbieboy3686]

why would you hate noesen lol

he played like 10 games here a decade ago

He scores 2 goals on us everytime he plays us, and he talks a lot of shit doing it. He’s my enemy for life

 

[Hockey Duckie]

To have to change your system so early in the season shows a lack of understanding of your team and what would make it successful. He had all summer; it's inexcusable. A good coach is realistic about their team and figures out a plan to get the best out of what they have. Another clear sign that Cronin is in over his head.

I'm curious about what the changes specifically are and where those ideas came from?

Let's not forget-I never ever will-that Cronin intentionally stopped coaching last year to sit back, observe, and try to learn what his players needed from him. So it stretches back farther than close to 20 games this year. This dude has not shown that it was worth it. The kids are not showing meaningful progress which is the worst part, and to spend the last 5 or so games throwing the lines in a blender and have two veterans tell the world "we never know where our linemates are" and now have the captain say there's been a systems revamp with no one able to discern what the change was...it should be obvious to everyone that Cronin has no f***ing idea what he's doing.

If a coach decides to make changes because the current direction isn't working, then that's a great thing. The problem is Cronin has been using the same game plan from last season. Making changes now does seem sus. Or is it?

Last season, I said our offense was abysmal and worse than Eakins' last year here with no defense. I shared Cronin's top-6 (which was eight top-6 talents) scored more than Eakins' top-6 talents, but Cronin's squad still wasn't generating enough scoring at ES. Yet, Cronin and many on this board were on the same page of "blaming it on injuries" and couldn't believe Cronin could be worse than Eakins. There are some posters on here that still think Eakins is worse.

No idea what kind of tweaking Cronin is doing, but I don't think he possesses a successful offensive design... or one that is conducive for our youth forwards growth.

There are two things that I can't blame Cronin for and that's the drop off in game play from veterans Killorn and Gudas. Verbeek gives Cronin the players and Cronin follows those marching orders. Regardless, the team still has a lot of talent on the roster to not be this bad on the ice.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

You forgot the Murray/Eakins combo.

The team eventually had to go through a rebuild after being mostly a playoff team for over a decade. In year 3 of the Murray rebuild, the team was a playoff contending team. They were 3rd in the Pacific at All-star break. They were 4 points out of 3rd in the Pacific at the TDL. Then Verbeek blew up the team. Pepperrigde Farms recalls history well and Verbeek is the sole reason we are currently permanent bottom dwellers.

When Verbeek got hired during All-Star break, via Detroit News: (Feb 4. 2022)

Named general manager of the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, Verbeek is going to an organization in third place in the Pacific Division, in a wild-card spot, and past the early stages of the rebuild phase.​

​

"This team doesn't need to be rebuilt; they're in the middle of their rebuild, so this is a great opportunity to take this team forward and turn them into a contender," Verbeek said during his introductory press conference. "You don't have to come in there and look to take a long time. There's good players in the NHL, good players in the minors and there are players that have been drafted. There's a lot coming to support the growth of this team. That's truly what I'm excited about."​

At the start of Verbeek's first full season as Ducks' GM, recalling blowing up the team at last year's TDL via the Athletic: (Oct 20, 2022)

Another thing Verbeek did after last season was pick up Dallas Eakin’s option year. Verbeek resisted the temptation that I think a lot of new GMs have, to bring in his own coach immediately.​

​

“It’s not fair … me coming in two, three months and then going with a new guy,” Verbeek said. “And in the sense that I just blew up the team (at the trade deadline). So I wanted to give him a chance. And it gave us an opportunity to get to know one another over the course of the offseason.​

​

“So that’s kind of how the decision was made.”​

---

Finishes under Verbeek, Full seasons only

2022-23 (Year 1): 32nd (58 pts)
2023-24 (Year 2): 30th (59 pts)
2024-25 (Year 3): Tied at last place (12 points) after 15 games

 

[Hey234]

If a coach decides to make changes because the current direction isn't working, then that's a great thing. The problem is Cronin has been using the same game plan from last season. Making changes now does seem sus. Or is it?

I vehemently disagree that it's a great thing. Making adjustments is good coaching. Changing your system so early in a season when you had the whole summer to prepare and essentially the same players as last season, it's inexcusable. His plan is to force players to be something they are not and to employ systems that do not work in the modern NHL. This is a bad thing not because it might help improve things, but because it needed to happen at all. He should not be here for that reason alone.

 

[HanSolo]

It's indicative of what we already knew. That the system in place was dogshit, outdated, and not suited to the players we have.

And it's not a great thing unless the system that replaces it actually works and is conducive to improvements, particularly with the kids. So far all we've seen is the same old shit. Slightly better passing last night, I'll admit. But nothing about the offensive or defensive approach indicated to me that anything has changed. We'll see. Is it a bandaid to give Cronin more time that won't be capitalized on and wastes more time? Or is it a positive step forward? You literally could not say one way or the other with certainty. But the former is more likely than the latter.

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

Nothing against Leason. But him putting up 2 points really irks me when our potential future 1C was robbed of several points last night, hitting a post after a great play, and because his line-mates are f'ing boneheads.

It's just really frustrating seeing other kids around the league produce, and we have to defend our kids because the coach and system is not good.

The irony is that McGinn-Leo-Leason would be like 1000x more exciting than when he's playing with dinosaur Killorn and Stroke.

 

[All Mighty]

I noticed they finally removed Vatrano from the wing on the PP and into the bumper. He isn't ideal for that either IMO but it's better than destroying plays on the halfwall. I can't remember a player who has dropped off as much as he has YoY, it's remarkable.

Cronin doesn't know how to coach offense, it does feel like we've been getting unlucky with a lot of posts, but it still feels like we can't sustain pressure consistently. It's not all on him tho, our guys lose a lot of battles and still make poor passes way too often.

I find it odd that our 4th line guys have pretty much looked good from game 1 while everyone else is struggling - starting to think it's not a coincidence.

Vatrano was on the half wall last night. Carlsson was in the bumper spot.
It was:
Terry
Zegras-Carlsson-Vatrano
Zellweger

The other unit was:
Leason
Strome-Killorn-Gauthier
Mintyukov

 

[Mr Rogers]

Vatrano was on the half wall last night. Carlsson was in the bumper spot.
It was:
Terry
Zegras-Carlsson-Vatrano
Zellweger

Maybe it was cuz the play took him there but could’ve sworn I saw him in the middle a few times

 

[All Mighty]

Maybe it was cuz the play took him there but could’ve sworn I saw him in the middle a few times

Definitely possible. I felt like the players on that unit were roving a bit more than I’m used to seeing.

 

[Deuce22]

The team eventually had to go through a rebuild after being mostly a playoff team for over a decade. In year 3 of the Murray rebuild, the team was a playoff contending team. They were 3rd in the Pacific at All-star break. They were 4 points out of 3rd in the Pacific at the TDL. Then Verbeek blew up the team. Pepperrigde Farms recalls history well and Verbeek is the sole reason we are currently permanent bottom dwellers.

When Verbeek got hired during All-Star break, via Detroit News: (Feb 4. 2022)

Named general manager of the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, Verbeek is going to an organization in third place in the Pacific Division, in a wild-card spot, and past the early stages of the rebuild phase.​

​

"This team doesn't need to be rebuilt; they're in the middle of their rebuild, so this is a great opportunity to take this team forward and turn them into a contender," Verbeek said during his introductory press conference. "You don't have to come in there and look to take a long time. There's good players in the NHL, good players in the minors and there are players that have been drafted. There's a lot coming to support the growth of this team. That's truly what I'm excited about."​

At the start of Verbeek's first full season as Ducks' GM, recalling blowing up the team at last year's TDL via the Athletic: (Oct 20, 2022)

Another thing Verbeek did after last season was pick up Dallas Eakin’s option year. Verbeek resisted the temptation that I think a lot of new GMs have, to bring in his own coach immediately.​

​

“It’s not fair … me coming in two, three months and then going with a new guy,” Verbeek said. “And in the sense that I just blew up the team (at the trade deadline). So I wanted to give him a chance. And it gave us an opportunity to get to know one another over the course of the offseason.​

​

“So that’s kind of how the decision was made.”​

---

Finishes under Verbeek, Full seasons only

2022-23 (Year 1): 32nd (58 pts)
2023-24 (Year 2): 30th (59 pts)
2024-25 (Year 3): Tied at last place (12 points) after 15 games

The last Duck playoff season was 2017-2018. Verbeek was hired midway through 2021-2022. The post I was responding to said the Ducks went from playoff team to this due to Verbeek/Cronin. Neither was here during the three year non-playoff interim.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Cronin intentionally stopped coaching last year to sit back, observe, and try to learn what his players needed from him.

You know what's even crazier? I don't think - (unless someone can correct me) that any professional coach has ever done that before. I find it odd he would publicize that to a degree that he did.

That to me screams like he was giving up already.. makes his job easier, especially when he throws our players under the bus

 

[HanSolo]

You know what's even crazier? I don't think - (unless someone can correct me) that any professional coach has ever done that before. I find it odd he would publicize that to a degree that he did.

That to me screams like he was giving up already.. makes his job easier, especially when he throws our players under the bus

It wouldn't surprise me if it's happened before but like 3-4, maybe 5 games.

20 f***ing games is insane. Assuming a young player starts at 19 years old (rare case to begin with) and plays full 82 game seasons (lol how often does that happen) until 23, usually the start of a player's prime years (sometimes 22), 20 games is 6% of their development game time and, presumably, practice.

Let's say the actual range accounting for everything is between 6% and 10% of their pre-prime nhl time, that is still an enormous chunk of development time that developing players were not getting coaching. A chunk that they will never ever get back.

Cronin deserved to be fired on that alone, but to compound it with the fact that he admitted it publicly (like it was some incredible coaching move and not an appallingly stupid development decision) and he seemingly learned nothing from his "observations," I truly cannot understand why or how he still has a job. Developing our youth core is far and away the most important agenda for this team and this guy is f***ing it up. How much closer to prime years do these kids have to get before something is done?

And honestly, there's no way Verbeek didn't know Cronin was doing that. There's no way he wasn't aware and didn't in some way ratify it as a potential good idea. And if he didn't, he sure as f*** knows it know and sees what we see. That the whole idea bore absolutely no fruit. It f***ing infuriates me just to think about it.

 

[HanSolo]

The last Duck playoff season was 2017-2018. Verbeek was hired midway through 2021-2022. The post I was responding to said the Ducks went from playoff team to this due to Verbeek/Cronin. Neither was here during the three year non-playoff interim.

Yeah the root of the problems stem from Murray and the internal cap imposed by the Samuelis. And, admittedly, subpar drafting and development but honestly you can't hold a scouting staff to the flames for not doing better with low picks. Especially when Anaheim has historically been one of the better drafting teams in the bottom 15 and beyond.