Speculation: 2022-23 Management/Coaching/Ownership

[bsu]

This post needed to be made prior to the Sunday game or (potentially) after tonight’s game.

Games against the laughing stock in the league right now and the Sharks aren't going to change my outlook.... at all. They may entertain me a bit more but that's it.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

My definition of a rebuild isn't trying to be a playoff team while drafting young talent. That's treading water. What Verbeek is doing is a rebuild.

What defined the actual rebuild were the Rakell, Lindholm, and Manson trades. Which you have implied (strongly) wouldn't have happened under Murray.

Id say what defined our rebuild was drafting Z, Drysdale and McTavish. Prospects of high caliber which trading any of our existing players over the last 4 year would not and did not return.

I guess we have a different definition of rebuild. Drafting players in your slot is what just about everyone does. Nothing unique or intentional about it.

Cognitive dissonance by moving the goal post by Deuce22. The top comment by Deuce22 set his definition of a rebuild by what is not a rebuild.

Definition of what is not a rebuild by Deuce22, "My definition of a rebuild isn't trying to be a playoff team while drafting young talent."​

​

Translation of what is a rebuild by Deuce22: Not trying to be a playoff team while drafting young talent.​

I shared our draft slot, which reveals the Ducks were not a playoff team and wasn't trying to be one between 2018-19 TDL to 2021-22 under Murray.

2018-19: Finished 8th, drafted 9th. Added a first rounder at TDL.​

2019-20: Finished 5th, drafted 6th. Added a first rounder at TDL.​

2020-21: Finished 2nd, drafted 3rd.​

Was Murray trying to be a playoff team? Obviously no. That fits Deuce22's definition of a rebuild.

In fact, going into 2021-22, Murray didn't add any new talent. Murray specifically is cited the Ducks are officially in a "rebuild" for the 2021-22 season for those fans looking for the explicit verbiage instead of noticing actions for the past few seasons. The forward youths took off (Terry, Zegras, and Lundy), Getz turned back the hands of time, and the blueline vets were healthy to start the season. All three young forwards had career highs in scoring with Terry (67 pts) and Zegras (61 pts) leading the team in scoring by about 20 points. Youth RD Drysdale added 32 points.

Also in 2021-22, youth forwards Comtois and Steel didn't pan out; while Jones was injured for the season.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Saying the Ducks started a rebuild because they sold Montour is essentially the same thing as saying the Rangers began a rebuild in the offseason because they traded Lundkvist

Records speaks for themselves for those with wrong narratives.

2018-19: Finished 8th, drafted 9th. Added a first rounder at TDL.​

2019-20: Finished 5th, drafted 6th. Added a first rounder at TDL.​

2020-21: Finished 2nd, drafted 3rd.​

 

[Deuce22]

Cognitive dissonance by moving the goal post by Deuce22. The top comment by Deuce22 set his definition of a rebuild by what is not a rebuild.

Definition of what is not a rebuild by Deuce22, "My definition of a rebuild isn't trying to be a playoff team while drafting young talent."​

​

Translation of what is a rebuild by Deuce22: Not trying to be a playoff team while drafting young talent.​

I shared our draft slot, which reveals the Ducks were not a playoff team and wasn't trying to be one between 2018-19 TDL to 2021-22 under Murray.

2018-19: Finished 8th, drafted 9th. Added a first rounder at TDL.​

2019-20: Finished 5th, drafted 6th. Added a first rounder at TDL.​

2020-21: Finished 2nd, drafted 3rd.​

Was Murray trying to be a playoff team? Obviously no. That fits Deuce22's definition of a rebuild.

In fact, going into 2021-22, Murray didn't add any new talent. Murray specifically is cited the Ducks are officially in a "rebuild" for the 2021-22 season for those fans looking for the explicit verbiage instead of noticing actions for the past few seasons. The forward youths took off (Terry, Zegras, and Lundy), Getz turned back the hands of time, and the blueline vets were healthy to start the season. All three young forwards had career highs in scoring with Terry (67 pts) and Zegras (61 pts) leading the team in scoring by about 20 points. Youth RD Drysdale added 32 points.

Also in 2021-22, youth forwards Comtois and Steel didn't pan out; while Jones was injured for the season.

Your never ending promotion and defense of Murray is boring. We disagree on if he was rebuilding or not. The only thing that matters now is that Verbeek is.

 

[Ducks DVM]

Games against the laughing stock in the league right now and the Sharks aren't going to change my outlook.... at all. They may entertain me a bit more but that's it.

It’s an odd time to post that the veterans need to step up, they need to step up physicality, and so on, after a game in which the veterans led a players only meeting that led to them leading on the ice, legitimately outshooting the other team, , outhitting the other team 2-1 with all but 5 players registering at least one hit, and the coach benching the star youngun leading him to say that he needed the message and changed his play accordingly (you know, coaching).

It doesn’t mean they won’t go backwards this game, but you basically ranted that the team needs to do…everything they just did. It comes across as agenda, not analysis. They have to play to the level of the teams on the schedule. Zero reason to complain about them not still playing so badly IMO.

Like I said, one game too late, or possibly (hopefully not) a few hours too early.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Prospects COULD develop in this nonsense... Just like a newborn COULD develop in a crackhouse.... Why not just get an actual NHL coach that will atleast teach some structure and strategy.... It's like we are literally running a pick up game with how out of position we always are, how "hard" we play and how little we hit/touch people. As other have said on here this is possibly the worse Ducks team I've ever seen. Talent wise probably not but the product on the ice. Anyone can see we are horribly coached and I don't care if you want to tank.... We can "tank" and still play the game the right way. It's an embarassment the effort we are getting from our vets including Henrique Fowler Klingberg Shattenkirk.

Oh noes... not this extreme schtick again!

When the Ducks were hit with mass injuries during the Murray rebuild (2019 - 2021), we were a shit roster. Still, that didn't prevent Terry from emerging as a rising star. Zegras became an overnight sensation in 2021-22. Lundy kept improving. Drysdale looked ready to blossom this year until his injury. Prospects weren't the only ones who improved. Vets like Des, Gudbranson, Hakanpaa, and Fleury all improved under Eakins.

2018-19: Finished 8th​

2019-20: Finished 5th​

2020-21: Finished 2nd​

Everything is to the extreme with your arguments except when it comes to Terry. And when Terry credits Eakins for his emergence into rising star, you still can't give Eakins credit by spreading lies that Eakins only had Terry at the tail end of that progression.

This is a rebuild season where the roster construction is offensively biased and purposely made without physicality. Get mad at the GM for the roster construction. Because of last year, Eakins proved he can win when the team is a healthy and balanced roster with built-in physicality. Last year did happen or are you going to lie again and say it didn't happen?

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Your never ending promotion and defense of Murray is boring. We disagree on if he was rebuilding or not. The only thing that matters now is that Verbeek is.

Keep moving that goal post.

Also this...

From Bally Sports when Verbeek was hired:

"I would look at this as being in the middle of a rebuild," Verbeek said. "We have strengths. We also have weaknesses, so the goal is going to be to make sure we keep building on those strengths, and then start to eliminate the weaknesses."​

Guess new GM Verbeek doesn't know what a rebuild is either.

 

[Quack Shot]

If Sullivan becomes available, then how quick do you think Verbeek can get to the phone.

 

[Ducks DVM]

If Sullivan becomes available, then how quick do you think Verbeek can get to the phone.

Wrong question. First, you need to ask - why would Sullivan want to coach this roster? Second question -how much would he require in salary to coach this roster? Third question - just how likely is it that the Samueli’s are going to pay that much money for a non-playoff roster for another 2-3 years?

He gets paid through 2026-27, he's going to sit at home getting paid and wait for a playoff caliber team who needs a coach.

 

[Lord Flashheart]

If Sullivan becomes available, then how quick do you think Verbeek can get to the phone.

I don't think we should expect big changes, as long as it is going, more or less, according to an internal 3-5 year plan.

 

[AngelDuck]

A big concern of mine is that players are leaving Anaheim and immediately performing so much better. This has been a concern for a long time but the examples seem to be getting more and more extreme. Some of that is simply due to them going to a better team with better talent around them.

But I can’t help but wonder if a lot of it is just coaching, coaching, coaching that they aren’t getting here

A situation like Mahura is frustrating to me. That’s a guy we drafted, developed, etc. put resources into

Then we lose him for nothing and he immediately becomes a solid NHL player seemingly.

 

[Ducks DVM]

Mahura in Florida
2G 1A 3P +9, 0.23 PPG, 13GP, played 14:19 last night.

Mahura in Anaheim
6G 14A 20P -17, 0.25PPG, 79GP, avg TOI 14:43.

Mahura is on a better team. This far, it’s pretty much the same player.

 

[AngelDuck]

Mahura in Florida
2G 1A 3P +9, 0.23 PPG, 13GP, played 14:19 last night.

Mahura in Anaheim
6G 14A 20P -17, 0.25PPG, 79GP, avg TOI 14:43.

Mahura is on a better team. This far, it’s pretty much the same player.

His underlying numbers are elite since going there. Yes, he’s on a better team but he certainly has looked better and more comfortable. And you have to wonder why we jettisoned him

 

[DavidBL]

Seems pretty ridiculous to judge Mahura here vs like 12 games in Florida. It's a small sample. On top of that you have to consider line balance. We've seen just in our season how not having g the right partners for the D can have a massive impact on a players performance. I'm glad Mahura found that fit that allowed him to find his game.

 

[Ducks DVM]

His underlying numbers are elite since going there. Yes, he’s on a better team but he certainly has looked better and more comfortable. And you have to wonder why we jettisoned him

We didn’t jettison him. Verbeek gambled that he could get him through waivers while he tried to figure out which of the collection of veteran bottom pairing D he’d accumulated were best for the team. Mahura was the 4th to 5th best offensive D on the roster.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

His underlying numbers are elite since going there. Yes, he’s on a better team but he certainly has looked better and more comfortable. And you have to wonder why we jettisoned him

Florida's forwards are doing the heavy work of living in the offensive end. On the 4-on-4, it was two Florida forwards against 4 Ducks and they scored on us like hot knife to butter. Mahura just needs to keep the puck in the offensive zone for this better talented Florida team.

Again, before our game, Florida has only two player under 50% Corsi % in old man C Stall and Ekblad. Anaheim has three players over 50% in Terry, Zegras, and little used D Whilte (2 game sample). Their goal differential, before the game was -1 goal diff and we're like -19.

 

[pbgoalie]

Numbers aside
I’ve matched a few games and Mahura looks more confident than he ever did here.

It does seem to happen a lot when our players leave.

I think it’s pretty reasonable to consider our development prior to the last couple years (those are pending obviously) a question mark in many cases.

I was no fan or hater of Murray and the jury is out for Verbeek who deserves time to show what his long term plan is. I’m assuming ownership has that plan and is supporting it.

But we haven’t really had a great team identity for awhile.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Numbers aside
I’ve matched a few games and Mahura looks more confident than he ever did here.

It does seem to happen a lot when our players leave.

I think it’s pretty reasonable to consider our development prior to the last couple years (those are pending obviously) a question mark in many cases.

I was no fan or hater of Murray and the jury is out for Verbeek who deserves time to show what his long term plan is. I’m assuming ownership has that plan and is supporting it.

But we haven’t really had a great team identity for awhile.

Being a rebuild team since 2018-19 TDL, it's been about developing the youths. The problem is when there's not enough NHL depth, then there's not much to sheltering the kids. Similarly, the veterans are babysitting some of those kids. Put players in our rebuild on another team with more NHL talent and depth, then they'll probably look better, both youths and veterans.

Last year, we have only 6 players (with 20 games or more) with a CF % of 50% or higher:

C Zegras at 51.5% (rookie)​

RW Rakell at 51.4%​

LW Milano at 51.3%​

LD Manson at 50.8%​

C Getzlaf at 50.5%​

LW Rico at 50.1%​

Getzlaf and Manson are the only physical players in that group. Everyone else are finesse forwards.

The next group in CF % close to 50%:

LD Fowler at 49.9%​

LD Lindholm at 48.2%​

Fowler-Manson was a pair and Lindholm was made to babysit rookie RD Drysdale, who finished -26 with a CF % of 47.0. Lindholm was +0 when he was traded away.

The bulk of our physicality last year were in Lindholm, Manson, Des, Getz, and rookie Benoit. Benoit's CF % was 45.8 and Mahura's was 44.6.

Before playing the Panthers, I looked up possession numbers for both teams. The Panthers had only two players under 50% CF % in old man C Staal and D Ekblad. The Ducks, on the other hand, hand only three players over 50% in Zegras, Terry, and little used D White. That means 11 out of the 12 forwards the Panthers have, they can control play and dominate. Hell, they dominated us without their best forward in Tkachuk. Mahura's defense will not be exposed with Florida as it was here last year and during pre-season.

With Boston and Lindholm last year, Lindholm's CF % with the Ducks was 46.6 and when traded to the Bruins, it was a CF % of 53.8. This year, 14 out of 24 Bruin players have a CF % of 50 or higher. Of those 14, 10 are forwards. Only two defensemen have played in all 13 games in Lindholm and Clifton. Boston has played 9 defensemen this year and without their #1D in McAvoy. Lindholm can play more of an offensive role with Boston because their forwards are much better than who we've had during our rebuild term.

Now, let's look at Shattenkirk. Before coming to the Ducks, Shattenkirk's lowest CF % was 54.1 with the 2018-19 NYR. The following year, he had a CF % of 55.0 with Tampa and won a cup. The first year with the Ducks, Shatty's CF % was 54.4. COVID season hit, we lost Lindholm early as he played only 18 games and Manson came back for a bit, playing 27 games. RD Hakanpaa turned out to be a great surprise and kept Shatty in the 3rd pairing role who plays on the PP. The following season, last season, the Ducks blueline got into injury, but there wsa no Hakanpaa to bail us out at ES and PK. That means Shatty being forced top play top-4 duties, play the PP, and be on the PK. Shatty's CF% was better last year because he started off with Lindholm and Manson healthy on the team that kept Shatty in a 3rd pairing role to begin the season. This year, without Lindholm or Manson and Drysdale falling to injury, Shatty again is thrust into a role he's not supposed to be in and his possession numbers suck as in CF % of 43.5.

Three different examples with three different types of defensemen from young to prime veteran to old veteran 3rd pairing, PP specialist only.

Both Strome and Vatrano's possession numbers (CF %) dropped from 55.6 and 55.0, respectively, with playoff teams NYR and Florida to 49.7 and 45.2. They're supposed to be the reinforcements to replace Getz and Rakell. We're a rebuild team that has no physical defensive top-4 defensemen to support the top-6 in Anaheim. Mahura isn't a physical, defensive defenseman and wouldn't have fared well here, which was noticeable during the pre-season games.

I wish Mahura well and hopes he can improve his defensive game in a better environment. He went from a rebuild roster with no NHL talent depth to a team with a playoff roster. His future in the NHL was looking grim here, tbh.

 

[IDuck]

Being a rebuild team since 2018-19 TDL, it's been about developing the youths. The problem is when there's not enough NHL depth, then there's not much to sheltering the kids. Similarly, the veterans are babysitting some of those kids. Put players in our rebuild on another team with more NHL talent and depth, then they'll probably look better, both youths and veterans.

Last year, we have only 6 players (with 20 games or more) with a CF % of 50% or higher:

C Zegras at 51.5% (rookie)​

RW Rakell at 51.4%​

LW Milano at 51.3%​

LD Manson at 50.8%​

C Getzlaf at 50.5%​

LW Rico at 50.1%​

Getzlaf and Manson are the only physical players in that group. Everyone else are finesse forwards.

The next group in CF % close to 50%:

LD Fowler at 49.9%​

LD Lindholm at 48.2%​

Fowler-Manson was a pair and Lindholm was made to babysit rookie RD Drysdale, who finished -26 with a CF % of 47.0. Lindholm was +0 when he was traded away.

The bulk of our physicality last year were in Lindholm, Manson, Des, Getz, and rookie Benoit. Benoit's CF % was 45.8 and Mahura's was 44.6.

Before playing the Panthers, I looked up possession numbers for both teams. The Panthers had only two players under 50% CF % in old man C Staal and D Ekblad. The Ducks, on the other hand, hand only three players over 50% in Zegras, Terry, and little used D White. That means 11 out of the 12 forwards the Panthers have, they can control play and dominate. Hell, they dominated us without their best forward in Tkachuk. Mahura's defense will not be exposed with Florida as it was here last year and during pre-season.

With Boston and Lindholm last year, Lindholm's CF % with the Ducks was 46.6 and when traded to the Bruins, it was a CF % of 53.8. This year, 14 out of 24 Bruin players have a CF % of 50 or higher. Of those 14, 10 are forwards. Only two defensemen have played in all 13 games in Lindholm and Clifton. Boston has played 9 defensemen this year and without their #1D in McAvoy. Lindholm can play more of an offensive role with Boston because their forwards are much better than who we've had during our rebuild term.

Now, let's look at Shattenkirk. Before coming to the Ducks, Shattenkirk's lowest CF % was 54.1 with the 2018-19 NYR. The following year, he had a CF % of 55.0 with Tampa and won a cup. The first year with the Ducks, Shatty's CF % was 54.4. COVID season hit, we lost Lindholm early as he played only 18 games and Manson came back for a bit, playing 27 games. RD Hakanpaa turned out to be a great surprise and kept Shatty in the 3rd pairing role who plays on the PP. The following season, last season, the Ducks blueline got into injury, but there wsa no Hakanpaa to bail us out at ES and PK. That means Shatty being forced top play top-4 duties, play the PP, and be on the PK. Shatty's CF% was better last year because he started off with Lindholm and Manson healthy on the team that kept Shatty in a 3rd pairing role to begin the season. This year, without Lindholm or Manson and Drysdale falling to injury, Shatty again is thrust into a role he's not supposed to be in and his possession numbers suck as in CF % of 43.5.

Three different examples with three different types of defensemen from young to prime veteran to old veteran 3rd pairing, PP specialist only.

Both Strome and Vatrano's possession numbers (CF %) dropped from 55.6 and 55.0, respectively, with playoff teams NYR and Florida to 49.7 and 45.2. They're supposed to be the reinforcements to replace Getz and Rakell. We're a rebuild team that has no physical defensive top-4 defensemen to support the top-6 in Anaheim. Mahura isn't a physical, defensive defenseman and wouldn't have fared well here, which was noticeable during the pre-season games.

I wish Mahura well and hopes he can improve his defensive game in a better environment. He went from a rebuild roster with no NHL talent depth to a team with a playoff roster. His future in the NHL was looking grim here, tbh.

I certainly appreciate your time on this, so I would like to ask with all that being said.....is PV failing big time in his 1st full season with the team, by doing what he did and putting this "rebuilding team"/"developing young players" in the current situation they are in?......what would you say is the "ideal" look for this team?......while i understand bringing young players along in the NHL is very important, i believe how they are brought along is just as or more so important.....i think we as a organization have failed a lot of young players because we put them where we needed them to be and not where they needed to be (or in roles), then they are used correctly on other teams and seem to perform well...and i dont put ANY current ex-duck on PV.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I certainly appreciate your time on this, so I would like to ask with all that being said.....is PV failing big time in his 1st full season with the team, by doing what he did and putting this "rebuilding team"/"developing young players" in the current situation they are in?......what would you say is the "ideal" look for this team?......while i understand bringing young players along in the NHL is very important, i believe how they are brought along is just as or more so important.....i think we as a organization have failed a lot of young players because we put them where we needed them to be and not where they needed to be (or in roles), then they are used correctly on other teams and seem to perform well...and i dont put ANY current ex-duck on PV.

=== Rebuild, players, and player development... oh my! ===

Rebuilds are ugly and can't sugar coat the lack of talent on the team for years. < ---

Going from a rebuild team roster to a playoff team roster, players are bound to improve their production on a playoff team.

Mahura is the only youth I know that's improved away from the Ducks.

Recently removed youth Ducks Milano and Steel have not vastly improved. Do we talk about them? Nope. Ritchie has bounced between four organizations in three seasons. Kase has also bounced around, but four teams in four seasons. (Although, it's due to his concussion than his play.) Montour is in his fifth season away from the Ducks (including his traded season), but only now people are talking about what a mistake the Ducks did? Montour is on his second team since being traded from the Ducks.

D Pettersson hasn't blossomed beyond what he was here in Anaheim, which was a young defensive D with a little offense.

People only talk about successes and omit non-successes because it's easier to have a narrative.

A few players that actually improved play while in Anaheim are D Gudbranson, D Hakanpaa, and D Fleury. Anaheim revived Gudbranson's career. Hakanpaa came across the pond as an older rookie and evolved in Eakins' system from a stay-at-home D to a pinching D. Haydn Fleury's career looked so promising that the Seattle Kraken took him in the Expansion draft instead of G Stolarz or F Henrique.

=== Ideal situation for a rebuild ===

To be honest, there really isn't an ideal situation b/c you're dealing with a crap roster, not adding top-6F/top-4D, and trying to bring up youths simultaneously.

Murray tried to bring in the youth in a layered function, but unforeseen injuries derailed that long term plan.

Ducks
Player	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
C Getzlaf	x	x	x	x	x
RW Perry	x	x	x	x	x
C Kesler	x (ext)	x	x	x	x	x
F Eaves	x (TDL)	x (ext)	x	x
C Henrique		x (Trade)	x	x(ext)	x	x
Playoffs	WCF	1st rd	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

GM Murray had plans to have a solid veteran core in the layers listed above to stick around while he tried to prepare for life after the Twins. The 2016-2018 drafts, Murray neglected a balanced draft approach to find as many forwards as possible. Murray started this while the team was still in its playoff run, to avoid a complete teardown/rebuild.

2015: Rd 5. RW Terry already proved to be a steal in his D+0 season.​

2016: Rd 1. LW Jones; Rd 1. C Steel​

2017: no first round due to Eaves trade; Rd 2. LW Comtois; Rd 2. C Morand​

2018: Rd 1. C Lundestrom, Rd 2. C Groulx, Rd 3. LW McLaughlin​

Looking at the contracts signed, the earliest any forward would be needed would have been in 2020-21.

Ducks	Injuries
Player	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
C Getzlaf	x	x	x	x	x
RW Perry	x	x	Injured	bought out	bought out
C Kesler	x	Injured	Injured	DNP	DNP	DNP
F Eaves	x (TDL)	Injured	Injured	DNP
C Henrique		x	x	x	x	x

Injuries plagued the Ducks' top forwards in 2017-18 to where the Ducks were forced to make a trade for a center. Ducks sent D Vatanen for Devils C/LW Rico.

The injuries to the top forward core continued into 2018-19. It forced the youths onto the NHL roster sooner than expected in 20-year old C Steel and 18-year old C Lundestrom. That's two years earlier than the projected date based upon the contract lengths of the top forwards.

Anaheim started the rebuild at the 2018-19 TDL. GM Murray knew that both Kelser and Eaves would never play in the NHL again. Also, Murray wanted to move on from Perry and bought him out during the 2019 summer.

Just looking at our draft selection details how bad our team was.

2019 draft: finished 8th, selected 9th.​

2020 draft: finished 5th, selected 5th.​

2021 draft: finished 2nd, selected 3rd.​

2021-22 season had three young forwards take significant steps forward in Terry, Zegras, and Lundestrom. The veterans were healthy to start the season in captain C Getz, LW Rico, RW Silf, D Lindholm, and D Manson. Murray also hired new assistant coaches to improve the PP and PK. Everything worked to start the season, but knowing full well we didn't have any NHL depth if injuries arose. Injuries did happen, but Murray had resigned earlier in the season on Nov 10th. The team didn't have the power to do anything until it found a new GM, which happened on Feb 3, about three months after Murray resigned.

=== PV Remake ===

When Verbeek became the new GM on Feb 3, during the Olympic break, the team possessed a balanced roster, but lacking NHL talent depth. It's just my opinion, but I believed Verbeek wanted to reset the team all along so he didn't have to deal with cap issues. The first sign of a potential rebuild was that Verbeek didn't try to find a replacement for Manson when his injury projected Manson to be out for a long time. Verbeek left the team flailing on purpose. Another proof of this is rejecting a team friendly, low AAV, but 8-year term for 1D Lindholm. Lindholm was traded away for concussion prone D prospect Vaaks, a cap dump in D Moore, a late 2022 1st rd pick, a 2nd rd pick in 2023, and a 2nd rd pick in 2024. That's great for a rental, but one day after the trade, Lindholm signed an 8-year deal worth $6.5 mil AAV. Lindholm said he would have signed for less to stay with the Ducks.

Verbeek doesn't care about the now or near future because it's a rebuild. He doesn't want to deal with extra complexities like Murray would be able to handle. At the TDL, the balance and physicality of the team was traded away by trading away all of its most physical players and top defensive players in D Lindholm, D Manson, and F Des.

The time to be upset with Verbeek would have been at the TDL b/c he gutted the team and set us back to year 2/3 of a rebuild. People didn't get upset at the lack of physicality until star forward Troy Terry got his ass handed to him. There was no priority to upgrade the defensive group going into the off-season. There was a priority to replace the loss of Getzlaf and Rakell with Strome and Vatrano. That's it. No long term plan for the rest of the team unlike Murray.

Verbeek inherited youths RW Terry, C Zegras, C Lundestrom, D Drysdale, LW Jones, and LW Comtois. Then there's the top-5 farm team that included C McTavish, D Zellweger, RW Pastajov, D Thrun, D Lacombe, D Moore, and RW Colangelo. Then tack on the large haul of picks Verbeek received at the TDL, then it's easy to see that Verbeek wants to build through the draft. He used all the 2022 draft picks. That's yet another clue that Verbeek wasn't trying to become a contender for 2022-23 season.

After most of the FA had come and gone, D Klingberg misjudged the market and took sloppy tenths by signing a 1-year deal worth $7 mil. Klingberg is an offensive talent, but he doesn't replace top-4 shutdown defensemen Verbeek lost at the TDL. Doesn't matter, Klingbert is viewed as a TDL asset to accrue more draft picks. Before the start of the season, Verbeek traded for D Kulikov from Minny. Minny was grateful for the cap dump and didn't pay anything for the cap dump. Kulikov is also on the last year of his contract and another TDL asset.

Verbeek cares about adding more draft picks to help remake this team and the development of the youths. His long term plans doesn't place a lot of concern with the short term suffering as long as there's development going on.

Why people are upset a few games into this season is mystifying. How many instances must Verbeek give one to show he's in it for a long rebuild? The TDL was bad enough. Telling the team they have to know how to defend themselves after stripping the team of enforcers. Using all the draft picks at the draft instead of packaging one or two for top-6 or top-4 NHL talent. Not adding more top-6 forwards, two top-4 shutdown D, or physicality/enforcer-type during the off-season.

Rebuilds are crap and ugly. Verbeek did this by design. I can see where he's going with it and it looks promising in the long run, but it's disgraceful for the time being. Fortunately, it won't take five or six seasons because of what Verbeek was gifted with. I think two more seasons of development and Verbeek can take the next steps.

Under Murray, his plans of layering wer destroyed by injuries of top forwards and then in the rebuild his defensive corps got destroyed for two consecutive seasons. Murray made the most of it for three consecutive drafts with Zegras, Drysdale, and McTavsih along with Terry becoming a superstar. It looked like we were done rebuilding last year and the coming off-season is when Murray would start adding more NHL talent to the set roster, especially with a deep defensive prospect pool and only two roster spots open (provided Manson and Lindholm were re-signed).

Verbeek is doing the rebuild in stages.

2022-23: Focus on developing forwards.​

2023-24: Focus on developing D at AHL and NHL level​

2024-25: Continue developing D at NHL level​

2025-26: Start contending.​

What I don't like about Verbeek's plan is he's married to his rubric and doesn't care much about loyalty, just one player's productivity and term. Verbeek is just amassing assets right now, but the roster construction is still suspect. He's banking on home grown talent to be the stalwarts on the blue line, but that might also take a little longer time. If Verbeek signs both NCAA boys in Thrun and LaCombe, then it will accelerate the D development a bit faster and not rush Zellweger, Mintyukov, Hinds, Moore, Luneau, or Warren.

I will give a lot of credit to Verbeek in increasing not only the front office with stats, but also adding more medical/physical therapists to both the Ducks and Gulls.

Again, I see where Verbeek is trying to take us, but between then and now, it'll be shit show. As long as there's development, then Verbeek is happy. Terry and Zegras are proving their breakout wasn't a fluke. Drysdale looked good late, but then injured for the season. Lundy has taken a step back. I have no idea what exactly we're doing with McTavish, but it looks as though they're taking the scenic route with him.

...

Is PV failing in the rebuild? You can't tell until years later. If the team ends up with Bedard or Fantilli, then failing this year might appear to be a temporary win. If we're not trying to contend by 2025-26, then the rebuild was a failure.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

Was Verbeek's side of scouting with Detroit/Tampa pro-scouting ? I heard that he did pro-scouting.
If so he should have as a pro-scout saw that Lindholm was being under-utilized and had more untapped offense.

 

[goonsaredumb]

Was Verbeek's side of scouting with Detroit/Tampa pro-scouting ? I heard that he did pro-scouting.
If so he should have as a pro-scout saw that Lindholm was being under-utilized and had more untapped offense.

To be fair I don't think any scouts not even Boston's saw that untapped offensive potential, I mean we had a decade worth of him never putting up more than 35 points, I think Boston traded for him knowing he was an absolute stud defensively and him suddenly becoming a stud offensively too is just a nice juicy bonus.

I wish we kept Lindholm but I don't think anyone could've known he was capable of what he's doing this year based on what we had seen from him in his career up to this point

 

[Hockey Duckie]

To be fair I don't think any scouts not even Boston's saw that untapped offensive potential, I mean we had a decade worth of him never putting up more than 35 points, I think Boston traded for him knowing he was an absolute stud defensively and him suddenly becoming a stud offensively too is just a nice juicy bonus.

I wish we kept Lindholm but I don't think anyone could've known he was capable of what he's doing this year based on what we had seen from him in his career up to this point

With McAvoy out to start the season and the lack of OFDs on the team, they were forced to rely on Lindholm to be offensive and be a part of the PP unit. Lindholm literally carried that offense nightly at 24:28 ATOI, 3 minutes more than any other skater.

We rarely used Lindholm in that fashion because we had other players to fill that role.

As for Verbeek not retaining Lindholm, it was more about Lindholm's age on a long term contract. Verbeek does not want to be on the hook for that long. There's a strict rubric that Verbeek adheres to follow. He'll churn and churn players until the group he has is the one he wants. Three to four years from now is what Verbeek is interested in and the rebuilding stage is just a process his team will have to grow out of.

Look at our roster, it's very unbalanced and has no physicality. It's an obvious tank roster done on purpose. The top-5 in the 2023 class are high end forwards, which would be a boon for the Ducks. Yet, we fans have to endure more losing seasons.

 

[KelVarnsen]

Eakins is a clown. I really hope he is gone after this year.

 

[bsu]

I wonder who Verbeek has an eye on (coaching wise)