Speculation: 2022-23 Management/Coaching/Ownership

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Jul 29, 2003
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How would you guys feel if Eakins was extended another season or two?
Ultimately rather not. It’s shaping up to be a summer with few teams looking for coaches and some good ones available. Plus I don’t see the benefit in extending him knowing he’s not the guy, the team probably can’t take a step forward in that spot.
 
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Hockey Duckie

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100% fine with it. The kids are developing under him, the teams don’t quit under him, and I don’t see the roster quality being worthwhile until 2 years from now at the earliest. A “top coach” won’t take the job here for next year, because ownership won’t pay that rate and because the top coaches won’t take the job, they‘ll just wait for an actual playoff roster to become available (which happens every year). So that means it’ll be another minor league head coach/NHL assistant, which is a crapshoot. People like to forget just how desired a coach Eakins was with the Marlies. The people who were lamenting we didn’t get Travis Green got very quiet when he tanked with Vancouver.

Eakins hasn’t shown he’s a great NHL coach by any stretch of the imagination, but he’s a known quantity that is moving the roster parts that matter in the right direction. If that stops, or if/when he loses the room, then replace him. This team won’t be relevant for years, there’s no Scotty Bowman riding in on a unicorn to make them a top franchise within the next 2 years. The next coach can always be worse, especially if they’re unproven.

Since the 2020-21 season (COVID), the one common trait for Eakins' team is they don't quit. That's the most important good trait and habit to have on the team. It's going on his third season now with lots of players who understand what's going on such as Terry, Rico, Lundy, Silf, Fowler, and Shatty. Eakins actually coached Terry and Lundy in San Diego, that's how back those relationships go.

Although the imperative is to develop the youth for both rebuilds under Murray and Verbeek, Eakins has also helped develop/evolve veterans. The best example of this is Rico. We waived Rico and Eakins helped build him back up again. Now Rico is even playing on the PK. Eakins has also revived veteran/older defensemen in Gudbranson, Hakanpaa, Fleury, and Kulikov is turning into a top-4D this season.

I'm actually good with Eakins in developmental seasons b/c it's something he knows, but also it's the only thing he's been given with as a roster for two different organizations and three different GM's. The one instance Eakins had a healthy, talented roster, he surprised the league. Unfortunately, we lacked depth to sustain high level of play when injuries started happening. Remember when we were all clamoring in the 2021 off-season to acquire two top-6 forwards? We could have had Buchnevich and that could have helped with injury damage control, but Murray wanted to see what he had in the kids with Comtois, Jones, and Steel.

A parallel about going with the unknown coaching carousel is look at our AHL affiliate. Two seasons ago, we had Dineen, who's a proven coaching product. We changed for an up-and-coming Bouchard. That blew up in our face harder than getting hit by an irritated jackass' hind leg kick. Now, we're with a third in three seasons.

When Verbeek said he wants to develop kids and isn't going to use win/losses as the measuring stick, a lot of people can't accept that. Therein lies the problem.
 

Hockey Duckie

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Yeah, I fought for years against the “tanking is good” mentality, but now that we did it, I think it needs to be done right. No shortcuts, no huge UFA pickups until there’s enough franchise depth to warrant it, and no “compete for the playoffs” push until there’s enough roster depth to actually continue to get better, as opposed to being stuck in the range where you aren’t good enough to become a threat in the playoffs, but you also can’t get a pick high enough to move the needle.

I’m in the acceptance stage. I think many people are still in stage 1-3.


Anaheim did all you cited above under Murray's watch, which landed us #9 pick in 2019, #6 pick in 2020, an #3 pick in 2021. Those players are the future pillars of the franchise and we have a top-5 prospect pool. Murray didn't know Terry would breakout in 2021-22.

The Ducks didn't have NHL franchise depth in the 2021 season and Murray opted not to "compete for the playoffs" by going after FA's, which we all were upset about. We were still in a rebuild stage, which Murray used the "rebuild" word officially in the 2021 off-season. Things all aligned right for the Ducks early in 2021-22. Unfortunately, Murray shot himself in the foot and couldn't finish what he started, which, imo, would be to start building a contender.

We're running the same rebuild game like we did under Murray, but far more accelerated and lacking even more NHL talent and balance. I don't comprehend why people keep saying we didn't have direction under Murray when it's a similar pattern.

Murray's rebuild
2019: pick 9​
2020: pick 6​
2021: pick 3​

Verbeek's rebuild
2022: pick 10​
2023: pick 1 - 3?​
 

bsu

"I have no idea what I am doing" -Pat VerBleak
Sep 27, 2017
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Hot take alert. If first time GM Verbeek re-signs Eakins, I'll take a wild out there guess right now that he doesn't get another GM job in the NHL after this one. Wild guess, we'll see what happens.
 
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Ducks DVM

sowcufucakky
Jun 6, 2010
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Anaheim did all you cited above under Murray's watch, which landed us #9 pick in 2019, #6 pick in 2020, an #3 pick in 2021. Those players are the future pillars of the franchise and we have a top-5 prospect pool. Murray didn't know Terry would breakout in 2021-22.

The Ducks didn't have NHL franchise depth in the 2021 season and Murray opted not to "compete for the playoffs" by going after FA's, which we all were upset about. We were still in a rebuild stage, which Murray used the "rebuild" word officially in the 2021 off-season. Things all aligned right for the Ducks early in 2021-22. Unfortunately, Murray shot himself in the foot and couldn't finish what he started, which, imo, would be to start building a contender.

We're running the same rebuild game like we did under Murray, but far more accelerated and lacking even more NHL talent and balance. I don't comprehend why people keep saying we didn't have direction under Murray when it's a similar pattern.

Murray's rebuild
2019: pick 9​
2020: pick 6​
2021: pick 3​

Verbeek's rebuild
2022: pick 10​
2023: pick 1 - 3?​
Murray didn’t rebuild, he tried to retool like he did in 2009-12. He didn’t sell off veterans or weaponize cap space for picks. The teams he put together were just bad. You don’t sign a Shattenkirk to a 3 year deal in year 2 of a rebuild.
 

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sowcufucakky
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Hot take alert. If first time GM Verbeek re-signs Eakins, I'll take a wild out there guess right now that he doesn't get another GM job in the NHL after this one. Wild guess, we'll see what happens.
Technically you’re saying he never gets another job then, because that already happened.

edit - never mind, I misunderstood your use of “first”.
 

Hamilton Bulldogs

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Jan 11, 2022
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Hot take alert. If first time GM Verbeek re-signs Eakins, I'll take a wild out there guess right now that he doesn't get another GM job in the NHL after this one. Wild guess, we'll see what happens.
If Eakins can be an nhl coach for almost 10 years, never say never. NHL is an old boys club and if you're in it, there will always be a spot for you.
 

Hockey Duckie

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Murray didn’t rebuild, he tried to retool like he did in 2009-12. He didn’t sell off veterans or weaponize cap space for picks. The teams he put together were just bad. You don’t sign a Shattenkirk to a 3 year deal in year 2 of a rebuild.

Murray did a slow roll rebuild b/c he's a tinkerer. No one wanted Perry's contract and we bought him out in 2019 off-season. Bob also knew that Eaves and Kelser would never play again due to medical issues. That's three top-6 players gone for 2019-20 season. GM Murray did sell off assets, which was the middle core of Monty (2019 TDL), Kase (2020 TLD), and Ritchie (2020 TDL) for picks and players. We took on Backes' contract to help land a late 1st round pick in the Kase trade. We got extra first round picks in 2019 and 2020.

Eakins was promoted to head coach in the summer of 2019, from the Ducks' AHL affiliate. Eakins was in charge of a rebuild with all the youths onboard with RW Terry, C Steel, LW Jones, LW Comtois, C Lundestrom, LD Guhle, LD Mahura, and LD Larsson.

Anaheim traded for Des using a 4th round pick in 2019. Des would be the fighter and Manson can focus on playing more on the ice.

Early 2019 season, Manson fell to injury and Murray used a 7th round pick and an unknown prospect Martinsen.

For the 2020 season, Bob swapped Gudbranson's $4 mil AAV for Shatty's $3.9 AAV as a third-pairing OFD. Swapping Shatty for Guds is like swapping Vatrano for Rakell, Guds was on the last year of his contract too. We got a 5th round pick for Guds, a vast upgrade of asset compared to what Murray traded for Guds. Murray tried to get Shatty the previous year, but Shatty wanted to increase his price by playing with the Bolts for less. The gamble worked. Here's a quote from Murray on Shatty:

"Well obviously he knew we liked him and I liked him, and he had a great chat a year ago with myself and with (coach) Dallas [Eakins]," Murray said. "He liked Dallas a year ago. Hey, Kevin made the right decision, as much as I didn't like it last year. He made the right decision and I told him so. But that's to our benefit now. Because now he's won, now he knows how to win. That's only good for us and our younger players."

Based upon your criteria, the Ducks didn't add high-end FA talent. Lost talent for assets at 2018-19 TDL, lost three top-6 talents in 2019 off-season, and lost more talent for assets at 2020-21 TDL while using cap space to help land a 1st round pick. The proof is in the draft slot. We didn't do anything in the 2021 off-season, just stood pat and Murray finally used the word "rebuild" publicly. Just because Murray's rebuild was slower and had thoughts on some roster balance doesn't discount it as a rebuild. Based upon what we witnessed, Murray's rebuild has us coming out of it faster than Verbeek's despite Verbeek being gifted, Terry, Zegras, Drysdale, Lundy, McTavish, and a top-5 propsect pool.
 

Hockey Duckie

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Jul 25, 2003
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Hot take alert. If first time GM Verbeek re-signs Eakins, I'll take a wild out there guess right now that he doesn't get another GM job in the NHL after this one. Wild guess, we'll see what happens.

Isn't picking up Eakins' fourth year option kinda like re-signing him? Verbeek could have not picked up the fourth year option.
 

Ducks DVM

sowcufucakky
Jun 6, 2010
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Long Beach, CA
If Eakins can be an nhl coach for almost 10 years, never say never. NHL is an old boys club and if you're in it, there will always be a spot for you.
Eakins has been an NHL coach for about 4-1/2 seasons. 1-1/3 in Edmonton, 3-1/4 here. 346 games (minus a couple while sick I think). 10 years would be in the ballpark of 750-820 (based on shortened COVID seasons).
 

Ducks DVM

sowcufucakky
Jun 6, 2010
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Defensive structure isn't apparent, special teams are horrible, questionable usage of personnel, team is playing below expectations, poor NHL track record. Hey, let's give this guy a longer leash. Are people not paying attention?
Too often, the Ducks don’t have all five players on the same page in a given shift or are unable to keep their lines and defense pairings in concert with each other from period to period. A well-oiled machine they are not.

Verbeek seems to be leaning more toward players that aren’t executing what Eakins and his staff have in place instead of the system failing them. But he did express displeasure with power play and penalty killing which has been awful. Out of 32 teams, the power play is 31st while the penalty kill sits 32nd.

“I hate to use the word terrible but it’s close to there,” the GM said.

“What I’m looking at, the systems are fine,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s the execution of the players for the systems. If they keep making mistakes that cause breakdowns, it’s becomes a repetition thing.””

Verbeek is, and thinks it’s the players. He also directly addresses the “bad habits” storyline as well.

While the offense has largely been limited to one consistent line, Verbeek isn’t concerned that players like Terry and Zegras are picking up bad habits and are regressing. Rather, he calls it a “rollercoaster” where every night is different, mistakes will be made and that those two and other young players still have plenty to learn.

“It’s no different than a quarterback sitting at the offensive line looking at the defense and then go, ‘I know what they’re going to do here,’” Verbeek said. “It’s the same thing when you’re defending in your zone. It’s no different in the sense that this is what they’re trying to do. He’s starting to move here. I recognize this. This is how I have to do this coverage.

“That takes time. It takes experience. It takes repetition. And, so, I’m not worried about that. What I worry about and what I care about most is that these players are competing and willing to defend. If they’re not willing to defend, then there’s issues.”

 
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robbieboy3686

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Jan 17, 2016
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Ducks are not coming anywhere close to a playoff spot next season. I knew this would be a rough season but didn’t think they would be dead last.

I’m expecting another bottom 10 finish next year and supposed to be a good deep draft For D in 2024.

I think the goal should be when Z is Terry’s age maybe a year younger , for them to start contending for a playoff spot. So 2-3 years.
Lol at contending for a playoff spot in 2/3 years. Some of you guys forget about how much cap we have, and guys like silf shatty and old contracts being cleared out, and new young hungrier cheaper elc contract players like perrault and Tracy ready to go. I would bet lots of money that if this upcoming offseason Verbeek spends even 5mil to the cap we’re in the playoffs next season. Next season zegras will have become much stronger and better in the d zone( working on that this season) I would also bet that Big Mac adds speed this off-season and during this season becomes a legit fringe 2c and next season fully ready 2c. Drysdale also will at worst be a good 2nd pairing man next season:and maybe work himself into a top pair guy by seasons end . Guys like Jones/leason can easily be upgraded by the nino nedieretier types out there. Strome being downgraded to 3c will mean easier matchups, guys like lundestrom will be traded next trade deadline to make room for a hungry and cheaper gauchier. We have owners that would today spend to the cap if the gm asks them too( evident of that for many prior seasons )
 

bsu

"I have no idea what I am doing" -Pat VerBleak
Sep 27, 2017
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Lol at contending for a playoff spot in 2/3 years. Some of you guys forget about how much cap we have, and guys like silf shatty and old contracts being cleared out, and new young hungrier cheaper elc contract players like perrault and Tracy ready to go. I would bet lots of money that if this upcoming offseason Verbeek spends even 5mil to the cap we’re in the playoffs next season. Next season zegras will have become much stronger and better in the d zone( working on that this season) I would also bet that Big Mac adds speed this off-season and during this season becomes a legit fringe 2c and next season fully ready 2c. Drysdale also will at worst be a good 2nd pairing man next season:and maybe work himself into a top pair guy by seasons end . Guys like Jones/leason can easily be upgraded by the nino nedieretier types out there. Strome being downgraded to 3c will mean easier matchups, guys like lundestrom will be traded next trade deadline to make room for a hungry and cheaper gauchier. We have owners that would today spend to the cap if the gm asks them too( evident of that for many prior seasons )
We aren't making the playoffs next season.
 
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bsu

"I have no idea what I am doing" -Pat VerBleak
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I can see sneaking into the playoffs next season. There’s a lot of “ifs” for it to happen though.
You could say that about anything :laugh:. Say it with some conviction if you actually believe it.
 
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AngelDuck

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Jun 16, 2012
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Eakins hasn’t been great, but let’s at least be honest about it. He’s inherited two bottom 7/8 teams. He coached ~1-1/3 seasons in Edmonton, and ~3-1/4 here, less than 5 years, not 7. The Edmonton team finished 3rd from last the season he was fired, and 2nd from last the season after that - that was simply a terrible team. And the Ducks would absolutely not have been a bottom 10 team last year had the team not been deconstructed at the trade deadline. And, in 3-1/4 years, there’s been virtually no help from the farm team. The franchise woes run a lot deeper than Eakins.
I was honest about that with my 2nd bullet point. The roster is garbage and I have always been the first one saying that. There were people hyped about the Klingberg signing and I said he’s washed and we’d be lucky to get a 2nd for him.

Still, it is a simple fact that he has never really taken a bad roster and overachieved, except for maybe last season. And I don’t mean take a dumpster fire and get them to the playoffs. I mean take a dumpster fire and make them not a dumpster fire. That doesn’t mean he’s the worst in the league but it doesn’t inspire confidence that he’s above average either

I can see sneaking into the playoffs next season. There’s a lot of “ifs” for it to happen though.
If they get Bedard and 2 physical defenseman that can play 20 minutes a night, sure.

Don’t know if you can bank on that right now
 
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