Verbeek was fully endorsed not only by ownership, but icons of the franchise in Niedermayer, Kariya, and Selanne. So unless you think he promised to do one thing and then did the exact opposite, this, for better or worse, is the plan and what all those guys plus the owners are on board with.
And to be clear, I didn't think this was going to be the plan either. I thought we would pick up more established talent this offseason to insulate the young players, as opposed to keeping every pick. So it surprised me to some degree also.
From Detroit News on Verbeek getting hired by the Ducks:
"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."
When Verbeek took over, we were 23-16-9 at the all-star break and Manson was place on IR during all-star break. Anaheim needed two more top-6 forwards and a middle pairing defensive D with the then-current roster to take the next step like the Kings did in their 2022 off-season with C Danault, F Arvidsson, and D Elder. Kings made the 2021-22 playoffs.
At the TDL, Verbeek shipped physicality, PK playing, and top-end defensive D in D Lindholm (top pairing), D Manson (top-4), and F Des (pugilist, and PKer). Also shipped away was perimeter scorer RW Rakell.
Just to get back to level with the pre-TDL 2021-22 roster, it needed to replace a top pairing shutdown D, a top-4 shutdown RD, a competent PK forward who can fight, a scoring wing, and strong 1C (Getz retired). I don't know how one can expect Verbeek to equally replace all those talents and add more talent in order to contend in one off-season?
.
.
=== Compare and Contrast Rosters ===
Read on at your own risk.
| Ducks 2021-22 | | | | | |
|---|
| Out, Forwards | | | Regular | Season | 2021-22 |
| Player === | Pos | Games | Pts | PPG | Plus/Minus |
| Getz (Retired) | C | 56 | 37 | 0.66 | -14 |
| Milano | W | 66 | 34 | 0.52 | -9 |
| Rakell (TDL) | W | 51 | 28 | 0.55 | -7 |
| Steel | F | 68 | 20 | 0.29 | -17 |
| Des (TDL) | F | 61 | 10 | 0.16 | -9 |
| Total | | | 129 | 2.02 | -56 |
| | | | | |
| Out, Defense | | | Regular | Season | 2021-22 |
| Player === | Pos | Games | Pts | PPG | Plus/Minus |
| Lindholm (TDL) | LD | 61 | 22 | 0.36 | 0 |
| Manson (TDL) | RD | 45 | 9 | 0.20 | 0 |
| Total | | | 31 | 0.56 | 0 |
We see how the old crew was. Let's see the new crew.
| Roster, FA | | | | | | Ducks | |
|---|
| FA | | 2021-22 | | | | 2022-23 | 5-Dec |
| Player | Pts | PPG | Plus/Minus | . | Pts | PPG | Plus/minus |
| C Strome | 54 | 0.73 | 15 | | 13 | 0.50 | -11 |
| RW Vatrano | 32 | 0.45 | 4 | | 9 | 0.35 | -10 |
| RD Klingberg | 47 | 0.63 | -28 | | 8 | 0.40 | -12 |
| LD Kulikov | 24 | 0.30 | 23 | | 8 | 0.31 | -5 |
| Totals/Sub-Totals | 157 | | 14 | | 38 | | -38 |
All those stats from our FA are coming from playoff teams, yes, including Klingberg. Many people were high on Klingberg and were probably thinking of Klingberg of the way past instead of the -28 rating Klingberg last year. The four top FA acquisitions are vastly underperforming from their previous year's production. Kulikov is the only FA acquisition whose scoring production didn't drop, but has improved a tick with Anaheim.
I think it's too much to believe that players coming from playoff teams would be able to carryover their whole game to a rebuilding team.
2021-22 VS 2022-23 roster replacement
C Getz > C Strome
RW Rakell > RW Vatrano
D Lindholm > D Klingberg
D Manson > D Kulikov
F Des > n/a
2021-22, after 26 games:
GF = 87
GA = 78
GD = +9
PP = 27.0%
PK = 85.3%
Record = 13-8-5 (31 pts)
2022-23, after 26 games:
GF = 65
GA = 111
GD = - 46
PP = 16.0%
PK = 65.6%
Record = 6-17-3 (15 pts)
Once this year's roster construction was completed, I have no idea how one can believe we'd be .500 at this point or close to it. I've shared often how missing Lindholm meant giving up about a goal against per game, but also how Manson is important to Fowler being a better player.
It feels odd for people to want to be successful in a hurry, but not understand the significant losses we had at the TDL and difficult as well as expensive to find equal talent.
