Speculation: 2022-23 Management/Coaching/Ownership

[Deuce22]

Also possible

Verbeek could have resigned the UFA's, brought in a competent head coach, and tried to keep the SSMurray on course. He came in, looked at the roster and organization as a whole, and decided to do what he has done. Sell off the UFA's, bring back a proven losing coach, and sign some meh FA vets to get to the cap floor. Serious question, would you rather the Ducks endure a crap season and draft a Bedard, Mitchkov, or Fantelli? Or be a fringe playoff team with no cap flexibility to work with?

 

[bsu]

It’s funny people are impatient with Verbeek when we just had over a decade of Bob Murray who wasn’t even as active as Verbeek has been, even in the good years.

What?

 

[Lord Flashheart]

Gotcha, thanks.

Also possible

And let me also add that not everything has to be adversarial. Two persons can have different opinions without either being an idiot who has no idea. Truth can also be somewhere in the middle. We are all just guessing here based on our perception and experience, and most here have followed the league for a long time.

 

[branmuffin17]

Verbeek could have resigned the UFA's, brought in a competent head coach, and tried to keep the SSMurray on course. He came in, looked at the roster and organization as a whole, and decided to do what he has done. Sell off the UFA's, bring back a proven losing coach, and sign some meh FA vets to get to the cap floor. Serious question, would you rather the Ducks endure a crap season and draft a Bedard, Mitchkov, or Fantelli? Or be a fringe playoff team with no cap flexibility to work with?

I choose door #1. Was tired of being fringe anyway. Better to be good at something than barely okay at most things.

 

[DavidBL]

And let me also add that not everything has to be adversarial. Two persons can have different opinions without either being an idiot who has no idea. Truth can also be somewhere in the middle. We are all just guessing here based on our perception and experience, and most here have followed the league for a long time.

Did you feel I was being adversarial? That wasn't my intent. I was just asking, you could have had insider info I don't know about.

 

[Lord Flashheart]

Did you feel I was being adversarial? That wasn't my intent. I was just asking, you could have had insider info I don't know about.

Nah, I just wanted to expand on previous reply.

 

[CrazyDuck4u]

Verbeek has commited to the tank. He wants another bonafide offensive talent..

 

[MMC]

Feels like just because we as fans are sick of the losing, people think all of the losing seasons before PV got here should mean his process of building a team should be expedited, when he really has no reason to care about that. Sucks for us but it is what it is

 

[LuckyDucky]

Verbeek could have resigned the UFA's, brought in a competent head coach, and tried to keep the SSMurray on course. He came in, looked at the roster and organization as a whole, and decided to do what he has done. Sell off the UFA's, bring back a proven losing coach, and sign some meh FA vets to get to the cap floor. Serious question, would you rather the Ducks endure a crap season and draft a Bedard, Mitchkov, or Fantelli? Or be a fringe playoff team with no cap flexibility to work with?

The issue is that the Ducks were not a fringe playoff team last year. Yes, they had a hot streak to start the season, but their play dropped off significantly as the season wore on (particularly after the holiday break). So even if they had retained all of their UFAs, and even possibly added one or two, they still almost certainly would not be a playoff contender this year.

 

[Leonardo87]

Feels like just because we as fans are sick of the losing, people think all of the losing seasons before PV got here should mean his process of building a team should be expedited, when he really has no reason to care about that. Sucks for us but it is what it is

Hate to say it, but think the rebuild was reset when Verbeek was hired. But have Zegras, Terry, McTavish, and Drysdale to build around. So they are not starting from scratch. I also think, Verbeek did what Murray should have done a few years ago.

 

[Deuce22]

The issue is that the Ducks were not a fringe playoff team last year. Yes, they had a hot streak to start the season, but their play dropped off significantly as the season wore on (particularly after the holiday break). So even if they had retained all of their UFAs, and even possibly added one or two, they still almost certainly would not be a playoff contender this year.

I think they might have been. Add Lindholm and Manson to the D and you have a different team. But I still think Verbeek made the correct assessment.

 

[MMC]

Hate to say it, but think the rebuild was reset when Verbeek was hired. But have Zegras, Terry, McTavish, and Drysdale to build around. So they are not starting from scratch. I also think, Verbeek did what Murray should have done a few years ago.

PV said when he was hired that he saw us in the middle of the rebuild, which a lot of people seemed to take as meaning they were ready to start winning. It's impossible for us to know what he meant by that and it doesn't really mean anything anyways, but I always took that as a rebuild has three phases. The first being having your team's core decline to where a rebuild is necessary, and starting the process of collecting top young talent and moving on from high salaries. This was pretty much done by the time PV got here, we had multiple top young talents and he was able to clear out the remaining framework of our last core at the deadline a couple months later. Then comes prioritizing the development of the young core, which is where we're at now, with the third and final phase being to really start aggressively adding to solidify the team as a contender.

 

[DavidBL]

I think we're making excuses to justify this mess and try to keep some hope that PV actually has a viable plan. I don’t have much hope for it. We all know my thoughts in the matter by now so I leave it be for now.

 

[bsu]

First time anything usually suck in the beginning.

 

[LuckyDucky]

I think they might have been. Add Lindholm and Manson to the D and you have a different team. But I still think Verbeek made the correct assessment.

I don't. From mid December of last year to the trade deadline (12/17-03/21) the Ducks' record was 10-17-6. They were outscored 121-85 and outshot 1136-920, which are similar rates to this years Ducks. I just don't see how the Ducks could have improved enough to be a playoff team.

 

[Deuce22]

I don't. From mid December of last year to the trade deadline (12/17-03/21) the Ducks' record was 10-17-6. They were outscored 121-85 and outshot 1136-920, which are similar rates to this years Ducks. I just don't see how the Ducks could have improved enough to be a playoff team.

Don't forget who the coach was then (and still is). IMO a good coach would make a big difference.

 

[MMC]

I think we're making excuses to justify this mess and try to keep some hope that PV actually has a viable plan. I don’t have much hope for it. We all know my thoughts in the matter by now so I leave it be for now.

Call it excuses if you want, but I think most people just accepted that there was no realistic pathway to us icing a competitive team this season. Even if we kept everyone, last year's team was not good and you would essentially just be replacing Getzlaf with McTavish, which is a lateral move at best at this point.

 

[DavidBL]

Call it excuses if you want, but I think most people just accepted that there was no realistic pathway to us icing a competitive team this season. Even if we kept everyone, last year's team was not good and you would essentially just be replacing Getzlaf with McTavish, which is a lateral move at best at this point.

I saw last year's team has shallow for sure. When we lost players to injuries we started sliding. Everyone is just so willing to dismiss the good hockey we were playing as just a fluke. Young teams struggle with consistency it's to be expected they wouldn't be able to maintain that. He could have built on that team. Instead he decided to run a full tank rebuild and Subject us to more losing than we've seen in the history if the team. Literally ever. He could have still added Strome to replace Getzlaf, he could have targeted a more established top 6 forward than Vatrano like Seattle did which would have cost what, 2 mill more with guys like Rico and Silf coming off the books in a few years when we might actually need more cap space. This team is not going to go from bottom dweller to Tampa in 1 season. I'm not suggesting that. I am saying he added years to a rebuild he didn't need to. I don't see the point. We had top draft picks already. That seems to be the basis of every argument about tanking. "We need those top picks, they're the only way to be successful, look at Tampa, Pit and Chicago!" Well we already had them. 4 actually. I just don't see the justification. Not to mention, if he had kept the D instant he would have been able to properly evaluate Eakins and decide about keeping him or not.

 

[Ducks DVM]

Call it excuses if you want, but I think most people just accepted that there was no realistic pathway to us icing a competitive team this season. Even if we kept everyone, last year's team was not good and you would essentially just be replacing Getzlaf with McTavish, which is a lateral move at best at this point.

I don’t think you can equate McTavish to Getzlaf at this point. Healthy Getzlaf was what made the team a borderline playoff team last year, the team’s decline in fortunes could very clearly be seen when his injuries accumulated. There were many nights that Getzlaf was the best player on the Ducks by a large margin, and still a few nights when you could say he was the best player on the ice. McTavish is doing great in a 3rd/4th line role, but if he was the 1C like Getzlaf was, we’d probably be discussing when he was going back to juniors. Look at what’s happened to Zegras going from the 1C to the 2C this year.

That said, yeah, everything Verbeek has done has screamed “tank”, but “protect the kids a little tank”, not “tear everything to the bedrock tank”. We have Fowler, Drysdale, Vaakanainen, and White signed past this year. That is not a team put together to compete, it’s a team put together to accumulate losses while they’re here, and draft picks come March.

 

[Ducks in a row]

Please, go into detail of what would get fixed and how much would it fix? No generalizations. One stipulation, no trades occur before the TDL. Please feel free to use last year's start, where the Ducks shot to the top of the Pacific Division, for comparing and contrasting.

Once you're done, then go into detail of who this new head coach is.

I'm indifferent if we keep Eakins beyond this year, but I am curious what's the end game of replacing him today?

Before you start, let me share with you an interview between GM Verbeek and Stephens that was published on Oct 20, 2022, four games into the new season:

Now, who knows where this goes after this season? Eakins’ deal will be up. But at the very least, Verbeek wanted to take the time to further get to know his coach before making any decisions.​

​

“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.”​

​

In a Pacific Division with playoff contenders in the Oilers, Flames, Kings and Golden Knights, the Ducks are in tough as far as the next step in their rebuild leading to a surprise playoff berth this season. That’s already clear from early-season games.​

​

But it’s about the growth.​

​

“The expectation has always been, for me, making sure that our younger players are developing and taking steps,” Verbeek said. “That’s my expectation. Where it ends up, it ends up.”​

Ducks almost tied the NHL record for most games to start a season without a regulation win. We have just that 1 regulation win and are going to be playing our 30th game soon. We are on a record pace for fewest regulation wins. Eakins needs to be gone you just cant keep someone coaching this far into a season with just 1 regulation win that's a embarrassment. Let one of the assistant coaches take over for the rest of the season. See what happens. Even if we still suck at least we did something.

 

[Dryish]

I think, even though I've said before that I don't think we can pass a fair judgement on Eakins until maybe the season after the next one and stand by it, that the players are probably going to end up forcing Verbeek's hand sometime this season. He's going to get his first bigger things not going to plan moment probably sooner than he wishes.

You can clearly tell how frustrated Z is most nights, and while that's probably something that can also catalyse development and character building, too much of it will lead to apathy and disinterest eventually.

And that's when Eakins goes. He'll have to at that point. Don't think we're too far off.

 

[Ducks in a row]

Blown out 7 - 0 tonight against Toronto. Now officially the Ducks have played 30 games with 1 regulation win. Shutout in back to back games. Outscored 16 - 1 in our last 3 games. Both our special teams are horrible. Totally embarrassing.

Now is the perfect time to fire Eakins. If Verbeek is unwilling to fire Eakins after this then I have no hope in Verbeek as our GM.

 

[Leonardo87]

Blown out 7 - 0 tonight against Toronto. Now officially the Ducks have played 30 games with 1 regulation win. Shutout in back to back games. Outscored 16 - 1 in our last 3 games. Both our special teams are horrible. Totally embarrassing.

Now is the perfect time to fire Eakins. If Verbeek is unwilling to fire Eakins after this then I have no hope in Verbeek as our GM.

Now the kids development becomes a concern. I know Zegras has not played great but he is clearly frustrated along with the rest of the team.

 

[gunnergunther]

Blown out 7 - 0 tonight against Toronto. Now officially the Ducks have played 30 games with 1 regulation win. Shutout in back to back games. Outscored 16 - 1 in our last 3 games. Both our special teams are horrible. Totally embarrassing.

Now is the perfect time to fire Eakins. If Verbeek is unwilling to fire Eakins after this then I have no hope in Verbeek as our GM.

He’s not trying to win. A gm does not spend to the cap floor and leave obvious major holes in the team, if he’s trying to win.

 

[FiveHoleTickler]

NHL99: Scott Niedermayer, a supreme winner who played with hidden ferocity

Niedermayer mastered the aspects of playing defense that weren’t always registered on the scoresheet.

theathletic.com

But with his children now older, Niedermayer has re-engaged in hockey with the Ducks, serving as a special advisor to hockey operations under Pat Verbeek after being part of the search committee that recruited Anaheim’s general manager.

Does building a team intrigue him? Running his own one day? While he isn’t always around the team, the 49-year-old watches every game, checks in with some of the team’s prospects, constantly studies team reports and is in regular communication with Verbeek. The management side has got him “hooked” and he’s ready to make more of a commitment.

“It is definitely interesting,” Niedermayer said. “How can I contribute in the right way and help our team? Quite different when you’re looking at the big picture. You have a vision obviously. You have ideas. You know how you want to see it take place and the ingredients that you think your team and your players and the personality of all that has to be. But it’s a different thing now because you’re looking at this complex picture of people that are involved.

“It is a challenge for sure. A huge challenge and really interesting. Complicated. It’s really intriguing because of those things. Because it is difficult and there’s a lot of moving parts that kind of have to hopefully end up in the right spots down the road together. That definitely makes it really intriguing.”

The ultimate winner is ready to compete once again.