2021-22 ===
When Verbeek was hired during all-star break, the Ducks were 3rd in the Pacific and Manson was put on IR (making this post somewhat relevant to this thread). Verbeek sat on his hands and did nothing to help the Ducks' blueline as we were forced to rely on three rookies on the ice in Drysdale, Benoit, and Mahura. We were falling out of the race and the TDL happened. First event of intentional tanking by the front office.
2022-23 ===
The 2022-23 off-season acquisitions, especially on the blue line, was abysmal and a bat signal of intentional tanking, which included keeping Eakins. We dodged a bullet when Klingberg rejected our multi-year offer, but we still signed him and a bunch of 3rd pairing d-men or worse.
2023-24 ===
This year, the Front Office added far more talent across the board and a new head coach, gunning for improvement. With early injury to Drysdale and load mgmt to Carlsson, the team was able to strive forward, which included a 6-game winning streak. Yet, Terry and Z's offense couldn't be tapped into by new HC Cronin.
Ducks | 2022-23 | Eakins | | | | |
---|
Game set | Games | W | L | OTL | Pts | Pts % |
Total | 41 | 12 | 25 | 4 | 28 | 0.341 |
| | | | | | |
1 to 25 | 25 | 6 | 16 | 3 | 15 | 0.300 |
26 to 41 | 16 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 13 | 0.406 |
Ducks | 2023-24 | Cronin | | | | |
---|
Game set | Games | W | L | OTL | Pts | Pts % |
Total | 41 | 14 | 26 | 1 | 29 | 0.354 |
| | | | | | |
1 to 25 | 25 | 10 | 15 | 0 | 20 | 0.400 |
26 to 41 | 16 | 4 | 11 | 1 | 9 | 0.281 |
I just want to point out that we've been sucking for quite awhile and are only 1 point better than last year's intentional tank squad. This year's squad has been on a downward trend for a while.
Conflate that with Verbeek touting improvement this year with one-goal games stat. The Ducks have been involved in 18 one-goal result games with a record of 7-10-1 (15 points) in 41 games. Last year's squad after 41 games were in 17 one-goal result games with a record of 10-3-4 (24 points) in 41 games. Cronin cannot tap into our ES scoring, be a more disciplined club (earning one extra penalty per game than last year's squad), and the lack execution of our forwards to backcheck as well as not lose their man in the defensive zone.
We're not unintentionally tanking due to injuries now. The team has been losing for quite some time. While injuries hurt our chances of winning, I think it's more due to coaching than injuries this season.