2023-24 San Diego Gulls/Tulsa Oilers

[All Mighty]

Both of these, probably. However, hasn't there been an influx of new players that were supposed to rejuvenate the team? Nesterenko, King, Gaucher, Pastujov, Wiebe, Caulfield, Zellweger, Hinds, Wolff, Hagg, Carrick - that's like half the roster that turned over. So it's not that it's the same players that are bad under two different coaches.

It's also my impression that coaching can make a bigger difference in the AHL than the NHL. And I'm not sure where the best place to check is, but it sounds like they've been getting outshot by quite a bit in their games.

I'm just wondering if this is on Verbeek for getting bad players, if it's on him for getting a bad coach, or if it's just something that needs time to play out. I'm not concerned about the AHL team not winning a championship, but I'd rather they at least be competent.

Asking a bunch of 20 year olds to rejuvenate an AHL team will almost always fail. Remember a few years ago when the Kings stacked the Reign with a bunch of their top prospects (Byfield, Turcotte, Kupari, Fagemo, Thomas, Madden, etc.)? That team was terrible, too. The rookies should start as complementary players to solid veteran players. Agozzino and Gawdin are fine, but they aren’t enough.

 

[MMC]

Asking a bunch of 20 year olds to rejuvenate an AHL team will almost always fail. Remember a few years ago when the Kings stacked the Reign with a bunch of their top prospects (Byfield, Turcotte, Kupari, Fagemo, Thomas, Madden, etc.)? That team was terrible, too. The rookies should start as complementary players to solid veteran players. Agozzino and Gawdin are fine, but they aren’t enough.

De Leo returning and someone getting waived and sent down when McGinn is healthy will give them a boost at forward. As for the defense, a move ala the Del Zotto trade may need to be made there

 

[Hockey Duckie]

De Leo returning and someone getting waived and sent down when McGinn is healthy will give them a boost at forward. As for the defense, a move ala the Del Zotto trade may need to be made there

I expected the defense to be better with the vet additions of T. Carrick, White, and Hagg as well as have Helleson in is 2nd season. We've given up 45 GA in 11 games, which ranks 30th out of 32 AHL team.

Defense, +/- ratings

Hagg: 5 games, +5 rating​

Luneau: 5 games, +2 rating​

Hinds: 10 games, +0 rating​

Helleson: 10 games, -1 rating​

Profaca: 1 game, -2 rating​

Wolf: 3 games, -2 rating​

Carrick: 11 games, -4 rating​

Zellweger: 11 games, -4 rating​

White: 11 games, -11 rating​

Gulls have 31 GF. ranking 23rd overall. There are 8 teams that have scored fewer goals than the Gulls, but have more points. Four of those teams have twice as many points as the Gulls.

I remember reading/hearing that McIlvane was trying to mimic the Ducks' scheme, but I don't think the Gulls have the talent on defense like the Ducks have to fly from D to O. McIlvane should just focus on defensive play from everyone, forwards included, to start winning puck battles and support the D in the Dzone. It's possible the team is kinda lost on how to play man-defense, especially the forwards.

 

[All Mighty]

The Gulls posted a photo of Luneau walking into the building before tonight's game. I'm guessing that means he is able to play a 6th game, so long as it's within the 2 week time frame of his conditioning assignment.

 

[MMC]

 

[Hockey Duckie]

King getting promoted to the top line.

Our non top-pairing is interest. Vet 2nd pairing (Hagg-White) and youth 3rd pairing (Hinds-Helleson).

 

[Hockey Duckie]

WHoa. We have a lead after the 1st period?! And it's Ben King's goal! 1-0 Gulls.

 

[MMC]

 

[190Octane]

Zell being scratched is going to make this one a lot more boring to watch.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Zell being scratched is going to make this one a lot more boring to watch.

We're tied 2-2 early in the 3rd period. That's team improvement.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Ben King has a 2-point night so far with the opening goal and a PP assist. If he can continue this good play with production, then he might end up with an ELC from the Ducks.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Gulls lose in OT 3-2. Yay for a point! That's improvement. The Gulls top-pairing was a -2 in regulation (Carrick-Luneau).

 

[AngelDuck]

Don’t like this coach at all so far

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Don’t like this coach at all so far

I think it's too early for judgement. McIlvane isn't installing his type of game b/c he's is trying to mimic the NHL club's style of game. Plus, the roster is not as great since it doesn't have highly talented players like C Carlsson and D Mintyukov, who are both with the NHL club.

6 rookie Forwards (Duck prospects)

Gaucher​

Pastujov​

Nesterenko​

King​

Weibe​

Caulfield​

2 (technically 3) rookie Def (Duck prospects)

Zellweger​

Hinds​

* Luneau on loan​

That's a significant amount of rookie skaters added, but not a lot of headlining offensive talent. Pastujov has been mute. Zellweger started off hot, but has cooled down. The only steady offensive influence from the rookies has been Ben King. Missing captain De Leo hurts this club.

Then there's the lack of center talent. Last year, Groulx was our best center and he's a defensive center. Gawdin was behind Groulx down the middle. Whoever our Gulls GM is, the GM needs to do a better job of adding AHL support.

=====
Assistant coaches

Sparre and Clarke were here last year with Sommer. Sparre was McIlvane's former asst coach in Europe. The team was beyond bad last year. McIlvane needs to expect more out of both this season.

 

[TopShelfWaterBottle]

Whats mc vanes contact?

 

[DuckDuckGetz]

As long as the NHL team is doing well McIlvane can get at least 2-3 years' worth of a look in my eyes.

 

[FiveHoleTickler]

As long as the NHL team is doing well McIlvane can get at least 2-3 years' worth of a look in my eyes.

I wonder how long his contract is.

The Gulls could absolutely use some stability with the staff. They've had 5 different head coaches in the last 6 years.

 

[pbgoalie]

The team is bad

But are you seeing improvements in
Passing, skating, thinking?

Or are the “development” positives of McIlvane a myth??

Player development would make me happy more than wins, some of these kids have not improved as hoped

 

[Hockey Duckie]

The team is bad

But are you seeing improvements in
Passing, skating, thinking?

Or are the “development” positives of McIlvane a myth??

Player development would make me happy more than wins, some of these kids have not improved as hoped

According to Defend the Nest (DTN), wingers Nesterenko-King have found chemistry, C Gaucher has shown improved play recently, and that D Hinds has been the Gulls best defensive player. DTN denotes this in his recaps, in-periods and a post game blurb at the end of the recap articles.

Here are recaps of Game 11 and 12 from DTN...

2023-2024 Game 11: San Diego Gulls vs Colorado Eagles

After an embarrassing 8-3 loss to Calgary to run their losing skid to eight, the San Diego Gulls hoped their fortunes would turn on the back to back as they fac

www.defendthenest.com

2023-2024 Game 12: San Diego Gulls vs Charlotte Checkers

Desperately wanting to stop their nine game losing skid the San Diego Gulls welcomed the Charlotte Checkers to town - a team they took to overtime twice two wee

www.defendthenest.com

 

[AngelDuck]

Nesterenko is the forward down there with the most projectable NHL toolkit down there. Hasn’t forced his way to the NHL yet but I expect improvement

 

[CrazyDuck4u]

Wtf is going on with this team? All that talent injected in and they still suck. What's going on?

 

[lwvs84]

With the NHL club, we were saying it'll take 20ish games to see any results. We should give McIllvane some rope down there, he's implementing a new system (not sure if he's as comfortable with it since it sounds like he's trying to implement the same thing Cronin is in the NHL). Plus there was huge roster turnover in San Diego. A lot of these kids were in juniors last year and it's not like they have top talent... Gaucher and Perrault are the only 1st round picks on the team? There was supposed to be a lot more talent on that team with Minty, Dostal, De Leo and maybe even Carlsson and LaCombe. Even not counting the last two, that is a LOT of talent missing.

Zellweger is a guy that can drive offense from the blue line, but there isn't an elite AHL forward that can do the same down there. The lack of forward talent in the pipeline is showing. The NHL team will be fine... Carlsson/Z/Mac/Terry is a great core of forwards to build around, but our top forward picks are bypassing the AHL and our lower picks are looking like complimentary players at best.

 

[Mr Rogers]

With the NHL club, we were saying it'll take 20ish games to see any results. We should give McIllvane some rope down there, he's implementing a new system (not sure if he's as comfortable with it since it sounds like he's trying to implement the same thing Cronin is in the NHL). Plus there was huge roster turnover in San Diego. A lot of these kids were in juniors last year and it's not like they have top talent... Gaucher and Perrault are the only 1st round picks on the team? There was supposed to be a lot more talent on that team with Minty, Dostal, De Leo and maybe even Carlsson and LaCombe. Even not counting the last two, that is a LOT of talent missing.

Zellweger is a guy that can drive offense from the blue line, but there isn't an elite AHL forward that can do the same down there. The lack of forward talent in the pipeline is showing. The NHL team will be fine... Carlsson/Z/Mac/Terry is a great core of forwards to build around, but our top forward picks are bypassing the AHL and our lower picks are looking like complimentary players at best.

This is really a great assessment of what’s going on with them. I do think Mcilvane can get them to play a bit better than this but by no means is this a team with any degree of firepower.

 

[MMC]

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Perreault getting healthy scratched every other game now.

This game is free on AHL.tv tonight btw.