Speculation: 2024-25 Coaching/Management/Ownership

[KaseMeOutside]

I'm tired of RC hockey, what we are witnessing is very close to that. These guys cannot complete more than 1 pass, there is no cohesion entering the offensive zone so it's either dump the puck in or offside. They collapse on D, the penalty killing last night was a joke, they just let the other team pass it around. The Ducks are wasting time every minute he remains employed.


Verbeek is also way to arrogant for what he's produced so far. Horrible contracts for Tampa buddies like Killorn who we all knew had alot of miles on him, not trading Vatrano last year when his value was never going to be higher and I just don't like his demeanor like he's great GM. What has he done here to warrant that? He's gotten the coach completely wrong

 

[Boo Boo]

I'm tired of RC hockey, what we are witnessing is very close to that. These guys cannot complete more than 1 pass, there is no cohesion entering the offensive zone so it's either dump the puck in or offside. They collapse on D, the penalty killing last night was a joke, they just let the other team pass it around. The Ducks are wasting time every minute he remains employed.


Verbeek is also way to arrogant for what he's produced so far. Horrible contracts for Tampa buddies like Killorn who we all knew had alot of miles on him, not trading Vatrano last year when his value was never going to be higher and I just don't like his demeanor like he's great GM. What has he done here to warrant that? He's gotten the coach completely wrong

I also think it was fairly classless to pick up Eakins option year under the guise of of evaluating him and then completely sewering him with the roster he did + the pressuring prospects to go to Florida on their own dime to go to his training guru

 

[70sSanO]

This is starting to feel like “the” year. All the hype is gone and the franchise has settled into a state of long term mediocrity.

There are franchises in every sport that are just unable to field/ice not just a competitive team, but even a product that is watchable. The one on the other side of the 57 is a prime example.

The Ducks are getting precipitously close to that abyss.

John

 

[Rooch]

Remember all of the big talk Verbeek slung around last year about signing big FAs and competing for the playoffs this season? Where's that confidence now, Pat? And where is the accountability for your mouth having written checks that your abysmal general managing skills can't cash?

Props on the attempts to mollify the fan base with bright new unis and the very evident OCVibe construction, but the core problem remains: the product on the ice is total garbage. We haven't seen the postseason since 2017. Seven years of failure. Have you no pride?

If you have to blow this turd up and start over on personnel, do it. Just do something besides repackaging the same lackluster, disorganized, uninspired hockey team and telling us it'll be different this year.

 

[JAHV]

I think I heard it in one of the recent The Athletic's hockey podcasts where they said Cronin is the most interesting person to talk to in hockey. So I guess that wooed the inexperienced GM who took it as a sign of competence. This is all coming from an emotional place on my part but in what world does it sound like a good idea to surround young and inexperienced players with not necessarily young but inexperienced in the top level coaching? I hope all this will somehow sort itself out but you have to be concerned what's happening to the young players in this environment.

Jared Bednar took over a pretty young Avalanche team in 2016 with no previous NHL head coaching experience (MacKinnon - 21, Rantanen - 20, Landeskog - 24, Compher - 21, Zadorov - 21). Bruce Boudreau, at 53, took over a young Capitals team (Ovechkin - 22, Backstrom - 20, Semin - 23, Green - 22). Those turned out ok.

I don't think it's a bad thing for a new head coach to be given a young team as long as it's a good coach. There's something to the "growing together" thing. But Cronin is running out of time to convince me he's a good coach. He's got a couple months.

 

[KelVarnsen]

A new, competent coach and staff will do wonders for this team. The talent is there but they are being led by an imbecile and his obviously flawed staff.

It all depends on if PV can swallow his pride and move on from Cronin and the staff. I doubt he will.

 

[KelVarnsen]

Jared Bednar took over a pretty young Avalanche team in 2016 with no previous NHL head coaching experience (MacKinnon - 21, Rantanen - 20, Landeskog - 24, Compher - 21, Zadorov - 21). Bruce Boudreau, at 53, took over a young Capitals team (Ovechkin - 22, Backstrom - 20, Semin - 23, Green - 22). Those turned out ok.

I don't think it's a bad thing for a new head coach to be given a young team as long as it's a good coach. There's something to the "growing together" thing. But Cronin is running out of time to convince me he's a good coach. He's got a couple months.

Bednar had proven he could win at lower levers with both a Calder Cup and ECHL Championship. He was also 44 years old first time NHL coach.

He wasn't a 60 year guy who hasn't won anywhere as a head coach and had never been given the chance to be an NHL head coach before PV came calling.

 

[Frosted Tips]

Jared Bednar took over a pretty young Avalanche team in 2016 with no previous NHL head coaching experience (MacKinnon - 21, Rantanen - 20, Landeskog - 24, Compher - 21, Zadorov - 21). Bruce Boudreau, at 53, took over a young Capitals team (Ovechkin - 22, Backstrom - 20, Semin - 23, Green - 22). Those turned out ok.

I don't think it's a bad thing for a new head coach to be given a young team as long as it's a good coach. There's something to the "growing together" thing. But Cronin is running out of time to convince me he's a good coach. He's got a couple months.

Funnily enough, immediately after that post I did go to check up on when Bednar took over.

 

[Gliff]

Ya I'm willing to give PV the benefit of the doubt, but if nothing changes and he keeps Cronin then my anger is going to shift.

Fire him. Nothing good is coming from this. The kids are not playing better, the team record is not getting better, the team is not playing better, the team is not more fun to watch.

I never call for guys to get fired, this is time though.

 

[HanSolo]

Jared Bednar took over a pretty young Avalanche team in 2016 with no previous NHL head coaching experience (MacKinnon - 21, Rantanen - 20, Landeskog - 24, Compher - 21, Zadorov - 21). Bruce Boudreau, at 53, took over a young Capitals team (Ovechkin - 22, Backstrom - 20, Semin - 23, Green - 22). Those turned out ok.

I don't think it's a bad thing for a new head coach to be given a young team as long as it's a good coach. There's something to the "growing together" thing. But Cronin is running out of time to convince me he's a good coach. He's got a couple months.

But they're not growing. That's the problem. The sole material improvement we've seen from Eakins to Cronin is the team no longer gets blasted with 50+ shots on goal but they still lead the league in shots allowed per game.

This is a team that is heavily dependent on its youth to perform so it's okay if we're not a high powered offense and have some struggles defensively and it's okay if they don't make the playoffs since so much of the roster is still learning NHL level play. It's not okay that the team is this inept at zone exits and entries, so poor at pass execution under pressure, so lacking in structure beyond their very predictable and very stoppable playbook. Guys like Zegras and McTavish who should be farther along by now are actively regressing offensively. Last night they managed to have a positive shot differential but it only happened after the game was more or less out of reach.

Through two periods, Chicago and Anaheim were about even in terms of possession, shots, and chances generated. Things got lopsided in the third when the Hawks ran out of steam. That's not evidence of improvement. And considering that Cronin did what no development coach should ever do: stop coaching for 20 games and just observe what happens when the players coach themselves...I mean there's just no excuse for pissing away such a massive chunk of this team's development. But you would hope, if a coach was going to do something that f***ing stupid, that he'd f***ing learn something from it and use his "observations" to learn something about his players and what they need from him as a coach.

Instead he keeps trying to fit square pegs in round holes, particularly with this completely ineffective dump and chase system, and the team is still in the bottom 5 in many important statistical categories because there aren't any material improvements to be seen here. Be it with any updates to Cronin's ineffective systems or with the players' game prep on practice. Last year you could make the injuries excuse and point to a lack of consistent chemistry but that's not an excuse this year. Everyone is healthy and the only guy who missed significant time in camp is one of the few who is consistently solid (Mintyukov). Teams like Chicago, Columbus, and San Jose are still unlikely to make the playoffs but if you actually watch them, time permitting, they're playing somewhat better than last season. They've made improvements. This team is not growing with the coach. They are stagnating at best but I would argue that they're regressing.

 

[MMC]

Anyone else getting bombarded with way more emails asking them to buy tickets than they ever have in the past? I was ignoring them for awhile but finally replied today to tell them I much prefer our current arrangement of them paying me to attend the games rather than the other way around.

 

[Dryish]

Anyone else getting bombarded with way more emails asking them to buy tickets than they ever have in the past? I was ignoring them for awhile but finally replied today to tell them I much prefer our current arrangement of them paying me to attend the games rather than the other way around.

Should have told them to find a coach that puts an entertaining product on the ice first. I think we're nearing a point where the organisation needs to come under external pressure to start acting, as the management is showing no signs of being critical of their own creation.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I think I heard it in one of the recent The Athletic's hockey podcasts where they said Cronin is the most interesting person to talk to in hockey. So I guess that wooed the inexperienced GM who took it as a sign of competence. This is all coming from an emotional place on my part but in what world does it sound like a good idea to surround young and inexperienced players with not necessarily young but inexperienced in the top level coaching? I hope all this will somehow sort itself out but you have to be concerned what's happening to the young players in this environment.

PV and Cronin are on the same page of hockey philosophy. That's the reason why PV hired "rookie" Cronin. Although, PV did have three assistant coaches in PP coach Brown, PK coach Thompson, and a third guy (Johnson???). Brown and Thompson are veteran NHL asst coaches and Craig Johnson was the rookie asst coach, coming over from Kings' AHL program. Brown got replaced with newbie Clune, from the Leaf's AHL program. Johnson was replaced with Army, a veteran NHL asst coach. Clune was brought along as the intermediary with the young kids and the near fossilized coaches.

It might take a minute to find the correct combo. The Ducks struck gold when GM Murray added vet coaches to help Eakins in PP coaches Ward and Brown along with PK coach Stothers for the 2021-22 season. Before the TDL, our PP was in the 22-25% range and our PK was in the 80-86% range. Unfortunately, that group only lasted for one season - which included GM Murray.

Verbeek hired Craig Johnson to replace Ward in 2022-23, but that didn't help our PP unit at all. Stothers got cancer and was replaced with Thompson last year. Goalie coach Suds also got cancer and was replaced with Budaj this past summer. Brown's contract ended and was replaced by Clune. It's early into the season, but Clune is slightly worse than Brown with the Kings.

 

[JAHV]

Last night they managed to have a positive shot differential but it only happened after the game was more or less out of reach.

Through two periods, Chicago and Anaheim were about even in terms of possession, shots, and chances generated.

I don't necessarily disagree with the rest of your post. It's true that they're mostly not growing. But note that I didn't claim they were in my post; I was just making the case that Cronin shouldn't have been excluded from the coaching hire pool because he'd never been an NHL head coach. I appreciate GMs who are willing to go beyond retreads.

Anyway, I think the quoted needs context. Chicago got most of their dangerous opportunities in the first two periods on the power play. At 5-on-5, the Ducks were dominant. 75% of the expected goals in the first period (63% for the game - they were at about 57% in periods 2 and 3). https://www.naturalstattrick.com/game.php?season=20242025&game=20191

Yes, special teams counts, and the Ducks are woeful at both. But Anaheim was CLEARLY the better team last night and just couldn't finish plays or shoot accurately. It was both encouraging and maddening.

 

[Mr Rogers]

After watching Cronin’s postgame last night, I feel like he’s chalking it up to bad luck and simply not shooting enough. He used Chicago’s 4th goal as an example. How many goals like that are you realistically gonna score? His diagnoses and plans for improvement are too simple.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

A new, competent coach and staff will do wonders for this team. The talent is there but they are being led by an imbecile and his obviously flawed staff.

It all depends on if PV can swallow his pride and move on from Cronin and the staff. I doubt he will.

He'll give you the same answers: He doesn't have the answers! he simply DOESN'T KNOW!

 

[HanSolo]

I don't necessarily disagree with the rest of your post. It's true that they're mostly not growing. But note that I didn't claim they were in my post; I was just making the case that Cronin shouldn't have been excluded from the coaching hire pool because he'd never been an NHL head coach. I appreciate GMs who are willing to go beyond retreads.

Anyway, I think the quoted needs context. Chicago got most of their dangerous opportunities in the first two periods on the power play. At 5-on-5, the Ducks were dominant. 75% of the expected goals in the first period (63% for the game - they were at about 57% in periods 2 and 3). https://www.naturalstattrick.com/game.php?season=20242025&game=20191

Yes, special teams counts, and the Ducks are woeful at both. But Anaheim was CLEARLY the better team last night and just couldn't finish plays or shoot accurately. It was both encouraging and maddening.

I mean sure. But we're talking about a rebuilding opponent that played the night before all the way to a shootout and didn't have all that much time to rest against our players who had two days of rest. I'm not necessarily saying the Ducks should have been expected to have just steamrolled the Hawks but a lot of the same struggles they've had in past games were still present here. Flinging a bunch of low danger shots at Soderblom inflated the total. Now I'll give credit, the Zegras line had a number of shifts where they generated high quality chances but couldn't convert.

But all this doesn't show improvement. It showed the weaknesses in their game aren't as prevalent when they play shittier teams, especially when they're tired (our wins against SJS are a good example of this). But all the same issues with basic execution were still there. I don't think last night is a game anyone should be comfortable hanging their hat on having a positive shot differential.

 

[JAHV]

I mean sure. But we're talking about a rebuilding opponent that played the night before all the way to a shootout and didn't have all that much time to rest against our players who had two days of rest. I'm not necessarily saying the Ducks should have been expected to have just steamrolled the Hawks but a lot of the same struggles they've had in past games were still present here. Flinging a bunch of low danger shots at Soderblom inflated the total. Now I'll give credit, the Zegras line had a number of shifts where they generated high quality chances but couldn't convert.

But all this doesn't show improvement. It showed the weaknesses in their game aren't as prevalent when they play shittier teams, especially when they're tired (our wins against SJS are a good example of this). But all the same issues with basic execution were still there. I don't think last night is a game anyone should be comfortable hanging their hat on having a positive shot differential.

I'm not hanging my hat on it, but I do think there were positive signs that the talent, at least, is greater than the worst teams. But the execution level is atrocious. They look like they're thinking too much and trying to make the "right" play rather than just relying on their talent and instinct and practice reps to make a good play.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

After watching Cronin’s postgame last night, I feel like he’s chalking it up to bad luck and simply not shooting enough. He used Chicago’s 4th goal as an example. How many goals like that are you realistically gonna score? His diagnoses and plans for improvement are too simple.

I wished Cronin was chalking it up to bad luck last night, but he didn't. He just kept hammering for more shots on goal. Maybe it's Cronin's tension that are making our team grip their sticks tighter than they need to be?

We practically owned them for over half the first period before Chicago got their first goal. And then the PP goal happened four minutes later in the first period. Anaheim had several chances to score, but nothing was going in, including some fat rebounds. I would have pointed out that Cutter is so focused on getting shots on goal that he didn't realize he had Zegras wide open to the side of the goal that could have netted us an easy goal.

Cronin needs someone else to "pep" the team back up after a goal b/c if he's doing the pepping up, then it's already a lost cause b/c 93 games should have taught himself that.

 

[Ducks DVM]

But they're not growing. That's the problem. The sole material improvement we've seen from Eakins to Cronin is the team no longer gets blasted with 50+ shots on goal but they still lead the league in shots allowed per game.

This is an unfortunate misconception - outside of the year where Verbeek decided the quest for Bedard was more important than having actual NHL defensemen, the teams are pretty comparable, in the low 30’s in shots against. Cronin has better talent, not a better system.

 

[GunnarStahl]

I can be flustered and not spout off misinformation though, lol.

Where is the fun in that though?

 

[MMC]

Should have told them to find a coach that puts an entertaining product on the ice first. I think we're nearing a point where the organisation needs to come under external pressure to start acting, as the management is showing no signs of being critical of their own creation.

I’d like to keep this job

 

[Gliff]

Ya I'm sorry, anyone saying Cronin is a clear upgrade on Eakins is crazy.
But damn, thats a low bar, AND that should tell you something. Get him the f*** out of here.

Unsarcastically, bring Bruce back.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

I’d like to keep this job

Are you sucking up to Verbeek to try and get a job behind the bench???

 

[Terry Yake]

Ya I'm sorry, anyone saying Cronin is a clear upgrade on Eakins is crazy.
But damn, thats a low bar, AND that should tell you something. Get him the f*** out of here.

Unsarcastically, bring Bruce back.

bruce is old and he's not a coach you hire for a rebuilding, young team anyways