Speculation: 2024-25 Coaching/Management/Ownership

[Mr Rogers]

His comments about what Budaj can bring were interesting. I hadn’t ever thought of a goalie coach’s duties thru the lens of the whole team but it makes a lot of sense

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Candid and thoughtful answers from Cronin and I respect it.

- was surprised by the amount of non-hockey work that went in to being an NHL head coach. Time management was an issue for him.
- his “bulldog through it” mentality was problematic once the going became tough, starting with that 8-game losing streak
- end-of-year meeting with management, analytics, and strength coaching that was “intense” and everyone learned what they could have done better
- was embarrassed by the team’s record. Second worst year of his career. “brutal” psychological journey
- feels they were honest and transparent with the kids, if nothing else. But was perhaps too vocal, PV told him to back off a couple times
- Gudas (and other leaders) will step into the space where Cronin was “bulldogging” before and that will make the message more effective and less counterproductive
- praised Newell Brown, Johnson, Ferguson, but said he needed guys who were better complements to him
- his reflex is to not negotiate with the players. He thinks that if a coach asks you to do something, you do it. But players don’t tolerate that these days and he wants to adapt, and so the new coaches are there to help him navigate that better. Singled out Clune in particular about it. Spoke in detail about why he wanted each new coach and how he felt it would help
- he coached with Randy Carlyle in Toronto. RC: “you goalie coaches only have to worry about 2 flippin’ guys, you have it easy.” Picked Budaj as goalie coach because he worried about goalies in terms of the entire roster
- thinks it’ll be easier this year because the players know him, know the drills, and the coaches have the benefit of analytics correction over the summer

Have to pause to put the kid to bed, right before he starts talking about Leo.

To finish up. A VERY SATISFYING recognition that the games aren’t called evenly by the officials when Anaheim plays and there’s nothing they can do about it:

— Leo. Leo has a natural maturity to understand how to disrupt a breakout on the forecheck, limiting factor for most kids is getting reps, but Leo is already at a veteran level and so he was asked to add strength to back up his instincts
— Some guys had to put weight on, some were asked to get stronger, some were asked to get more flexible.
— Zegras. Z is entering into a phase where he’s restructuring his game. Everyone talks about his skill: tremendous hands, good shot. That’s his core, he wants to show everyone that’s what he is. But he learned that he has to play away from the puck. We asked him to work on that. He was benched at worlds because he wasn’t putting in the effort on D. His reaction was really great and he said there was a standard of defense that he wasn’t aware of. Aside - genuinely likes Z, he’s honest, he’s a leader and extremely popular. He’s excited about turning the page and rebranding himself as a more complete player.
— Penalties. From 2005 to now, “whoa. Something’s wrong here.” We commit penalties. But it’s legit to ask why they’re not being called when committed against us. We’re going to talk to the officials about it. We told the players to expect uneven calls - “we’re not going to win the penalty battles.” It’s not going to be called even. Can’t control what they call, can only control ourselves. It’s sad but it’s what we have to do.
— Gudas. Tom Brady (??) His leadership skills. Everyone knows that guy, great leader. A bewildering breakdown of guys who give 100% or less some percentage of the time. Different styles of leadership, teachers, intimidators, etc. (Cronin reads the Haahhhvahhd Business Journal). Point is, people don’t work as hard as they can. So, leaders are there to make more guys do more work than they otherwise would
— Dumoulin. A leader by example, a mentor for the 20-year olds on the blue line. His value is in sharing what he’s been through.
— Leadership group: Fabbri, Dumoulin, Fowler, Gudas, Killorn. Kids mirror behaviors. The young players will mirror the older players. “Watch Cam do this breakout. Watch how he turns his shoulder to manipulate the forechecker.” The older guys can speed up development for the younger guys by virtue of their experience, and that will turn the corner for the playoffs
— Players control themselves, their diets, their attention at meetings, their effort at practice, their workouts. These guys leave at 2pm latest on off days, they have the whole day. You can do stuff in that time.
— Example - LaCombe. Great player, had a terrible year. I WAS TOO HARD ON HIM. It made a hard year worse. Chose the wrong tactic with him. At the end of the year he told me that he’s not naturally a hitter and he wanted to be more physical. He put on ten pounds over the summer and took boxing lessons. Sought out a friend in special forces who taught him about embracing fear. “Confronted his fear.” “I don’t want to violate confidentiality.” [I think maybe he did though].
— excited to see how fast the players play, how well they possess the puck, hoping the leadership group gets excited about the project of helping develop the kids

 

[Static]

The penalty thing was so hilarious and sad. He's been here one year and is already like yeah, this franchise is f***ed with the refs.

I really enjoyed the interview. He took it seriously and honestly. I think it's the only interview of this length I've ever sat through and paid attention.

 

[Static]

Also, at certain points I could sense the defiance in his words and tone. I am a little worried how he is going to react to another losing season, because it seems he really took last year hard.

Also, strome isn't part of the leadership group so my disdain is therefore justified. No questions please.

 

[cheesymc]

— Penalties. From 2005 to now, “whoa. Something’s wrong here.” We commit penalties. But it’s legit to ask why they’re not being called when committed against us. We’re going to talk to the officials about it. We told the players to expect uneven calls - “we’re not going to win the penalty battles.” It’s not going to be called even. Can’t control what they call, can only control ourselves. It’s sad but it’s what we have to do.

This is when influential owners need step in….

— Example - LaCombe. Great player, had a terrible year. I WAS TOO HARD ON HIM. It made a hard year worse. Chose the wrong tactic with him. At the end of the year he told me that he’s not naturally a hitter and he wanted to be more physical. He put on ten pounds over the summer and took boxing lessons. Sought out a friend in special forces who taught him about embracing fear. “Confronted his fear.” “I don’t want to violate confidentiality.” [I think maybe he did though].

This was the most interesting note. Jeez, what the heck is Jackson afraid of? What phobia does he have? Good that he is conquer whatever it is. That definitely shouldn’t have been leaked…

 

[Rybread86]

I just thought it was really refreshing to hear Cones admit some fault, and more importantly, that he's learned from it.

I always gave the guy a break, first year as a HC at this level, career Assistant and AHL guy. You can treat AHL guys a certain way that you can't in the NHL. Has to learn the ropes a bit and adapt from his "smaller" responsibilities to a more wholistic approach.

It's also nice to hear that the guys are giving him good feedback.

Let's see what he does with all of that going into this season.

 

[mightyquack]

Interesting to hear about LaCombe, I'm far from his biggest fan and think he is the odd one out among the young defencemen, but that's the sort of effort you want to see from a young player to improve their game in the off-season.

Big year for Zegras too by the sounds of it, interesting that he's seen as a good leader as well. Excited to hopefully see a big year from him being a more complete style of player, definitely feels like Zegras is one of the players most under pressure for a big year IMO.

Don't think it's a surprise that 2 of the 5 in the leadership group are new players, second straight season we've targeted bringing in veteran leadership. Don't mind paying a little overs in AAV/Term if it means we can bring in good veteran leadership.

Also think it's refreshing see a coach reflecting and seemingly willing to change up how he coaches. While Cronin might be a very experienced coach at lower levels, it was still his first season as an NHL head coach....have to expect some speed bumps along the way. Hope to see him turn it around as it's certainly nice to see a Ducks HC speak so openly.

Thanks @The Midnight Burrito for the write up too.

 

[Mortal Wombat]

The penalty thing was so hilarious and sad. He's been here one year and is already like yeah, this franchise is f***ed with the refs.

I really enjoyed the interview. He took it seriously and honestly. I think it's the only interview of this length I've ever sat through and paid attention.

Didn't Bruce Boudreau also say something along the lines that he had heard (before becoming the head coach) that the Ducks get screwed by the refs but didn't expect it to be as bad as it was? I think he mentioned this in some interview/podcast/whatever after he was no longer employed by the Ducks. I couldn't find the quote with a quick googling.

 

[Dryish]

Interesting points and some impressive self-reflection there. But I would like to remind everyone that we once rehired a self-certified "changed man" in Randy Carlyle and that didn't really work out too well.

I don't trust a single "I've changed, trust me" from a coach before he demonstrates it.

 

[70sSanO]

Interesting points and some impressive self-reflection there. But I would like to remind everyone that we once rehired a self-certified "changed man" in Randy Carlyle and that didn't really work out too well.

I don't trust a single "I've changed, trust me" from a coach before he demonstrates it.

Depends on whether PV is orchestrating a change.

John

 

[AngelDuck]

Great interview. Puts my mind at ease a little that it at least seems like he’s trying to change his ways and improve. I also am hopeful that the new assistant coaches and having Gudas as captain will have a big impact as well

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Also, at certain points I could sense the defiance in his words and tone. I am a little worried how he is going to react to another losing season, because it seems he really took last year hard.

Also, strome isn't part of the leadership group so my disdain is therefore justified. No questions please.

To be clear, I don’t think he was necessarily making an exhaustive list of leaders although he did talk about the leadership value of each of those guys specifically after he listed them, so who knows.

 

[dracom]

Only like 20 minutes in but wanted to give my 2cents. I’ve been pretty critical of Cronin but this interview did help put my mind at ease just a bit. I do remember at the start of last season the team doing well under him, then that 8 game losing streak happened and it kinda went downhill from there. Seems like that took a bigger toll on him and it kinda reflected with the rest of the team. Him being able to recognize his faults is big, i hope he can actually work on fixing them. Seems like he may struggle a bit to do so, but if we start winning then i think thatll help.

 

[Arthuros]

I'm not expecting a Bednar-style turnaround or anything, but I'll finally join the Cronin criticism choir if Cronin's reflection, staff changes and Gudas' captaincy doesn't result at least like 35 wins.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

I'm not expecting a Bednar-style turnaround or anything, but I'll finally join the Cronin criticism choir if Cronin's reflection, staff changes and Gudas' captaincy doesn't result at least like 35 wins.

Funny enough, 35 wins was the number Cronin picked as how many they could have reasonably had last season.

 

[Arthuros]

Funny enough, 35 wins was the number Cronin picked as how many they could have reasonably had last season.

I guess it was planted in my subconsciousness!

I am kind of expecting the same level of luck / injuries as last year though in my estimation, whereas I think Cronin's 35 estimate was basically if things had gone "better" for us. Which it never does.

 

[Kalv]

35 wins would still be bottom 5 and we'd still get Sennecke

For comparison, 40 wins could had get you in the playoffs (WSH did - others required more wins).

It's a very tight race

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Interesting points and some impressive self-reflection there. But I would like to remind everyone that we once rehired a self-certified "changed man" in Randy Carlyle and that didn't really work out too well.

I don't trust a single "I've changed, trust me" from a coach before he demonstrates it.

Lyubushkin did recount that Cronin did change the order of propaganda, practice, and video review.

 

[Lord Flashheart]

Pretty good interview. Cronin was always big on self-responsibility, that was evident from his first interview when he talked about his beginnings and journey to becoming a head coach in the NHL. Hopefully, for everyone's sake, it will translate to a successful faze in the rebuild.

 

[TheGoodShepard1]

Interesting points and some impressive self-reflection there. But I would like to remind everyone that we once rehired a self-certified "changed man" in Randy Carlyle and that didn't really work out too well.

I don't trust a single "I've changed, trust me" from a coach before he demonstrates it.

That’s where I’m at. Cronin has always been good at verbalizing a plan and introspection in past interviews (I liked them last year also), whether he can actually apply it is another matter entirely

 

[Hockey Duckie]

From Stephens (the Athletic) recent article:

The bad penalty kill particularly hit home with assistant coach Brent Thompson, who has overseen that throughout his coaching career.​

​

“Last year, he probably went deeper into the weeds than he’s ever gone,” Cronin said. “So, what does that do? It’s that little bit of self-reflection. What am I doing wrong? And then I need some help. So you start calling people that you know that are doing it the successful way at that point in time. He did a lot of research, and we came up with a plan that we felt would help us be a better penalty-killing unit.”​

​

Their most skilled players will be used more often. Cronin said new goalie coach Peter Budaj will also be a valuable resource, given he played in the league and can communicate what he sees on video from that perspective to Dostál and Gibson. Those two will have to improve their save rates but as Cronin also noted, “The other side of the coin is, if you don’t kill penalties well and you’re giving them high-percentage shots, the goalies don’t look as good. You’ve got to try and meet in the middle.”​

That's odd b/c Stothers found a way to be successful. Dunno why Thompson didn't go to Stothers more often? Stothers was given no shutdown guys in 2022-23 season and still performed miracles. Thompson was gifted far more defensive talent last year. The PK started off great, but decayed fast throughout the season.

Spoiler: PK splits for the past 3 seasons

2021-22	Stothers
Game Set	Games	PK GA	TSH	PK Eff
Total	82	43	224	80.8%
1 to 33	33	12	85	85.9%
34 to 62	29	17	89	80.9%
63 to 82	20	14	50	72.0%

2022-23	Stothers
Game Set	Games	PK GA	TSH	PK Eff
Total	82	78	280	72.1%
1 to 25	25	31	89	65.2%
26 to 49	24	17	81	79.0%
50 to 61	12	10	44	77.3%
62 to 82	21	20	66	69.7%

2023-24	Thompson
Game Set	Games	PK GA	TSH	PK Eff
Total	82	91	330	72.4%
1 to 25	25	22	110	80.0%
26 to 49	24	22	91	75.8%
50 to 62	13	16	47	66.0%
63 to 82	20	31	82	62.2%

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

It may have already been mentioned in the GDT, but heard Hazy say that Pat brought in a ref to talk to the team during the off-season.

We'll see if it does anything, but it was exactly what I'd hoped he'd do.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

It may have already been mentioned in the GDT, but heard Hazy say that Pat brought in a ref to talk to the team during the off-season.

We'll see if it does anything, but it was exactly what I'd hoped he'd do.

I sometimes wonder if the NHL Refs have a lifetime supply of Jack Daniels & Memphis BBQ courtesy of Nashville.