Speculation: 2024-25 Coaching/Management/Ownership

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

If anyone thought this team would have a shot at the playoffs, send me your social

The playoffs shouldn't be nearly as crazy as some posters make them out to be.

Over the years the Panthers made it in 2011 with 38 wins. The Av's made the playoffs the year after they only had 22 wins. More recently Capitals made it last year and were openly sellers. If your franchise is consistently viewing the playoffs as a long shot, then you're closer to becoming the next Sabres than you are becoming the next Avalanche, Blackhawks or Penguins.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

The playoffs shouldn't be nearly as crazy as some posters make them out to be.

Over the years the Panthers made it in 2011 with 38 wins. The Av's made the playoffs the year after they only had 22 wins. More recently Capitals made it last year and were openly sellers. If your franchise is consistently viewing the playoffs as a long shot, then you're closer to becoming the next Sabres than you are becoming the next Avalanche, Blackhawks or Penguins.

The counter could be the GM overestimated their hockey ops process and has miscalculated their actions. When a GM gives your club an abysmal defense while simultaneously barely crossing the salary cap floor threshold and believes the team should be in a playoff contention, then there needs to be serious reflection. The following year, you get mediocre results with a new coach and more talent on the roster.

Anaheim is relying on its youth to take the next step forward b/c they don't have enough top-end vet talent to help guide them nor nurture them to becoming better than mediocre. Belief can only take you so far when growth of the youth stagnates or declines.

We're in Year 3 of the reset rebuild. I'm expecting more growing pains as we have a plethora of youths in their second season as an NHL pro and a couple of new rookies to the NHL. Year 4 is where the team needs to start weeding out weaker or failed talents and the GM needs to start adding better NHL-talent from outside the org.

There's a process to getting back into the playoffs, but hope should never be your best strategy.

 

[ohcomeonref]

Not only have our youth not taken a step, our best player fell on his ass.

 

[eaterfan]

I think some progress would be nice... But let's be a little patient and have some perspective.

No matter what PV "says" it's clear he doesn't think this team is going to compete for the playoffs. You don't barely exceed the salary floor if you are making a real push. If he thought they were a playoff team as constructed he would have signed guys to make us a real contender. Yes, he tried to sign Stamkos and Marchessault, but once they didn't sign, it was clear we weren't contending to him. We needed those guys to get us there. There were plenty of guys a tier or two below those guys who could have improved the team if PV believed we were really contending.

We're five games in and development isn't linear, as much as we want it to be. Some guys just don't do anything for a few years and break out. Hopefully it happens at some point this season. And the the further you get down the line, the less likely it is. But Carlsson is in year 2, Minty, Luneau, Zell, Cutter all have way fewer than 82 games under their belt. I don't think we should panic about them this early.

 

[LuGBuG]

I think some progress would be nice... But let's be a little patient and have some perspective.

No matter what PV "says" it's clear he doesn't think this team is going to compete for the playoffs. You don't barely exceed the salary floor if you are making a real push. If he thought they were a playoff team as constructed he would have signed guys to make us a real contender. Yes, he tried to sign Stamkos and Marchessault, but once they didn't sign, it was clear we weren't contending to him. We needed those guys to get us there. There were plenty of guys a tier or two below those guys who could have improved the team if PV believed we were really contending.

We're five games in and development isn't linear, as much as we want it to be. Some guys just don't do anything for a few years and break out. Hopefully it happens at some point this season. And the the further you get down the line, the less likely it is. But Carlsson is in year 2, Minty, Luneau, Zell, Cutter all have way fewer than 82 games under their belt. I don't think we should panic about them this early.

Logic is not allowed around here. Please move on.

 

[Deuce22]

Logic is not allowed around here. Please move on.

How can this team not be a playoff contender? The cornerstone forward and dman are 19 and 20, respectively. The goalie is in his first year as a starter. The highest paid vets either have been disappointing, or contribute little.

 

[Reveille1984]

Anyone that expected a playoff contender from this bunch is high as a kite.

That being said, you'd still like to see a little more early progress and cause for optimism from guys like Zegras and McTavish who are past the prospect phase and have a high first round pedigree. If those two end up stagnating or hitting walls in their development, the rebuild is going to be a lot more painful.

Too soon for the panic button, but something to watch.

 

[FiveTacos]

Anyone that expected a playoff contender from this bunch is high as a kite.

That being said, you'd still like to see a little more early progress and cause for optimism from guys like Zegras and McTavish who are past the prospect phase and have a high first round pedigree. If those two end up stagnating or hitting walls in their development, the rebuild is going to be a lot more painful.

Sometimes development is not linear though, there can be plateaus and regression. Years ago I read that very few skill improvements happen by incremental improvement. Sometimes regression comes from having to unlearn some habits that were holding you back from any further progress, but that can set you back for a while.

Logic is not allowed around here. Please move on.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

How can this team not be a playoff contender? The cornerstone forward and dman are 19 and 20, respectively. The goalie is in his first year as a starter. The highest paid vets either have been disappointing, or contribute little.

While I am still very concerned whether or not our young players are getting the quality coaching they need to progress, I think the bolded shouldn't be understated as to why this team is too awful too often. Those vets should be leading by example, the guys making the good plays, keeping us in the games and dragging us close to victory on many nights. That just hasn't happened since PV got here, although Vatrano has certainly earned his contract. Hopefully Radko's captainship will add some positivity this year. We just cannot have another year of "shrugged shoulders, WTF? answers" from Cronin.

Regardless of record, there has to be some tangible level of improvement this year.

 

[Rybread86]

Good little road trip here might do them some good. Time to bond a bit and coming off a good game like the other night, should be in some good spirits. Really Im not worried. And Im not expecting playoffs. I am expecting improvement and also expecting to not finish in the bottom 5.

 

[ohcomeonref]

Anyone that expected a playoff contender from this bunch is high as a kite.

That being said, you'd still like to see a little more early progress and cause for optimism from guys like Zegras and McTavish who are past the prospect phase and have a high first round pedigree. If those two end up stagnating or hitting walls in their development, the rebuild is going to be a lot more painful.

Too soon for the panic button, but something to watch.

If both Mac and Zegras can be perennial 60 pointers, I'd be okay with that. Although I thought Zegras was going to be a sure-fire ppg player for us, I'm more leaning towards Carlsson becoming that.

 

[Rybread86]

If both Mac and Zegras can be perennial 60 pointers, I'd be okay with that. Although I thought Zegras was going to be a sure-fire ppg player for us, I'm more leaning towards Carlsson becoming that.

I think Z can still be that guy. He just has to settle in. Some people complain about trying to turn him into a more well rounded player, that its ruining him or something, but I just see it as a learning curve.

Zegras, to me, is one of those guys who thrives in unstructured play and is more of a "do-it-yourselfer". They want him to not be a defensive liability and play within the structure. Once he can settle into that and it starts to become 2nd nature to him, the offensive side will pick back up.

I wouldnt be shocked if it took another 1-2 seasons for the young guys to really start breaking out. I just want to see progress.

 

[FlyingV09]

Not only have our youth not taken a step, our best player fell on his ass.

Who’s our best player?

 

[ADHB]

Who’s our best player?

Yeah, this confused me too. Terry has been our best player for several seasons, and still is.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

I think some progress would be nice... But let's be a little patient and have some perspective.

No matter what PV "says" it's clear he doesn't think this team is going to compete for the playoffs. You don't barely exceed the salary floor if you are making a real push. If he thought they were a playoff team as constructed he would have signed guys to make us a real contender. Yes, he tried to sign Stamkos and Marchessault, but once they didn't sign, it was clear we weren't contending to him. We needed those guys to get us there. There were plenty of guys a tier or two below those guys who could have improved the team if PV believed we were really contending.

We're five games in and development isn't linear, as much as we want it to be. Some guys just don't do anything for a few years and break out. Hopefully it happens at some point this season. And the the further you get down the line, the less likely it is. But Carlsson is in year 2, Minty, Luneau, Zell, Cutter all have way fewer than 82 games under their belt. I don't think we should panic about them this early.

Once again the best defenses of PV are the ones that just assume he’s a liar so they can paint their own version of reasonableness on an artificially blank canvas.

 

[Kalv]

Well, Torts might be available soon, lol

 

[ohcomeonref]

Who’s our best player?

Yeah, this confused me too. Terry has been our best player for several seasons, and still is.

Are you guys actually surprised that someone would have considered an insanely young Zegras our best player over Terry in his prime for a couple years there?

Edit: when factoring in age I thought Zegras was our best player for a couple seasons, pretty clearly Terry at the moment though.

 

[70sSanO]

Well, Torts might be available soon, lol

Someone will need to talk Zegras off the Katella overpass.

John

 

[Hey234]

Anaheim is relying on its youth to take the next step forward b/c they don't have enough top-end vet talent to help guide them nor nurture them to becoming better than mediocre. Belief can only take you so far when growth of the youth stagnates or declines.

This, to me, is the main barrier to taking the next step and why some teams never do. The combination of young players not taking over and top-end vets like Getzlaf, Perry, etc... not lasting long enough for that turnover created a talent vacuum. There clearly is a lot of talent on the team now and plenty of good prospects, but not have established, top-end vets really presents a challenge.

I think the Ducks need to take a swing and trade for a high-end top 6 winger. I'm ready to part with some good prospects/picks because the players on the team need more support to develop properly.

 

[2faded]

Looking back at the drafts for the last decade and it seems Murray's first round picks haven't aged well at all. Also, imo part of why this team is currently struggling. If you look at who is struggling right now, it's Murray's picks (Zegras/McTavish). While Verbeek's picks look like studs (Leo/Minty).

Then you look at the other first round picks for the last decade.

2014: Ritchie (bust)
2015: Larsson (bust)
2016: Jones (bust); Steel (bust)
2017: no pick
2018: Lundestrom (fine pick)
2019: Zegras (not playing well. I do put a lot of that on coaching); Tracey (bust)
2020: Drysdale (traded and not playing well); Perrault (bust)
2021: McTavish (not playing well)

This is a huge reason why this team has no older players to let the kids ease into the NHL. They all busted. The only option is to sign vets and no one wants to sign here.

I do think Zegras and McTavish have the potential to be great players. But, it's not incorrect to point out that it's Murray's picks who are struggling to take the next step while the younger players Verbeek picked have already surpassed them.

 

[Mr Rogers]

I think Zegras was a great pick, Tracey was bad tho for sure because they missed out on some nice players.

Jones/Steel wasn’t good - notably missed out on Thompson, Kyrou, Girard, Cat, and some others

Drysdale - a disappointing pick for sure but if Cutter ends up strong then great job by Pat. But yes there were a handful of productive forwards taken after, Rossi would look great here. Perreault indeed awful especially with Faber remaining.

The Ritchie picks stands above all the other years as being particularly awful because of the sheer amount of quality players - specifically forwards that were still available. Murray/Madden also missed out on a unique opportunity to supercharge an already good NHL lineup with a blue-chip forward prospect.

With Mctavish I still have a lot of hope for him and don’t dislike the pick at this time, although I wouldn’t argue with anybody who would’ve preferred Guenther, Eklund, or Johnston I guess.

Definitely enough flubs to not blindly trust Madden as well, I never like to hear in Madden we trust haha, although that’s more when it comes to forwards i suppose.

Murray could’ve done a significantly better job in 2014, 2016 and 2020 IMO. I think it’s important to remember that if 2014 was a quality player they probably wouldn’t align with the team’s contention window at this stage and may have been moved by now - 2016 as well perhaps. Who knows, We may not have even been quite as bad if those were good picks. 2020 is the most relevant now I’d say but again the Cutter trade may help to alleviate that a bit.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Looking back at the drafts for the last decade and it seems Murray's first round picks haven't aged well at all. Also, imo part of why this team is currently struggling. If you look at who is struggling right now, it's Murray's picks (Zegras/McTavish). While Verbeek's picks look like studs (Leo/Minty).

Then you look at the other first round picks for the last decade.

2014: Ritchie (bust)
2015: Larsson (bust)
2016: Jones (bust); Steel (bust)
2017: no pick
2018: Lundestrom (fine pick)
2019: Zegras (not playing well. I do put a lot of that on coaching); Tracey (bust)
2020: Drysdale (traded and not playing well); Perrault (bust)
2021: McTavish (not playing well)

This is a huge reason why this team has no older players to let the kids ease into the NHL. They all busted. The only option is to sign vets and no one wants to sign here.

I do think Zegras and McTavish have the potential to be great players. But, it's not incorrect to point out that it's Murray's picks who are struggling to take the next step while the younger players Verbeek picked have already surpassed them.

Murray picks are the teams two best players right now, Terry and Dostal. Also Steel is definitely not a bust, and skipping every round but the first artificially limits who’s contributing and who isn’t. There are 7 BM picks on the team right now and most of them are where you’d expect them to be and the ones that aren’t, aren’t obviously bad picks as opposed to bad fits with the (re)construction of the team or the coaching staff.

PV’s had three drafts and in one of them he had the good fortune to draft a first overall quality guy at #2. Mintyukov is really the only player you could say has exceeded what we’d expect of him.

I guess my point is that this framing doesn’t really illuminate any difference between the two management groups. Obviously any team would be better off if it had better luck with its first rounders.

 

[ScarTroy]

Murray picks are the teams two best players right now, Terry and Dostal. Also Steel is definitely not a bust, and skipping every round but the first artificially limits who’s contributing and who isn’t. There are 7 BM picks on the team right now and most of them are where you’d expect them to be and the ones that aren’t, aren’t obviously bad picks as opposed to bad fits with the (re)construction of the team or the coaching staff.

PV’s had three drafts and in one of them he had the good fortune to draft a first overall quality guy at #2. Mintyukov is really the only player you could say has exceeded what we’d expect of him.

I guess my point is that this framing doesn’t really illuminate any difference between the two management groups. Obviously any team would be better off if it had better luck with its first rounders.

I agree with both viewpoints, Murray really needed to hit on one of those late 1sts and didn’t, but neither has Verbeek yet. Solberg has the makings of being a solid late 1st, but still has to prove that. Other than that Verbeek hasn’t proven at all he can get any real NHL talent out of the top 10 besides Luneau.

Murray also drafted LaCombe, Colangelo, Zellweger, and Dostal like you mentioned. Guys who likely play a decent role in the rebuild. When Verbeek pulls a Terry out of the 5th round I’ll give him credit, but I’m not gonna ball wash him for drafting Carlsson, Minty or Sennecke (even though that one might end up looking shrewd.)

 

[Gliff]

Not only have our youth not taken a step, our best player fell on his ass.

6 games lol.

 

[ohcomeonref]

6 games lol.

I'm including last year