It is not baffling if you recall how Pat felt about the end of last year compared to the end of Eakins' last year. There was no time about review on Eakins to let him go as the team earned 58 points with a shit roster. There was a glowing review about Cronin, the culture, the compete, etc... while having a more talented roster, fewer goals scored at ES, and earned 59 points.
Many on here also bought into the copium by making excuses for Cronin and none for Eakins such as injuries affected Cronin, but injuries under Eakins were inconsequential or that Cronin is still a much better coach because of blah, blah, blah reasons.
We now agree the problems from last year still persist this year, but Verbeek isn't dissuaded because the culture is correct, the compete is where he wants it to be, and just needs more time to gel. Verbeek had to tell the owners that a reset rebuild would take five years and that has bought Verbeek time to be full of himself.
The only thing good about Verbeek's tenure are the draft picks, but Verbeek is riding off the coattails of the scouting team that was here long before he became the Ducks' GM.