Speculation: 2024-25 Coaching/Management/Ownership

[ohcomeonref]

I don’t think they’re doing it for clicks, I just think they don’t care for the franchise or for Cronin in particular. Digging up decades old grudges by someone who’s own mom contradicts him? And whining about his philosophies.

The only concrete thing we’ve heard from Cronin’s current tenure is the Lyubushkin thing which I agree sounds terrible. I think he’s a bad coach. Maybe he’s a good assistant coach, I dunno. But the SC stuff feels to me like a they’re trying to manufacture a pile-on—they’ve gotten coaches fired before, after all—and I don’t like it.

Did they have an effect on more coaches than just Babcock?

 

[duckpuck]

In your re-frame context that blowing up the team doesn't mean Verbeek reset the rebuild, then that means Verbeek is in year 6 of the Ducks' rebuild. Then Verbeek should be fired after this season, especially since he has yet to surpass the 2021-22 season, or year 3 of the rebuild.

From the same ESPN article cited in my OP:

"It's going to be easier," Verbeek said. "Certainly you don't have to come in there and look to take a long time. There's good players in the NHL, and there's also good players in the minors. There's also players that have been drafted. So there's lots coming to support the growth of this team. ... [A typical rebuild] takes five years. I'm hoping to shorten that, but that's kind of the reality of how long it really takes you to be a consistent, serious contender."​

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I'll stick with Verbeek resetting the rebuild, aka the Verbeekening. Otherwise, I'd be irate like most posters on here are about the team not being in the playoffs for potentially seven consecutive seasons.

• Ducks Non-playoff Record
  • 2018-19: Finished 8th worst (80 pts)
    • TDL starts the Murray Rebuild
  • 2019-20: Finished 5th worst (67 pts)
  • 2020-21: Finished 2nd worst (43 pts COVID; 63 pts COVID adjusted)
  • 2021-22: Finished 10th worst (76 pts)
    • 3rd in Pacific at All-Star Break when Verbeek was hired (55 pts in 48 games)
    • 4 pts from 3rd in Pacific at the TDL (64 pts in 62 games),
      Verbeekening happened
  • 2022-23: Finished with the worst record (58 pts)
  • 2023-24: Finished 3rd worst (59 pts)
  • 2024-25: Currently tied for 5th worst (30 pts)

Maybe visualizing the data set might be easier to see the reset to the rebuild.

View attachment 951388

The ducks rebuild took longer because Murray was slow to tear down the team. The fact that Verbeek took over with 3 high profile pending UFAs - Manson, Rakell, Lindholm - speaks to that exact issue. They should have been traded the prior year, but Murray failed to do so. Verbeek had no choice but to trade them.

 

[Boo Boo]

The ducks rebuild took longer because Murray was slow to tear down the team. The fact that Verbeek took over with 3 high profile pending UFAs - Manson, Rakell, Lindholm - speaks to that exact issue. They should have been traded the prior year, but Murray failed to do so. Verbeek had no choice but to trade them.

I honestly think it has more to do with having a policy of trading pending ufas otherwise I fail to see why Henrique and like stolars were kept around rather than trading them at the same deadline that those guys were traded at

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I honestly think it has more to do with having a policy of trading pending ufas otherwise I fail to see why Henrique and like stolars were kept around rather than trading them at the same deadline that those guys were traded at

Sure, the pending UFA's do coincide with TDL often. But context matters between UFA contract differences and blowing up the team.

Verbeek said we were in a middle of a rebuild and the next step is to become contenders b/c we have good veterans, good youths, and good prospects on the way. Those are his words. Verbeek inherited a team in the middle of a rebuild that was 3rd in the Pacific at all-star break when he was hired. Seems odd to jettison a lot of the "good" players that helped propel the team from finishing with the 2nd worst record last year to 3rd in the Pacific at All-star break the ensuing season.

According to Manson and his agent, Verbeek never talked to them about any extension. I don't know much about the Rakell situation, but I was indifferent on Rakell b/c he's streaky by the seasons. Verbeek didn't think he needed a pugilist on his team and got a 3rd round pick for Des, which we used a 4th round pick to nab him.

Now onto Lindholm, Lindholm wanted to stay with Anaheim on a team friendly deal. He wanted to retire as a Duck. That was the crux for Verbeek, who had a specific rubric to abide by due to term and age. Verbeek offered more money, but far less term. Boston signed Lindholm to an 8-year contract for $6.5 mil AAV, where he'd be UFA at age 36. Lindholm would have signed for less money for the same term with Anaheim. It is hilarious seeing contracts handed out to Gudas and Killorn years later b/c Gudas' contract ($4 mil AAV) ends when he's 36 years old and Killorn's contract ($6.25 mil AAV) ends when he's 37 years old.

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I'm not crying daily about missing the playoffs for potentially seven seasons. The moment Verbeek blew up the team at the 2022 TDL, I knew he reset the rebuild and we'd have to wait five years to see if the gamble worked. Verbeek stated it takes five years minimum for a rebuild. Verbeek also stated he blew up the 2021-22 team! I'm here knowing it is year 3 of the Verbeek reset rebuild with two more years to go.

If y'all keep saying it's not reset, then Verbeek needed to be fired last year as we are in year 6 of the rebuild. His magical 2022 off-season acquisitions were nowhere near close to the production of the 2021-22 team. None of his teams, including this year's team, are in the same realm as the 2021-22 team.

 

[ScarTroy]

Maybe my memory isn’t serving me correctly, but I feel like Verbeek started the rebuild. Murray was just treading water. What did Murray do that signified a rebuild? Having a shit team doesn’t mean you are rebuilding, it just means you are a shit team. Verbeek came in and starting selling off assets to start a rebuild.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Maybe my memory isn’t serving me correctly, but I feel like Verbeek started the rebuild. Murray was just treading water. What did Murray do that signified a rebuild? Having a shit team doesn’t mean you are rebuilding, it just means you are a shit team. Verbeek came in and starting selling off assets to start a rebuild.

He was finally sort of admitting in interviews that they needed to step back and consider the larger picture etc towards the end but it was never a full commitment to rebuilding. Otherwise would have started moving out more veterans

 

[duckpuck]

I honestly think it has more to do with having a policy of trading pending ufas otherwise I fail to see why Henrique and like stolars were kept around rather than trading them at the same deadline that those guys were traded at

Henrique had no value. He had been waived went unclaimed. During the flat cap era, no one wanted the term on his contract.

e's streaky by the seasons. Verbeek didn't think he needed a pugilist on his team and got a 3rd round pick for Des, which we used a 4th round pick to nab him.

Now onto Lindholm, Lindholm wanted to stay with Anaheim on a tea

The ducks had no business re-signing Rakell or Manson - full stop they should have been traded and that was obvious to everyone. So of course Manson (who had been injured a lot and had regressed) didn't receive an offer.

Lindholm was a harder call. The problem was that the ducks (Murray again) had signed Fowler to a long term deal. It is understandable why Verbeek didn't want two aging D-men on long term deals and, like the rest of the team, Hampus wasn't playing very well.

But, fundamentally, we just disagree that trading 3 pending UFAs (only one of whom arguably should have been retained) is "resetting" the rebuild. It is what any team in a rebuild would do.