2024-25 Coaching/Management/Ownership

[Hey234]

Cronin is f***ing awful. Anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves. Continues to be some of the absolute worst hockey I've seen Anaheim play when you factor in the talent on the ice.

It's hard to argue that he has been effective as a coach. Statistically, the team is bottom of the league in most areas. Line decisions are confusing to say the least. He has players playing out of their natural positions to low effect. Special teams are atrocious. He overplays 4th line players and matches them against top lines for some reason. He's publicly acknowledged to changing his system 3 times since he's been here. That's too many times..

The Ducks have a clear system issue. A good coach provides a structure that allows the team to build from. Cronin has not shown he is capable of doing that. I don't think I can renew my season tickets if Cronin returns. I can't support wasting another year.

 

[AngelDuck]

honestly, who is the coaching target people here want if we’re going outside of the organization for it?

 

[ShadowDuck]

honestly, who is the coaching target people here want if we’re going outside of the organization for it?

Anyone with a history of winning in the NHL as a head coach

Idk if he’s looking to coach again, but bring back Boudreau

 

[Leonardo87]

Cronin is f***ing awful. Anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves. Continues to be some of the absolute worst hockey I've seen Anaheim play when you factor in the talent on the ice.

We were blinded by great goaltending and the skill set of some of our kids. But the coaching is not where it should be , not even close.

The skill set of Leo, Mac, and Cutter are showing because they have been able to produce recently, even with reduced roles in favor of the vets like Vatrano, Strome, and Killorn.

Also the PP? It’s putrid. Enough is enough.

 

[HanSolo]

Cronin is f***ing awful. Anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves. Continues to be some of the absolute worst hockey I've seen Anaheim play when you factor in the talent on the ice.

I'll add in that the stretches of good play we've seen from this team which will probably save Cronin's job under a "stay the course" mentality is all the proof Verbeek needs to do the opposite.

We know what this roster is capable of when the effort and execution is there. Maybe you can make the argument that the inconsistent effort and execution can be blamed in some part on the players, the locker room culture, and the leadership, but both aspects fall under the coaching staff's responsibilities. As it pertains to execution, proper drilling matters and anyone who puts primary blame on the players simply hasn't played a team sport. I played several and my travel teams always performed better in tourneys when we properly drilled our fundamentals and strategies than when we had practice for the sake of it. You don't lock in execution by drilling well for two weeks in training camp. Drilling needs to be effective over the course of a season. This recent stretch is as good an example as you're going to get. Hazy mentioned on a broadcast that Cronin was emphasizing crisper passing in practice. It sticks out as particularly ridiculous because this team's passing the past four games has been atrocious.

It seemed the team turned a new leaf just prior to and after the 4 Nations after the team held player meetings. There was buy in, there was fight, and there was execution. It seems that the impact of those meetings has entirely worn off and we're back to the same old shit.

He's not the right guy for the job and I'm really scared that the few stretches of good play we saw will translate to "stay the course. With more consistency and experience in the room we can build on those stretches to make that level of play the norm"

The development of young players has largely languished under Cronin. His lineup choices are suboptimal. His deployment is suboptimal (using the fourth line to shut down top lines is beyond stupid). The offense has only somewhat improved lately under the regime of "defense first" while the defense is still f***ing awful. Too often the team looks more tired than teams that should be more tired (e.g. Opponents on the second end of back to backs). Too often the team looks like they struggle with basic fundamentals after other games where they look fine to good in that regard.

The only material reason why we're bottom 8 instead of bottom 3 is how many games our goalies stole. That's it. I don't really see how this team is better than last year in any meaningful respect. He needs to go. Clune needs to go. We need a revamped player development staff. And if Verbeek isn't able to recognize this, he should go too.

 

[TheGoodShepard1]

There's really not much to say that hasn't already been said at this stage, though I will point out that while part of it is due to having a bunch of younger players who still need to get acclimated to the grind of an NHL season and grow into their bodies, it's laughable just how dead these guys look with a month left to go in the year considering that management (and Greg's) pride and joy is conditioning. Something needs to be totally reworked.

 

[KelVarnsen]

I'm guessing playing man to man and chasing the puck for like 75% of every game will wear guys down. Didn't PV say he expected better conditioning this year because the team knew they would play man to man again after getting a taste of it last year? It seems either no one listened to their conditioning script or man to man is not the correct defense for this team. Chasing the puck all the time has to be exhausting.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I'm guessing playing man to man and chasing the puck for like 75% of every game will wear guys down. Didn't PV say he expected better conditioning this year because the team knew they would play man to man again after getting a taste of it last year? It seems either no one listened to their conditioning script or man to man is not the correct defense for this team. Chasing the puck all the time has to be exhausting.

There are teams that play man defense and still control offensive play. We are not one of those teams. We're a man defense scheme that generates offense mostly off of counter rushes. It's because we're a counter rush offense that we expend too much energy because those forwards chasing tail playing defense need to also rush up the ice offensively once we gain possession. By the time that happens, the forwards are at the 25-35 seconds into the shift and already fatigued. We should to a counter controlled offense to hold possession longer as we cycle in new forwards. The potential problem with Cronin is he might not have a game plan to enter the OZone with a controlled possession offense from his forwards. Usually, it's his defense, namely LaCombe, that does the zone entry when we do make a controlled possession effort for offense.

Maybe the man defense + counter rush works in the AHL were you have plenty of underdeveloped prospects on the ice and your team has a bunch of older, fringe NHL players. Cronin's AHL teams that produced well had a bunch of older, fringe NHL players on the team.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

My choice for a new coach would be Woodcroft.

 

[zegrassyknoll]

I can respect PV's thought of bringing in a "fresh" voice to pair with young players. If it worked out it would have been great, but it clearly hasn't worked out and in hindsight feels obvious that we should have gone with an experienced NHL coach who can help new players work through common problems.

 

[HanSolo]

I can respect PV's thought of bringing in a "fresh" voice to pair with young players. If it worked out it would have been great, but it clearly hasn't worked out and in hindsight feels obvious that we should have gone with an experienced NHL coach who can help new players work through common problems.

I think a new coach that hasn't previously worked in the NHL in the capacity of head coach can work. It's happened many times. The problem is that Cronin really didn't have all that great a track record to begin with and he obviously isn't cracked out for the job at this level. At least not as a rebuilding coach. He's been coaching since 1987 if you can believe it, getting his start as an assistant at Colby College.

As a head coach he's never been past the second round of the AHL playoffs. I'm sure he's had a small hand in developing players in his time as an assistant at Toronto and NYI, but he wasn't the one calling the shots then.

 

[The Duck Knight]

If David Carle is willing I'd go for him. None of the vet coaches currently without a job interest me except BB but I think he's done.

 

[Ducks DVM]

The athletic has another survey/rankings

 

[MMC]

The athletic has another survey/rankings
View attachment 994394

View attachment 994410

There’s no way anyone who wants them to be more hands on is a fan of the team a bit further down Katella

 

[70sSanO]

There was a time I would have blasted anyone making my choice, but desperate times demand desperate measures… Quenneville.

John

 

[JAHV]

There was a time I would have blasted anyone making my choice, but desperate times demand desperate measures… Quenneville.

John

There are no measures desperate enough for that option.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

Look how Jim Montgomery turned the blues around, an absolute wasted opportunity for anaheim to get a legit coach in here. Nobody can tell me from an assets/cap space POV STL is a more attractive situation, the owners need to be willing to pay for a top coach the investment pays off in the development of your young players and hopefully wins

There have been improvement this year but that shouldn't stop you from trying to find a top coach

 

[Gliff]

Look how Jim Montgomery turned the blues around, an absolute wasted opportunity for anaheim to get a legit coach in here. Nobody can tell me from an assets/cap space POV STL is a more attractive situation, the owners need to be willing to pay for a top coach the investment pays off in the development of your young players and hopefully wins

There have been improvement this year but that shouldn't stop you from trying to find a top coach

He was never coming here. He wanted to be in St Louis. Similar to Washington and their HC.

The athletic has another survey/rankings
View attachment 994394

View attachment 994410

This is such a bullshit poll. Imagine thinking your owners not being involved in day to day being a bad thing…

 

[AngelDuck]

He was never coming here. He wanted to be in St Louis. Similar to Washington and their HC.

The point is it would be nice if the ducks were proactive enough to even try to look for a top coach mid-season. I have zero confidence that they’d even be willing to look if there were someone out there with a track record and willing to come here. It’s easy to say “this guy wasn’t coming here because X”, but again, even if the stars aligned perfectly, would they have fired Cronin mid-season to go get that guy? I have my doubts at this point

They’re so focused on the not paying 2 coaches thing at this point it seems that I’m actually surprised RC was fired mid-season one time.

The bottom line is looking for a coach in the offseason is going to be hard because there’s going to be several other teams in bigger markets also looking for one.

Maybe we get lucky this time though. Or maybe Cronin’s here all of next year too. Or maybe we end up with another Eakins/Cronin. Those are the 3 options and 2 of them are terrible outcomes. Time will tell.

 

[KelVarnsen]

Look how Jim Montgomery turned the blues around, an absolute wasted opportunity for anaheim to get a legit coach in here. Nobody can tell me from an assets/cap space POV STL is a more attractive situation, the owners need to be willing to pay for a top coach the investment pays off in the development of your young players and hopefully wins

There have been improvement this year but that shouldn't stop you from trying to find a top coach

McLellan has the Red Wings playing at .606% since he took over for Lalonde who had them playing at .441%. A good, veteran coach can make a huge difference in the Ducks. Cronin is absolutely dragging this team down compared to the talent on the roster. I can't believe how much he allegedly stresses defense at the expense of offense and the team still absolutely sucks at defense and relies on the goalies to bail them out. When the goalies don't bail them out, we get the 2-7 type losses.

 

[Mr Rogers]

The excuses like “he wasn’t coming here/didn’t want to come here” apply to coaches and players. Well if you don’t try they definitely wont come. I feel like we see that kind of sentiment a lot in the offseason with free agents too.

 

[dracom]

The excuses like “he wasn’t coming here/didn’t want to come here” apply to coaches and players. Well if you don’t try they definitely wont come. I feel like we see that kind of sentiment a lot in the offseason with free agents too.

We aren’t a desirable place for people to want to come here. Players don’t want to play a guy like Cronin, coaches don’t want to coach for bad roster.

 

[HanSolo]

There are no measures desperate enough for that option.

This. f*** Coach Q forever. I don't want him anywhere near this team. I'd legit rather see this team bring back Carlyle for a third go around if the option was between that, Q, and folding the franchise.

 

[JAHV]

He was never coming here. He wanted to be in St Louis. Similar to Washington and their HC.


This is such a bullshit poll. Imagine thinking your owners not being involved in day to day being a bad thing…

Agreed on the first point. Jim Montgomery wanted to be in St. Louis, just as there are other head coaching candidates who may want a better situation or different location. We can't just go out and kidnap guys - they need to want to come here. It's why I don't expect David Carle to be an actual candidate. It sounds like he has a great thing going in Denver. It would take the perfect situation for him to leave.

As for the second, I don't fully agree. As an Angel fan, I know the pain of a meddling owner. But a completely hands-off owner means you get things like Bob Murray, where he was allowed to abuse employees and run the team poorly for years before something happened. I think there's a happy medium. The Samuelis are a bit too far on the hands-off side, which is better than the alternative, but not ideal.

 

[Gliff]

The Montgomery thing had nothing to do with him not wanting to come to Anaheim or it not being appealing. It was 100% due to him wanting to be in St Louis.

NHL insider: Jim Montgomery ‘had one eye on the Blues’ after Bruins firing

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman noted on "32 Thoughts" Monday that it wasn't a surprise at all that Jim Montgomery signed with the Blues.

www.boston.com

“This was always the plan,” Friedman said of Montgomery joining the Blues on his “32 Thoughts” podcast on Monday. “If it didn’t work out in Boston, this was always going to be the outcome. As a matter of fact, within an hour of the announcement being made, I got calls from two different people who said to me, ‘You have no guts.’ And ‘guts’ was not the phrase they used. … And I was like, why?

“And they said, ‘Because you danced around it when you wrote about it last week … but you knew this guy was going to St .Louis, and you didn’t come right out and say it.’ And I said, ‘You’re right. I did lack the guts to come right out and say it.’”

Montgomery already has plenty of history with both the Blues and Armstrong. After getting fired as Stars head coach in December 2019 for unprofessional conduct, Montgomery re-entered the coaching ranks when he joined the Blues as an assistant coach for two seasons (2020-22) before getting hired by Boston.

Add in the fact that Montgomery opened his NHL career with the Blues and his family still has an offseason home in St. Louis, and Armstrong’s interest shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

But was that interest something that was already present before Montgomery officially hit the hot seat this fall?

As Friedman noted, the timing of the Blues’ decision to retain Bannister via a new extension came shortly after Montgomery and the Bruins avoided blowing another 3-1 series lead in the playoffs — this time to the Maple Leafs.

“I think let’s just go back to this. Drew Banister got the coaching job last year on an interim basis,” Friedman said. “When Craig Berube was fired, [Banninster] did not get the official job until May 7, which was just after the Boston Bruins played Game 1 of the second round last year against the Florida Panthers.

“And especially now, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on. Doug Armstrong was waiting to see if there was any chance that if the Boston Bruins lost in the first round to the Toronto Maple Leafs — would Jim Montgomery become available? The answer? They won. They hung on. They won that series, and now Montgomery is not available.”

Agreed on the first point. Jim Montgomery wanted to be in St. Louis, just as there are other head coaching candidates who may want a better situation or different location. We can't just go out and kidnap guys - they need to want to come here. It's why I don't expect David Carle to be an actual candidate. It sounds like he has a great thing going in Denver. It would take the perfect situation for him to leave.

As for the second, I don't fully agree. As an Angel fan, I know the pain of a meddling owner. But a completely hands-off owner means you get things like Bob Murray, where he was allowed to abuse employees and run the team poorly for years before something happened. I think there's a happy medium. The Samuelis are a bit too far on the hands-off side, which is better than the alternative, but not ideal.

Hands off in terms of hockey operations, not HR issues. Bob's issues were not hockey ops issues.