Speculation: 2024-25 - Free Agency/Trade Thread

[AngelDuck]

The bottom line is that both Eakins and Cronin aren’t the answer.

Cronin also being a bad coach doesn’t somehow make Eakins a good one.

The ducks need a proven coach with a track record of performance at the NHL Level - the issue is that it’s hard to get a guy like that to coach a team in a rebuild. This isn’t exactly a highly desirable destination at the moment for coaches with a pedigree. It might be 2 years from now

 

[Rybread86]

We need to trade gibson and Fowler, and fire Cronin and bring in a coach that can get the room

What coaches are available that fit the bill?

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

What coaches are available that fit the bill?

Idk off the top of my head, but it’s not Cronin

 

[Rybread86]

Idk off the top of my head, but it’s not Cronin

Fair. I believe any coach would be happy to come here. There is a lot of talent to work with and they will know what the expectations are. I do believe though that if you change away from Cronin this season, the next guy has to have a healthy amount of NHL experience. No more guys that you are giving his first shot or a redemption story like Eakins. NHL pedigree would be a must.

 

[Rybread86]

The bottom line is that both Eakins and Cronin aren’t the answer.

Cronin also being a bad coach doesn’t somehow make Eakins a good one.

The ducks need a proven coach with a track record of performance at the NHL Level - the issue is that it’s hard to get a guy like that to coach a team in a rebuild. This isn’t exactly a highly desirable destination at the moment for coaches with a pedigree. It might be 2 years from now

I dont know that I agree. If this was a few years ago and the rebuild was just starting I could see your point. But we've got so much talent and the end product *shouldnt* look much different than what we have right now. Its just a matter of the right player usage, right system and getting the young guys over the development hump.

 

[KelVarnsen]

Idk off the top of my head, but it’s not Cronin

Give me BB over Cronin every day of the week.

 

[FlyingV09]

On team where basically everyone was -20 and above…. Not exactly sure you can put a ton of blame on the 20 year old actually bringing offense to the team

doesn’t mean he can’t learn to play defense

 

[Hey234]

I think part of the issue is leadership. I do not mean socially or mentally on or off the ice. I mean the Ducks don't have that dominant player(s) that takes over games and drags the team back in. The Ducks have strong leaders, but not in play.

I think that is a big issue and why missing out some of the big names this summer really hurt. The Ducks need top end talent that is proven and reliable. Specifically, a winger who can score.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

The bottom line is that both Eakins and Cronin aren’t the answer.

Cronin also being a bad coach doesn’t somehow make Eakins a good one.

The ducks need a proven coach with a track record of performance at the NHL Level - the issue is that it’s hard to get a guy like that to coach a team in a rebuild. This isn’t exactly a highly desirable destination at the moment for coaches with a pedigree. It might be 2 years from now

Under Eakins, both young and vets did improve. Fowler had new career highs in scoring, Des became a PK killer, and Rico was revived after being waived; Terry finally blossomed, Z's offense shined for two consecutive seasons, and Drysdale produced offensively in his rookie season. The one year Eakins had a mostly healthy roster, we were in a playoff atmosphere for the 2021-22 season.

2021-22 Season

• All-Star break: 3rd in Pacific
• TDL: 4 pts from 3rd in the Pacific
• End of season: 23 pts from 3rd in the Pacific

2022-23 Season: PV gave Eakins no defense and no bite over the summer. Strome, Vatrano, and Klingberg were the high-end vets PV brought in. We now know that none of them were top-line players.

2023-24 Season: Cronin was gifted a more talented roster over the summer from FA acquisitions and rookies. The GA improved, but the offense was inept. We were boring on the ice and the record barely improved from the previous season.

2024-25 Season: We've had a rough start to the season, but it's still a small sample. PP coach Clune has been a failure in five games. PK coach Thompson has us at 81.25% PK eff, ranked tied at 14th overall - though, our PK started off hot last year and decayed as the season went.

Cronin soured on me as the year went last year, but I'm willing to give him about half a season to review. I'm also hoping it's just the flu going around as more players are getting it.

Conclusion: With more talent, Eakins was able to produce as well as shown evidence of improvement with players. Cronin with more talent seems to have hit an offensive wall, stifling our youth offensively at forward. Talent matters and it's up to the GM to provide said talents. Then, it's up to the coaches to cultivate that talent into something. If we get a new coach, I don't know if we'll be vying for a playoff contention due to the fact we have a lot of youths still learning to become established and lacking in better quality vets to support the youths. For me, it's year 3 of the reset rebuild. I'm just looking for player improvement and I'm not seeing it in our forwards. Then again, it's only been five games and we need a larger sample size.

 

[All Mighty]

One player I want to keep an eye on is Bjorkstrand in Seattle. Right-shot winger who likes to shoot the puck, but he’s getting 3rd/4th line minutes for the Kraken, and they are right up against the cap. He does have a modified NTC, but maybe he could want more minutes somewhere else. I know we don’t have a spot for him at this moment, but maybe if we deal Fabbri and/or Vatrano later in the season, he could be a fit here.

 

[Kalv]

What coaches are available that fit the bill?

Gallant maybe? Woodcroft apparently isnt that bad despite the poor Oilers start last year.

I think tgere are more available but not entirely sure

 

[caliamad]

We need someone who can both motivate, take advantage, and help the psyche of a young team.

The problem to me starts w/ PV. He is an old school dinosaur. The way he approached Zegras and Drysdale last year was important.

Everyone in the league is getting handed out phat contracts and we played hardball with what were suppose to be 2 cornerstones of our franchise. Sends a message, and not a good one.

I'm just happy he struck out in the offseason. Imagine we had Stamkos right now. We already have a bunch of empty vessels in Strome and Killorn. Gudas and Vatrano were good signings. I also liked the trade for Dumolin and bush. Everything else, trash!

PV started off bad with his handling of Lindholm. You just don't trade people like that away especially for the underwhelming return he got.

I'm afraid we are going nowhere under his leadership.

 

[ScarTroy]

We need someone who can both motivate, take advantage, and help the psyche of a young team.

The problem to me starts w/ PV. He is an old school dinosaur. The way he approached Zegras and Drysdale last year was important.

Everyone in the league is getting handed out phat contracts and we played hardball with what were suppose to be 2 cornerstones of our franchise. Sends a message, and not a good one.

I'm just happy he struck out in the offseason. Imagine we had Stamkos right now. We already have a bunch of empty vessels in Strome and Killorn. Gudas and Vatrano were good signings. I also liked the trade for Dumolin and bush. Everything else, trash!

PV started off bad with his handling of Lindholm. You just don't trade people like that away especially for the underwhelming return he got.

I'm afraid we are going nowhere under his leadership.

PV looks like a genius right now not bending over for Zegras and Drysdale and giving them that “phat” contract other GM’s hand out like candy.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

PV looks like a genius right now not bending over for Zegras and Drysdale and giving them that “phat” contract other GM’s hand out like candy.

To be fair part of zegras issues are related to the decisions of the org

 

[ScarTroy]

To be fair part of zegras issues are related to the decisions of the org

Sure, but if Zegras can’t be efficient because they asked him to play a little defense, then he’s not worth the large contract in the first place. I think Zegras is in his own head more than anything anyways, when things start going right for him, he’ll break out again. With injuries and all that he hasn’t been able to pick up where he left off 2 years ago.

 

[MMC]

We need someone who can both motivate, take advantage, and help the psyche of a young team.

The problem to me starts w/ PV. He is an old school dinosaur. The way he approached Zegras and Drysdale last year was important.

Everyone in the league is getting handed out phat contracts and we played hardball with what were suppose to be 2 cornerstones of our franchise. Sends a message, and not a good one.

I'm just happy he struck out in the offseason. Imagine we had Stamkos right now. We already have a bunch of empty vessels in Strome and Killorn. Gudas and Vatrano were good signings. I also liked the trade for Dumolin and bush. Everything else, trash!

PV started off bad with his handling of Lindholm. You just don't trade people like that away especially for the underwhelming return he got.

I'm afraid we are going nowhere under his leadership.

Are Zegras and Drysdale currently playing at a level deserving of these contracts?

 

[ohcomeonref]

Sure, but if Zegras can’t be efficient because they asked him to play a little defense, then he’s not worth the large contract in the first place. I think Zegras is in his own head more than anything anyways, when things start going right for him, he’ll break out again. With injuries and all that he hasn’t been able to pick up where he left off 2 years ago.

It's more than just being asked to play D though. It's the fact he was put in the doghouse for shit nobody else faced repercussions for and was the face of the franchise at such a young age. The kid faced a lot of hate from the hockey world early on, then had a coach that wouldn't even stand behind him.

 

[JAHV]

It's more than just being asked to play D though. It's the fact he was put in the doghouse for shit nobody else faced repercussions for and was the face of the franchise at such a young age. The kid faced a lot of hate from the hockey world early on, then had a coach that wouldn't even stand behind him.

This doesn't seem true. From all indications Cronin and Zegras have a good relationship. Cronin has made the expectations clear and is holding Zegras to them. And yes, I think it's totally acceptable to hold different players to different expectations, as long as the communication is good between them. Every time Zegras has talked about it (to my knowledge), he's expressed that he's comfortable with what Cronin has asked him to do.

Now, whether or not Cronin SHOULD be asking Zegras to do those things is a different matter. I'm of the opinion that some players are good at defense and some just aren't, similar to shooting or passing or skating. I don't think Zegras will ever be good at defense; he doesn't have the mentality for it. So it's probably a mistake to focus on it so much. Cronin would be better served putting him with a defensively responsible forward (which he did last game in Lundestrom) and letting Zegras just go about his offensive business.

In other words, I think Zegras' struggles are coaching-related to a degree (I think he's also just in somewhat of a slump), but I don't think they have anything to do with being in the doghouse or Cronin being too mean to him.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

I'm going to raise a concern I've harped on before and that is that regardless of what Cronin's shortcomings are, I firmly believe he is being given a lot of direction on how to coach the team by PV. Don't like the dump and chase? Maybe that's how PV wants them to play. Don't like all the man on man D? Maybe that's how PV wants them to play.

I just can't believe for a minute that Verbeek hired an old guy with no NHL HC experience and trusted him to run the show totally on his own. Nope. Don't believe that for a minute. Especially not when you realize this is PV's first shot to prove what he can do as a GM. No way he hires a coach with Cronin's background and then stays hands off.

 

[ohcomeonref]

This doesn't seem true. From all indications Cronin and Zegras have a good relationship. Cronin has made the expectations clear and is holding Zegras to them. And yes, I think it's totally acceptable to hold different players to different expectations, as long as the communication is good between them. Every time Zegras has talked about it (to my knowledge), he's expressed that he's comfortable with what Cronin has asked him to do.

Now, whether or not Cronin SHOULD be asking Zegras to do those things is a different matter. I'm of the opinion that some players are good at defense and some just aren't, similar to shooting or passing or skating. I don't think Zegras will ever be good at defense; he doesn't have the mentality for it. So it's probably a mistake to focus on it so much. Cronin would be better served putting him with a defensively responsible forward (which he did last game in Lundestrom) and letting Zegras just go about his offensive business.

In other words, I think Zegras' struggles are coaching-related to a degree (I think he's also just in somewhat of a slump), but I don't think they have anything to do with being in the doghouse or Cronin being too mean to him.

I probably misstated what I meant a little bit. I think Cronin was a tough-love coach to Zegras, which he needs at times. But I also don't think Cro knew when to be chill with Z and just pat him on the back. I have a good relationship with my dad but he was a tough dad and it was hard for me at times (he pushed me to be better, but knew when things were too much and would give me reassurance). I don't believe me saying Cronin was hard on Zegras and you saying Zegras and Cronin have a good relationship are at odds with one another.

 

[Deuce22]

I’ve read a lot about Z’s back to back 60 point seasons and how Verbeek/Cronin have ruined him by trying to make him care in the defensive zone. What hasn’t really been mentioned is that he was a -45 in those two seasons and the Ducks were a historically bad defensive team under the previous coach. If your concern is fantasy hockey, I get it. If it’s winning, I don’t.

 

[ohcomeonref]

I’ve read a lot about Z’s back to back 60 point seasons and how Verbeek/Cronin have ruined him by trying to make him care in the defensive zone. What hasn’t really been mentioned is that he was a -45 in those two seasons and the Ducks were a historically bad defensive team under the previous coach. If your concern is fantasy hockey, I get it. If it’s winning, I don’t.

Z was playing #1 center first for the worst team in the league who just sold everything off. Do you think him being slightly better at defense and scoring 40 points would have been an improvement? I honestly don't even get what your point is here

 

[Deuce22]

Z was playing #1 center first for the worst team in the league who just sold everything off. Do you think him being slightly better at defense and scoring 40 points would have been an improvement? I honestly don't even get what your point is here

My point is that trying to improve the defensive effort of a key forward shouldn’t be seen as a negative.

 

[ohcomeonref]

My point is that trying to improve the defensive effort of a key forward shouldn’t be seen as a negative.

My bad homie, I thought you were happy with this iteration of Z. I agree that trying to make him better defensively isn't crazy (it just appears his offense went along with it, but there's been a host of other things we can blame his offense on so it's possible he's just slumping).

 

[Deuce22]

My bad homie, I thought you were happy with this iteration of Z. I agree that trying to make him better defensively isn't crazy (it just appears his offense went along with it, but there's been a host of other things we can blame his offense on so it's possible he's just slumping).

I think Z would be much more effective offensively at center, but Ducks don't trust his defense there so have put him on the wing. My frustration is with fans who seem to think that defense doesn't matter in hockey.