Speculation: 2024-25 Roster thread

[caliamad]

well we definitely confirmed something.


Because of taxes, travel, and lack of winning culture, we aren’t a draw for top agent. So Either over pay for 2nd tier free agents or strike out.

How many contracts did you go why didn’t we sign that? In fact the only one I really like was peace and apparently he wanted to goto New Jersey. We had no chance.

There is a reason why the Clayton stoner and Alex killorns and Ryan stromes get the contracts they do here. It’s money.

I’m actually glad we didn’t tie up good money for bad players.

I think we have all the key pieces for offense/forwards. They just need time and the right coach/culture to develop.

But the issue remains, we need a long term solution for a top 2 rh defenseman. If one becomes available we should pay through nose for one. It will hurt. I’d offer zegras +, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a team with a player like wouldn’t want zegras or ask for a big overpay.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

We're just not a successful club to draw players here. Even when we did throw money around, they still didn't come here. We all read that Verbeek threw money for Marsh and Stamkos this past season. A couple of off-seasons ago, we almost had el Nino and that would have been a good get! Except El Nino got talked out of it by his countryman to join Nashville... of course, Nashville had to put up a 2-year, $8 deal for El Nino at the last moments to beat out Verbeek's offer.

Then there was Dadanov nixed trade, who really didn't want to come to Anaheim.

Gotta build through the draft and then trade off some prospects along with picks to get veterans onboard like Kesler and Rico.

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

I see I’ve touched a nerve. To me, it’s hard to take this team seriously. No roadmap, we’ve been rebuilding/retooling for how long with none to minimal improvement. Let’s hope and f***ing pray the young kids become starts ASAP

It seems fairly clear to me that Verbeek has an idea of what he wants this team to look like. Whether it works and whether users on this forum are fans are of are two entirely different questions, though.

Re: the second point - we had the tail end of a re-tool with Murray and then essentially entered the front end of a rebuild with Beeker, making it feel twice as long. Had we stuck with Murray, we probably would have been where the Kings are now. Is that better? To me, no. But it sounds like you would have enjoyed it more.

Had we brought Beeker in earlier, we probably would be further along in the rebuild. Alas, we're stuck at the worst of both worlds and all we can really do at this point is ride it out. I personally feel more hope for this season than last.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

It's disappointing that so many people want to crap on the team in the middle of July well before camp opens and well before the season even starts. Can't we at least wait until the results of the season warrant bringing out the pitchforks?

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

It's disappointing that so many people want to crap on the team in the middle of July well before camp opens and well before the season even starts. Can't we at least wait until the results of the season warrant bringing out the pitchforks?

I would honestly prefer the front-loading of crap if it meant less during the season.

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

I see I’ve touched a nerve. To me, it’s hard to take this team seriously. No roadmap, we’ve been rebuilding/retooling for how long with none to minimal improvement. Let’s hope and f***ing pray the young kids become starts ASAP

I don't think its fair to consider the Ducks a non serious franchise. Since the lockout the Ducks have won the Stanley cup, made the conference finals 4 times, won division 6 times, had a player win MVP and had two drafted players likely make the HHOF (Perry and Getzlaf). 95 percent of the league would take that kind of success.

I feel like the roadmap is build around our youth and do whatever is possible to make them better players. Obviously everyone has different ideas on what that looks like and I've disagreed with some of Cronin and Verbeeks methods but this offseason, I'm not sure I can complain too much.

Verbeek tried to be a big player this off season by the sounds of it but it just didn’t happen. He tried to surround the kids with solid players but they wouldn’t sign here. We’re also in uncharted territory right now. There have never been more options in regards to nhl opportunity than in 2024 with the addition of the knights and kraken. There’s a handful of teams in the league who are probably no go spots for players who want to win anytime soon (Ducks, Sharks, Habs, Jackets and Blackhawks)

Blackhawks have Bedard who is just about guaranteed to make any player he plays with a lot of money in the future (see any linemate who played with McDavid)

Sharks aren’t killing it in free agents unless they massively overpay just like the ducks did with Killorn an Strome

Habs are the most storied franchise in league history and recently made the cup finals and are still not getting much love by free agents.

The important thing has to be changing the narrative around the team and moving from the young team that never wins and is consistently looking at mock drafts in november to a team that is on their way to becoming successful again.

 

[Ducks DVM]

I get your point, and agree. My issue is this: is there a clear plan? This seems like BM is around still. Just meandering around hoping things stick and the young guns amazingly improve. My opinion is that I am not too hopeful with this regime. That’s my opinion.

I think there is a plan, I just do not think Verbeek has ever been honest about it, other than having an end goal of a team that’s hard to play against. I feel that he’s omitted information to outright lied about the plan/reason to tank, what his actual expectations were for each season, etc. Imthink he had plans to try to get the top 6 /top4 players this year, but I said at the summer flock party that he seemed pretty iffy on being able to do with it, and I think he knew from conversations that it probably wasn’t happening and couldn’t 100% back down for face saving reasons.

I think he’s doing what he always intended to. I’m not convinced he really knows what he’s doing, and I’m not convinced other GM’s aren’t taking advantage of that. I’m also not convinced that he didn’t intend for it to be another 5 years as soon as he got here, and knew that wouldn’t fly, so he lied. But the Verbeekining type rebuild takes a minimum of 5-7 years to be effective, and we aren’t there yet.

I want to see if Cronin injures everyone with his over the top training system again before drawing conclusions this year, but I was saying well before the last season ended that this season was going to be another rebuilding one..this draft has done absolutely nothing to improve the team for this, and likely next, season.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

As someone who watched this team from the first game of the first season... there have been many long stretches of absolutely nothing to cheer for. Like not even some amazing youngsters on the horizon. Bad drafting. Terribly uncompetitive seasons.

Pretty much '93 - '02 nothing happened

Couldn’t disagree more. Hard to fathom someone thinking about 93-02 for the franchise and not thinking about Kariya/Selanne as amazing youngsters. Playoffs in year 4 and again 2 years later, only losing to the pre-salary cap Red Wings. 99-02 was a slog but you could feel respectability on the horizon. There was never the abject hopeless bullshit we’ve been through the last couple seasons.

Long story short, this is the worst its ever been. It’s nice to have a good crop of youngsters but that’s the absolute MINIMUM acceptable outcome for a craven tank job like this.

 

[MMC]

The later years at the end of Murray's tenure when the team's leading scorers weren't even cracking 50 points and he was spewing stupid bullshit about how the team needed to get back into the playoffs while simultaneously doing very little to rework the roster and making no aggressive moves whatsoever were a lot more painful to me than the PV seasons. At least now it feels like we're building something and have guys on the roster who have shown to have star potential

 

[tomd]

I'm at a loss to understand why people aren't excited about what Anaheim is building. Yes, if I were a season seat holder I'd be frustrated at spending money on the current product. That said, I'd also be damned excited about what the team will likely be in a couple of years. Barring a crazy run of injuries the very worst is over. Seems like some are looking in the rearview mirror more than at the road ahead. Take a look at the team 30 miles to the north and be thankful for what Verbeek has accomplished (and I've never been accused of being a PV fan boy but the facts are the facts). My goodness, there are a lot of fans from other teams around the league who are very envious of this team's future...and they should be.

 

[Tony O]

The later years at the end of Murray's tenure when the team's leading scorers weren't even cracking 50 points and he was spewing stupid bullshit about how the team needed to get back into the playoffs while simultaneously doing very little to rework the roster and making no aggressive moves whatsoever was a lot more painful to me than the PV seasons. At least now it feels like we're building something and have guys on the roster who have shown to have star potential

100%!

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I would honestly prefer the front-loading of crap if it meant less during the season.

When Verbeek did his "Verbeekening: the reset rebuild" at the 2022 TDL, I was prepared to wait five years. Verbeek did admit he blew up the team at the 2022 TDL the following season. I still am prepared to wait five years and not in a huge panic to become a playoff team overnight.

Last summer, I was projecting the graduations of prospects from non-pro to AHL to NHL over the course of a few seasons... back when I believed Verbeek when he said he prefers overripened prospects at that time. After I saw how many first time NHL rookies were going to be on the roster to start last season, I shared that Verbeek was trying to jumpstart the rebuild by a year by making the NHL his development league rather than the CHL (Luneau), AHL (Minty), or SHL (Carlsson) levels.

Anaheim has lots of young potential in the infancy stage for many of the youths. It's all about seasoning now. The faster the kids develop and become more consistent, the faster the org gets to see the playoffs again. We're in Year 3 of the reset rebuild. Verbeek cited that rebuilds usually take 5 years, minimum. I'm just looking for progress in the youths, PP, PK, ES offense, health, and discipline (fewer penalties) than I am a playoff spot. There is no quick fix; just seasons of growing pains.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

I would honestly prefer the front-loading of crap if it meant less during the season.

There are some people here who can always find something to bitch about. It gets old.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

The later years at the end of Murray's tenure when the team's leading scorers weren't even cracking 50 points and he was spewing stupid bullshit about how the team needed to get back into the playoffs while simultaneously doing very little to rework the roster and making no aggressive moves whatsoever was a lot more painful to me than the PV seasons. At least now it feels like we're building something and have guys on the roster who have shown to have star potential

Murray went for broke when he traded for Eaves at the 2017 TDL, costing us our 2017 first round pick. Anaheim went to the WCF that season, but Eaves fell to injury in the playoffs. Murray didn't know that was the season that broke Kesler and Eaves for the rest of their career. Youth Kase broke out in 2017-18, but his concussions started the following season. The team became sellers at the 2018-19 TDL, which signaled we were going into a rebuild of some sort.

Original	Contract	Lengths
Player	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Getzlaf	x	x	x	x	x
Perry	x	x	x	x	x
Kesler	x (extension)	x	x	x	x	x
Eaves	x (TDL acquisition)	x (extension)	x	x
Henrique		x (Trade acquisition)	x	x(extension)	x	x
Playoffs	WCF	1st rd	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

What happened	afterwards
Player	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Getzlaf	x	x	x	x	x
Perry	x	x	Injured	bought out	bought out
Kesler	x	Injured	Injured	DNP	DNP	DNP
Eaves	x (TDL)	Injured	Injured	DNP
Henrique		x	x	x	x	x

Losing Perry, Kesler, and Eaves in 2018-19 proved to be too much. Fiscally, we were tied up for several years.

During the rebuild years, Anaheim looked like it hit homeruns with early first round selections Zegras (2019), Drysdale (2020), and McTavish (2021). Zegras and Drysdale were pivotal in what looked like a fast resurgence in the 2021-22 season. Anaheim was only 4 points behind for #3 in the Pacific before the TDL, and that's with Manson missing 12 consecutive games on IR from all-star break - which was when Verbeek was hired.

What Verbeek is doing now, is still similar to what Murray was doing - biding time to build up his team. Although, Verbeek blew up the team and pushed the timeline at least five years down the line. Let's not forget what Verbeek said when he was hired by the Ducks:

"This team doesn't need to be rebuilt; they're in the middle of their rebuild, so this is a great opportunity to take this team forward and turn them into a contender," Verbeek said during his introductory press conference. "You don't have to come in there and look to take a long time. There's good players in the NHL, good players in the minors and there are players that have been drafted. There's a lot coming to support the growth of this team. That's truly what I'm excited about."

Speaking of good "players that have been drafted" and "good players in the NHL"... A lot of the youth potential on the team were here prior to Verbeek such as Zegras, Thrun, LaCombe, Drysdale, Colangelo McTavish, and Zellweger. Terry is an elder youth? Also, let's mention the good NHL talent already on the team that Verbeek traded away to help him bolster more potential talent.

• Traded players
  • 2022 TDL
    • Lindholm (and Curran) landed D Vaak, C Gaucher (2022, Rd 1), G Clara (2023 Rd 2), and Boston's Rd 2 2024 was packaged with *Rico/Carrick trade to move up for D Solberg (2024, Rd 1).
    • Manson got us RD Helleson and C Terrance (2023, Rd 2).
    • Deslauriers nabbed us RW Sidorov (2023, Rd 3).
    • Rakell gloved us G Clang and RD Luneau (2022, Rd 2).
  • 2023 TDL
    • Thrun gave us a 3rd round pick in 2024, which became RW Maxim Masse.
  • 2024 in-season and TDL
    • Drysdale was packaged off with our own 2025, Rd 2 pick for prospect LW Cutter Gauthier.
    • *Rick/Carrick trade netted us the 2024, #31 OA and 2025, Rd 5 pick.

Verbeek went scorched Earth when he inherited the Ducks at the 2021-22 TDL. He also inherited a great scouting staff to help maximize the good returns on the traded players. What Verbeek has been doing is building through the draft, which isn't anything different from other rebuilding teams, except at a scorched Earth starting point. That's why I said at the 2021-22 TDL that I'm prepared for at least five years to judge Verbeek. Last year was a tremendous dud. Now, we are heading into Year 3 of the reset rebuild and it is going as expected, which is not to expect much beside youth growth.

 

[JohnnyDrama]

We cannot be bottom 5 again. That is all, major step forward this year

Samuelis won’t do anything if not but just makes me feel better writing it out

 

[Kalv]

We cannot be bottom 5 again. That is all, major step forward this year

Samuelis won’t do anything if not but just makes me feel better writing it out

We would had needed at least 9 more wins(and another 1 point, like a OTL) to be 6th worst last year. That's a lot. We had many close losses tho.

 

[Leonardo87]

All I want next season is competitive hockey, hit around 75-80 points, .500 hockey, and/or for some of our kids to really take off and are the talk around the league. I’m Talking Leo breaking out to at least a 60+ point season, Cutter being in the Calder talk, and one of our young D takes a huge step.

If none of this happens, want Cronin shot to the moon with Verbeek attached to his ankles.

Last game of the season gave me a lot of hope for the Leo and Cutter combo, and they had immediate chemistry. But also for Zegras to have a bounce back season next year, who had quickly gotten back up to a .50 PPG point pace, with only 30 games played, and only a -1. He would have at least hit over .60 PPG if he had more games to play.

Which brings me to….. If Verbeek trades Zegras, he should be fired, unless he is getting a legit young proven Top pairing D in return signed long term. Then I can deal with, will be really upset, but can get over it if they are getting someone back who can help now, in an area that needs help.

 

[Kalv]

Gauthier-Leo-Terry
Vatrano-Zegras-Strome
Killorn-McTavish-Colangelo
Fabbri-Lundestrom- Leason
Johnston/McGinn

Fowler-Zellwegger (eh...)
Mintyukov-Dumolin
LaCombe-Gudas
Vaaks (I'd hope Lindstrom too)

Gibson
Dostal


The D is kind of weak and imbalanced. Forward lines are not the worst, but goalies are kind of unproven too. So, we're a bit of a wild card how we turn out, but I'd guess we're still around or in top5 draft pick (I have no faith in our injury luck, lol)

 

[Ducks DVM]

I'm at a loss to understand why people aren't excited about what Anaheim is building. Yes, if I were a season seat holder I'd be frustrated at spending money on the current product. That said, I'd also be damned excited about what the team will likely be in a couple of years. Barring a crazy run of injuries the very worst is over. Seems like some are looking in the rearview mirror more than at the road ahead. Take a look at the team 30 miles to the north and be thankful for what Verbeek has accomplished (and I've never been accused of being a PV fan boy but the facts are the facts). My goodness, there are a lot of fans from other teams around the league who are very envious of this team's future...and they should be.

There’s a considerable difference between being excited about what they’re building and being excited about this season. And there’s a considerable difference between having exciting pieces and having the proper management and coaching in place to take advantage of those pieces. And there are usually considerable difference between the projected ceilings of players and their actual realities.

As far as being a season ticket holder goes, fully understanding economics, it’s galling to have spent as much as I have on this product, get misled by the GM at best, lied to at worst, and have the prices increased for what is essentially a retread of last year’s team. Yes, team health. Yes, player improvement. No, those aren’t guaranteed. Yes, multiple other teams have pissed away similar situations, it’s not a guarantee.

I can see being guardedly optimistic about the future product. I can see being excited about the actual prospects. I am unable to personally be excited about what we are building until we have a coach with answers, a farm team that isn’t just as bad as the NHL team, players actually making jumps, a promise of a top pairing on defense that isn’t purely based on projections and hopes, a medical training staff that can keep our injuries under the league average, and Verbeek being able to show that his 2nd+ draft picks can even play in the AHL, much less the NHL. I would also humbly request that the product on the ice not be boring as hell to watch. Last year was boring to watch, don’t try to convince me otherwise - if we are going to lose, a lot, I will take the high event non-quit hockey of Eakins over the boring, low effort crap that was on the ice last year, regardless of the difference in goals given up.

My feelings towards this season are best described as “resigned”. I will be thrilled to be wrong.

 

[Ducks DVM]

Gauthier-Leo-Terry
Vatrano-Zegras-Strome
Killorn-McTavish-Colangelo
Fabbri-Lundestrom- Leason
Johnston/McGinn

Fowler-Zellwegger (eh...)
Mintyukov-Dumolin
LaCombe-Gudas
Vaaks (I'd hope Lindstrom too)

Gibson
Dostal


The D is kind of weak and imbalanced. Forward lines are not the worst, but goalies are kind of unproven too. So, we're a bit of a wild card how we turn out, but I'd guess we're still around or in top5 draft pick (I have no faith in our injury luck, lol)

You left out Luneau, assuming Verbeek is sticking to his guns about that

 

[Kalv]

You left out Luneau, assuming Zegras is sticking to his guns about that

Yeah. Big fan of his but I think he has missed too many games and an early AHL stint would do him better than be thrown in playing with Fowler (or other inexperienced D in Minty).
If he plays, I'm happy too.

Zegras/McTavish seemed kind of interchamgable but I though with all the great spurts McT had last year, our team was more obviously worse team without Zegras.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I think Cronin deserves a lot of praise for the young defensemen improving, considering what was imposed upon him by GM Verbeek. Verbeek made the NHL his development playground. Like others have said, throwing LaCombe up to the top pairing role should not have been an option since we did have veterans Hagg and White in the AHL to be able to call up. Cronin is not in charge of the roster, he can only coach who was given to him or told who he can play. But I do have to question if the defense (GA) improved because of Cronin or because we introduced a slew of much better talented defensemen? Since our PK sucked, it points to Cronin having a hand in the improvement.

Carlsson was gifted the 1C spot by Verbeek and Cronin didn't know exactly when Carlsson would be a healthy scratch or play. Cronin also isn't charge of contracts that held out both Zegras and Drysdale from training camp and those two players were not able to ramp up to the NHL play once they returned. Both of them got injured because they missed training camp.

As for Zegras, I did his production splits where the split breaks was when he got injured and then returned to play.

Zegras	Splits
Date	Game set	Games	G	A	Pts	ppg		+/-
2023 - 24	Total	31​	6​	9​	15​	0.484​		-1​
Oct to Nov	1 to 12	12​	1​	1​	2​	0.167​		-4​
Dec to Jan	13 to 20	8​	3​	2​	5​	0.625​		-1​
Mar to Apr	21 to 31	11​	2​	6​	8​	0.727​		4​

Zegras' offense re-emerged and was playing better defense too as the season rolled on. The last game set was where Cronin let the team play whatever they wanted to do in the last 20 games (post-TDL) and in the words of YouTube chef Tiffy Cooks, "Look at thaaat."

The problems with Cronin are his ES offense and being a puppet of Verbeek most of the time. Cronin didn't know if he could or should bench players for bad play, which is called accountability. That benching should help b/c Eakins proved it to be effective. Eakins told his GM to waive Rico for beyond piss poor play, but also was welcoming Rico back if he woke up and Rico did. Cronin overworking the players to prove he can make the player "drink water through the fire house" resulted into injuries and increased penalties.

Things we thought inconceivable heading into the 2023-24 season

• Scored 21 fewer ES goals than Eakins: Inconceivable
• 50 more TSH events than Eakins: Inconceivable
• 13 more PK goals against than Eakins: Inconceivable
• Finished with 1 more point in the standings than Eakins: Inconceivable

It seemed inconceivable when we added more talent at forward and defense, but Cronin Conceived the Inconceivable.

We arranged the chairs on the deck between the talent lost at the TDL/retirement with the new acquisitions/rookie(s). I think we got worse defensively at forward with the losses of Rico (+3) and Silf (+4), the only two forwards who played over 30 games and had + rating. This means it's up to our youths to step up. And if that's the case, then I don't care about getting to .500. All I care about is to see improvement, both at the NHL and AHL levels.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

You left out Luneau, assuming Zegras is sticking to his guns about that

I know you meant Verbeek and not Zegras, but if we're keeping LaCombe and Zell up with the NHL club, then keeping Luneau would stall the development of one of LaCombe or Zell b/c one of them has to be a healthy scratch throughout the season. All three young defensemen are still waiver exempt to start the season. I'd put one of them in the AHL just for keeping development process going for all three. Since LaCombe and Zell have played far more games than Luneau at the NHL level, then I'd send Luneau down to the AHL to become a top pairing RD, PP1 QB, and, possibly, learn to play on the PK unit.

We aren't winning anything this year. We have more than enough defensemen at the NHL level with more NHL games under their belts than Luneau. The org can help itself by letting Luneau stew in the AHL for half or a whole season than gifting the RD1 position.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Gauthier-Leo-Terry
Vatrano-Zegras-Strome
Killorn-McTavish-Colangelo
Fabbri-Lundestrom- Leason
Johnston/McGinn

Fowler-Zellwegger (eh...)
Mintyukov-Dumolin
LaCombe-Gudas
Vaaks (I'd hope Lindstrom too)

Gibson
Dostal


The D is kind of weak and imbalanced. Forward lines are not the worst, but goalies are kind of unproven too. So, we're a bit of a wild card how we turn out, but I'd guess we're still around or in top5 draft pick (I have no faith in our injury luck, lol)

Like last year, a team that could have exciting moments thanks to all the young talent but that will surely be caved in repeatedly, again. I hope at least the balance between excitement and cave-ins is better this year.

 

[Ducks DVM]

I know you meant Verbeek and not Zegras, but if we're keeping LaCombe and Zell up with the NHL club, then keeping Luneau would stall the development of one of LaCombe or Zell b/c one of them has to be a healthy scratch throughout the season. All three young defensemen are still waiver exempt to start the season. I'd put one of them in the AHL just for keeping development process going for all three. Since LaCombe and Zell have played far more games than Luneau at the NHL level, then I'd send Luneau down to the AHL to become a top pairing RD, PP1 QB, and, possibly, learn to play on the PK unit.

We aren't winning anything this year. We have more than enough defensemen at the NHL level with more NHL games under their belts than Luneau. The org can help itself by letting Luneau stew in the AHL for half or a whole season than gifting the RD1 position.

Whoops, interesting autocorrect thank you