Speculation: 2024-25 Roster thread
- Thread starter Leonardo87
- Start date
Ducks DVM
sowcufucakky
- Jul 25, 2012
- 41,718
- 38,055
College football for now…. But def need some more hockey in my life right now
Sigh I wanted Mintyukov to take 2… I want a #2 jersey but I don’t want a lacombe jersey
Can’t believe it’s September already. I know we are not expecting much from this team but there are some things I would like to see happen. Leo breaking out, Zegras bouncing back and making the haters eat crow, Cutter finishing in Top 3 Calder voting, and getting out of the basement finally.
Crazy as it sounds I’m more excited seeing a young Anaheim team climb out of the bottom or try to than seeing a contending team like the Rangers who I feel won’t win it all with that core, so it’s like why even get too excited?
This is why rebuilds are so critical. You do it right and are patient you have a contender for a decade like Tampa and now Florida who I expect to be competitive for several years moving forward. You do it wrong, you end up like Buffalo.
Crazy as it sounds I’m more excited seeing a young Anaheim team climb out of the bottom or try to than seeing a contending team like the Rangers who I feel won’t win it all with that core, so it’s like why even get too excited?
This is why rebuilds are so critical. You do it right and are patient you have a contender for a decade like Tampa and now Florida who I expect to be competitive for several years moving forward. You do it wrong, you end up like Buffalo.
MMC
Global Moderator
I really hope the forward group we end up going with looks something like
Gauthier-Carlsson-Terry
Zegras-McTavish-Killorn
Vatrano-Strome-Colangelo
Fabbri-Lundestrom-Leason
Johnston
Harkins
McGinn
Gauthier-Carlsson-Terry
Zegras-McTavish-Killorn
Vatrano-Strome-Colangelo
Fabbri-Lundestrom-Leason
Johnston
Harkins
McGinn
DavidBL
Registered User
KaseMeOutside
Based
- Oct 18, 2011
- 44,212
- 10,057
I do expect better offensive performance. Compare roster to 2 years ago, clearly more talent alot of it is just young
Hockey Duckie
Registered User
huh... who's on our PK unit? We lost Rico and Silf at the TDL.
Vatrano-Lundy
Carlsson?-Leason
We're gonna rag Carlsson down, right? We're gonna lose a lot of faceoffs on the PK. Maybe have Cutter on the PK instead of Carlsson b/c at least Cutter is more physically developed. Strome isn't a defensive forward. I wonder if Cronin/Verbeek has asked Leason to practice faceoffs over the summer.
Damn... our PK forwards are a mess and no one with a proven 50% FO% on the projected unit.
Deuce22
Registered User
Vatrano isn't good on the PK. Need an upgrade from him. Cronin and company need to start developing some of young guys as penalty killers.
Rasp
Registered User
- Apr 9, 2019
- 1,312
- 1,893
Good thing we have Gaucher in the pipeline. He should be able to help the PK and win over 50% of his faceoffs when he joins the Ducks in a year or two.
- Jul 25, 2012
- 41,718
- 38,055
I’m just hoping we give zegras a chance to succeed…. And dont stick him with like strome
WhatTheDuck
9 - 20 - 8
I could see PK ability being a possible reason Regenda could beat out Colangelo and others for a roster spot. The big fella is an able PKer from what I've seen.
Regenda - Lundestrom - Leason as a 4th line could be interesting
I expect Carlsson to see significant PK time this season. I could also see Gauthier getting some time as well.
I could see:
Lundestrom - Leason
Carlsson - Killorn
Strome - Gauthier/Vatrano
being the three PK pairs. If Regenda makes the team, I could see him on one of those lines.
I could see:
Lundestrom - Leason
Carlsson - Killorn
Strome - Gauthier/Vatrano
being the three PK pairs. If Regenda makes the team, I could see him on one of those lines.
Hockey Duckie
Registered User
That's in the future. I can see Gaucher and Cutter being staples on the PK as well as be good at FO dot, but that might take a year of adjustment in the NHL. Mac was 42.3% at the dot in his rookie season two years ago and last year he jumped up to 51.7%. Unfortunately, Mac doesn't have that initial burst of speed to participate on the PK b/c that was exposed in his rookie season when he was part of the PK unit to start the season and then kicked off of it for good, but I digress. If we can keep Lundy in the future, then our PK forwards look potentially better.
The problem lies in today's roster. We lost good veteran PK'ers in Rico, Silf, and Carrick. Rico and Carrick were our in our top-3 FO specialists who were over 50% at the dot. Potentially, I can see Cutter become like Rico - a LW who can take FO's and be good defensively, but that might take a year or three.
Then there's the coaching.
- PK
- 2022-23, Stothers
- Eff = 72.1%
- TSH = 280
- PK GA = 78
- SHG = 1
- 2023-24, Thompson
- Eff = 72.4%
- TSH = 330
- PK GA = 91
- SHG = 12
- 2022-23, Stothers
Even though the PK Eff are similar, how they got there and the rosters were different. Last year's roster was vastly better defensively due to the influx of talents in Gudas, Lybushkin, LaCombe, a healthy Vaaks, and Minty as our overall goals against was reduced by 51 goals from the previous season. All of them participated on the PK.
| 2022-23 | Stothers | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game Set | Games | PPG | PPO | PP Eff | . | PK GA | TSH | PK Eff |
| Total | 82 | 36 | 229 | 15.7% | 78 | 280 | 72.1% | |
| 1 to 25 | 25 | 12 | 72 | 16.7% | 31 | 89 | 65.2% | |
| 26 to 49 | 24 | 11 | 64 | 17.2% | 17 | 81 | 79.0% | |
| 50 to 61 | 12 | 5 | 36 | 13.9% | 10 | 44 | 77.3% | |
| 62 to 82 | 21 | 8 | 57 | 14.0% | 20 | 66 | 69.7% |
| 2023-24 | Thompson | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game Set | Games | PPG | PPO | PP Eff | . | PK GA | TSH | PK Eff |
| Total | 82 | 42 | 235 | 17.9% | 91 | 330 | 72.4% | |
| 1 to 25 | 25 | 18 | 81 | 22.2% | 22 | 110 | 80.0% | |
| 26 to 49 | 24 | 10 | 71 | 14.1% | 22 | 91 | 75.8% | |
| 50 to 62 | 13 | 8 | 35 | 22.9% | 16 | 47 | 66.0% | |
| 63 to 82 | 20 | 6 | 48 | 12.5% | 31 | 82 | 62.2% |
Under Stothers, we started off ragged, but greatly improved after 25 games. Then it faltered after the TDL. With Thompson, we started off with a huge bang like a top-10 PK unit. Guess teams started to figure out our PK system and we just kept dropping throughout the season, including after the TDL.
Thompson will have less PK forward talents going into this year. I'm a bit concerned. Hopefully, our d-men are even better this year than last year to compensate the loss of PK forward talents.
I'm not saying it will be a massive jump, but if we stay healthy this should be a pretty fun team to watch IMO.
My guess is that one of Z/McT/Gauthier get bumped down to the third line which, for me, means at least one player who is fun to watch on our 3 top lines.
There were times last season when it felt like we didn't have a fun player to watch at all.
The Midnight Burrito
True Fan
That's a testament to how bad the year before it was for me haha.
We had fun players that year but they were so caved in it was worse than them being nonexistent. It was like the frustration of watching McTavish play injured but across multiple players.
Put terry on the third, colangelo on the second, killorn on the first. Terry needs to be the puck handler on his line and nobody on that third line can keep a puck for longer than two seconds.
I also thought killorn and carlsson worked well together.
Gauthier - carlsson - killorn
Zegras - Mac - colangelo
Vatrano - strome - terry
Fabbri - lundestrum - leason
Can strome even play center anymore? Man, this has to be the worst defensive forward group in the league. I also think penciling colangelo in is probably premature. Maybe he has an excellent camp, I guess.
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That first line has some defensive potential, but otherwise, yes, this is a terrible forward group in its own zone. Which is why I didn't really get the fervor over adding someone like Laine. You have to have the puck to be able to shoot it; I'm not sure this group will ever get it back.
I'd love to see Colangelo become a good backchecking/forechecking presence, even if he doesn't rack up points. Like a lesser Steve Rucchin or Chris Kunitz.
We haven't really seen the product of Leo's off-season training yet to be fair. On the other hand, I wouldn't really be jazzed if he was our option on PK at this stage of his career. He struggled with the pro fame and an 82 game schedule last year. It's more important to mold him to be the number 1 center at 5v5 and the powerplay. If he can be an effective penalty killer down the line too, great. But I think it'd be a bad idea to shoehorn that role in while he's still developing what he was drafted for.
I'd argue he was drafted for that. His calling card is his hockey IQ, and we saw that in spades last season. The PK is a place where that is needed - reading a play to disrupt the offense and get a clear. Let's get him out there in all situations and let him do his thing.
Also, I'm not sure where he struggled with pro fame and an 82-game schedule. He looked like he struggled with the speed of the game sometimes because he's a rookie on North American ice for the first time, but I don't think he lacked for confidence or skill. He certainly didn't appear intimidated.
I think when you're drafting a top line center second overall, especially in a draft like 23, you're drafting a guy you're hoping can be a franchise superstar forward who can tilt the ice and change the game from an offensive standpoint and the two way potential PK play is a secondary almost luxury benefit you'd be happy to get. I'm not saying the team shouldn't be fostering his two way play but the principal focus should be his 5v5 top line play and powerplay. Asking a 19-20 year old to wear every hat while he's still developing his pro game can be a lot to ask and you really don't see a lot of kids his age getting reps on the PK to begin with.
As to your second point, I'm an unabashed Leo homer but I can't deny that there was struggle in his first go around in the NHL. Putting aside the small handful of injuries he endured, he definitely had games where he was showing fatigue as a result of the heavier games schedule than what he experienced in Sweden. When you say he had trouble adapting to the speed of the game sometimes, that's part of what I mean by struggle. I don't mean he had a bad rookie season. By all accounts and under his circumstances he showed a lot of promise and was far more than adequate for a D+1 playing on North American ice for the very first time at the highest level of competition in the world.
However, I don't think a summer of off-season training is going to make Leo fully developed for his principal role as this team's 1C (on the offensive side of the puck) right on opening night. He still has plenty of growing and learning to do this coming season. If he can handle PK responsibilities at this stage, more power to him. If not, I wouldn't force him to.
I guess I see guys that change the game in different ways. Some are game-breaking speedsters who ooze offensive talent like MacKinnon or McDavid. Some are complete players who use their intelligence and instincts to shut down the opposition and then create a play to generate offense like Barkov or Kopitar.
I see Carlsson as the latter, and I was so happy to Cronin use him on the PK at the end of last season. I used to love watching Getzlaf on the PK - he was so good at reading the play and breaking up plays in the defensive zone. I'm excited to watch Leo do the same.
I see Carlsson as the latter, and I was so happy to Cronin use him on the PK at the end of last season. I used to love watching Getzlaf on the PK - he was so good at reading the play and breaking up plays in the defensive zone. I'm excited to watch Leo do the same.
Hockey Duckie
Registered User
This is why I said our roster construction is odd. We lost three defensive, responsible forwards on our PK unit in Rico, Silf, and Carrick. Rico and Carrick were over 50% on the dot. They were replaced with rookie Cutter, Fabbri, and a bunch of signed fringe NHL forwards. I'd rather have Cutter on the PK than Carlsson b/c Cutter's body is more physically advanced due to going the NCAA route and is a better FO specialist, especially if Cutter isn't on the top line.
I didn't like the experiment of Carlsson on the PK unit last year. I'm on the same notion of developing Carlsson as a 5v5 dominant, offensive center who can play on the PP. Putting him on the PK unit when he physically isn't ready yet doesn't make much sense. I remember a Getz podcast interview where the podcasters asked him, "Which would you choose for your team: to be able to draft McDavid or Crosby at that same year?" Getz said Crosby. Getz' reasoning was that it takes several years to develop that defense to become a two-way player and a newly drafted McDavid won't be that for a few more years.
Last summer when we found out we were going to have six rookies at the NHL level (four first timers), that's when I said Verbeek was rushing our prospects in hopes of shortening the rebuild time. Carlsson only played in 55 NHL games and the Ducks still finished in the bottom-3. We could have left Carlsson in the SHL with Orebro, where they have only 56 regular season games and they did qualify for the SHL playoffs. Orebro developed Carlsson for two years to become the #2 pick overall in the 2023 draft. Why not let him stew one more year there as a 1C? Verbeek is rushing the youth b/c he is unable to find enough outside the org vets to carry the team.
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