Speculation: 2024-25 Roster thread

[Hockey Duckie]

I have hope it was largely impacted by injuries (which seemed to have been even more brutal than before) and him instilling new system (at the end of the year when healthy we seemed to look decent).

But yeah, not holding my breath. Hoping, tho.

Cronin said he was hands off after the TDL. I was surprised he said that.

 

[Bergey37]

Cronin said he was hands off after the TDL. I was surprised he said that.

I don't recall seeing anything like that; where/when? Source?

 

[Hockey Duckie]

The upgraded roster was negated by terrible injury luck. I’m giving him this season before judging

Despite the injuries with a Cronin upgraded roster, the Cronin roster was still far better than Eakins' roster - who also was decimated by mass injuries. The roster was strong enough to trade away RD1 Drysdale without any immediate replacement coming back. There seems to be an inconsistent logic that having mass injuries only affects one team than the other.

Ducks
Season	Coach	Games	W	L	OTL	Pts	Pts Pct		GF	GA	GD
2022-23	Eakins	82​	23​	47​	12​	58​	35.4%​		206​	335​	-129​
2023-24	Cronin	82​	27​	50​	5​	59​	36.0%​		204​	295​	-91​

Cronin's squad had similar GF, but vastly improved GA. If the rosters were switched, Eakins would have produced better than Cronin.

 

[Ducks DVM]

The upgraded roster was negated by terrible injury luck. I’m giving him this season before judging

This is fair, but the constant post-game reports of having no idea what to do, and the amount of time he took to change things that clearly weren’t working, and the number of core injuries to young players indicating a lack of comprehension as to whether he was overworking them start him off in the “needs to dig his way out of a hole” category for me.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I don't recall seeing anything like that; where/when? Source?

From NHL.com:

I didn't know the kids [before the season]. We have no history. What they all said when they came through here the last few days, next year is so much easier because they know me, they know my style, they know my standards. I know them, I know their reactions. And you don't know this, but the last 20 games or so, I kind of stepped back and I went into an observing mode. I wanted to watch them and particularly, who is responding? Who can make adjustments? Who's able to actually play to this highest level? Let them do it organically. I don't need to be riding them all the time. Let's just see what happens and have trust that they'll be able to figure out on their own. ​

 

[ScarTroy]

Despite the injuries with a Cronin upgraded roster, the Cronin roster was still far better than Eakins' roster - who also was decimated by mass injuries. The roster was strong enough to trade away RD1 Drysdale without any immediate replacement coming back. There seems to be an inconsistent logic that having mass injuries only affects one team than the other.

Ducks
Season	Coach	Games	W	L	OTL	Pts	Pts Pct		GF	GA	GD
2022-23	Eakins	82​	23​	47​	12​	58​	35.4%​		206​	335​	-129​
2023-24	Cronin	82​	27​	50​	5​	59​	36.0%​		204​	295​	-91​

Cronin's squad had similar GF, but vastly improved GA. If the rosters were switched, Eakins would have produced better than Cronin.

(Cronin vastly improves a statistic over Eakins)

Hockey Duckie: “If the rosters were switched, Eakins would have produced better than Cronin”

Make it make sense.

You can’t prove that any more than I can prove saying, “if Eakins actually dealt with injuries to players better than Derek Grant, he wouldn’t have won more than 10 games.”

 

[Anaheim4ever]

The upgraded roster was negated by terrible injury luck. I’m giving him this season before judging

Pretty much this. They were playing good before all the injuries starting piling up like crazy.
Minty looking like a future 1D, McTavish playing like a 1C etc

 

[Hockey Duckie]

(Cronin vastly improves a statistic over Eakins)

Hockey Duckie: “If the rosters were switched, Eakins would have produced better than Cronin”

Make it make sense.

You can’t prove that any more than I can prove saying, “if Eakins actually dealt with injuries to players better than Derek Grant, he wouldn’t have won more than 10 games.”

Isn't it painfully obvious? The blue line got vastly revamped, especially with added RD's who play defense first.

Eakins: GF = 206, GA = 335, GD = -129... Pts Record = 58 pts
Cronin: GF = 204, GA = 295, GD = -91... Pts Record = 59 pts

One coach knows how to win with less and the other was gifted with a vastly upgraded roster, but only earned one extra point over the course of the season. It is easy logic to follow, unless you are biased. This is basically the Fowler trade talk all over again - neglecting stats for your feelings.

On the bottom-six​

​

There are a couple different elements. Obviously, successful playoff teams have a good distribution of scoring from their bottom six forwards. Just take a look at Vancouver. I mean they've got guys that, and there's other teams as well that you can look at that their bottom six forwards are contributing and helping the top six forwards when it comes to having to perform under pressure all the time to provide that scoring. Obviously we need to score more goals overall as well to be able to help our team win more hockey games. So I'm looking from that aspect as well. - Verbeek​

Then you have Verbeek saying that we need to improver our bottom-6 scoring b/c he believes that's where the team was weak at. That substantiates what I've been sharing all along that the top-6 for Cronin produces similarly to Eakins' top-6. That makes your jab about Grant wrong.

 

[Bergey37]

From NHL.com:

I didn't know the kids [before the season]. We have no history. What they all said when they came through here the last few days, next year is so much easier because they know me, they know my style, they know my standards. I know them, I know their reactions. And you don't know this, but the last 20 games or so, I kind of stepped back and I went into an observing mode. I wanted to watch them and particularly, who is responding? Who can make adjustments? Who's able to actually play to this highest level? Let them do it organically. I don't need to be riding them all the time. Let's just see what happens and have trust that they'll be able to figure out on their own. ​

Thanks Duckie; I had missed that.

 

[Leonardo87]

Is it October yet?

 

[slippingsloth]

Is it October yet?

Checking. Checking. Unfortunately it is not

 

[Kalv]

Is it October yet?

Who are you, the Green Day guy?

First preseason game is 15 days away can't wait

 

[All Mighty]

I believe the launch of Victory+ is tomorrow (or at least the Ducks portion of it). I wonder if they already have some content lined up for the release (maybe a feature on the new captain?).

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

Is it October yet?

For more reasons than one... This heat is killing me!

 

[TheStuntman]

For more reasons than one... This heat is killing me!

The last couple of years, October felt hotter than actual summer months.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

The upgraded roster was negated by terrible injury luck. I’m giving him this season before judging

It’s possible to withhold final judgment on his ability as a coach while acknowledging that he wasn’t good last year. Glacial reaction times to obvious problems, young players mostly stagnated or regressed, led the league in bench minors, wasn’t sure himself whether the message was getting through. Not great for developing team!

From NHL.com:

I didn't know the kids [before the season]. We have no history. What they all said when they came through here the last few days, next year is so much easier because they know me, they know my style, they know my standards. I know them, I know their reactions. And you don't know this, but the last 20 games or so, I kind of stepped back and I went into an observing mode. I wanted to watch them and particularly, who is responding? Who can make adjustments? Who's able to actually play to this highest level? Let them do it organically. I don't need to be riding them all the time. Let's just see what happens and have trust that they'll be able to figure out on their own. ​

Hmm, there’s a certain locker room cancer who had his best games while Cronin was laying off everyone. Could be a lesson in there somewhere.

 

[AngelDuck]

It’s possible to withhold final judgment on his ability as a coach while acknowledging that he wasn’t good last year. Glacial reaction times to obvious problems, young players mostly stagnated or regressed, led the league in bench minors, wasn’t sure himself whether the message was getting through. Not great for developing team!


Hmm, there’s a certain locker room cancer who had his best games while Cronin was laying off everyone. Could be a lesson in there somewhere.

I’m just not sure what young players regressed.

McTavish improved-was still inconsistent but way higher production than his rookie year

Mintyukov was a rookie that played well in his age 19

Carlsson - same as Mintyukov

Zellweger - mostly the same as above

Zegras was hurt the whole year basically

LaCombe - this is the only one I blame Cronin for. They put him in a terrible spot on his offside with Fowler on top pairing

After that, you’re left with players like Lundestrom who just might not be good enough to hack it.

I don’t consider Terry a “young player” personally but I’d be willing to grant you that one as well

I really don’t think it’s fair to pin young players regressing on Cronin after one season. This season will certainly be eye opening

 

[Kalv]

I’m just not sure what young players regressed.

McTavish improved-was still inconsistent but way higher production than his rookie year

Mintyukov was a rookie that played well in his age 19

Carlsson - same as Mintyukov

Zellweger - mostly the same as above

Zegras was hurt the whole year basically

LaCombe - this is the only one I blame Cronin for. They put him in a terrible spot on his offside with Fowler on top pairing

After that, you’re left with players like Lundestrom who just might not be good enough to hack it.

I don’t consider Terry a “young player” personally but I’d be willing to grant you that one as well

I really don’t think it’s fair to pin young players regressing on Cronin after one season. This season will certainly be eye opening

Crazy to realize that Leo, Minty, Zell, LaCombe were all rookies and they will have more experience now. Next up - Gauthier and possibly Luneau (already kind of started last year)

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I’m just not sure what young players regressed.

McTavish improved-was still inconsistent but way higher production than his rookie year

Mintyukov was a rookie that played well in his age 19

Carlsson - same as Mintyukov

Zellweger - mostly the same as above

Zegras was hurt the whole year basically

LaCombe - this is the only one I blame Cronin for. They put him in a terrible spot on his offside with Fowler on top pairing

After that, you’re left with players like Lundestrom who just might not be good enough to hack it.

I don’t consider Terry a “young player” personally but I’d be willing to grant you that one as well

I really don’t think it’s fair to pin young players regressing on Cronin after one season. This season will certainly be eye opening

I blame Verbeek for the injuries to Zegras and Drysdale b/c he didn't sign them before training camp and Verbeek knew how much more demanding training camp was going to be under Cronin by stating it was like "drinking through a firehose".

The ensuing injuries on the youths are on Cronin's "drinking through a firehose" initiation as well as doubling the workload on game days, including during pre-season! The only youth not affected by injury was LaCombe; he didn't play 82 games b/c he was put into a game rotation later into the season. B/c our youths got injured, that affects their development. For reference, youths Zegras and Mac played over 80 games the year prior under Eakins. The most games played by a youth this season was Mac at 64 games!

Although Mac's ppg production greatly improved, his defense and discipline (penalty taking) took a nose dive. Mac got injured and played through injury, which is never ideal for any youth.

As for LaCombe being put into the top line, that isn't Cronin's fault. Cronin isn't in charge of the roster, Verbeek is. Drysdale was RD1 to start the season. Then Luneau tried RD1 for two games and wasn't ready. Afterwards, Vaak played on the top line on his off-side for 1 and half games before being displaced by LaCombe.

We won more games to start the season with LaCombe than any other d-man playing RD1. During games 6 - 20 with LaCombe playing RD 1, we went 8-7-0. LaCombe posted 3 points, but had a -16 rating. During games 21-40 for LaCombe, he cycled off and on the RD1, but where he played 20 minutes or more, the team went 5-5-1; under 20 minutes (implying not top-pairing minutes), the team went 1-8-0. Also during that game 21-40 stint, LaCombe scored 4 points and was a -7 rating ... which is still an improvement. In LaCombe's game 6 through 40 where he played RD1, we went 13-12-1. That's about half our wins on the season in the first 40 games!

To put this into perspective, with Zellweger playing RD1 in the Ducks last 22 games, we went 6-14-2. Zell scored 8 points and had a -8 rating.

Despite all the bitching about LaCombe, his play as RD1 not only sheltered the rest of the pairings, but also gave the Ducks better chances of winning games b/c Verbeek didn't have enough RD talent on the team due to keeping RD Luneau on a weight lifting program for the first half of the season, wasting an NHL roster spot.

Now, as for scoring on ES, we scored 19 fewer ES goals this year than the previous year. That's pathetic.

 

[DavidBL]

Crazy to realize that Leo, Minty, Zell, LaCombe were all rookies and they will have more experience now. Next up - Gauthier and possibly Luneau (already kind of started last year)

They could also have the dreaded sophomore slumps.

 

[All Mighty]

I believe the launch of Victory+ is tomorrow (or at least the Ducks portion of it). I wonder if they already have some content lined up for the release (maybe a feature on the new captain?).

The app is now live. At the moment, there isn’t any new Ducks content on there. I’m guessing you will be able to watch the rookie tournament games on it.

 

[HanSolo]

From NHL.com:

I didn't know the kids [before the season]. We have no history. What they all said when they came through here the last few days, next year is so much easier because they know me, they know my style, they know my standards. I know them, I know their reactions. And you don't know this, but the last 20 games or so, I kind of stepped back and I went into an observing mode. I wanted to watch them and particularly, who is responding? Who can make adjustments? Who's able to actually play to this highest level? Let them do it organically. I don't need to be riding them all the time. Let's just see what happens and have trust that they'll be able to figure out on their own. ​

That's lovely. Let em figure it out lol. What a great use of development time.

 

[CrazyDuck4u]

https://fb.watch/uxIBxICGtM/
Gudas getting all the Publicy Stuff.. I Gotta think hes gonna be named captain

 

[robbieboy3686]

The app is now live. At the moment, there isn’t any new Ducks content on there. I’m guessing you will be able to watch the rookie tournament games on it.

I’m here In vegas, and have it downloaded. As of now, I haven’t had to pay or put in any credit card payment details…

 

[ScarTroy]

I’m here In vegas, and have it downloaded. As of now, I haven’t had to pay or put in any credit card payment details…

It’s free…