GDT: #56 ⋅ ANA @ DET ⋅ 3:00 PM PST

[mightyquack]

They have more points than last year.

Dead last in SA/G
Dead last in GF
31st in PK%
23rd in PP%
30th in SAT% and USAT%

We are getting good goalie play, and are playing mediocre teams. It’s fun, but they’re not good. Getting multiple goals with the goalie pulled is not a sustainable strategy.

And when you put it in context on the teams we are 'better' then in certain stats, it really hammers it home. Only San Jose and Chicago (two absolute trash tier teams) are worse in SAT% and USAT%.

We give up more shots per game then San Jose and Chicago, the only difference is goaltending. Ours is above average, San Jose and Chicago is well below average. An example 5v5 sv% is 92.3 (good for equal 4th in the league), Chicago and San Jose are 26th and 28th respectively.

We've been outshot 33 out of 56 times this season.

On average we are outshot by 4.2 shots per game (only San Jose and Chicago are worse).

This is while we average the second most blocked shots per game too (17.21 only behind Philly and just ahead of San Jose in that regard).

This team is bad offensively, and bad defensively. It's just that goaltending masks how bad we are defensively. Nothing can really mask our offensive problems.

Heck you can just look at today's game, trash defending and 3 goals where the goaltender had absolutely no chance of making a save and that's against an NHL average offence.

 

[Static]

im gonna be so annoyed if Z gets suspended but Chariot gets nothing.

He's going to get suspended. I just saw the hit and it should be looked at. That he was not penalized on the ice will work against him as well.

So, do we call up a kid with some offensive talent, or do we just dress God damn Harkins for two games? Hmm I wonder.

 

[mightyquack]

im gonna be so annoyed if Z gets suspended but Chariot gets nothing.

Zegras deserves a suspension, should be one game, but will probably be two games as the Red Wings player didn't return. Chariot was a cheapshot too, but I don't think it really warrants anything more then a fine.

Especially given there has only been I think 10 suspensions all season.

 

[Ducks DVM]

The last few seasons were so shit that they can still be a significantly improved team on what we've seen recently without necessarily being "good"

adjusted to compare to last year.

‘24-25 vs ‘23-24

Dead last in SA/G 32.2 vs 32.5 (27th)
Dead last in GF/GPG 137/ 2.49 vs 203/2.48 (30th)
31st in PK% 74.8% vs 72.4%. (30th)
23rd in PP% 12% vs 15.7%. (24th)
30th in SAT% and USAT% 47.8/46.2 vs 46.4/46.5 (27th/26th)

Not seeing improvements in much other than goaltending.

 

[dracom]

He's going to get suspended. I just saw the hit and it should be looked at. That he was not penalized on the ice will work against him as well.

So, do we call up a kid with some offensive talent, or do we just dress God damn Harkins for two games? Hmm I wonder.

where's mcginn? seems like the perfect guy for Cronin to replace Z with.

 

[Static]

Nobody can argue we are good, we just aren't historically bad like the last two/three years. Whether that progress satiates anyone is up to them, I guess.

where's mcginn? seems like the perfect guy for Cronin to replace Z with.

Season-ending knee surgery

 

[MMC]

Nobody can argue we are good, we just aren't historically bad like the last two/three years. Whether that process satiates anyone is up to them, I guess.

I'm fine with it because I don't think it's really reasonable to expect to go from the latter bolded to the former in one season

 

[mightyquack]

Nobody can argue we are good, we just aren't historically bad like the last two/three years. Whether that process satiates anyone is up to them, I guess.

And nobody can be happy with the player development this season.

Yes LaCombe has taken a huge step forward (only because Cronin stopped playing him in a role he shouldn't have been in, in the first place).

But Carlsson, McTavish, Mintyukov (who can't even get on the ice now) have all taken decent steps backwards.

Zegras doesn't really look any different to last season outside of being a bit better defensively, and is still being played out of position.

Zellweger looks completely neutered on the blue line too.

 

[Static]

And nobody can be happy with the player development this season.

Yes LaCombe has taken a huge step forward (only because they stopped playing him in a role he shouldn't' have been in).

But Carlsson, McTavish, Mintyukov (who can't even get on the ice now) have all taken decent steps backwards.

Zegras doesn't really look any different to last season outside of being a bit better defensively, and is still being played out of position.

Agreed, this "teaching" coaching staff has taught the creativity right out of any of our young players.

The bad thing about having a better record this year is the excuse it gives to bring them all back.

 

[duckaroosky]

im gonna be so annoyed if Z gets suspended but Chariot gets nothing.

That's 100% exactly what's going to happen. Just come to terms with it now.

 

[Leonardo87]

I’m happy that we are above .500, and I’m happy Leo is staring to produce. But Cronin still needs to be replaced this summer. Our kids are not taking the strides they need to. We got lucky to squeeze a point out of tonight’s game.

 

[Tecumseh]

Crazy when vehemently expressing how much you hate your own team's head coach is considered perfectly normal but one guy dares to give him credit and he's "trolling"

I’m not having this conversation with you again. You know exactly what you’re doing with your “thank you Mr. Cronin” schtick. We’re not all as stupid as you think we are.

 

[mightyquack]

Agreed, this "teaching" coaching staff has taught the creativity right out of any of our young players.

The bad thing about having a better record this year is the excuse it gives to being them all back.

Which is why he should be canned no matter what the final result of the season is.

As fans, we should want better then our young players (who all have potential to be fantastic NHL players) to be coached into being defense first grinders.

The bar should be a lot higher for this team then not being dogshit awful.

For me, if Cronin is retained for next season, then PV should be canned because he clearly doesn't have it in him to be a quality NHL GM.

 

[MMC]

I’m happy that we are above .500, and I’m happy Leo is staring to produce. But Cronin still needs to be replaced this summer. Our kids are not taking the strides they need to. We got lucky to squeeze a point out of tonight’s game.

I wouldn't count on that happening

 

[MMC]

The bar should be a lot higher for this team then not being dogshit awful.

Yeah see with how bad they were for the last like 5 seasons I really don't know if I can agree that they've earned having the bar be "a lot higher" than that. Higher, sure, and I would say they've met that for the most party

 

[MMC]

I’m not having this conversation with you again. You know exactly what you’re doing with your “thank you Mr. Cronin” schtick. We’re not all as stupid as you think we are.

Then don't. But if you expect me to be up in arms that the coaching staff has this team which spent the last several seasons in the basement has them just outside the playoffs that ain't happening

 

[MMC]

The bad thing about having a better record this year is the excuse it gives to bring them all back.

Unless you think Pat would be ok with the team regressing next season I wouldn't worry about it. Hard to argue for replacing the coaching staff when they've met the expectations of the GM and have the team in a meaningful improvement in the standings. If PV makes significant moves in the offseason, doubt Cronin has a long leash if the team isn't legitimately in the playoff race next season

 

[Boo Boo]

im gonna be so annoyed if Z gets suspended but Chariot gets nothing.

At least well find out if our breakup with getzlaf was amicable

 

[Static]

Unless you think Pat would be ok with the team regressing next season I wouldn't worry about it. Hard to argue for replacing the coaching staff when they've met the expectations of the GM and have the team in a meaningful improvement in the standings. If PV makes significant moves in the offseason, doubt Cronin has a long leash if the team isn't legitimately in the playoff race next season

Verbeek shouldn't be evaluating based on just wins and losses. It will be impossible to ignore the massive problems with special teams and many young players regressing.

 

[JAHV]

Possible, but the issue is if our goaltending takes a step back, we’re in trouble even with better coaching.

We’ve rode Dostal and Gibson hard this year and I wouldn’t bet on their play continuing at this level next season. Doesn’t mean they’ll be bad though

I don't understand what you mean about Dostal and Gibson. They've essentially split time. That's not really "riding them hard".

 

[GunnarStahl]

I don't understand what you mean about Dostal and Gibson. They've essentially split time. That's not really "riding them hard".

I think he means the Ducks are relying on them too heavily for success, in a manner that they cant expect to be replicated next year. not necessarily exhausting them physically

 

[MMC]

Verbeek shouldn't be evaluating based on just wins and losses. It will be impossible to ignore the massive problems with special teams and many young players regressing.

"just" no but for sure it will be a factor here. Ultimately the most important factor to speculate on RE whether Cronin will be brought back or not is if he met PV's expectations for the season. He said he wanted the team to be in the playoff mix and they are despite the fact that will in all likelihood not get in, and he tasked Cronin with improving the defensive play of the team and helping them become better two-way players. So if he's happy with the efforts there, paired with the team being where he was expecting in the standings, I have a hard time seeing him not bringing Cronin back

 

[JAHV]

Unless you think Pat would be ok with the team regressing next season I wouldn't worry about it. Hard to argue for replacing the coaching staff when they've met the expectations of the GM and have the team in a meaningful improvement in the standings. If PV makes significant moves in the offseason, doubt Cronin has a long leash if the team isn't legitimately in the playoff race next season

If the on-ice performance has met the GM's expectations, then Verbeek needs to go as well. As DVM posted above, the team is worse in all meaningful ways from last year outside of goaltending.

As I've speculated before, perhaps Verbeek's expectations of Cronin were just for him to establish good off-ice and practice habits. But at some point that needs to translate into on-ice performance. It has not, despite what the W-L record says.

 

[Static]

"just" no but for sure it will be a factor here. Ultimately the most important factor to speculate on RE whether Cronin will be brought back or not is if he met PV's expectations for the season. He said he wanted the team to be in the playoff mix and they are despite the fact that will in all likelihood not get in, and he tasked Cronin with improving the defensive play of the team and helping them become all around players. So if he's happy with the efforts on that front paired with the team being where he was expecting in the standings, I have a hard time seeing him not bringing Cronin back

The odds are that cronin is brought back, but only because firing him is a bad mark on verbeek and our owners do not typically pay coaches to sit at home. Twice in 20 years.

I do not have faith in verbeek cutting bait, though reports from Friedman earlier this season that he thought about moving on after just one year so give me hope.

 

[mightyquack]

Yeah see with how bad they were for the last like 5 seasons I really don't know if I can agree that they've earned having the bar be "a lot higher" than that. Higher, sure, and I would say they've met that for the most party

The bar should be higher then not being historically awful, nothing about what the team has earnt, just that our expectations should be higher then that. I'm not sure playing (still) crap hockey but eeking out wins thanks to top 5 NHL goaltending is really getting anywhere close to expectations.

If you're happy with the player development and the results on the surface level, I'm not gonna try to change your mind. But there are plenty of extremely worrying things about this team if you just go deeper then the surface level.