Confirmed with Link: Ducks fire Greg Cronin

[Dr Johnny Fever]

Not that it much matters but I wonder if Stamkos was looking for the same deal from Tampa as he got in NSH? Wonder what Tampa actually offered.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

Conversely he had decades of coaching experience and (as far as we know) no scandals at the time he was hired.

Maybe he's a decent guy and a decent coach that couldn't handle the NHL and it brought out the worst of him. It's not like it's an easy job.

Yes, but I wouldn't call this a scandal as much as just a coach who's shelf life had expired. Which would tend to jive with your last paragraph.

 

[JAHV]

My take on it is that Greg Cronin talked a great game in the interview process. He's terrible in ad hoc analysis interviews, but we've also seen him be very coherent and comfortable in other settings where he's more prepared. He also was well respected within other hockey circles (the Avalanche organization seemed to love him). And whatever skeletons there might have been in his closet, it seems like they didn't quite rise to the level where hockey men couldn't dismiss them as simply a gruff coach being gruff.

But even if there were warning signs, I think Cronin sold Verbeek by pitching the exact type of environment Verbeek wanted for a young team: strong work ethic, emphasis on toughness and individual responsibility, defensive-minded, no BS. I think Verbeek was hoping that he had found the next Rod Brind'Amour and that when the system was working, the Ducks would play like Carolina.

Spoiler alert: Verbeek had not, in fact, found the next Rod Brind'Amour. Cronin doesn't have the credibility that Rod has, so when his schtick got old (as that schtick invariably does), there was no basis of belief that pushing through would lead to success. Cronin was just an old dude yelling at them in a thick Boston accent.

I think Verbeek was probably alarmed by some of the exit interviews last season, but hoped that a conversation with Cronin would help him learn to adapt. And maybe Cronin did a little bit, but obviously not enough, and, clearly, the Ducks got no closer to playing like Carolina.

 

[Terry Yake]

cronin scammed his way into a NHL HC gig. i'll give him credit for that

 

[Static]

cronin scammed his way into a NHL HC gig. i'll give him credit for that

Come on, he's been in hockey for 40 years. He didn't take well to being an NHL coach, but he earned the right to try.

 

[Hey234]

cronin scammed his way into a NHL HC gig. i'll give him credit for that

I think scammed makes it seem nefarious. Cronin is a coach in hockey who had aspirations on coaching in the NHL as a head coach. It's a goal shared by most if not all his colleagues. When in the interview, Cronin made his pitch, and it worked. Unfortunately, he couldn't deliver and that sucks. But scammed makes it seem like he stole the position to intentionally be bad or with the knowledge it would be bad. I'm sure he thought it was going to be a success. Bummer it didn't work for all parties.

 

[Terry Yake]

I think scammed makes it seem nefarious. Cronin is a coach in hockey who had aspirations on coaching in the NHL as a head coach. It's a goal shared by most if not all his colleagues. When in the interview, Cronin made his pitch, and it worked. Unfortunately, he couldn't deliver and that sucks. But scammed makes it seem like he stole the position to intentionally be bad or with the knowledge it would be bad. I'm sure he thought it was going to be a success. Bummer it didn't work for all parties.

wish we could see the interview(s) cronin had with verbeek and the FO. i'm sure he said exactly what they wanted to hear, but it was obvious from the beginning that he was completely out of place in his position. some coaches just aren't meant to be the top guy, and cronin is one of them. i'm sure he tried his best to deliver on whatever he said to sell the team in his interviews, but he clearly wasn't capable of that

verbeek and co had every reason to bring him back with the 20 pt improvement from last season and guys like lacombe and mctavish having strong seasons, but they opted to fire him instead. what does that tell you?

 

[mightyquack]

Come on, he's been in hockey for 40 years. He didn't take well to being an NHL coach, but he earned the right to try.

Agreed. It's not like he was a bum pulled out of nowhere, he had some pretty good credentials. Plus it would have been pretty cool to see a guy who's grinded for his whole life to get a crack at the NHL actually succeed, just a shame it didn't work out that way.

Still hope he has a few more good years in the AHL before calling it a day.

 

[Mr Rogers]

I think scammed makes it seem nefarious. Cronin is a coach in hockey who had aspirations on coaching in the NHL as a head coach. It's a goal shared by most if not all his colleagues. When in the interview, Cronin made his pitch, and it worked. Unfortunately, he couldn't deliver and that sucks. But scammed makes it seem like he stole the position to intentionally be bad or with the knowledge it would be bad. I'm sure he thought it was going to be a success. Bummer it didn't work for all parties.

Exactly, the guy genuinely thought he'd be a good coach and had a good philosophy to implement, so it isn't fair to characterize it like that. Cronin is probably just a really good salesman in interviews, hell i think a lot of us were optimistic that he had changed somewhat in his interview before this season. I'm sure he told Pat everything he wanted to hear and tried hit all the high notes. In Pat's defense, you can see why he would've hired him given what he sold him in the interview and his previous track record of being the type of coach Pat was looking for. But it was up to him to sniff that out for sure, and I think the more blameworthy act of Verbeek's was not firing him last year as he apparently considered. Coaches like Cronin, and bosses in general, rarely drastically change and especially so when they are in their 60s - It was like expecting Carlyle to change in his 2nd stint.

 

[slippingsloth]

My take on it is that Greg Cronin talked a great game in the interview process. He's terrible in ad hoc analysis interviews, but we've also seen him be very coherent and comfortable in other settings where he's more prepared. He also was well respected within other hockey circles (the Avalanche organization seemed to love him). And whatever skeletons there might have been in his closet, it seems like they didn't quite rise to the level where hockey men couldn't dismiss them as simply a gruff coach being gruff.

But even if there were warning signs, I think Cronin sold Verbeek by pitching the exact type of environment Verbeek wanted for a young team: strong work ethic, emphasis on toughness and individual responsibility, defensive-minded, no BS. I think Verbeek was hoping that he had found the next Rod Brind'Amour and that when the system was working, the Ducks would play like Carolina.

Spoiler alert: Verbeek had not, in fact, found the next Rod Brind'Amour. Cronin doesn't have the credibility that Rod has, so when his schtick got old (as that schtick invariably does), there was no basis of belief that pushing through would lead to success. Cronin was just an old dude yelling at them in a thick Boston accent.

I think Verbeek was probably alarmed by some of the exit interviews last season, but hoped that a conversation with Cronin would help him learn to adapt. And maybe Cronin did a little bit, but obviously not enough, and, clearly, the Ducks got no closer to playing like Carolina.

Never compared cro w rod the bod before but this makes complete sense to me

imagine being a punk ass 20 year old nhl player and brindamour a legit two way player in the nhl for a long time jn his own right jumps on the bike next to you in the gym and outperforms your VO2 max. Then says… kid i am twice your age you need to be/do better.

 

[GunnarStahl]

as far away from anaheim as possible please

I disagree, I'd like him to be hired as close to Anaheim as possible. LA would be a great landing spot.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

The fact that Pat said it was a shock to Cronin speaks a lot more about Pat than Greg. In the course of two years of them both speaking back and forth, Greg didn't realize what his biggest failure was until he was fired?

 

[DuckTech]

The fact that Pat said it was a shock to Cronin speaks a lot more about Pat than Greg. In the course of two years of them both speaking back and forth, Greg didn't realize what his biggest failure was until he was fired?

When I read about this it made me think about the Beckett Sennecke interview where said that he had no clue or feeling that the ducks had any interest in him and Pat just holds every card super close to the chest.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

When I read about this it made me think about the Beckett Sennecke interview where said that he had no clue or feeling that the ducks had any interest in him and Pat just holds every card super close to the chest.

Well, we'll never know what conversations they had, but most employee/employer conversations during the year revolve around job expectations and year end reviews go over all of that. Not quite the same conversation you would have in a one off interview with a prospective hire.

The guy who didn't get hired for the job might be confused and surprised why he wasn't hired (or hired). The guy who had it for two years and got fired for performance related issues shouldn't have been surprised.

 

[TheDarkWingThatDucks]

wish we could see the interview(s) cronin had with verbeek and the FO. i'm sure he said exactly what they wanted to hear, but it was obvious from the beginning that he was completely out of place in his position. some coaches just aren't meant to be the top guy, and cronin is one of them. i'm sure he tried his best to deliver on whatever he said to sell the team in his interviews, but he clearly wasn't capable of that

verbeek and co had every reason to bring him back with the 20 pt improvement from last season and guys like lacombe and mctavish having strong seasons, but they opted to fire him instead. what does that tell you?

Don’t really need to listen to the whole thing, but the first 9 minutes or so he speaks about the interview process, and says all the right things hahaha.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Quoting from the Bruins board, for those interested, sounds like Cronin may be in the mix for their coaching job.

Boston Globe:

In Season 1, Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov provided the Bruins little return on their investment - The Boston Globe

It is not to say their underperformances were the sole reason the Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

www.bostonglobe.com

Cronin a person of interest for Bruins’ job​

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney’s list of prospective coaching candidates remains hermetically sealed.

Meanwhile, one of the finalists in Sweeney’s coaching search in 2022, Greg Cronin, was abruptly dismissed last Saturday two years into his Anaheim tour, despite adding eight wins and 21 points to the Ducks’ totals of last season. Proof again, success doesn’t always breed job security.

There could be coaches out there reluctant to take on the rebuild and resurrection of the Spoked-B brand, but the Arlington-born-and-raised Cronin is decidedly not one of them.

“Hey, I’m a coach, right?” said Cronin, 61, reached late in the week by telephone. “All these openings, I’ll throw my hat in and see what comes back. I mean, heck, I’d be doing handsprings and jumping over rainbows if I got the Bruins’ job. I’m a Boston guy, and for a Boston guy, that’s hitting the lottery times 10!”

Interim boss Joe Sacco, another Boston guy, remains on the list. Boston guys John Tortorella, Peter Laviolette, and David Quinn (qualified under Comm. Ave. birthright citizenship) also are expected to submit résumés.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Quoting from the Bruins board, for those interested, sounds like Cronin may be in the mix for their coaching job.

Amazing.

 

[mightyquack]

Who in their right mind looks at the Ducks the last two years and thinks, "yeah I want some of that".

 

[Kalv]

Quoting from the Bruins board, for those interested, sounds like Cronin may be in the mix for their coaching job.

I guess he fits their identity.

As with interviews, I think GMs interview a lot of potential coaches. And then word get out and people are made to believe by some that that team is gonna hire them or are close doing so. It's extra clicks or exposure.

Or at least that's what I want to believe, given the recent news

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Who in their right mind looks at the Ducks the last two years and thinks, "yeah I want some of that".

I think Cronin has a positive reputation from being around the league forever and if you're motivated you can assign more blame to the roster than the coach, if you're in a grass-is-greener frame of mind. And I think that's probably even more true in a place like Boston where Cronin has roots.

 

[Boo Boo]

Who in their right mind looks at the Ducks the last two years and thinks, "yeah I want some of that".

Maybe they’re bringing him in to be a tank commander

 

[WhatTheDuck]

I think Cronin has a positive reputation from being around the league forever and if you're motivated you can assign more blame to the roster than the coach, if you're in a grass-is-greener frame of mind. And I think that's probably even more true in a place like Boston where Cronin has roots.

Just being a local guy with an NHL track record, is likely enough to get him an interview or at least on to an initial list of candidates.

 

[lwvs84]

Who in their right mind looks at the Ducks the last two years and thinks, "yeah I want some of that".

Someone that is eyeing the 2026 1st overall pick.

 

[Kalv]

Pasta better get ready to start 70% of your shifts in Dzone and be demoted to PP2

 

[ohcomeonref]

Cro might be in the old boys club that easily. It's the only thing that explains it