GDT: Ducks Migration 2025

[gilfaizon]

Also found it odd Galiymov wasn't discussed. Doesn't sound promising. But thats ok. I think its a role we can address in FA and Sennecke will fill in the future as well (top 9)

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

Maybe I'm an idiot but I read him talking about tampering to mean that he avoided mentioning a specific player yesterday. Like he had to stop himself from mentioning who he wants to go after.

Not sure how else it makes sense otherwise, although he did also mention Rantanen signing IIRC

 

[Mr Rogers]

Also found it odd Galiymov wasn't discussed. Doesn't sound promising. But thats ok. I think its a role we can address in FA and Sennecke will fill in the future as well (top 9)

I don't think it's really much of an issue. I mean i basically all but forgot about him. Kind of hard to believe Pat was depending on him in any way and yes easily addressed in other ways.

 

[Tecumseh]

Chiclets are going to look really stupid if Moore does indeed end up signing with us. If I remember correctly, they made some dramatic declaration that Moore would rather play in Alaska than for the Ducks.

 

[All Mighty]

Chiclets are going to look really stupid if Moore does indeed end up signing with us. If I remember correctly, they made some dramatic declaration that Moore would rather play in Alaska than for the Ducks.

I remember someone mentioning that on here, but I don’t recall any of them saying that on their podcast. Maybe it was on their spinoff podcast with Murley and Armstrong? I don’t listen to that one so I can’t say for sure.

 

[LuGBuG]

I remember someone mentioning that on here, but I don’t recall any of them saying that on their podcast. Maybe it was on their spinoff podcast with Murley and Armstrong? I don’t listen to that one so I can’t say for sure.

I don’t recall that either and I’ve never missed an episode

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Colangelo taking "an NHL step" is a good way to phrase it I think.

 

[SmokeyDuck]

Chiclets are going to look really stupid if Moore does indeed end up signing with us. If I remember correctly, they made some dramatic declaration that Moore would rather play in Alaska than for the Ducks.

They are pretty f***ing stupid when it comes to Anaheim. I wouldn't surprised if Whitney had a grudge against the Ducks.

 

[Rybread86]

Vatrano contract discussion - will we see more?

• Mitigates tax advantage of no state tax franchises
• Sounded washy washy about it
• Players often resistant to different structures
• Tired of listening to agents say we need to pay more due to taxes

So for anyone saying taxes arent an issue, heres your confirmation that taxes ARE an issue. To what degree? who knows. But the fact that agents ask for more simply because of the taxes shows they are at least on the table of possible issues when trying to sign a player.

As long as they dont get rid of the Vatrano-like contacts in the next CBA, sounds like they might have a structure for at least helping out with that issue though.

 

[Gliff]

So for anyone saying taxes arent an issue, heres your confirmation that taxes ARE an issue. To what degree? who knows. But the fact that agents ask for more simply because of the taxes shows they are at least on the table of possible issues when trying to sign a player.

As long as they dont get rid of the Vatrano-like contacts in the next CBA, sounds like they might have a structure for at least helping out with that issue though.

More like it’s something agents use as leverage. I’m sure they don’t go to FL teams and say “hey take 10% offf the offer since you don’t have taxes.”

It’s their job to get the most money and it’s something they use.

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

They are pretty f***ing stupid when it comes to Anaheim. I wouldn't surprised if Whitney had a grudge against the Ducks.

I think he liked the Ducks while Getz was here, but now that Getz is gone he has no connection to us

 

[Mr Rogers]

I think the SC view of the Ducks is a little more nuanced than just being thoroughly against anything and everything about the team. I don't see SC being against the players on the team at all. They just seem to have a bone to pick with Cronin and maybe Verbeek as well - in the past it's been Carlyle and probably Murray. If anything theyve tried to do what they think is supportive of the players by coming out with all that stuff about Cronin. I think they want the players to be successful.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Colangelo taking "an NHL step" is a good way to phrase it I think.

Thank goodness that Cronin stopped putting Colangelo in a grinder role on the 4th line. Colangelo sounded depressed when he relayed in an interview during his first call-up that, I'm paraphrasing, "The only way to stay up with the NHL club is to accept making a priority of playing defense and hitting." I felt for him b/c he was the Gulls leading scorer and goal scorer when he was called up, but to only be told to grind with the 4th line to stay in the NHL club.

 

[Sean Garrity]

Thank goodness that Cronin stopped putting Colangelo in a grinder role on the 4th line. Colangelo sounded depressed when he relayed in an interview during his first call-up that, I'm paraphrasing, "The only way to stay up with the NHL club is to accept making a priority of playing defense and hitting." I felt for him b/c he was the Gulls leading scorer and goal scorer when he was called up, but to only be told to grind with the 4th line to stay in the NHL club.

I didn’t watch him much in College, but from my limited viewings his skating has improved immensely to where it’s borderline a strength in his game now. Is that accurate?

 

[Deuce22]

Thank goodness that Cronin stopped putting Colangelo in a grinder role on the 4th line. Colangelo sounded depressed when he relayed in an interview during his first call-up that, I'm paraphrasing, "The only way to stay up with the NHL club is to accept making a priority of playing defense and hitting." I felt for him b/c he was the Gulls leading scorer and goal scorer when he was called up, but to only be told to grind with the 4th line to stay in the NHL club.

Don’t know if I can give Cronin credit for having an epiphany.

Thank goodness that Cronin stopped putting Colangelo in a grinder role on the 4th line. Colangelo sounded depressed when he relayed in an interview during his first call-up that, I'm paraphrasing, "The only way to stay up with the NHL club is to accept making a priority of playing defense and hitting." I felt for him b/c he was the Gulls leading scorer and goal scorer when he was called up, but to only be told to grind with the 4th line to stay in the NHL club.

I think you may be giving Cronin too much credit. I think he lucked into Colangelo breakout and LaCombe unveiling due to Fabbri injury and Fowler trade.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I didn’t watch him much in College, but from my limited viewings his skating has improved immensely to where it’s borderline a strength in his game now. Is that accurate?

Colangelo's improved skating was on display at last year's Dev camp. He looked like a man on a mission to me and looking to have a big season with his new college team in Western Michigan. It seemed it was foreshadowing as he became WMU's top goal scorer with 24 goals and exploded for a total of 43 points. Sam had doubled his previous career NCAA high in goal scoring as well as padding 19 more points than this previous career high.

I don't know if it's a strength in his game, but that extra speed does accentuate his play as a scoring power forward. It all came together at Western Michigan and I give them all the credit in the world in maximizing Colangelo's scoring talent and overall game. It's also a part of the reason why I wanted fellow Ducks prospect Kukkonen to transfer to WMU instead of Wisconsin.

At the end of last season, after Colangelo was signed to an ELC contract, Colangelo and Cutter were interviewed together. Cutter said he didn't know he was supposed to wear a suit before the game needed to borrow one of Colangelo's suits. When Cutter put on Colangelo's pants, Cutter said he was swimming in his pants. That would be some proof that Colangelo has put in work in skating. Cutter is still the blazing skater between the two.

I think the biggest improvement in Colangelo's game is using his big body to lay hits and checks along with making it a priority to live in front of the net. A majority of our forwards prospects are still perimeter type players except for Mac. And it's because Mac plays that heavy game, there is instant chemistry with Colangelo. Mac-Colangelo reminded me so much of Mac-Winterton with the Hamilton Bulldogs in Mac's last year in the OHL. Winterton was also a scoring PF.

What another great find for the Ducks' scouting staff and taking huge swings on player from lower level competition prospects. In 2019, they drafted high schooler D LaCombe eraly in the 2nd round. In 2020, they went high school and USHL product Colangelo early in the 2nd round. Both went the NCAA route.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I think you may be giving Cronin too much credit. I think he lucked into Colangelo breakout and LaCombe unveiling due to Fabbri injury and Fowler trade.

You need to read my post again. It was me criticizing Cronin for misjudging Colangelo's talent and seeing him only as a 4th line grinder when he first got him despite being the Gulls leading scorer and goal scorer at the time of his call-up, i.e., not putting Colangelo into a position to succeed.

Also, I don't understand your stance that I'm pro Cronin. It feels like you are painting me completely different from my reporting. Especially when you keep saying LaCombe came out of nowhere this year, when I pointed to last year's vast improvement to close out the season as well as me saying the skyrocketing LaCombe is playing the same way he was in college. Verbeek even stated LaCombe's last year in college is playing that way now in the NHL, insinuating that all LaCombe needed was some time to adjust to the speed and game play.

You gotta take a moment or 10 to scrub your obvious bias of me to often mistake my stance.

 

[TheDarkWingThatDucks]

Don’t know if I can give Cronin credit for having an epiphany.
I think you may be giving Cronin too much credit. I think he lucked into Colangelo breakout and LaCombe unveiling due to Fabbri injury and Fowler trade.

That’s kinda how these things work, you get a cup of coffee in a role not suited for you. (Remember he also played “top” line with Vats and Strome after Terry’s kid issues….our legit worse stretch of hockey this season…... )then an injury to a person who was blocking him into a role he can thrive. And he’s stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park so far.

Does the 4th line grinder / top line overmatched / back to AHL as an all star, did all these things combined give him enough confidence / intel on what he needs to do with his game to succeed at the NHL / show NHL coaching staff he will do anything to help the “team” over self.

Yeah I think that’s the point of developing.

 

[Deuce22]

You need to read my post again. It was me criticizing Cronin for misjudging Colangelo's talent and seeing him only as a 4th line grinder when he first got him despite being the Gulls leading scorer and goal scorer at the time of his call-up, i.e., not putting Colangelo into a position to succeed.

Also, I don't understand your stance that I'm pro Cronin. It feels like you are painting me completely different from my reporting. Especially when you keep saying LaCombe came out of nowhere this year, when I pointed to last year's vast improvement to close out the season as well as me saying the skyrocketing LaCombe is playing the same way he was in college. Verbeek even stated LaCombe's last year in college is playing that way now in the NHL, insinuating that all LaCombe needed was some time to adjust to the speed and game play.

You gotta take a moment or 10 to scrub your obvious bias of me to often mistake my stance.

I obviously know that you’re not “pro Cronin.” Which is why your first sentence surprised me. I think if Fabbri hadn’t been injured, Colangelo would still be on the 4th line. I also think that if Fowler hadn’t been dealt, we wouldn’t be seeing the LaCombe offensive explosion.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

I obviously know that you’re not “pro Cronin.” Which is why your first sentence surprised me. I think if Fabbri hadn’t been injured, Colangelo would still be on the 4th line. I also think that if Fowler hadn’t been dealt, we wouldn’t be seeing the LaCombe offensive explosion.

Colangelo was the reason i thought Fabbri should be moved.... but honestly maybe no one wanted fabbri.

 

[Deuce22]

That’s kinda how these things work, you get a cup of coffee in a role not suited for you. (Remember he also played “top” line with Vats and Strome after Terry’s kid issues….our legit worse stretch of hockey this season…... )then an injury to a person who was blocking him into a role he can thrive. And he’s stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park so far.

Does the 4th line grinder / top line overmatched / back to AHL as an all star, did all these things combined give him enough confidence / intel on what he needs to do with his game to succeed at the NHL / show NHL coaching staff he will do anything to help the “team” over self.

Yeah I think that’s the point of developing.

I would argue that it doesn’t need to be this way.

 

[TheDarkWingThatDucks]

I would argue that it doesn’t need to be this way.

You are 100 % right, it doesn’t need to be this way. But we have a GM who says he doesn’t want to rush prospects until they are physically ready, wants to build a culture and team that “competes”.

Well, I’d assume our GM feels you earn what you kill, come in prove you will do whatever is “best” for the team, when given your “shot” don’t miss.

That’s the team we are building and the way our prospects will most likely be handled. If Zelly and or a Minty struggle down the stretch and don’t earn a full time roster spot next year, watch Hinds get a chance or go out and get Dumo for 1-2 years.

We can discuss pros and cons, but this is who our gm is, so get used to it I guess.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

I think if Fabbri hadn’t been injured, Colangelo would still be on the 4th line. I also think that if Fowler hadn’t been dealt, we wouldn’t be seeing the LaCombe offensive explosion.

The Lord works in mysterious ways.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I obviously know that you’re not “pro Cronin.” Which is why your first sentence surprised me. I think if Fabbri hadn’t been injured, Colangelo would still be on the 4th line. I also think that if Fowler hadn’t been dealt, we wouldn’t be seeing the LaCombe offensive explosion.

Yeah, I don't trust your history nor your bias interpretations.

Colangelo played 4th line grinding role in his first call-up. He felt a bit dejected that in order to stay at the NHL level, then he had to be a grinder as per Cronin.

Colangelo's second called up, he played in a top-6 role with Vatrano-Strome (where he scored a goal) for one game and then a few with Killorn-Carlsson. Too bad Colangelo had no chemistry with Killorn-Carlsson. It was only a four-game stint at the NHL level for Colangelo.

If Fabbri wasn't injured, then Colangelo would still be in San Diego. Colangelo wasn't with the NHL club before then. When Fabbri got injured, Colangelo was called up and was still on a grinding role with Lundy centering him for two games for the third line.

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It was only when Zegras returned did Mac go back to being a center again, replacing Lundy. When the new practice lines came out, I called out that line could be something special because the three players had an odd connection to one another: Cutter produces when Mac is his center and Cutter has off-the-ice chemistry with Colangelo. It was then and ONLY then when the youth line of Cutter-Mac-Colangelo took off. You're missing a huge f***ing context to Colangelo's ascension of Mac centering him. Strome got Colangelo a goal in two games. No points with Carlsson centering Colangelo. The moment Colangelo gets centered by Mac is when Colangelo's goal scoring streak is now at four games.

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Fowler leaving, Gudas pairing

Fowler leaving left a hole for three youth d-men to take the minutes, but really, it was LaCombe's to take. Lost in all this is the fact Gudas was his permanent partner, which lead to LaCombe becoming even more confident offensively and physically defensively. LaCombe's a two-way D at the NHL level like he was when he was in college, which Verbeek recounted himself.

LaCombe had a slow start to the season because he became very ill and missed several games because of it. His offense did explode before the Fowler trade and while he was still being rotated. In fact, it exploded when both Fowler and Vaak fell to injury. Which lead to a LaCombe-Zellweger top pair. Then the offense went into stage 2 of the offensive rocket explosion once Fowler was traded and LaCombe established himself out of the four youth D-men competition with Minty, Zell, and Helleson.

What's lost in LaCombe's offensive explosion is LaCombe's physical game explosion. He had 50 total hits in 71 games last year. He is two hits away from tying it in probably 14 fewer games! Although, his blocking has come down a bit (1.82 blocks per game last year) probably because he has been preventing more zone entries as taking pucks away along the boards on dump ins. This time around, LaCombe first pairing mate is Gudas. Gudas should garner a lot of credit for enabling LaCombe to be even more offensive, since Gudas is a stay-at-home D, as well as having Gudas build up his physicality confidence. Did you see LaCombe attempting to to hip checks recently?

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There are many nuances and factors as to why players rise. It's a shame that people think it's one simple factor and it came out of nowhere.

 

[Deuce22]

Yeah, I don't trust your history nor your bias interpretations.

Colangelo played 4th line grinding role in his first call-up. He felt a bit dejected that in order to stay at the NHL level, then he had to be a grinder as per Cronin.

Colangelo's second called up, he played in a top-6 role with Vatrano-Strome (where he scored a goal) for one game and then a few with Killorn-Carlsson. Too bad Colangelo had no chemistry with Killorn-Carlsson. It was only a four-game stint at the NHL level for Colangelo.

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If Fabbri wasn't injured, then Colangelo would still be in San Diego. Colangelo wasn't with the NHL club before then. When Fabbri got injured, Colangelo was called up and was still on a grinding role with Lundy centering him for two games for the third line.



It was only when Zegras returned did Mac go back to being a center again, replacing Lundy. When the new practice lines came out, I called out that line could be something special because the three players had an odd connection to one another: Cutter produces when Mac is his center and Cutter has off-the-ice chemistry with Colangelo. It was then and ONLY then when the youth line of Cutter-Mac-Colangelo took off. You're missing a huge f***ing context to Colangelo's ascension of Mac centering him. Strome got Colangelo a goal in two games. No points with Carlsson centering Colangelo. The moment Colangelo gets centered by Mac is when Colangelo's goal scoring streak is now at four games.

---

Fowler leaving, Gudas pairing

Fowler leaving left a hole for three youth d-men to take the minutes, but really, it was LaCombe's to take. Lost in all this is the fact Gudas was his permanent partner, which lead to LaCombe becoming even more confident offensively and physically defensively. LaCombe's a two-way D at the NHL level like he was when he was in college, which Verbeek recounted himself.

LaCombe had a slow start to the season because he became very ill and missed several games because of it. His offense did explode before the Fowler trade and while he was still being rotated. In fact, it exploded when both Fowler and Vaak fell to injury. Which lead to a LaCombe-Zellweger top pair. Then the offense went into stage 2 of the offensive rocket explosion once Fowler was traded and LaCombe established himself out of the four youth D-men competition with Minty, Zell, and Helleson.

View attachment 991367

What's lost in LaCombe's offensive explosion is LaCombe's physical game explosion. He had 50 total hits in 71 games last year. He is two hits away from tying it in probably 14 fewer games! Although, his blocking has come down a bit (1.82 blocks per game last year) probably because he has been preventing more zone entries as taking pucks away along the boards on dump ins. This time around, LaCombe first pairing mate is Gudas. Gudas should garner a lot of credit for enabling LaCombe to be even more offensive, since Gudas is a stay-at-home D, as well as having Gudas build up his physicality confidence. Did you see LaCombe attempting to to hip checks recently?

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There are many nuances and factors as to why players rise. It's a shame that people think it's one simple factor and it came out of nowhere.

You completely missed my point, which was that Colangelo and LaCombe breaking out wasn’t due to some sudden stroke of genius by Cronin. I hope all this venting made you feel better.