Confirmed with Link: Ducks re-sign Jackson LaCombe (2 years, $925k AAV)
- Thread starter MMC
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Hockey Duckie
Registered User
From a Derek Lee article, written on Feb 6, 2024:
Cronin was on point about LaCombe improving his defense throughout the season. As for being aggressive, we did witness LaCombe taking more and more chances offensively, in the words of Ahlers, "Going coast to coast, like butter toast!" LaCombe's offensive production did perk up in the final 31 games, coinciding with his improved defense.
Surprisingly, Minty's best +/- stretch in a top-4 role was when he was paired with LaCombe for seven games. In those seven games in March, Minty went 1g +3a, +0 rating, 11 hits, and 7 blocks.
From the same Derek Lee article,
LaCombe was eased into the season with Gudas. But Drysdale going down with injury forced the Ducks into panic mode on who to play with Fowler on the first pairing role. The team tried Luneau and that only lasted for two games. Then the team tried Vaak on the left side and that lasted for a game and a half. Finally, LaCombe took hold of the top spot after relieving Vaak and the team went on a six-game winning streak.
LaCombe on the top pair to start the season helped to shelter Minty and Vaak as well as kept Gudas out of top pairing minutes. Usually that sacrificial role belongs to a vet.
Jackson started slow in college and each successive year improved his offense. Maybe good things are still to come for LaCombe. Let's hope he plays aggressive like Cronin wants him to play.
Head coach Greg Cronin picked out LaCombe as the player he thinks has improved the most since the start of the season. LaCombe is currently averaging nearly 20 minutes of ice time per game and is regularly a part of the penalty kill as well.
“He was great in Minnesota," said Cronin. "I think just technically, his defensive ability has improved. The big thing with him is aggressiveness. He’s not really an aggressive person by nature. He’s not afraid, he’s not going to initiate a lot.”
| LaCombe | Splits | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game Set | Games | G | A | Pts | +/- | Hits | Blocks | Comments |
| Total | 71 | 2 | 15 | 17 | -24 | 50 | 129 | Total |
| 1 to 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 | Pair 2, Gudas |
| 7 to 20 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -17 | 15 | 18 | Pair 1, Fowler |
| 21 to 40 | 20 | 0 | 4 | 4 | -7 | 14 | 41 | 1st to 3rd pair |
| 41 to 71 | 31 | 2 | 8 | 10 | -1 | 18 | 60 | 1st to 3rd pair |
Cronin was on point about LaCombe improving his defense throughout the season. As for being aggressive, we did witness LaCombe taking more and more chances offensively, in the words of Ahlers, "Going coast to coast, like butter toast!" LaCombe's offensive production did perk up in the final 31 games, coinciding with his improved defense.
Surprisingly, Minty's best +/- stretch in a top-4 role was when he was paired with LaCombe for seven games. In those seven games in March, Minty went 1g +3a, +0 rating, 11 hits, and 7 blocks.
From the same Derek Lee article,
“It’s just a big jump,” said LaCombe of making the transition from playing collegiate hockey to playing professionally. “The NHL is the best league in the world so it’s a challenge in many areas. I think just trying to learn every day has been a big key for me. I think I'm just starting to get more comfortable and adjusting a lot better now so it’s been great.”
LaCombe was eased into the season with Gudas. But Drysdale going down with injury forced the Ducks into panic mode on who to play with Fowler on the first pairing role. The team tried Luneau and that only lasted for two games. Then the team tried Vaak on the left side and that lasted for a game and a half. Finally, LaCombe took hold of the top spot after relieving Vaak and the team went on a six-game winning streak.
LaCombe on the top pair to start the season helped to shelter Minty and Vaak as well as kept Gudas out of top pairing minutes. Usually that sacrificial role belongs to a vet.
Jackson started slow in college and each successive year improved his offense. Maybe good things are still to come for LaCombe. Let's hope he plays aggressive like Cronin wants him to play.
Terry Yake
Registered User
- Aug 5, 2013
- 27,469
- 16,166
exactly. he was thrown into the fire by having to play on his off side with a washed up fowler on a shit team. that's being set up to fail
DavidBL
Registered User
Bonus points for the Firefly gif.Defensive defenseman?
- Jul 25, 2012
- 41,688
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Keep our young kids away from fowler !
That being said, Fowler tanked lacombe hard enough that we got a sweet deal on him…. So I guess I’ll give captain cam the tank commander props for that
*rookie thrown on a pairing with Fowler*
*fails for the billionth time*
It’s Fowler’s fault!!
*fails for the billionth time*
It’s Fowler’s fault!!
Ducks DVM
sowcufucakky
“Rookie thrown on top pairing on off side”is the issue.
Easy re-sign. He's 23, only has 1 season of games and has room to grow. His ceiling is a decent 2-way dman. Defensemen take longer to develop.
Masch78
Registered User
- Oct 5, 2017
- 2,520
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surprised he took it that cheap for 2 years. Was expecting something around 1.5m.
JabbaJabba
Registered User
KaseMeOutside
Based
- Oct 18, 2011
- 44,210
- 10,055
People here were way to hard on him last year
He was being pushed into doing things he's not ready for, hopefully this year there's a better role
He was being pushed into doing things he's not ready for, hopefully this year there's a better role
Hockey Duckie
Registered User
LaCombe's struggle in the first 14 games on the top pair with Fowler kinda cemented itself in many fans to where one mistake is exaggerated to become several mistakes in the game. But when Zell made mistakes, then they give Zell a pass.
LaCombe should be better prepared going into year 2 of the NHL compared to last year, regardless of role. HC Cronin did identify that LaCombe did improve the most on the team. His stat splits shared above substantiates Cronin's praise.
The team did allow Zell to develop over half a season in the AHL. Then pushed him up to the top pair with Fowler after the TDL. Despite getting the AHL all-star nod, Zell still struggled defensively with Fowler. The jump from the AHL and NHL is still a big jump.
WhatTheDuck
9 - 20 - 8
They should have known better than to put him in that position at the start of last season. That's just not the way to break in any young Dman, even if they are a slightly older prospect coming out of college
The Midnight Burrito
True Fan
They did it despite having veterans to spread around on every pairing. I don’t get it.
I like LaCombe, seems like he could become a quality 3-4 meat-and-potatoes guy.
Hockey Duckie
Registered User
Could have thrown/sacrificed Hagg into the top line with Fowler, but Verbeek wanted to go full bore with the rookie grouping. We had four rookie defensemen play for Anaheim last season.
DavidBL
Registered User
Smirnov2Chistov
EEK!
I *think* LaCombe will become a serviceable bottom pairing defenseman when his development is all said and done. It’s been a while since I’ve watched him.
Problem with him is, he has the smarts and hockey IQ. I don’t think he’s all that quick, or has a rocket of a shot either.
Problem with him is, he has the smarts and hockey IQ. I don’t think he’s all that quick, or has a rocket of a shot either.
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Hockey Duckie
Registered User
Gudas has two seasons left and cannot play top pairing minutes consistently for a long stretch of games. We are waiting on Luneau, Warren, and Helleson to develop. Luneau is a wild card and might start in the AHL. Helleson hasn't made great development growth. Warren might be two to three years away.
Since LaCombe can play both sides, I feel like he's a great insurance policy for the next two seasons b/c we don't have actual NHL RD depth today. Plus, he is a PK'er who can play both side and was the team's third best shot blocker with 129 blocks, behind Gudas (154) and Lybushkin (138).
Since LaCombe can play both sides, I feel like he's a great insurance policy for the next two seasons b/c we don't have actual NHL RD depth today. Plus, he is a PK'er who can play both side and was the team's third best shot blocker with 129 blocks, behind Gudas (154) and Lybushkin (138).
FiveTacos
Registered User
I think he's already a serviceable bottom pairing guy. There's a lot of terrible blueliners out there populating bottom pairings around the league, he's better than a lot of those chumps. I think a good portion of the league would gladly put him on their 3rd pairing and have it be an upgrade.
Isn't it moreso that they were being used as a top pairing?
Sean Garrity
Quack Quack Quack!
I would gear towards this. Asking Lacombe to play his “off side” on the top pairing with not a #1 anchor is a HUGE ask and putting him in a horrible spot. If he played 3rd pairing minutes all year or the Vaakanainen minutes I think we’d have a different perspective of him.
