Speculation: The search for a new Head Coach - Rumors and Speculation

[GunnarStahl]

Tocchet would be awesome if he leaves VAN. Don't know if the Ducks are the situation he would be looking for though

 

[NWWisconsinDuck]

Carle makes too much sense. Terry connection, young up and coming roster - etc

 

[KelVarnsen]

Cheesy, quick question for you......you are a not to Brunette due to his drinking but you dont say you are a no to Quennville after all that he did?

I appreciate your opinions on the other guys.

 

[Terry Yake]

woodcroft wouldn't be a bad pick. by all accounts, he never lost the room in edmonton and still had the respect of his players

 

[70sSanO]

My understanding is Verbeek is looking for a coach who meets certain criteria.

The coach had to win a Stanley Cup as both a player and team executive.

The coach had to have played at least 1000 games with at least 500 goals and 500 assists.

The coach will have to be able to fill multiple positions within the Ducks organization.

John

 

[cheesymc]

Cheesy, quick question for you......you are a not to Brunette due to his drinking but you dont say you are a no to Quennville after all that he did?

I appreciate your opinions on the other guys.

I don’t like either… you need leaders to be good role models with discipline, self control, and make good decisions. I also don’t like Quennville because of the whole Kyle Beach situation. He didn’t do anything to protect his players.

 

[cheesymc]

My understanding is Verbeek is looking for a coach who meets certain criteria.

The coach had to win a Stanley Cup as both a player and team executive.

The coach had to have played at least 1000 games with at least 500 goals and 500 assists.

The coach will have to be able to fill multiple positions within the Ducks organization.

John

If we limit to coaches who won a cup there are many available (or aren’t geriatric). We would miss on talented coaches and the next Deboer, Maurice, Cassidy, Bednar…

 

[FiveTacos]

The big issue is that the Rangers will also be looking for a coach now and they’re going to be able to get whoever they want.

Don't be so sure. The front office is pretty toxic right now, and the roster is clearly on the downslope.

 

[KelVarnsen]

Do we know who the rumored finalists were when PV hired Cronin? This may give us a little insight on where he is going.

 

[shach1]

Do we know who the rumored finalists were when PV hired Cronin? This may give us a little insight on where he is going.

Carbury

 

[KelVarnsen]

Carbury

Well thats not possible now lol

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Sullivan seems like the type of big name coach the Rangers will be after

 

[Masch78]

Woodcroft is a hell of a coach.

Based on what?

 

[Big Fat Rebound]

I’d also be curious to see how much of a look we give Todd Nelson. Granted, less than a full season as an NHL head coach (though I thought he was easily the best of the pre-McDavid group in Edmonton), but he’s a Rick Bowness disciple and his teams in Hershey are serial winners while also developing some of the younger support players for the big club (McMichael, Protas, Fehérváry). Think he’d be a decent look if we miss out on the crème de la crème

 

[la patineuse]

Babcock?

Why?

 

[Hockey Duckie]

The Ducks last two head coach hires really set the franchise back. This is going to obviously be one of the most important hires this team has had.

I'd have to disagree. Eakins was at the start of the rebuild and lacked talent depth, but he was able to help youths explode offensively (Comtois, Terry, Z, and Drysdale) as well as revived vets such as Fowler hitting career highs in scoring two seasons in a row and Des developed from just a pugilist to a PK'er. We were 3rd in the Pacific without talent depth when Verbeek took over. Then Verbeek blew up the team at the TDL. Verbeek purposely tanked the 2022-23 season with a shit roster that the following season the blueline was mostly revamped and added two more top-6 weapons.

Cronin was gifted a vastly improved roster, but was only 1-point better than Eakins with a shit roster; that was a downgrade to me that I called out early as it affected all of our offensive players, both youth and vets. It was such boring hockey to watch too. A majority of this board did not believe that Cronin was bad in his first season and made several excuses. Come this year, all the things I called out about Cronin recurred except we got fantastic goaltending.

Let's hope Verbeek learns from his mistake of trying to find an avatar for himself on the bench and gets a coach who can identify talents better as well as put those talents in a position to succeed. That coach needs to be that good at development b/c Verbeek has sucked at bringing in vet top-6F and top-4D.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

I'm not against Woodcroft by any stretch, but I'm also not completely sold on his pedigree. McDavid and Draisaitl cure a lot of ills, both roster construction and coaching. He might be excellent or he might be something less.

Sullivan would be my #1 choice if he shakes loose. I have zero desire for Quenneville.

Wonder if PV will only hire a guy who deploys a Man on Man defensive scheme?

Oiler fan here.

Woodcroft implemented man on man which worked in the regular season, but Vegas exploited it.

Our growing pains switching to Zone Defense (and abhorrently bad goaltending) is why he was fired.

Marchessault spilled the beans on exactly how Vegas knew it could beat Edmonton

Are Skinner, Nurse and Ceci getting too much blame? Definitely

edmontonjournal.com

 

[CrazyDuck4u]

Wait for Tampa to choke and them to fire cooper. Than offer him the moon

 

[Perfect_Drug]

I’d also be curious to see how much of a look we give Todd Nelson. Granted, less than a full season as an NHL head coach (though I thought he was easily the best of the pre-McDavid group in Edmonton), but he’s a Rick Bowness disciple and his teams in Hershey are serial winners while also developing some of the younger support players for the big club (McMichael, Protas, Fehérváry). Think he’d be a decent look if we miss out on the crème de la crème

I'm hesitant to give my thoughts. I liked both Woody and Todd but they're both polarizing among Oiler fans.

The reason we didn't give the HC job to Todd Nelson was our group needed an experienced voice that had a track record of getting the team to play the right way.

Babcock wouldve been good for that, but we went with his protege TMac instead followed by Hitchcock and Tippett.

I feel like you guys are in that crossroads too.


This is a fun read about Nelson

Sunday Q and A: Todd Nelson and his "jam it down their throat" coaching philosophy

TRAVERSE CITY, MI – It’s been a great few months for Todd Nelson. The Grand Rapids Griffins head coach helped lead his team to a Calder Cup championship in the AHL. He was also a finalist for the Arizona Coyotes head coaching job after impressing management in Arizona with his coaching...

www.nytimes.com

 

[GunnarStahl]

Wait for Tampa to choke and them to fire cooper. Than offer him the moon

Wanna hook me up with your dealer? I need some of whatever you're having.

 

[Kalv]

I figured the our search for a new HC could be its own separate discussion from the news of Cronin's departure.

David Carle was obviously going to be one of the first names mentioned. I don't doubt he's a great coach, but my gut tells me we should go with someone proven at the NHL level.

That said, I don't want to see us end up with one of the old guard either. No thanks to Torts, Quenneville, Babcock etc - we need a more modern approach.

Jay Woodcroft seems like perhaps a happy median. It seems like he had the respect of their star players even after his departure. Oilers' McDavid on Woodcroft: 'He never lost the room'


Thoughts?

Just wrote pretty much the same in the Cronins thread about Woodcroft, ha.
I'm big on him, it feels he have lots of untapped potential. He really brought the Oil to the next level, and to gain those comments – he must be at least decent with the players

 

[Kalv]

I'm not against Woodcroft by any stretch, but I'm also not completely sold on his pedigree. McDavid and Draisaitl cure a lot of ills, both roster construction and coaching. He might be excellent or he might be something less.

Woodcroft has had the best regular seaosn success there in the McDavid era IIRC. Tipett was second I think. So he must be doing something right.

While I am a big fan of his as our next signing, I do wonder why he hasn't been picked up yet.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

Verbeek has to get this right. We need a proven coach

 

[70sSanO]

If we limit to coaches who won a cup there are many available (or aren’t geriatric). We would miss on talented coaches and the next Deboer, Maurice, Cassidy, Bednar…

I agree. But I think Pat knows of someone who can meet the criteria.

And since Verbeek has hired a coach without previous NHL coaching experience, it could happen.

He would definitely need to own it.

John

 

[FiveTacos]

While I am a big fan of his as our next signing, I do wonder why he hasn't been picked up yet.

He hasn't been out of a job for THAT long. Maybe he's just waiting for the right fit ... IMO getting your 2nd gig right is critical when the first one ended poorly. If you get into a bad situation the 2nd time out, you likely don't ever get a third.