There's only one thing that would make a team like Chicago more de$$$$$irable
Speculation: The search for a new Head Coach - Rumors and Speculation
- Thread starter WhatTheDuck
- Start date
I see Anaheim as being the perfect place for a 1st year NHL coach like Carle. Regardless of internal expectations, Anaheim isnt going to be a huge spotlight like CHI would be. There is also less work that needs to be done from a personnel standpoint. Carle would be able to come in without a lot of media attention and just get to work
Now, After just getting done with a first time NHL coach, do the Ducks want to go down that road again? Thats a question the front office is going to have to answer. But right now, they have a shot at the most coveted HC candidate, which I dont think they've had in quite some time.
Now, After just getting done with a first time NHL coach, do the Ducks want to go down that road again? Thats a question the front office is going to have to answer. But right now, they have a shot at the most coveted HC candidate, which I dont think they've had in quite some time.
KelVarnsen
Registered User
I know people arent too high on him because of SD, but when he was hired, everyone was ecstatic and thought he for sure was going to follow up Cronin. Id think he still has an outside shot to get the job.
Woodcroft - Was his success solely due to McDavid and Drai?
Carle - Unproven at NHL level
Tocchet (?) - Not officially canned
Sullivan (?) - Speculation only
McIlvaine - Was the soup de jour, not a ton of success in SD
Names maybe not high on the list but available:
Lalonde
DJ Smith
David Quinn
Blashill
Lambert
Yeo
Colliton
Bruce is retired. Y'all can stop with that. MAYBE he would be an advisor, but hes not coaching again.
I cant see Beeker going after anyone even remotely close to Cronin, so guys like Torts are out.
Cronin has more NHL experience as an assistant. You can give him that but his performance in the past hasn't exactly been stellar. He's never coached a team to a championship be it in the NCAA, AHL, or NHL.
Carle coached a Denver team to a championship last year and runner up this year with stellar regular season records the past four years. He was also an assistant when the team won the NCAA title in 2017.
He also coached the Team USA WJC team to back to back gold medals the past two seasons.
Yeah there's a risk in hiring another first timer, but he has shown an ability to coach winning teams with young talent at his disposal and he's pretty universally regarded as an excellent coach at only 35 years old. Cronin was in his 60s when the Ducks hired him and that came with pretty minimal fanfare and praise on the hiring.
Every old experienced coach in the NHL was a new one at some point. Carle, to me seems like a guy that is destined to be a long time NHL head coach. If he ends up one of the greats wouldn't it be good if we took that chance on him right as our youth core is coming together?
I mean I'd be apprehensive but I'm also intrigued by the possibilities. Also Cronin strikes me as an old time moron so I'd have to imagine a guy like Carle is more of a forward thinker with more capacity to understand the modern game.
SmokeyDuck
Registered User
Dr Johnny Fever
RIP Grizzly 399
No.
He still faces all the issues Cronin did with being a new NHL coach. Dealing with demands on his time, all the added travel, and other things Cronin admitted to not being prepared for that took time form him. He also has never coached old guys and had to figure out how to deal with treating young vs old on the same team.
I understand completely he doesn't have Cronin's hard ass baggage, but a brand new NHL coach has more learning to deal with than we need to put up with now. IMO we need a guy who's already been down that road. I don't know who, but somebody who knows the ropes already.
I mean you can make this argument for just about any team. I'm not saying your take isn't valid but personally, if Carle wants the job, there's plenty of worse choices in the old guard.
Dr Johnny Fever
RIP Grizzly 399
Coaches are a lot like players. Rookies take more time to develop into their best. Once a guy has been in the league a while you can spot his strengths and weaknesses more easily than when he's just a flashy successful college guy.
There's no doubt you can screw up hiring any coach. But just like with players, the longer they're in the league the better you know what you're getting.
Thinking about the Samueli family… they only spend when there can make a good return on investment….
Terry Yake
Registered User
- Aug 5, 2013
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TheDarkWingThatDucks
Registered User
- Mar 20, 2025
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Taken from a rangers article … but just same names I haven’t really heard us talk about. Besides Nelson.
1) Todd Nelson has won five different minor league championships as head coach in the last two decades. That includes back-to-back titles for the Washington Capitals' AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, the past two seasons. He also aided the Dallas Stars to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020 as an assistant who heavily guided team tactics.
Equally impressive has been his record for player development. The Capitals are indebted to Nelson for his role in catalyzing this quick turnaround when just two seasons ago the team seemed dead in the water. Aleksei Protas and Connor McMichael, two key contributors in DC, spent a lot of time marinating under Nelson's careful watch while Ethen Frank has been a surprise contributor as a 27-year-old rookie.
Nelson is unapologetically aggressive in his ideas, insisting on a 2-1-2 forecheck in most situations with heavy pressure to force turnovers. Without commitment from the players, it creates significant risk for odd-man rushes against. The Rangers are atrocious at stopping rush chances as is and are not currently built for this style of play. Undoubtedly, they need to find a different identity that sees them spending more time in the offensive zone. Nelson is highly respected in the locker room and he has a proven track record as a well-rounded coach.
If the Rangers want someone with bold ideas and a reputation for collaborating with players, Nelson should be on the radar. He's overdue for a head coaching gig.
2) If the Boston Bruins do not retain interim head coach Joe Sacco, assistant Jay Leach may be a candidate for promotion. That may be the preferred outcome for the former defenseman, who previously led the team's AHL bench for four seasons.
If not, then Leach a good bet to end up on a number of team's shortlists.
Leach was initially an understudy of Mike Sullivan's in the Penguins' organization before moving on to the AHL Bruins, then spending three seasons as an assistant in Seattle before returning to the B's organization this year.
The Rangers must completely rethink how their defensemen play. They need someone who not only has tactical acumen but can also translate ideology into player performance. A source familiar with Leach called player communication his leading strength. He's detail-oriented and works well with players, pressing them to be their best while remaining upbeat.
The Rangers just had an all-time season for killing morale. This situation might call for someone who can command the locker room while leading with a carrot rather than a stick.
3) The Florida Panthers are the type of team that the Rangers wish to emulate, particularly as they play off the puck.
Panthers assistant Sylvain Lefebvre comes into view. Responsible for the team's defensive and penalty kill, Lefebvre has helped the Panthers become one of the best disciplined forechecking teams in the NHL. A big part of that is how he's been able to thread the needle of having his defensemen play aggressively, even despite their having incomplete profiles.
One sees how talented players like Gustav Forsling and Brandon Montour became better at reading the game, or how Nikko Mikkola learned to become a complete player despite lacking footspeed. The Rangers' defensive corps is comprised of players who have the talent to play better if only they could improve their structure and decision-making.
Lefebvre also has head coaching experience in the AHL.
Hiring an assistant from a great team is not a foolproof way become great yourselves; just take a look at the Bill Belichick coaching tree. The Panthers are only able to use their defensemen so aggressively because the front lines are populated with so many strong defensive forwards; the Rangers can only dream of having Sasha Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, let alone the others.
4) Ryan McGill has been everywhere. He got his start as an assistant in the WHL in 1996 and has been employed just about every season since, traveling North America to take on all sorts of projects. He's been a head coach in the WHL, OHL, and AHL, including the Hartford Wolf Pack for three seasons in the mid-aughts. He's also been an NHL assistant for the past eight seasons. He's coached young players. He's coached old players. He's had the objective of player development and he's also been in win-now environments.
A defensive specialist, McGill joined the inaugural Vegas Golden Knights and a number of defensemen have him to thank for career beginnings or revitalizations. He's been in New Jersey the last three seasons with largely positive results. The Devils were one of the best defensive teams in the NHL this season before injuries depleted the group in the second half of the season.
McGill, 56, is yet to be an NHL head coach, but his resumé is lengthy and he knows defensive structure, which the Rangers sure could use.
5) Quinnipiac is a small school in Connecticut. The school doesn't exactly sell itself to top recruits in the way that the top programs like Boston College and Michigan do. In that environment, building a functional program that competes most seasons requires a knack for identifying talent beyond the low-hanging fruit. Churning out an NCAA champion demands a special ability to find exploits in teams with more talent.
That would be Rand Pecknold. A fixture at Quinnipiac since 2002, Pecknold guided Bobcats to a national championship in 2023. He's a modern NHL coach who knows how to communicate with the current generation of hockey players and is detail-oriented.
Drury is from Connecticut and has been part of Team USA staffs that have employed Pecknold for tournaments. The Rangers are in a dangerously fragile position and someone with zero professional coaching experience is not the most assuring choice for this moment. Meanwhile, Pecknold seems perfectly content at Quinnipiac. It's an unlikely match, but there are links here that make his addition to this list worthwhile.
6) D.J. Smith is one of the engineers behind the revamped Los Angeles Kings' defensive structure. The Rangers got their taste of that this season, scoring only two goals total in two games against LA and generally having trouble gaining possession in the offensive zone.
Smith is respected around the league as a thinker of defense. He was previously the defensive assistant in Toronto for four seasons, using data to make the team better at preventing scoring chances.
His first attempt as an NHL head coach was a four-and-a-half year disaster in Ottawa, but let's be fair to him. The team was poorly run from the top and he didn't have a chance. Sometimes head coaches needs to learn from their errors in the first job in order to excel next time around. In an organization willing to spend, and with far better goaltending, Smith might prove head coaching material.
7) As an NHLer, Jeff Halpern was known as a cerebral center who specifically excelled on the defensive side of the puck. It's no surprise that he's succeeded as an NHL assistant.
Halpern has been Jon Cooper's right-hand man in Tampa Bay for seven seasons. That, of course, includes two Stanley Cup championships. In general, the Lightning have been the NHL's model franchise for years, finding success in virtually every capacity. Halpern, who initially joined the organization as an assistant in the Lightning's AHL affiliate, has made his mark.
The Rangers can't become the Lightning by osmosis; they already tried that with the regretful Barclay Goodrow signing. But Halpern knows how to think hockey, he's familiar with the greater New York metropolitan area, and other NHL teams have checked in on him the last few summers. At some point he's going to get his chance as a head coach. Could the Rangers be the team to make it happen?
1) Todd Nelson has won five different minor league championships as head coach in the last two decades. That includes back-to-back titles for the Washington Capitals' AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, the past two seasons. He also aided the Dallas Stars to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020 as an assistant who heavily guided team tactics.
Equally impressive has been his record for player development. The Capitals are indebted to Nelson for his role in catalyzing this quick turnaround when just two seasons ago the team seemed dead in the water. Aleksei Protas and Connor McMichael, two key contributors in DC, spent a lot of time marinating under Nelson's careful watch while Ethen Frank has been a surprise contributor as a 27-year-old rookie.
Nelson is unapologetically aggressive in his ideas, insisting on a 2-1-2 forecheck in most situations with heavy pressure to force turnovers. Without commitment from the players, it creates significant risk for odd-man rushes against. The Rangers are atrocious at stopping rush chances as is and are not currently built for this style of play. Undoubtedly, they need to find a different identity that sees them spending more time in the offensive zone. Nelson is highly respected in the locker room and he has a proven track record as a well-rounded coach.
If the Rangers want someone with bold ideas and a reputation for collaborating with players, Nelson should be on the radar. He's overdue for a head coaching gig.
2) If the Boston Bruins do not retain interim head coach Joe Sacco, assistant Jay Leach may be a candidate for promotion. That may be the preferred outcome for the former defenseman, who previously led the team's AHL bench for four seasons.
If not, then Leach a good bet to end up on a number of team's shortlists.
Leach was initially an understudy of Mike Sullivan's in the Penguins' organization before moving on to the AHL Bruins, then spending three seasons as an assistant in Seattle before returning to the B's organization this year.
The Rangers must completely rethink how their defensemen play. They need someone who not only has tactical acumen but can also translate ideology into player performance. A source familiar with Leach called player communication his leading strength. He's detail-oriented and works well with players, pressing them to be their best while remaining upbeat.
The Rangers just had an all-time season for killing morale. This situation might call for someone who can command the locker room while leading with a carrot rather than a stick.
3) The Florida Panthers are the type of team that the Rangers wish to emulate, particularly as they play off the puck.
Panthers assistant Sylvain Lefebvre comes into view. Responsible for the team's defensive and penalty kill, Lefebvre has helped the Panthers become one of the best disciplined forechecking teams in the NHL. A big part of that is how he's been able to thread the needle of having his defensemen play aggressively, even despite their having incomplete profiles.
One sees how talented players like Gustav Forsling and Brandon Montour became better at reading the game, or how Nikko Mikkola learned to become a complete player despite lacking footspeed. The Rangers' defensive corps is comprised of players who have the talent to play better if only they could improve their structure and decision-making.
Lefebvre also has head coaching experience in the AHL.
Hiring an assistant from a great team is not a foolproof way become great yourselves; just take a look at the Bill Belichick coaching tree. The Panthers are only able to use their defensemen so aggressively because the front lines are populated with so many strong defensive forwards; the Rangers can only dream of having Sasha Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, let alone the others.
4) Ryan McGill has been everywhere. He got his start as an assistant in the WHL in 1996 and has been employed just about every season since, traveling North America to take on all sorts of projects. He's been a head coach in the WHL, OHL, and AHL, including the Hartford Wolf Pack for three seasons in the mid-aughts. He's also been an NHL assistant for the past eight seasons. He's coached young players. He's coached old players. He's had the objective of player development and he's also been in win-now environments.
A defensive specialist, McGill joined the inaugural Vegas Golden Knights and a number of defensemen have him to thank for career beginnings or revitalizations. He's been in New Jersey the last three seasons with largely positive results. The Devils were one of the best defensive teams in the NHL this season before injuries depleted the group in the second half of the season.
McGill, 56, is yet to be an NHL head coach, but his resumé is lengthy and he knows defensive structure, which the Rangers sure could use.
5) Quinnipiac is a small school in Connecticut. The school doesn't exactly sell itself to top recruits in the way that the top programs like Boston College and Michigan do. In that environment, building a functional program that competes most seasons requires a knack for identifying talent beyond the low-hanging fruit. Churning out an NCAA champion demands a special ability to find exploits in teams with more talent.
That would be Rand Pecknold. A fixture at Quinnipiac since 2002, Pecknold guided Bobcats to a national championship in 2023. He's a modern NHL coach who knows how to communicate with the current generation of hockey players and is detail-oriented.
Drury is from Connecticut and has been part of Team USA staffs that have employed Pecknold for tournaments. The Rangers are in a dangerously fragile position and someone with zero professional coaching experience is not the most assuring choice for this moment. Meanwhile, Pecknold seems perfectly content at Quinnipiac. It's an unlikely match, but there are links here that make his addition to this list worthwhile.
6) D.J. Smith is one of the engineers behind the revamped Los Angeles Kings' defensive structure. The Rangers got their taste of that this season, scoring only two goals total in two games against LA and generally having trouble gaining possession in the offensive zone.
Smith is respected around the league as a thinker of defense. He was previously the defensive assistant in Toronto for four seasons, using data to make the team better at preventing scoring chances.
His first attempt as an NHL head coach was a four-and-a-half year disaster in Ottawa, but let's be fair to him. The team was poorly run from the top and he didn't have a chance. Sometimes head coaches needs to learn from their errors in the first job in order to excel next time around. In an organization willing to spend, and with far better goaltending, Smith might prove head coaching material.
7) As an NHLer, Jeff Halpern was known as a cerebral center who specifically excelled on the defensive side of the puck. It's no surprise that he's succeeded as an NHL assistant.
Halpern has been Jon Cooper's right-hand man in Tampa Bay for seven seasons. That, of course, includes two Stanley Cup championships. In general, the Lightning have been the NHL's model franchise for years, finding success in virtually every capacity. Halpern, who initially joined the organization as an assistant in the Lightning's AHL affiliate, has made his mark.
The Rangers can't become the Lightning by osmosis; they already tried that with the regretful Barclay Goodrow signing. But Halpern knows how to think hockey, he's familiar with the greater New York metropolitan area, and other NHL teams have checked in on him the last few summers. At some point he's going to get his chance as a head coach. Could the Rangers be the team to make it happen?
FiveTacos
Registered User
A lot of that can be mitigated with experienced staff. And the reality is those excuses don't really fly for Cronin ... he was an NHL assistant for a number of years, he knew all about the demands that would be required.
A guy who has "it" will figure it out pretty quickly. And a guy who doesn't have "it" will suck no matter how long you give him.
I do think a young-ish coach is going to suit this team more than an old guard type though.
Another idea.
Derek Lalonde.
Was with Verbeek in Tampa and Detroit.
Knows Carle from his DU days.
Carle and Lalonde team.
Derek Lalonde.
Was with Verbeek in Tampa and Detroit.
Knows Carle from his DU days.
Carle and Lalonde team.
TheDarkWingThatDucks
Registered User
- Mar 20, 2025
- 128
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I’d also argue, if Verbeek is good at his job, he listened to Cronin’s comments about what he struggled with adjusting to the NHL in terms of day 2 day.
And some of it is just unteachable. Like hey this is blah blah Verbeek’s secretary, this is blah blah the analytics person. There will be growing pains just coming into a new “family” of people.
At best, this is severely and objectively mistaken. At worst, it is an antisemitic trope.
Some people here repeat this nonsense constantly. We were told that the ducks wouldn't fire Cronin because the ducks don't pay two coaches (even though they did that with BB and Carlyle). Then they fired Cronin. It is just another example, but it doesn't stop comments like this.
We were told the ducks wouldn't pay for expensive UFAs. Then we learn they offered the most $$ to Stamkos and Marchessault. After overpaying for Killorn and Strome.
The ducks traded for a very expensive third string goalie to play in the AHL picking up his high salary. Same for Trouba - they signed up for two expensive years when no other team in the league was willing to take his contract. They traded Fowler and retained for multiple years. Going back, they gave Perry and Getz massive contracts (Kesler and Gibson too)
.
They have spent massive $$ on the Honda center fan experience. They have spent extensively on youth hockey where the ROI is literally negative. They built the great park facility with private funds. They paid their employees during Covid when few (if any) other sports owners did. They have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to charity.
Yet you call them cheapskates? How exactly?
Nelson, Leach, Smith, and Halpern are worth considering.
Didn’t Lefebvre work for the Gulls and get fired a couple years ago?
Wow I like how you highlighted hundreds of millions…. it almost looks like a lot of money.
I don’t expect the average Joe to understand business and making money. Maybe you can understand on the surface by watching movies like The Founder, or read a book like Rich Dad Poor Dad.
The fact is Samueli is a businessman who purchased the Anaheim Ducks in 2005 for $70 million and it’s estimated to be worth 1.3 billion… that’s nearly 20x on his investment. He has an instrument to write off expenses on “charities” and losses while having the perception of being a generous billionaire.
He’s now investing 4 billion on OCVIBE… yes that’s 3x the ducks valuation. If you think he isn’t counting his penny’s you are very naive, or he’s just doing a good job with marketing his generosity. There’s a reason why billionaires invest in things that are not expected… like how Musk wasted money on Twitter… it’s to influence the common man who doesn’t know better.
Last edited:
Terry Yake
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- Aug 5, 2013
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he was an assistant with the gulls for a few seasons up until 2021
This is sophistry combined with a healthy dose of elitism.
Here was your original statement that was posted with a graphic calling the Samuelis "cheapskates":
"Thinking about the Samueli family… they only spend when there can make a good return on investment"
I pointed out several examples where they spent money with poor (or no) ROI. It is well known they give to charities which a "cheapstake" or "penny pincher" would not do. Your statement is objectively false.
So you respond by trying to move the goal posts by: (i) calling me an average joe who doesn't understand how the world works; (ii) pointing out the obvious - that the rich (like virtually all people) try to make more money which is absolutely shocking (sarcasm); and (iii) bizarrely suggesting that hundreds of millions of dollars is not a lot of money.
I have news for you, $100M+ is a lot of money in any context - money that the Samuelis could have kept if they really were cheapskates.
Some wealthy people are penny pinchers or cheapskates. There is no evidence the Samuelis fall in that category (certainly you have produced none) and LOTS of evidence they do not fit that description.
It is ironic your bias/worldview is blinding you while you accuse me of being the naive simpleton. And for the record, even a dumb common man like myself knows that the plural for penny is pennies (not penny's).
Frosted Tips
...
Regarding McIlvane, my understanding is that he was forced to stick with the main club's system to have guys prepared to jump in when needed. If the main club's system was completely rotten, we may not really know what they have in him just yet. I don't really know how much this plays into it when evaluating McIlvane's performance so far but with a better system with the main club, we may see McIlvane do much better with the Gulls or even with the Ducks if given the chance.
Just to be clear, this is message is not my push to nominate his name as the next HC.
Just to be clear, this is message is not my push to nominate his name as the next HC.
Anaheim4ever
Registered User
- Jun 15, 2017
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People have been calling the MLB owner of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Arte Moreno) a cheapskate for over a decade, pointing out things such as like how he cared more about getting international market revenue from keeping Ohtani and letting him walk as a UFA than trading him to make the team better, to things like firing tons of scouts and player development people to save money, or how his player contracts are not insured.
The Samueli's are nothing like that at all, far from it. Sure they don't like to see their money go to waste paying for a coach that was fired, it sets a precedent of the GM being able to constantly fire coaches like other teams do.
I feel like some teams have gone thru 6 coaches in the time the Ducks have gone thru 2 coaches.
The Samueli's are nothing like that at all, far from it. Sure they don't like to see their money go to waste paying for a coach that was fired, it sets a precedent of the GM being able to constantly fire coaches like other teams do.
I feel like some teams have gone thru 6 coaches in the time the Ducks have gone thru 2 coaches.
ShadowDuck
Captain Anaheim
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