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

[Rybread86]

Meh, I don’t know. I’ve flip-flopped so much on this issue over the past week or so that I should probably just stop talking about it and let be what will be. Infinitely better for the board too for no bold proclamations based on nothing substantive

Honestly, same. "This has to be a made up leak" "Ok its real, but its not to hire him, its just to help get his name out" "No, its real, at least hes a good coach" "Baggage is too much, too many fans pissed off, wont happen" "Maybe its just a consultant role" "Nope its real again".

Im at the point where I think its legit. The different "conspiracies" or whatever could still be true, I think the timing is a bit weird, but certainly seems to be a real possibility. Still holding out hope that Beeker is able to hire someone else, but if they have a plan to address the issues/concerns people have, we could do worse.

 

[Static]

Jesus

 

[Firequacker]

I dont recall Cronin saying he was at fault for Lacombe or that Lacombe had to get help because of him. Do you have that quote from the interview?

I just remember Lacombe having confidence issues, Cronin reached out to his college coach to see if he had any insight and then they recommended some stuff to help Lacombe.

Cronin didn't straight up say LaCombe had to seek mental health help in the offseason, let alone because of him, but he did acknowledge himself as part of the problem.

Behind the Bench episode 7, 43:41

"He had a rough year, you know, and if I look back on it, and I had more patience, I wouldn't have been as hard on him. I probably contributed to him having a harder year, because I was on him, I had a higher expectation. He's a different player, he's a different personality."

 

[Leonardo87]

2nd interview for Coach Q?

@Ducks DVM When the Ducks announce the hire, I'm taking off that day from moderating. lol.

Also Sullivan going to the Rangers, just gives me another reason to put them secondary next year. Rinse and Repeat, same recycled crap.

 

[CrazyDuck4u]

Just announce Q already.. lol

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I dunno about abuse, but Cronin did go too far on LaCombe. LaCombe had to seek mental health over the summer because of what Cronin did to him mentally. Also, Cronin did cite that he had to back off a bit in year 2 b/c that old school teaching wasn't resonating with this era's youth players.

Yes Cronin said I abused LaCombe so much he had to seek mental help in the interview.

Actually what he said was LaCombe mentioned in his exit interview that he didn’t believe he was aggressive enough on the ice. So I got him hooked up with my navy seals buddy, and they took some boxing lessons to try and unleash that apex predator on the ice and Get him more comfortable with initiating contact and throwing himself into the battle. Mentioned he was hesitant and LaCombe thought that held him back.

With all the Q stuff going around, it sure would be nice if we didn’t make up our own narratives to situations and instead report the facts laid out before us. People can then use their own judgement to decide what did or did not happen.

Classic @TheDarkWingThatDucks to falsefully present facts, stating that I presented Cronin "abused" LaCombe. Receipt is above.

Go to timestampe 42:23 on the dicsussion about LaCombe on Victory+ or you can go to Ducks Stream podcast.
Behind the Bench ft. Greg Cronin - Victory+

"I'll give you an example, Jackson LaCombe. He's a heckuva player, who's an all-American, almost won a national championship. And he had a rough year. You know, if I looked back on it and I had more patience, I wouldn't be as hard on him. I probably contributed to him having a harder year because I was on him; I had a higher expectation. And he's a different player, a different personality."​

​

"We had meetings at the end of the year that were terrific meetings and he felt intuitively that he wasn't really like an apex predator on the ice, like he wasn't going to run guys over, initiate contact. And he needed to add part of that to his game. I don't wanna kinda violate confidentiality... he felt that he could be a little more or less reactionary mentally to thing happening poorly in the game so deal with adversity better." ​

​

"So he put on like 10 pounds. His kid's coach is a good friend of mine, Bob Motzko in MInnesota training at the Minnesota Gophers hockey training facility. And Bobby saw him on a daily basis. This kid's getting bigger and bigger. And then he went and he learned boxing. So he tried to confront his fear. Which there is no better venue to confront fear than in a ring, whether it's in a UFC, MMA, or boxing. It's so ... such an interesting journey when you do that. Like the feelings you experience. If you can overcome that. It's not about the physical battle. If you can overcome those feelings, the amount of confidence you get is exponential."​

​

"And then he sought out another friend, that was special forces friend that went through some exercises with him to allow him to control fear."​

Cronin does the damage, but it's LaCombe who has to figure things out himself. Great on LaCombe to work on his mental side that Cronin got on him.

 

[Emerald Duck]

Then why not choose one of the other Cup winning retreads? Hell, Torts has a pretty good history of getting teams to the playoffs, has a Cup a long with some other playoff runs, etc.. He could certainly manage as a short term solution if that's all you want, without the baggage.

I don't think the majority of GMs want to hire Torts because he's a loose cannon and eventually wears out his welcome. I'm not sure that PV survives another short term coaching hire that gets fired.

 

[All Mighty]

I don't think the majority of GMs want to hire Torts because he's a loose cannon and eventually wears out his welcome. I'm not sure that PV survives another short term coaching hire that gets fired.

 

[TheDarkWingThatDucks]

Classic @TheDarkWingThatDucks to falsefully present facts, stating that I presented Cronin "abused" LaCombe. Receipt is above.

Go to timestampe 42:23 on the dicsussion about LaCombe on Victory+ or you can go to Ducks Stream podcast.
Behind the Bench ft. Greg Cronin - Victory+

"I'll give you an example, Jackson LaCombe. He's a heckuva player, who's an all-American, almost won a national championship. And he had a rough year. You know, if I looked back on it and I had more patience, I wouldn't be as hard on him. I probably contributed to him having a harder year because I was on him; I had a higher expectation. And he's a different player, a different personality."​

​

"We had meetings at the end of the year that were terrific meetings and he felt intuitively that he wasn't really like an apex predator on the ice, like he wasn't going to run guys over, initiate contact. And he needed to add part of that to his game. I don't wanna kinda violate confidentiality... he felt that he could be a little more or less reactionary mentally to thing happening poorly in the game so deal with adversity better." ​

​

"So he put on like 10 pounds. His kid's coach is a good friend of mine, Bob Motzko in MInnesota training at the Minnesota Gophers hockey training facility. And Bobby saw him on a daily basis. This kid's getting bigger and bigger. And then he went and he learned boxing. So he tried to confront his fear. Which there is no better venue to confront fear than in a ring, whether it's in a UFC, MMA, or boxing. It's so ... such an interesting journey when you do that. Like the feelings you experience. If you can overcome that. It's not about the physical battle. If you can overcome those feelings, the amount of confidence you get is exponential."​

​

"And then he sought out another friend, that was special forces friend that went through some exercises with him to allow him to control fear."​

Cronin does the damage, but it's LaCombe who has to figure things out himself. Great on LaCombe to work on his mental side that Cronin got on him.

I will apologize for claiming you said he abused him. Although if your actions forced someone to go seek help for his mental health and you were in a position of power I’d argue that is abusive. But whatever, I apologize for putting words in your mouth.

I just don’t see how you get “LaCombe had to seek mental health after what Corning did to him mentally”. From anything in that quote.

You are literally making up what you think was going on in LaCombe’s head to make a point. I don’t see anything about him seeking mental health help because Cronin was tough on him. I see and I’m not in LaCombe’s head, that LaCombe’s default mode wasn’t to initiate contact and be that “apex predator” on the ice. And he took some MMA classes to get try and work on his own perceived weaknesses.

 

[MMC]

Whole lot of people believing what they want to believe and what allows them to push the narrative they want to push going on in this thread rn

 

[Gliff]

Whole lot of people believing what they want to believe and what allows them to push the narrative they want to push going on in this thread rn

This. It’s wild.

 

[Mr Rogers]

Everything old is new again

 

[Deuce22]

I agree. I also think this vetting process started months ago.

And I don’t believe PV did not have a specific coach in mind when he decided to fire Cronin. That was pure PR in case things don’t work out.

I would rather find a good young coach that fits with the players and grows with the organization long term. That is such an unknown and the misses generally greatly outweigh the hits. It should have been done instead of Cronin. Now it is replacing one old guy with an older one.

It never ceases to amaze me how retreads, including Quenneville, find jobs over and over again after being fired.

90% of the time they fail in the same manner. But there is always that hope that a veteran coach will be a Sutter, or Maurice, or maybe DeBoer this year, will have the right mix of players and win it all.

John

Not for hiring Q, but calling a 3-time cup winner a “retread” is ridiculous.

 

[Sendhelp2Anaheim]

2nd interview for Coach Q?

@Ducks DVM When the Ducks announce the hire, I'm taking off that day from moderating. lol.

Also Sullivan going to the Rangers, just gives me another reason to put them secondary next year. Rinse and Repeat, same recycled crap.

Put me in coach, I’m ready to mod while you are gone for the day…. I run a tight ship

 

[Ducks DVM]

Put me in coach, I’m ready to mod while you are gone for the day…. I run a tight ship


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@Leonardo87 he’s just going to trade you for future considerations and a gecko.

 

[Hey234]

So we know Quenneville and Woodcroft have interviewed, Carle met, and Sullivan... will be in New York, so it's moot. I'm curious if Carle was anything more than gauging interest. This is such a big decision; I hope Verbeek is up to the task.

 

[Masch78]

Jesus

Always wondered how good of a coach Sullivan is. I mean, he had 2 generational center and a high end goalie all the time.

 

[NWWisconsinDuck]

Always wondered how good of a coach Sullivan is. I mean, he had 2 generational center and a high end goalie all the time.

I think this is a fair question that’s often asked of coaches like this but I’ve started to flip the mindset a bit and think that it takes a good coach to be able to successfully coach those kind of guys too.

 

[Dostwall]

So we know Quenneville and Woodcroft have interviewed, Carle met, and Sullivan... will be in New York, so it's moot. I'm curious if Carle was anything more than gauging interest. This is such a big decision; I hope Verbeek is up to the task.

It probably was a cursory conversation with Carle, but the fact that we haven’t heard of him removing himself from the convo may be a positive sign? Idk.

Also if we take it to mean he met with him in-person, that could be a good sign too.

 

[Kalv]

I think LeBrun said "recently" about Carle which sounded like it could be after he tool himself out of Chicago conversation

 

[duckpuck]

In terms of leaking, I think its entirely possible (in fact likely) that Q and his team are leaking the interviews. They have a huge incentive to let everyone know that he's in the running. To normalize his hiring.

I don't have moral objections to Q and think he's a very good coach. Certainly his floor is high. I'm fine with the hire. But he's old and I wouldn't mind finding a younger coach with upside. That being said, I'm leery of a first time coach. So that points to a guy like Woodcroft.

One name I haven't heard is Todd Reirden. I wonder why? He had a pretty good run in Washington.

 

[Masch78]

I think this is a fair question that’s often asked of coaches like this but I’ve started to flip the mindset a bit and think that it takes a good coach to be able to successfully coach those kind of guys too.

Agree but it is a completely different profile if you manage superstars or emerging players.

 

[Masch78]

It is sort of funny

My heart says go with Carle, the rational part in me says go with Q. And Woodcroft might be somewhere in between. But I somehow want a guy that might be a long term solution, which Q is not.

 

[Kalv]

It is sort of funny

My heart says go with Carle, the rational part in me says go with Q. And Woodcroft might be somewhere in between. But I somehow want a guy that might be a long term solution, which Q is not.

Woody is the answer.

But yeah if Pat goes Q, it will seem like 60 yo Cronin was too inexperienced so Pat went with a 66 yo
Next up: hiringa 91 yo Scotty Bowman. Dude has plenty of experience coaching in the NHL. He checks a lot of boxes for Pat

 

[NWWisconsinDuck]

I think LeBrun said "recently" about Carle which sounded like it could be after he tool himself out of Chicago conversation

I also think it’s safe to assume by “meeting” with Carle as LeBrun put it, we can just say they interviewed Carle.

What I would like to see is reports that Carle and Woodcroft are getting second interviews but if it’s Q’s team leaking his, then we may not get that even if they do indeed happen.