Verbeek

[12ozPapa]

So, how has Verbeek done so far in your opinion?

 

[Gliff]

Can’t really judge since all he has done is tear it down. Give it a year to see how 2 years worth of UFAs and his NHL and AHL coaches are doing.

 

[Deuce22]

Too early for any kind of judgement. Went all in on the Bedard sweepstakes, ended up with Carlsson as a nice consolation prize. If Cronin turns out to be the right hire, and the young players get better, then I think he's off to a good start.

 

[DavidBL]

As much as I am not a fan of most of his moves so far, it is too early to really judge. To this point though I'm not a big fan. I like the signings yesterday though and if he adds some more players this summer he'll have gone a long way in improving my opinion.

 

[dracom]

i need an option that's between good and mediocre.

 

[Bleak]

As much as I am not a fan of most of his moves so far, it is too early to really judge. To this point though I'm not a big fan. I like the signings yesterday though and if he adds some more players this summer he'll have gone a long way in improving my opinion.

You and I are opposites! I'm a fan of the blow up and what he has done until this point. Strome and that one D who we paid millions and millions of dollars to for a very lack-luster season (zzz) are included. Glad he tried something at the very least.

I'm quite a fan of his moves but again, like many others have stated, we need another couple of years. Next year we can see his tank come more into fruition and the next season the plan gets slapped into our faces whether we like it or not. Not going to vote

 

[91Fedorov]

Agreed. Too soon to tell. Premature E-poll-ulation.

 

[AngelDuck]

I think he’s done fine so far. There was very little reason to believe the organization was positioned to be more than a mediocre to bad team for the foreseeable future when he took over

 

[Dirk316]

His first full season the team was expected to be a low playoff team instead finished as one of the worst teams in NHL history. That's with a mostly healthy lineup all year. He completely neglects toughness giving the team the softest lineup in team history. Nobody seams to want to play here unless they are grossly overpaid.
Hes horrid no team direction other than tall and soft.

 

[MMC]

His first full season the team was expected to be a low playoff team instead finished as one of the worst teams in NHL history. That's with a mostly healthy lineup all year. He completely neglects toughness giving the team the softest lineup in team history. Nobody seams to want to play here unless they are grossly overpaid.
Hes horrid no team direction other than tall and soft.

Haha no we weren’t

 

[pbgoalie]

Mediocre vote.

In large part due to being early.
The draft pick/development successes right now will be the factor

Too soft last year
Mixed FA results lastvyear

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Honestly? I could go half and half.

I didn’t mind him having a complete tear down of the first season. But I really think this past season wasn’t even a tanking job. It was more along the lines of inept thinking by a rookie GM. We were successful until injuries hit us and then we really sucked.

I don’t know if I can put my finger on scouting as a positive because that’s more Madden and that team. I wouldn’t have picked some of the players that they picked, especially in the second round, but that’s my own fault for falling in love with players around that range due to rankings.

It’s hard being a Ducks fan right now. Maybe Killorn and Gudas change the culture, but wasn’t that the play last season with Strome, Vatrano and Klingberg?

I know many here love our defensive prospects, but I think our skill up front is still severely lacking. It’s not secret that I would trade one of our defenseman for an impact forward.

 

[Terry Yake]

too early, but he's currently in the negative for me just based off the debacle that was the lindholm trade

 

[Quack Shot]

His first full season the team was expected to be a low playoff team

Bullshit

 

[Firequacker]

Voted mediocre. It's too early to judge his plan or most of his key moves, early results aren't particularly impressive but they're not hope-crushing either. Plenty of room for optimism.

What I don't love is the way he talked about the team last year. (Among other things, saying coaching was fine and the only problem was that the players weren't executing, then ditching Eakins before even having exit interviews and blowing off the idea that assembling a roster that couldn't even complete a pass might fall a little bit on him.) Particularly when he himself couldn't seem to execute roster management things like say, having a seventh D on the team after the deadline. Relatively minor things in a tanking season, but you can tank without essentially telling the existing team (which includes most of your future forward core and the guy you claim is your number one goalie going forward) to screw themselves. From the outside it doesn't inspire confidence.

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

I’d be able to give a better answer in august but so far I’ve liked his FA pickups this off season.

 

[Bergey37]

I’m not big on rating polls, but I think Verbeek has demonstrated enough for a subjective interim progress report.

what he has demonstrated to me, and it impresses me, is that his vision for the team involves the team getting better NOW, and he will only make moves that move us in that direction. He is sticking to his plan.

Last season was NOT an intentional tank, nor was it some “reset to the rebuild;” he did what he had to do with expiring contracts who chose not to meet his criteria; he signed mid-tier FAs who would help the team, and I would argue both did, though incrementally, and will continue to do so. He thought he had two deals made that would also have helped, but both went down, one to incompetence on the other side, one to Roman Josi at the 11th hour. He then loses a third of his blue line at the beginning of the season. He was basically forced to accept a tank year.

He did not take cap dumps for more unnecessary picks because that just kicks the can down the road, and that is NOT part of his plan. If your picks can’t get you the players you want, then you make the picks. He did that last summer, and this summer.

This summer he’s signed two FAs who will help the team, one especially - Killorn. Not only is he still a good player, but he has TONS of playoff experience, much like Scott Niedermeyer when he came to us. And he’s not done; there will still be cap casualties to fall this summer.

So if you want me to give a grade, I’d say “Good;” he’s stuck to his vision and hasn’t let peripheral nonsense get in the way, and for that I applaud him.

 

[snowave]

Too early for a final judgement, but I've been very unimpressed ( and disappointed) up until this point. Last year was a disaster, tank or no tank.

Getting Leo is optimistic, but was really hoping for fantilli. (Although, As I've mentioned, that may not be PV's fault).The two recent pickups are decent moves, but good lord we overpaid. (yeah, I know we can afford it now, but still don't like having to do that to get players here. Sets a bad precedent).

The rest of the summer and next year will be huge for him as we need to start seeing some fairly significant improvement. I would really like to see us as a bubble team, but that may be too optimistic, especially if we don't pick up much more help.

Anyway, I liked the original hiring of PV... then grew to almost hate the guy after the Terry incident. Last year finishing dead last sucked. Don't care about the tank shit. What was out on the ice was disgraceful and hurt this team ( and Anaheim's reputation) more than I think many realize.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

I picked mediocre.

His drafts are TBD, passing on the consensus number 2 player is going to impact this alot and he better be right because if he's wrong it's it's type of decision that gets you fired and never getting another GM job

I absolutely hated how soft of a team he iced last year and that has really soured me on the guy. Last year team was one of the least enjoyable to watch as a fan we have had in the 2000s, it didn't serve our young players well to not have a tougher roster around them. Especially after after Terry incident I felt confident he was gonna try and do something and he didn't.

Free agency, I hate the Killorn and Strome contracts, Vatrano is totally worth his money and I don't take much issue with Gudas either our defense needs someone like him

Trades are somewhat TBD as well

I hope I'm wrong and he ends up being a great GM but so far, not a fan

 

[Rasp]

My big takeaway from this is that supporters have wildly different views of Verbeek's plan and progress

 

[Trojans86]

The one thing I do like is how he is constructing the team. He has his main forwards that are our skill guys and then every other forward is tall and plays with intensity and speed. I don’t want Sam Steel types with our late first round or second round picks. Those types don’t win in the playoffs. I also really like how we are putting a premium on size. I feel BM was building a team that would get killed in the playoffs and PV is starting to correct that.

 

[anezthes]

Remains to be seen but he's just a weird dude.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

I've loved all of the UFA signings (even Klingberg, I liked the swing even if it didn't work out).

Nothing else, though. I didn't like his public comments after the Terry/Beagle incident, I'm amazed at how badly he misjudged last year's team, his response to that once he realized it was to disgrace the franchise in a blatant tank, the return on his trades range from mediocre to terrible. Like I mentioned somewhere, I think I see a plan forming and I like that plan, but it might just be me making constellations out of stars and not seeing real patterns.

So overall, not impressed so far.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Verbeek had two options when he inherited the Ducks: make the playoffs next year or make the playoffs in three to five years. PV elected the latter, which implies we have to wait to see if the bigger picture is molding into shape. Building through the draft means your core and stars will mostly come from your prospects (drafted or traded for), which will take years. Because it's a reset rebuild, PV bought himself time to make mistakes.

Abbreviated take: Long projection looks great, but the getting there has some red flags.

Spoiler: Macro view, Micro view, & PV's inconsistencies... Long take

Macro, Micro, & PV views

- Macro view: Things look great. PV's added much talent in the top-6 (C Carlsson), back end (Mintyukov, Luneau, Helleson, Warren), two-way players (C Gaucher, F Nesterenko, LW Hvidston, and LW Myatovic), and goalie prospects (Clang, Clara, and Buteyets).

- Micro view: PV didn't care about roster balance, construction, protection, and toughness after the 2022 TDL until the end of the 2022-23 season. Got rid of the toughness and grit by trading away Lindholm, Manson, and Deslauriers, but didn't replace them after the TDL or the ensuing summer. The team was ragdolled for the league during that season and a quarter. Trading away Lindholm because Verbeek wanted a shorter term for the 28-year old D-man and then signing Gudas to a 3-year contract worth $4 mil at age 33 is a head scratcher. Having veterans to help bridge today's youth for the next three years is great, especially with vets with grit. The problem is signing the 33/34 year old vets to 3 or more years.

- PV's Inconsistencies: Verbeek contradicts himself in words and patterns. First PV said after being hired was the Ducks would be contenders. Then he blows up the roster at the 2022 TDL. Then he said this year was about development and didn't care about wins. Months later, PV expected the team to be at .500 with the shit roster he compile. Near the end of the season, he said Nestrenko's ELC would start next season, but we discovered it was to start as soon as he was signed. PV was dismayed at how the season ended and didn't bring back Eakins, but PV brought back assistant coaches Brown and Johnson, while Stothers was made special advisor to coaching mentorship.

If I don't view what PV did as a reset rebuild, then PV has been an abysmal GM to take a team he inherited at 3rd place in the Pacific division during all-star break when he was hired and made the team finished dead last the following season.

 

[70sSanO]

To be honest I think a lot of people forget just how bad the Ducks have been for a long time.

We couldn’t even skate the puck into the zone on a power play; wind up Rakell and try to get the puck in. And then just dump it.

We can’t complete the simplest passes as most of them are area passes. We could hardly exit the zone.

I remember our rare odd man rushes and we couldn’t even get a shot off.

3 on 3 was about the biggest joke that always ended with the opposition beating us on a rush after a stupid turnover.

I’m trying to remember the last time we had any net front presence… Perry? Maroon?

What has saved us were some key players, and tougher gritty players, and goalies that could stand on their heads going all the way back to Hiller.

One of my vivid memories of the Boudreau years, and those were good years, was Bryan Allen falling down in the playoffs and looking up at a King’s player skate by.

So looking back, I don’t think he has done so bad.

John