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Offseason Checklist: Anaheim Ducks

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those eliminated in the first round.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Anaheim.

After a rocky showing in 2023-24, the Ducks bounced back relatively well this year with a 21-point jump in the standings.  However, that still left them well short of a playoff spot and GM Pat Verbeek acted quickly, firing Greg Cronin and two assistant coaches while Joel Quenneville has taken over behind the bench.  Even with that big item checked off, Anaheim has a lot to accomplish this summer.

Make A Decision On Zegras

This was a topic in last year’s checklist and frankly, not a lot has changed since then.  Coming off an injury-riddled year that saw him struggle when he was healthy, Trevor Zegras was in all sorts of trade speculation last summer.  There were some more intensive talks at the draft but nothing got across the finish line, giving Zegras a chance to make a better second impression on Cronin and his staff.

Unfortunately, this season was largely more of the same.  He missed more than 20 games with a knee injury and potted 12 goals and 20 assists in the 57 games he played, only a small uptick in points-per-game compared to the year before.  For a player with two 60-plus-point seasons under his belt already, it’s fair to say this was another underwhelming year.

That means the trade speculation is likely to pick up once again in the near future.  Zegras now has just one year left on his bridge deal, one that carries a $5.75MM qualifying offer in 2026 when he’ll be a year away from UFA eligibility.  An early extension makes no sense for either side so Verbeek has two choices here, hold again and hope things will improve under Quenneville or pull the trigger on a trade over the coming months.

Of course, with the way the last two years have gone, Zegras isn’t exactly at peak trade value.  Teams will view him as more of a buy-low candidate and will likely structure their offers accordingly.  However, is Anaheim in a spot where a positive-value return that isn’t the best better than running the risk of him having another down year and seeing his value degrade further or even fall into non-tender or club-elected arbitration territory?  That’s what Verbeek will be looking to weigh over the next little while.

Bridge Or Long-Term Deals?

The Ducks have two of their intended future core players up for new deals this summer.  Armed with more than $38MM in cap space per PuckPedia, Verbeek is in a spot where he can choose which direction to take with them rather than having their cap situation dictate those plans.  That cap space largely insulates them from being a target for an offer sheet as well, given their easy ability to match.

The first is center Mason McTavish.  The 22-year-old was the third-overall pick in 2021 with the hopes that he could become their top center of the future.  (Leo Carlsson was picked a year later and now holds that particular distinction.)  Over his first three seasons, his development has largely been gradual but he did set career highs across the board this year and finished second on the team in scoring with 20 goals and 32 assists on a team that had an awful lot of trouble scoring.  Still just 22, McTavish is certainly tracking to be at least a core player even if he doesn’t wind up as the high-end number one center his draft status might have suggested.

Having said that, this could be a bit of a trickier negotiation.  With the year McTavish had, he wouldn’t want to sign a long-term deal on the basis of him being a 50-point player; he’s going to expect that there’s still more improvement on that front and will want to be paid accordingly.  Meanwhile, Verbeek might not want to pay that type of price tag until he sees more from McTavish.  He pushed for the bridge deal for Zegras and that decision looks particularly wise at the moment.  If it is a shorter-term agreement, it should check in around the $4MM mark.

Then there’s goaltender Lukas Dostal.  This was the year when the label of the goalie of the future changed to goalie of the present as he took over as the primary starter.  On the other hand, his overall numbers were still relatively pedestrian (3.10 GAA and a .903 SV%) but he was playing behind a relatively weak defensive group.  He’s two years away from UFA eligibility so it’s hard to see a two-year deal being the solution here even if it might be the safer way to go normally.

Verbeek’s options here are probably opt for a one-year contract if he needs to see more from Dostal or to pay him like a secondary-tier starter even though his career numbers might not warrant it just yet.  In that instance, deals like ones signed by Karel Vejmelka (five years, $4.75MM AAV), Joey Daccord (five years, $5MM AAV), and Mackenzie Blackwood (five years, $5.25MM AAV) look like the range for Dostal’s next price tag.

Find A Trade For Gibson

Another theme from last year’s column, not a lot has changed here either.  For years now, Gibson has been in trade speculation and while there have been times when it looked like one might be possible, it hasn’t happened yet.  But the environment might be more favorable for a move this time around.

For starters, Gibson quietly had a solid season.  His .911 SV% was his highest mark since 2018-19 while his 2.77 GAA was his best since 2017-18, numbers that were better than Dostal.  After putting up numbers that were below the NHL average for several years, this was a big step in the right direction and should help quell some concerns that he isn’t capable of playing at that level anymore.  That should open up a couple more potential trade avenues at least.

The contract is also more manageable.  Yes, his $6.4MM AAV is still on the high side (ranking 11th as things stand for next season) but there are only two years left on the contract.  It should be more palatable for Anaheim to hold back at least some money on that deal.  If they retained even 20% ($1.28MM), his revised cap hit would be $5.12MM which would be 21st league-wide.  That’s more the range he should be in and the Ducks wouldn’t have to eat a lot of dead money to get him there now.

Then there’s the free agent market.  Aside from Jake Allen, it’s a particularly weak class, making Gibson more enticing as a trade candidate.  If you’re looking for a short-term goalie upgrade, it might be more palatable to trade something for Gibson than commit to a likely lesser option on the open market.

Is this enough to make a trade likely?  Probably not, and it should be noted that there is a 10-team no-trade list to contend with as well.  But there’s a path to a suitable trade this offseason which hasn’t been the case too often.  And if it doesn’t happen, this could very well make another appearance on next spring’s checklist.

Add Some Firepower

Offense has been hard to come by for Anaheim lately.  This season, they were 30th in the league with just 217 goals.  That was actually an improvement on the previous year when they were also 30th but with only 203 tallies.  In 2022-23, they were 31st with 206 goals.  If you want to go back to the last time the Ducks were even in the top 20 league-wide in that department, it was the 2017-18 season.  If we change that to the last time they were in the top half of the league in goals, that came back in 2014-15.

Suffice it to say, this has been a long-standing issue for Anaheim and one that hasn’t really been addressed, even in spite of some decent additions in Frank Vatrano and Ryan Strome in recent years.

If you’re in the glass-half-full category, there’s reason for optimism.  With so many young players in key roles, there’s hope that there will be some internal improvement from all of them which should give them a boost.  Playing for a more proven coach in Quenneville might also give them a bit of a lift.  But expecting that alone to be enough to get them closer to even being league average would likely be foolhardy.

Anaheim has had one of the more restrictive budgets in recent years with the team trying to spend much closer to the floor than the cap.  But last week, team owner Henry Samueli indicated that Verbeek won’t have to penny pinch as much as he did before.  That’s especially noteworthy with their favorable cap situation.

At this point, Verbeek shouldn’t be too picky when it comes to searching for potential offensive upgrades.  But after spending big on Alex Killorn as a culture-building pickup two years ago and striking out on his targets last summer, Anaheim needs to be a lot more successful in its recruitment class this time around and add some much-needed scoring help to this group.

Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images.

Ducks Owner Henry Samueli Discusses Future Goals For Team

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In a rare interview, Anaheim Ducks owner Henry Samueli discussed the need to provide GM Pat Verbeek with more financial flexibility, the decision to hire coach Joel Quenneville, and his desire to make the team a Stanley Cup contender moving forward, per Eric Stephens of The Athletic.

After seven consecutive seasons without making the playoffs (including a 35-37-10 record this year, Samueli said he wants a more competitive team moving forward. Samueli, 70, has owned the team for more than 20 years and oversaw the team’s 2007 Stanley Cup win. As Samueli put it, “That is the pressure we’re putting on both Pat and Joel. They know that the fans and the ownership expect to make the playoffs this (next) season. There’s a lot of pressure to put on a coach and a GM. But you got to do it.”

He added that the team has completed its rebuilding process and have reached the point where they’re looking to win. He said the team is now focused on becoming “perennial playoff contenders” and noted that they needed to add an experienced head coach to support with that goal. Enter Quenneville, who despite his baggage, comes with the second-most wins of any coach.

“And that was one of the main reasons for wanting to bring someone like a Joel Quenneville in, because we felt comfortable that he could take us from the end of a rebuild to the beginning of a playoff era.”

Samueli was also specifically asked about the optics of hiring someone with Quenneville’s history. He discussed the thorough investigation the team underwent and ultimately determined they were comfortable with Quenneville moving forward. As he said: “I fully respect people who have negative opinions or going to have negative comments. There’s a lot of people who are victims of abuse, and I have nothing but the most respect for them. We’ll listen and try to convince them that we really did go through a thorough process and that Joel really is a good person who happened to make a mistake. I feel comfortable that we can deal with the situation.”

Samueli acknowledged that success requires spending more, starting with the price tag of Quenneville’s salary. However, when asked if he would allow Verbeek to spend to the cap, Samueli said he has given his GM the flexibility to make the moves necessary to make the team a playoff contender. He added, “If it means signing big-name free agents, go for it. We told him going forward you will not be constrained by the budget.”

Ducks Part Ways With Two Assistant Coaches

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Earlier today, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reported (Twitter links) that the Ducks were likely to make further changes to their coaching staff.  Those moves have now been made as the team announced (Twitter link) that they will not be retaining assistant coaches Brent Thompson and Rich Clune.

Thompson spent the last two seasons behind the bench in Anaheim, his first NHL stint in nearly a decade after spending a pair of years as an assistant with the Islanders.  In between, he had been a fixture at AHL Bridgeport, serving as their bench boss for nine years before being added to former head coach Greg Cronin’s staff with the team bringing in coaches known for player development.

As for Clune, this was his first season with the team and the first full year that he was an assistant coach.  His playing career came to an end back in 2022 with AHL Toronto and he remained with the organization for two seasons in a player development role while spending a part season as an assistant with the Marlies before getting a chance to work with an NHL franchise.

For the time being, at least, it appears that Anaheim’s other assistant coaches will remain on Joel Quenneville’s staff.  Tim Army was also hired last offseason for his second stint with the team after being an assistant in the first three years of the franchise’s existence.  Meanwhile, goalie coach Peter Budaj, who also joined the Ducks last summer for his first stint of being an NHL coach, appears to be safe as well.

Ducks Name Joel Quenneville Head Coach

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12:30 PM: The Ducks have made the hiring of Joel Quenneville official. He will man an NHL bench for the first time since 2021 next season.

10:00 AM: The Anaheim Ducks are expected to name veteran NHL head coach Joel Quenneville as the 12th head coach in franchise history, per TSN’s Darren Dreger. This will be Quenneville’s first coaching job since resigning form the Florida Panthers organization in 2021 due to his involvement in the Chicago Blackhawks’ 2010 sexual abuse case. Quenneville was barred from returning to the NHL until being reinstated late last summer. Dreger points out that Anaheim did extensive background checks on the sexual abuse case, and what Quenneville has done to reform his actions in the years since. He was the first candidate they interviewed after firing Greg Cronin.

There was only one head coaching vacancy by the time Quenneville was reinstated, limiting his options to return quickly to the league. He’ll find a path back in before the next summer hits, though – and join the sixth organization of his 27-year coaching career. Quenneville has racked up three Stanley Cup wins and the second-most wins in NHL coaching history, behind only Scotty Bowman – who he had a chance to succeed in roles with the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks. Quenneville is a whopping 275 wins behind Bowman’s record – and would need a healthy extension to his career, and a resurgence from the Ducks organization, to rival the mark.

Quenneville’s lengthy NHL career began as a player originally drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second-round of the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft. He joined the NHL in the following season, and quickly found a rut as a bottom-of-the-lineup utility player routinely posting meager scoring and lofty penalty totals. Quenneville played two years with the Leafs, three years with the Colorado Rockies, and one year with both the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals – all split around spending the heart of his career with seven years with the Hartford Whalers. His career as an NHL player spanned 12 years and ended with Quenneville totaling 190 points and 705 PIMs in 803 games.

Quenneville operated as a player and assistant coach hybrid with the AHL’s St John’s Maple Leafs in 1991-92 – the final year of his playing career. Two years later, he was promoted to an assistant coach role with the Quebec Nordiques that continued on when the club became the Colorado Avalanche in 1995. After three seasons as a second-rank in Quebec and Colorado, Quenneville was awarded the head coaching role for the St. Louis Blues – where his prowess quickly became noticeable. Quenneville championed St. Louis to seven consecutive postseason appearances, though the club never made it beyond the Western Conference Finals. He was only fired when the team eyed a postseason absence in 2004. He took the lockout season of 2004-05 off of work, and returned as the Avalanche’s head coach in the 2005-06 season.

Colorado made the playoffs in one of two seasons with Quenneville at the helm. But after not gaining much ground, they opted to punt him to the Chicago Blackhawks for the 2008-09 campaign. It was in Chicago that Quenneville became a legendary coaching figure, joining hands with a young Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to form one of the most formidable clubs in the NHL. The Blackhawks took a run to the Conference Finals in Quenneville’s first year, then won the Stanley Cup in year two. That pair of seasons would spark a nine-year streak of postseason appearances for Chicago, headlined by two more Cup wins in 2013 and 2015.

Quenneville left Chicago after a missed postseason in 2018 and a poor start to the 2018-19 campaign. He found work with the Florida Panthers from 2019 to 2021, though couldn’t push the club beyond the first round of the postseason.

Anaheim Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek made one thing clear in the club’s exit interviews: the goal of next season is to make the postseason. That’s a lofty goal for a club that finished with 80 points and a sixth-place divisional rank this season – but they’re looking to find a spark by bringing on the man with the second-most playoff games coached in NHL history (again behind Bowman). Quenneville will inherit a roster that features burgeoning youngsters like Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish (pending contract), Olen Zellweger, Lukas Dostal (pending contract), Trevor Zegras, and more. The young core are flanked by strong veterans in Troy Terry, Alex Killorn, Jacob Trouba, and John Gibson. That’s a hardy makeup for a pro club, but the Ducks still haven’t found a postseason berth since 2018. Following a thorough background check and multiple interviews, Anaheim will stake their playoff hopes in Quenneville beginning next season.

Photo courtesy of Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images.

Ducks Linked To David Carle, Jay Woodcroft, Joel Quenneville

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Anaheim Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek is in the midst of his second search for a head coach after just his third full season in the club’s top role. After failed tenures with Dallas Eakins and Greg Cronin, Verbeek is pulling out all of the stops. Anaheim reportedly interviewed top coaching prospect David Carle and former Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft recently, and plan to also hold a second interview with record-holding head coach Joel Quenneville, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. LeBrun added that the trio of heavy-hitters aren’t the only names on Anaheim’s list.

Whoever lands in the Ducks’ head coaching vacancy will have one clear goal for next season: making the postseason. Verbeek put heavy emphasis on that goal in Anaheim’s final press conference of the season, and said he would be aggressive in the coaching circuit and free agency to achieve that goal. The Ducks haven’t made the postseason since 2018, when they closed a six-year run of playoff berths by getting swept by the San Jose Sharks. That Ducks squad leaned on clearly aged veterans – including a 32-year-old Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, and a 33-year-old Ryan Kesler. Kesler retired and Perry left after the subsequent season, while Getzlaf hung up the skates in 2022. Those departures thrust the Ducks into a rebuild that Verbeek hopes to end with a return to the playoffs in 2026.

Anaheim will have some dazzling coaching candidates to choose from. Leading the pack is the coach with the second-most wins in NHL history. Quenneville hasn’t been deemed as a clear front-runner for the vacancy, but a second interview is a mighty bode of confidence for a man who was barred from coaching from 2021 to 2024, due to his involvement in assault allegations from the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. There was only one coaching vacancy by the time Quenneville was reinstated late last summer, and he reportedly wasn’t considered for the role. That makes attention from Anaheim particularly notable, marking Quenneville’s first chance to prove himself after not coaching a full, 82-game season since 2019-20. He won three Stanley Cups with the dynasty-era Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, 2013, and 2015.

Two strong candidates will headline the competition for Quenneville’s bid. Carle has gained plenty of acclaim from the hockey world after leading the University of Denver to two national championships in 2022 and 2024. Those rings have been intercut by a conference final loss in 2023 and a frozen four loss this season. He also won back-to-back World Juniors gold medals in each of the last two seasons. Carle has staked his claim as one of the most accomplished coaches in college hockey – a remarkable feat considering he is still only 35-years-old, with just seven years of head coach experience under his belt. Carle did withdraw his name from consideration for the Chicago Blackhawks coaching vacancy, and is expected to return to the Denver Pioneers next season – but a strong pitch could convince the burgeoning coach to move to Southern California.

Woodcroft doesn’t have the multiple years of championship pedigree of Quenneville and Carle, though he did lead the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors to a Calder Cup in the shortened 2020-21 campaign. He was promoted to the NHL partway through the following season and led the Oilers to a pair of playoff berths before being axed after a 3-9-1 start to the 2023-24 season. He is another young head coaching candidate with 20 years of experience behind pro benches. That could serve him well as Anaheim looks to strike a balance between winning now and building for their future.

Update On Ducks Pursuit Of Joel Quenneville

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  • Friedman discussed the Anaheim Ducks and their level of interest in former coach Joel Quenneville. He said the belief is that Quenneville is in fact a serious contender for the position and added he believes several teams are also looking into Quenneville. With Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek expressing a clear goal of reaching the playoffs next season, Friedman suggests that’s why the team is showing interest in Quenneville—a three-time Stanley Cup champion and the second-winningest coach in NHL history. With that said, Friedman also acknowledged how any team’s fanbase may be opposed to the hiring of Quenneville based on his past, all teams are going to have to weight when determining whether or not to move forward with the veteran coach.

Ducks Interviewed Joel Quenneville For Head Coach Vacancy

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Longtime NHL head coach Joel Quenneville was interviewed by the Ducks for their vacant head coach position, ESPN’s John Buccigross implied. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff confirmed the report, adding he’s being considered but isn’t necessarily a finalist yet.

Quenneville has not coached since resigning as the Panthers’ bench boss early in the 2021-22 season. He was subsequently suspended from working in the league “as a result of [his] inadequate response upon being informed in 2010 of allegations that Blackhawks’ Player, Kyle Beach, had been assaulted by the Club’s video coach.” Quenneville, along with former Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman and VP of hockey operations Al MacIsaac, had their suspensions lifted by the league last July. Bowman quickly returned to work as GM of the Oilers, but MacIsaac and Quenneville have yet to work another job in the league or for one of its member clubs.

Only one coaching vacancy was open last summer by the time Quenneville was reinstated. That was the Blue Jackets, and they never approached him for an interview. Other teams had interest in his services earlier in the 2024 offseason, but were told by the league he was unavailable for hire.

Quenneville, who coached the Blackhawks to Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013, 2015, and won as an assistant with the Avalanche in 1996, is the first name linked to Anaheim’s coaching vacancy. They fired Greg Cronin earlier this month with one season left on his contract. Cronin recently expressed interest in moving cross-country to fill the Bruins’ vacancy.

Ducks Fire Greg Cronin

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The Ducks announced today they’ve relieved head coach Greg Cronin of his duties. He had one season remaining on his contract, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic.

General manager Pat Verbeek released a statement on his decision:

I want to personally thank Greg for his tireless work and dedication to the team. He is responsible in many ways for the improvement we’ve seen from our young core. However, after several weeks of careful evaluation, I concluded we needed a change in direction and a new voice. This was an extremely difficult decision for me to make, but I felt it was necessary to continue our progress toward becoming a Stanley Cup contender that I know we can be.

Cronin spent the last two seasons behind the bench in Anaheim, his first stint as an NHL bench boss.  It was hardly his first time running a team, however, as the 61-year-old had head coaching experience at the NCAA level with Northeastern University and the AHL level with Colorado where he spent five seasons before the Ducks hired him in June 2023.  He also had previous experience on an NHL bench as an assistant with the Islanders and Maple Leafs.

His first season was particularly rough.  Anaheim managed a record of just 27-50-5 while being in the bottom three in goals scored while allowing the 30th-most goals in the NHL.  Beyond a career year from Frank Vatrano, many of their key players either underachieved or didn’t develop as planned, leading to some speculation that Anaheim might make a change after just one season.

That didn’t happen and things did go better for the Ducks this year.  They added 21 points compared to the previous season, putting them sixth in the Pacific Division.  Things improved on the goals allowed side as they were 22nd in that regard this year but once again, goal production was hard to come by as they once again ranked 30th overall although they did add 14 tallies compared to 2023-24.  Key young forwards like Mason McTavish and Leo Carlsson took steps forward compared to their production a year ago while Cutter Gauthier finished strong.  Meanwhile, Jackson LaCombe became a top-pairing blueliner so there were certainly more positives from a development perspective but that wasn’t enough for Verbeek to retain Cronin.

While Verbeek references continuing progress toward being a Cup contender, there is a long way still to go for them to get there.  With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if he opts for another less experienced coach with an emphasis on player development or if he’ll look to more of a veteran option with an eye on trying to get back into the playoff picture quickly.  Anaheim becomes the first true head coach opening around the NHL although other teams will be conducting searches to see if there is a better fit behind the bench than the interim head coaches that finished the year in those roles.

Photo courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images.

PHR’s Josh Erickson also contributed to this post.

Nesterenko And Colangelo Sent Down

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  • The Ducks have returned wingers Nikita Nesterenko and Sam Colangelo to AHL San Diego, per a team release. Nesterenko played in a career-best 20 games with Anaheim this season, potting four goals and two assists.  With the Gulls, he has 13 goals and 21 assists in 48 contests.  As for Colangelo, he had ten goals and two helpers in 32 NHL outings while he’s just shy of a point per game in the minors with 35 points in 38 contests.

Ducks Sign Konnor Smith To Entry-Level Deal

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The Ducks announced they’ve signed defenseman Konnor Smith to a three-year entry-level contract beginning in the 2025-26 season. Smith will join the AHL San Diego on a tryout for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Smith was set to be an unrestricted free agent on June 1 if he and Anaheim didn’t agree to terms on a deal. The Ducks brought him in as a fourth-round pick in 2023, selecting the 6’6″, 216-lb lefty from the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League. He’s since been traded to the Owen Sound Attack and then the Brampton Steelheads. He won an OHL championship with the Petes back in 2023.

A pure shutdown defender, Smith will turn pro on a full-time basis next year after recording 26-44–70 in 219 OHL games with 229 PIMs and an even rating. This year was Smith’s best offensively by a wide margin. In 40 games with Owen Sound and Brampton, he posted 10-16–26 with a +14 rating. He’s got a heavy shot when he chooses to use it but continues to project as a box-out, stay-at-home rearguard in the pros.

The Ontario native made his pro debut last year on a tryout with San Diego after his OHL season ended, posting a goal and a minus-six rating in six games. The Ducks will be able to gauge how much his defensive game has improved with another short stint to end the year with the Gulls before presumably returning to San Diego in a regular role next year. Smith will remain on his ELC until 2028 and be a restricted free agent upon expiry.

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