saskduckfan

I hope you all know that if Zegras signs a contract and comes back, he will be gone as soon as he hits UFA, as long as Verbeek is still here. Zegras may even end up demanding a trade. The reports out there are that he is getting increasingly frustrated with Verbeek and has stated that he cannot understand why Verbeek would open the bank for Troy Terry but he won't do the same for him, even though Zegras is the more skilled and more offensive player. It is sounding more and more like his days in Anaheim may be numbered, even if he signs a new contract. Verbeek's attitude about him not making more then Terry is going to cost this team a really good player and set them back yet again. This should have been an easy negotiation, Terry $7mil, Zegras $8.5mil, Drysdale $3 mil for 2/3 years. Done, all guys signed, move forward. But not with I know nothing about being a GM or building a hockey team Verbeek in charge.

I hope you all know that if Zegras signs a contract and comes back, he will be gone as soon as he hits UFA, as long as Verbeek is still here. Zegras may even end up demanding a trade. The reports out there are that he is getting increasingly frustrated with Verbeek and has stated that he cannot understand why Verbeek would open the bank for Troy Terry but he won't do the same for him, even though Zegras is the more skilled and more offensive player. It is sounding more and more like his days in Anaheim may be numbered, even if he signs a new contract. Verbeek's attitude about him not making more then Terry is going to cost this team a really good player and set them back yet again. This should have been an easy negotiation, Terry $7mil, Zegras $8.5mil, Drysdale $3 mil for 2/3 years. Done, all guys signed, move forward. But not with I know nothing about being a GM or building a hockey team Verbeek in charge.

So you've said multiple times.

Raise your hand if you are tired of seeing him referred to as Z-man Zegras. Just call him Z-man or Zegras. Not both.

Ducks forward Z-man as you say is not signing the Ducks QO, or qualifying offer. That offer would be extremley low compared to what he is going to sign for. Please quit calling it a qualifying offer. Those contracts are only one year contracts. Guess it shows how much you actually know.

If you're waiting for him to sign his QO that is never going to happen. You'll be waiting a long time. At this point we are waiting for them to agree on a contract, not a qualifying offer. Again another post that makes no sense.

Ugghh. That defense looks just as bad as last years. If Hagg and Vaakanainen are playing full time then the Ducks are in trouble again. Where is Lacombe? He looked better in his brief playing time then Hagg and Vaakanainen. This defense is two top 4 dmen playing top 2 and then filled out by 5/6/7 dmen. Not good. Gibson will be demanding a trade mid game with those guys in front of him.

He held more value then compared to when he was bought out and the horrible years continued.

Best time to trade Perry was the 2017 offseason, after the Western Conference Final loss to Nashville. Perry was prime for doing absolutely nothing in the playoffs by this time, and that continued in that series, but yet he was still valuable in the regular season. Could have got a huge haul for him then. His play declined shortly after.

That's wishful thinking. Based on the Terry negotiations, Verbeek is probably offering 7 years at $5mil and Zegras wants 8 at $9mil.

Yes the Ducks got assets for Lindholm and Rakell, the majority of those assets will never see time in the NHL, Nathan Gaucher being the best chance. Gudas brings physicality, but Lindholm was a lot better overall defensively and positionally then Gudas ever is. And ask anyone in the league they will tell you Lindholm as a much better defenseman then Gudas, so yes he should be paid more per year. And if you look at last year's mess, the Ducks sure could have used a Lindholm on defense. Killorn as a wildcard yet to be determined and the aging Stome and Vatrano you didn't comment on because those contracts, especially Strome dont fit the rebuild. I would have much rather spent $6.5 mil per season on Lindholm through age 35 instead of $5mil per year on Strome through age 34.

But you say trading "aging" players instead of signing them long term was the right move. So trading Lindholm for far less then what his true value is was the correct move? What about Rakell? And then how do you say trading a stud 28 year old defenseman at the time and a 29 year old winger was the right move due to their age, when you then bring in a 33 year old defenseman for 4 years that has less skill (Gudas) and a 29 year old at the time, 28 year old (Strome and Vatrano) for 5 and 3 years and a 33 year old Killorn for 4 years this year. If resigning LIndholm and Rakell was not an option because of their age and signing them long term is the wrong move wasting their last few years, then why would he go out and sign these even older players for just as long terms that don't have any good years left?

You are correct, thanks. Still think Verbbek meant to sign the other Strome

Time has already told us how he is doing with the other two contracts. It's Sept already and they arent signed. That should tell you everything. I read yesterday that with Zegras neither side is bugging from their ask or offer so that's great. I expect him to miss camp.

Vatrano and Strome would not classify as two more good free agents. There is a reason Strome was a late free agent pick up. They both are decent role players that belong on the third line, not top 6 guys playing way out of palce. Ducks had them out of place and they looked lost a lot last year.

Getzlaf probably had another year left in him but wanted nothing to do with the low quality roster that was being built. Either way you look at it, Verbbek still made the comment of expecting to be .500 or better despite losing a significant amount of skilled players and never replacing them.

Best quote of the 2022-23 season from the clueless Verbeek "I expected us to be a .500 or better team". This after trading players like Rakell, Lindholm, Manson, and forcing Getzlaf into retirement and replacing them with Vatrano, Strome, Beaulieu, Klingberg, White, Gawdin, Kulikov, Leason, Megna, Harrington, etc. He fully expected better results then the previous year despite the massive downgrade in talent. That shows just how clueless he is. 7 of those players were regulars in the Ducks lineup. 7 of 18 dressed skaters. Then toss into that mix Silf, Jones, Carrick, Comtois, and Grant, that's 12 of 18 skaters that are virtually useless and you expect better then .500.

Verbeek was never a franchise saviour hire in my eyes. From the moment he was announced as the new GM I feared this team was destined for trouble and low and behold look at where they are at. They were in the middle of a rebuild, Verbeek was brought in and all he was able to do was rebuild again from the start and that is all. He does not know how to move on from the rebuild phase and gets fleeced in every single trade and waiver pick up he makes. I didnt like the hire and the moves he has made solidify my opinion of him being a terrible GM. He has brought in nobody of significance to improve this team and has been fleeced in every single trade he has made

Fully agree. Verbeek has done nothing to make this team better. Eitheher that is on his own or the Samueli's have the purse strings so tight he is only allowed to spend to the cap floor. But look at the Red Wings teams that Verbeek was an assistant GM to Yzerman, nothing but terrible seasons with no compete. Detroit didnt start showing any signs of improvement until after Verbeek left which coincidentally is when the Ducks really started to go in the hole. Maybe there is some kind of relation there. Guess he must have come cheap so he was the perfect guy for the Samueli's to hire.

Cronin is a big if. He has never coached an offensive team. If all the Ducks get is 1 or 2 goals per gsme it's not very exciting.

I'm not excited about this season at all and have the same feeling going into this season as I did last season and my gut feelings with this team are never wrong. I wqs fully excited with the additions for 2006-07 and the few conference final run years in the mid 2010's. But not this year. I have some excitement if Carlsson stays but as soon as 9 games are up and he is sent back there is nothing to get excited for. The guys brought in are not going to make a huge difference. Killorn should be a decent addition but after that the Ducks still have Strome, Vatrano, Leason, Jones, possibly Kassian and Harrington, Carrick, Silf. Too many players on the roster not to get excited for. The Ducks will not be anywhere near competing for a playoff spot this year and will likely be towards the bottom again.

Which leads me more into that the whole team was buying into a lose last season at all costs mentality. Early in the season Zegras had a shoot out attempt where all he did was skate in and slide a weak backhand at the goalies pad. No fancy moves, no wicked wrist shot. Nothing. Then there was the whole not back checking or knocking guys off the puck. Watch his season two years ago, he was all over in the defensive and offensive zone with stick checks and steipping pucks off guys. Last year none of that, just chirping bad penalties. Something changed in his game from two years ago to last year. Maybe he saw the roster and knew how bad they would be too. Maybe he sees the current roster and knows how bad they will be and doesnt want to play until they drastically improve it, lol. It wasnt that long ago when we were talking about Carlsson playing or some of our young defensive studs. Now it's possibly Harrington again and Kassian with Leason. The Ducks look worse each and every day that passes bit that's Verbeek for you.

Another wasted signing even though juat a PTO. Kassian. Good good, last place here we come again.

It is, but the defense also needs to be able to make plays to get the puck out of the zone. As hard as it is to believe, Klingberg was better at this then Gudas is, so it is a wash. They each bring their own assets to the way they play, and one we didn't have last year and the other we won't have on the back end this year, and most people would say Klingberg is the better defenseman between the two, again hard to believe. I guess we will see soon how this team is. I'm not expecting them to go from 32 to 20. There are many ways that the Ducks could screw up their roster come opening day and if some of these bargain bin guys that Verbeek has picked up like Hagg, Lybushkin, White, Vaakaininen, etc, end up playing regularly over guys like Helleson or Lacombe, then the Ducks defense will be just as bad as last year. If guys like Helleson or Lacombe play more then the "extras", then they will be improved as we saw an improvement from the defense when they came into the lineup last year. As for offense, the Ducks still seem to have a spot for Leason. They still have Strome and Vatrano who belong nowhere near the 2nd line. They still have Silfverberg who has shown that he has drastically lost a step. They brought in Killorn who the jury is out on. He may be fine or he may drop off after leaving Tampa. Again, slightly improved, but not drastically. They can make the offense better by playing Carlsson all year in a top 6 role, but if he gets sent back then look for another great waiver pickup like Megna.

How is our defense any better. We've replaced Klingberg with Gudas, so lost the offensive production and replaced with defensive, kind of a wash. Then replaced Kulikov with Hagg big downgrade, brought back Harrington, no improvement, have yet to sign Drysdale but hoping he has improved when he does, and then are going to fill out the roster with White and Vakkininan. Ughh. Now if they dont play and Hagg doesnt play and Lacombe and Helleson are in, yes improved, but there is the opportunity to be worse.