FanSince1993

The Ducks also didn't need to trade Kulikov for some bad player and his $2.75 mil for the next 2 seasons. If PV could not find any takers for him, he should just play him till the end of the season when Kulikov's contract expires Now, once he has invested $5 mil in Strome, $2.75 for another guy + need to resign Terry and Zegras, say bye-bye to possible good UFA. Agree with some people who say it's too early to judge PV after 1.5 years of work, but so far, he has done nothing that would make me optimistic.

Please pay attention to my statement before replying. I said "on what he has done the last 2 seasons".

I have no knock about Mintyukov, I am just stating the fact the PV drafted him. Maybe he'll be good, maybe not, time will tell. He may turn out to be a solid D like Konstantinov was, or he may turn out to be a warm body like Vitaly Vishnevsky (are you old enough to remember him?). As far as GM Blake, I am specifically impressed on what he has done the last 2 seasons, a quick turn-around from non-playoffs team to a legit. contender, after Drew Doughty clearly stated that he's not interested to play for forever-rebuilding team.

True, true.....but so far, our new manager hasn't done anything significant to improve this team. Here is a list of who he brought to this team: McGinn, Leason, White, Strome, Vatrano, Harrington, Benoit, a buck of 2nd round picks and drafting Mintukov. Are you impressed? I hear some statements from Gorbachav and others to wait for 3 more years before we start to judge his work. Do you want to wait for another 3 years?

Seems like PV likes to make safe, low risk moves, as somebody mentioned it here before. Now that Ducks are suddenly winning, I won't be surprised if he'll extend Eakins contract. The argument would be "it was a learning process for some young players, it took some time to buy into his system, but now players figured it out and play good hockey"

Strome will lead us to the promise land. He'll be our #1C.

I think the Kings are the best team in the NHL as of now. Great goaltending, versatile offence and tough defense, almost impossible to score against. Amazing how easily they defeated Islanders without Fiala and Druzi in the lineup. Maybe PV should call Blake and ask to teach him some GM lessons? Lesson #1: stop picking up players from waivers, they are not good. Lesson #2: don't throw big contracts to players based only on 1 good playoff run. Lesson #3: don't be afraid to trade "legends" if it immediately improves your team. Lesson #4: don't afraid to trade for impact players, they are expensive, but it pays off when team makes playoffs, + adds to your own job security. Lesson #5: don't throw crazy money at your own RFA, look at Adrian Kempe contract, a perfect example of great negotiation by GM. Lesson #6: if you play safe all the time, your team will be mediocre at best. Nobody is protected from mistakes. I know somebody will mention Cal Petersen contract berried in the minors, but that's ok, they got Coople and Korpisalo, who both make 20% of what our irreplaceable "legend" makes. Talking about Korpisalo, he is UFA after this season, and I wouldn't mind seeing him in the Ducks uniform. As far as Hollywood team, I don't see any reason why they can't win it all this year.

That's why I am advocating for trading Fowler, despite his recent offensive surge. No just only for him being soft like a fresh baked muffin, but for many other reasons I described here in my previous comments. Our defense is like a very seriously ill person, treating it with Tylenol won't help.

The best move PV could do this off season is to find a taker for Ryan Strome. $5 mil could be invested somewhere else.

Some improvement, but not much. You got to have a better talent ON ICE. With the roster you proposed, I expect them to miss playoffs next season as well. I am not even sure the coaching staff will change, PV argument would be "In the second half of the season Team figured out how to play in DE system, team played decent hockey, players like and trust their coaching stuff, why change it?"

I double checked, and you actually right, both were signed on the first day of free agency, which was July 13th of last year, and while Vatrano is ok, Strome is a bust, given his annual salary and term. Off the topic: William Nylander will be UFA after the next season, a lot of teams will be bidding for him, I will absolutely hate if he'll end up with the Kings.

+ overall surrounding talent.

Anyways....the history tells us that Ducks won't go after marquee UFA in the summer. Verbeek will wait for the first 3-4 days of free agency when the best available players are gone, then he may or may not sigh some Strome-like player. The other 2 options to improve this ream is thru trades or very high draft pick. Verbeek already proved us he's not that good at trades, and the Ducks recent play kills the possibility of top 3 draft picks. How else management can improve this team besides coaching change? I want to see Ducks in they playoffs again before I get really old.

Fowler, Rakell, Lindholm, Theodore are good players. By IMPACT player I mean someone of Kariya, Selanne, Niedrmayer status. I guess you confuse the meaning of IMPACT vs. very good/good/ok player.

I noticed the repetitive tendency, at least in the past 3 years: Ducks quickly fall out of playoffs picture by the middle or end of December, than start winning meaningless games. As a result, they end up selecting middle to late first round picks. Looking back to the last 15 years, how many IMPACT players Ducks selected in the 1st round? Only Zegras comes to my mind. My biggest fear for this season is the Ducks won't have the first 5 selections, and after this every prospect is a dark horse. P.S. During 30 years history, the Ducks never signed a marquee UFA except Scott Neidermayer, thanks to Brian Burke and Scott's brother Rob, who already played here. The only hope for this team to improve is thru the draft.

Why not? Talented forwards like Fiala don't grow on trees in bunches. Mintykov may or may not be a good D, but Fiala is a proven scorer. Look where the Kings right now, and where we are. I also don't buy an argument that Fiala wouldn't want to come to Orange County. OC and LA are next to each other, with the quality of life better in OC. With that kind of philosophy (never give up 1st round pick!) we would never get Teemy Selanne for Tverdovsky (2nd overall pick) + Chad Kilger (4th overall). Are you old enough to remember this trade in 1996?

So, now we have Strome at $5 mil + McGinn at $2.75 mil = $7.75 mil total per person. For the same amount of money we could have Kevin Fiala, a prolific 30 goals, point per game scorer. Ooh Verbeek, Verbeek, it hurts to watch this team.

He already got a winger. McGinn.

It means we have 4 bad albatross contracts on this team: Fowler, Gibson, Strome and McGinn. 2 of them because of Verbeek, despite the fact he's been GM just over a year.

Interesting article in today's OC Register about how good Brook McGinn is. Eakins said "he plays the game the right way". Said Terry "he's exactly what we need in our lineup". If he's so good, why he was waived and why nobody claimed him?

5-6 years? If in 5 freaking years Ducks are not playoffs bound team, who is going to attend their home games? They'll be playing in front of 200-300 people, mostly friends and relatives of the players.

Anybody knows for how many years Verbeek signed as GM?

If he could only show his leadership charisma on ice.....

Agree. If I am Samueli, I would ask him "Hey, dude, what are you doing with my money?" McGinn contract is untradeable, not because it's big, but because he's simply not a good player. If I was Verbeek, I would rather hold on Klinsberg till the end of this season, it would be more feasible.

The thread was posted more than a year ago when everybody thought he'll be a good GM. Things changed since then and I thought it's time to start a new discussion how he runs this team . Just listen how he gives interviews, he uses over and over the words "Hmmm", "Eeeeeh", "you know". It shows that he may have poor language skills. I noticed a new NHL trend to hire former NHL players as GM. They may not have education, but they do have a reputation of being a good player back in their time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.