But even if we sign two of these players, what is the real likelihood we improve? That is what is worrisome. Maybe get out of the bottom 5-6 next year? Still going to be a sad situation I think if we not upgrade our coaching and get past the number of injuries our team has had to overcome, and how do we address the lopsided penalties that we receive?
I agree with all the concerns in orange highlights.
Lopsided penalties.
I think a huge factor for the lopsided penalties are having more youths and less talented players on the roster. We can see the differences between 2021-22 season with the last two seasons.
2021-22: Anaheim had the 11th least amount of TSH events with 224 PK's and allowed only 43 goals against. We were 3rd in the Pacific at all-star break, when Verbeek took over as GM. We had a good mix of youths, vets, and talented vets.
2022-23: The roster makeup was abysmal as we barely got over the salary floor before the season started. Everyone on the blueline except Fowler was replaced the next season, that's how bad the roster was. That team had the 5th most amount of TSH events with 280 PK's and allowed 78 goals against.
2023-24: The roster makeup was considerably better than last year's roster, but with a vast more youths with four first time NHL rookies (Carlsson, Minty, LaCombe, Luneau) and two recurring NHL rookies (Dostal, Groulx). At ES, the team has given up far fewer goals against than last year's teams, especially before the TDL, but they ranked 1st most amount of TSH events with 281 PK's and 75 goals against in only 70 games! We have surpassed the TSH events than last year's team!
A combination of better coaching at discipline, the youths improving, and not playing through injuries can help reduce the TSH events next year. I think the org is making players work too much with heavy training between games, a full skate before a game, and playing through injuries that their minds work faster than their bodies in a game. Then that's when sloppy penalties occur.
Special Teams coaching
| Ducks | 2021-22 | ST | Splits | | | | | |
|---|
| Game Set | Games | PPG | PPO | PP Eff | | PK GA | TSH | PK Eff |
| Total | 82 | 48 | 219 | 21.9% | | 43 | 224 | 80.8% |
| | | | | | | | |
| 1 to 33 | 33 | 23 | 90 | 25.6% | | 12 | 85 | 85.9% |
| 34 to 62 | 29 | 19 | 85 | 22.4% | | 17 | 89 | 80.9% |
| 63 to 82 (TDL) | 20 | 6 | 44 | 13.6% | | 14 | 50 | 72.0% |
| Ducks | 2022-23 | ST | Splits | | | | | |
|---|
| Game Set | Games | PPG | PPO | PP Eff | . | PK GA | TSH | PK Eff |
| Total | 82 | 36 | 229 | 15.7% | | 78 | 280 | 72.1% |
| | | | | | | | |
| 1 to 25 | 25 | 12 | 72 | 16.7% | | 31 | 89 | 65.2% |
| 26 to 49 | 24 | 11 | 64 | 17.2% | | 17 | 81 | 79.0% |
| 50 to 61 | 12 | 5 | 36 | 13.9% | | 10 | 44 | 77.3% |
| 62 to 82 (TDL) | 21 | 8 | 57 | 14.0% | | 20 | 66 | 69.7% |
| Ducks | 2023-24 | ST | Splits | | | | | |
|---|
| Game Set | Games | PPG | PPO | PP Eff | . | PK GA | TSH | PK Eff |
| Total | 70 | 38 | 209 | 18.2% | | 75 | 281 | 73.3% |
| | | | | | | | |
| 1 to 25 | 25 | 18 | 81 | 22.2% | | 22 | 110 | 80.0% |
| 26 to 49 | 24 | 10 | 71 | 14.1% | | 22 | 91 | 75.8% |
| 50 to 62 | 13 | 8 | 35 | 22.9% | | 16 | 47 | 66.0% |
| 63 to 70 (TDL) | 8 | 2 | 22 | 9.1% | | 15 | 33 | 54.5% |
At each TDL, we can see a drop in PK efficiency because we've traded defensemen each time. The PP also dropped in efficiency except last year, where we didn't have much talent to begin with. We can say talent matters in improving the Special Teams.
2021-22 TDL: D Lindholm, D Manson, and F Des. All three are PK'ers. F Rakell is on the PP.
2022-23 TDL: D Kulikov and D Klingberg. Kulikov is the PK'er; Klingberg is on the PP.
2023-24 TDL: D Lyubushkin, F Rico, and F Carrick. All three are PK'ers. Rico is also on the PP.
When we do splits for the season, we can see trends to help us see if the coaching is improving or deteriorating. The 2021-22 assistant coaches were amazing until the rug got pulled out from under them at the TDL. Game set 34-62 was when injuries started occurring to our top-3 D-men in Lindholm, Fowler, and Manson.
The following season, Ward left the org due to personal reasons. Brown was not the head of the 2021-22 PP explosion. Brown needed to be fired, but wasn't. (
I advocated for Brown to be fired after that season!) Stothers was able to improve the moribund blueline Verbeek gave him until the TDL.
This season, Brown had more talent to work with. The problem is Brown relied on those talent to produce to make up for a bland PP system, which is why we see inconsistencies in the splits. New PK coach Thompson becomes more abysmal as the season progresses.
I know PP coach Brown should be fired. PK coach Thompson should also follow suit, but I think Verbeek will give him another year.
Injuries
Aside from forcing young players to play through injuries in a development season, I'm kinda stumped. Is our org making our player do too much, overexerting their bodies by doing full practices before a game or working out hard in between the games while not having proper rest periods? The novel program for Carlsson is just that, a novelty and it shouldn't be repeated; best to let the youths marinate in a lower level to properly build their bodies so they can handle the NHL level. Maybe we need better trainers? Maybe we should introduce hot yoga? I've seen NFL players do that.
With Z and Drysdale, I think that's all on Verbeek that both players missed training camp. Training camp is a necessary step between off-season and the regular season start. Hopefully, Verbeek will learn his lesson and get contracts done long before training camp starts so everyone's on the same page.
