It's the Gulls' continued struggles, more than anything, that makes me question Verbeek's hiring. I feel like coaching has the potential to have a higher and more immediate impact in lower levels than at the NHL level. While the Gulls certainly aren't the most talented team in the AHL, and have also dealt with their share of injuries, shouldn't McIlvane have them playing a more competitive level of hockey than this?
I liked that Verbeek went beyond the retreads to hire Cronin and went outside the box to hire McIlvane, but early returns aren't great. I think McIlvane deserves another year, but if there isn't a marked improvement in year two at the AHL level, Verbeek may need to pull the plug on that experiment.
It might be roster construction as well. The Ducks have Zellweger up for the rest of the season and Zell was a top-3 scorer for the Gulls when he was recalled. Imagine for a moment if the Gulls had Minty and Carlsson for most of the season. How much more dynamic would the Gulls be with those two in tow?
There's a possibility the Gulls are lacking top-end offensive support from the forward side. I say this because two seasons ago both Perreault and Tracey had great improvements to where we were hoping for the next jump the following season. Instead, it was a huge dud. Tracey and Perreault were separated often instead of being a pair where they both showed great improvement offensively. The past two seasons under Verbeek, Tracey and Perreault's offensive productions have taken steps backwards.
Verbeek hired Sommer as Gulls head coach with assistant coaches already hired in Sparre and Clarke last season, with Sparre being McIlvane's assistant coach in Germany. This season feels kinda the same as last season, but maybe worse if the team didn't have Suchanek. Sparre and Clarke were retain for McIlvane.
Probably a mix of coaching improvements needed and more high end talents needed. The problem with the latter is Verbeek is expecting like six or seven rookies added to the AHL lineup next season with Cutter and probably the 2024 early first round pick bypassing the AHL. I don't know if there's room to add high-end veteran AHL'ers to the club next year.