BM Q&A at Summer Beach Party

[AngelDuck]

The most encouraging part of the interview is what was said about Steel and Terry. I’m also very glad they haven’t given up on Roy, who I firmly believe is an NHL talent

 

[Lord Flashheart]

Any player not willing to play fast will be put on press box, coaches told that.

I don't buy that.

 

[KeepItDeep]

Took notes on the fly, apologies for any typos.

Tryouts - BM to change over the group as we go, trying to have a productive 4th line, needed in NHL.

Contract situations - need to be strong down the middle.

Kesler situation “up in the air”

Trying to deal with Silfverberg and Gibson Silfverberg puts you in position of losing him for nothing if not signed.

Wants to tie Gibson up for a bunch of years like Hellybuck.

Montour - will go to arbitration and get 2 year deal.

Kase - real good year. Ritchie “hasn’t come into his own at all”. Have leverage with both and will use it, may go into September/October like with Lindholm and Rakell.

D corps - one of young Swedes will be here. Fowler healthy and playing golf daily. Schenn has experience, only 28, gives team an edge which is still needed. Sustr comes from a team that plays fast, need to play fast. Rowney brought on for same reason.

Any player not willing to play fast will be put on press box, coaches told that.

Terry, Steele, Roy not far off. Time for a changeover, when they are ready players will be moved to make room.

Lundestrom similar to Rakell in how he sees the game, not as prolific, very fit.

More confident don’t that Eaves will play than Kesler but Kelsey says he’s doing fine.
Silfverberg May be moved to left wing, space will be made for Kase.

If all RW are healthy “it gives me a chip to use, let’s just put it that way”

If ridin doesn’t make team he doesn’t want to play on gulls and will go back to Sweden - no risk.

Jones was doing drills in riding players into boards, got thumb caught, bent it backwards, and broke his scapula (while pointing at the thumb?) out 3 months.

1 year deals signed to make sure players hungry and so as not to block young guys.

Fan asked team to address OT and shootouts. BM said 3v3 needs to be addressed right off the bat and had already been discussed.

Perry - is he doing anything to work on speed? “I sure hope so”. He hopes and thinks Perry has realized he’s an age where he needs to work on offseason. Coaches have been mandated every player has to play the right way or be Becker. Everybody.

PP - needs movement. Couldn’t be much worse.

Schedule - better than last year. Better start with way eastern trip scheduling.

How were the Power Players hangin' this summer?

Was any of their talent shown off , maybe in some new eggplant and aubergine string swimwear?

And speaking of lines, how about their tan lines?

 

[GreatBear]

That kind of post-hoc analysis is disingenuous. We weren't selling 2018 Beleskey back then.

Nope, it is not disingenuous. It is simply a statement that signing Beleskey to a long term contract when he was a free agent back then would have been a bad decision based upon how he actually played in the years beyond the signing of the contract. That, in the end, is how I evaluate the success of a multi year contract. You may do so differently by claiming that we should only look at a signing from a future forecast perspective, and that is your prerogative. But in my opinion that is a less appropriate measure of evaluation of a contract, since people will always disagree about the potential of any player over any future contract.

A general manager can never absolutely foretell the future when he makes a decision to sign or not sign a player. I evaluate whether his decision was correct or incorrect only after the player has shown what he does with over a period of the new contract. While not all contacts for players will turn out, a good general manager will have, and indeed in the salary cap area must have, a higher percentage of hits than misses. I have always held myself to the same standard with my decisions, some of which have turned out well, and a few of which have turned out to be distressing at best.

 

[QuackinQuaker]

Silfverberg on his off wing is a great idea. Even playing half of the season with a hamstrung Kesler he was almost able to match his production from last year. Even so, I remember being frustrated with him at times because he wasn't using his amazing wrist shot like I thought he should. Maybe playing the off wing will give him a slightly better angle and allow him to use that shot more? I guess we'll see what happens.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Silfverberg on his off wing is a great idea. Even playing half of the season with a hamstrung Kesler he was almost able to match his production from last year. Even so, I remember being frustrated with him at times because he wasn't using his amazing wrist shot like I thought he should. Maybe playing the off wing will give him a slightly better angle and allow him to use that shot more? I guess we'll see what happens.

It's definitely crossed my mind before that a switch to his off wing could possibly unlock a bit more of his scoring upside.

Watching his patented shootout goals, almost every time he angles himself to the left and then quickly shoots far side as he starts to cut back to the right.

Obviously it's no perfect science but a switch to LW should provide a few extra shooting opportunities from the angle he seems to prefer.

 

[ADHB]

It's definitely crossed my mind before that a switch to his off wing could possibly unlock a bit more of his scoring upside.

Watching his patented shootout goals, almost every time he angles himself to the left and then quickly shoots far side as he starts to cut back to the right.

Obviously it's no perfect science but a switch to LW should provide a few extra shooting opportunities from the angle he seems to prefer.

If you remember a few years back, a lot of his goals in the postseason (mostly against the Oilers) were one-timers from the left side of the ice.

 

[Trojans86]

Overall most of that seems to make a lot of sense to me. Looking to give young guys a chance, acknowledging Ritchie sucks and Kase has been killing it, admitting our weaknesses, understanding our needs down the middle are the priority. It just seems to me like he feels stuck with RC for the time being and needs to give him one last shot, which was evident by our Assistant Coach hire.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

I don't buy that.

Can we put RC in the press box, his system in general is slow

 

[DaGeneral]

Overall most of that seems to make a lot of sense to me. Looking to give young guys a chance, acknowledging Ritchie sucks and Kase has been killing it, admitting our weaknesses, understanding our needs down the middle are the priority. It just seems to me like he feels stuck with RC for the time being and needs to give him one last shot, which was evident by our Assistant Coach hire.

It should make no sense. He identified the issues then kept a coach who is a walking contadiction. To everything he identified

 

[Duck Off]

Overall most of that seems to make a lot of sense to me. Looking to give young guys a chance, acknowledging Ritchie sucks and Kase has been killing it, admitting our weaknesses, understanding our needs down the middle are the priority. It just seems to me like he feels stuck with RC for the time being and needs to give him one last shot, which was evident by our Assistant Coach hire.

If anything that makes Murray look worse imo. He said everything right after we were eliminated and said a lot right at Q&A, yet his actions or solutions are shit.

“We need a significant change” - makes none. Imo, our roster is currently worse than last years with very little change.

“We need to rethink the way our team plays” “we need to manage the mins of our team better” - keeps a coach who has a bad history of not adapting.

For a guy who preached big changes it’s odd that he does nothing and keeps same coach.

 

[Masch78]

If anything that makes Murray look worse imo. He said everything right after we were eliminated and said a lot right at Q&A, yet his actions or solutions are ****.

“We need a significant change” - makes none. Imo, our roster is currently worse than last years with very little change.

“We need to rethink the way our team plays” “we need to manage the mins of our team better” - keeps a coach who has a bad history of not adapting.

For a guy who preached big changes it’s odd that he does nothing and keeps same coach.

Given the current situation, we need to change things with the current roster & prospects. They changed things at the coachs areas, sure not the head but behind. Noone will take Perry, we've bad luck with Eaves and Kesler. In the end of the day, the possibities to make huge changes are not there. The Ducks are not a preferred destination for things like Tavares going home. Face it, we only can trade for players.

Right now there is the biggest chance for our prospects to get a job. Terry, Steel, Kossila, Larsson, Petterson and a few dark horses can now show they are ready and they are what people think they are. You say our roster is weaker than last year. Well I think it depends on how big the steps of the young players will be. And to be honest. We have a top 4 that is great. We added bottom pairing guys and we have 3 young players going for a job. Not much to do here. Up in front the same stroy. If Kes is healthy we are quite good, if not a lot will be determind how Steel or Kossila can bring.

People here want the youth to play. Now it's the time they can claim their place.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

If anything that makes Murray look worse imo. He said everything right after we were eliminated and said a lot right at Q&A, yet his actions or solutions are ****.

“We need a significant change” - makes none. Imo, our roster is currently worse than last years with very little change.

“We need to rethink the way our team plays” “we need to manage the mins of our team better” - keeps a coach who has a bad history of not adapting.

For a guy who preached big changes it’s odd that he does nothing and keeps same coach.

Our roster definitely won't be worse to start this year than last when you consider all of the injuries.

 

[Duck Off]

Given the current situation, we need to change things with the current roster & prospects. They changed things at the coachs areas, sure not the head but behind.

Changing two assistant coaches does nothing. It was/is incredibly obvious that the issue(s) were due to Carlyle not assistant coaches. The only big issue that was assistant coach related was the PP, and honestly I'm not sure Carlyle isn't as much to blame as the assistant we let go on that one. No, the primary issues with the team (minute distribution, motivation, system problems, etc.) are all due to Carlyle and everyone knows it. Firing assistant coaches is just Murray's out to say he did make changes. Similar to his dumbass comment about how he made the team faster by trading Wagner for Chimera.

No one will take Perry, we've bad luck with Eaves and Kesler. In the end of the day, the possibities to make huge changes are not there.

I agree with this. I said same thing when offseason started. This is just more reasoning why not firing Carlyle is/was inexcusable though.

The Ducks are not a preferred destination for things like Tavares going home. Face it, we only can trade for players.

This is complete BS that simply needs to stop. The only reason these big names don't sign here is because we never commit the $ and term that some other teams are willing to. For the record, I'm not upset that Murray doesn't go big $ or term on some of these guys. I just disagree with this fabrication that Anaheim isn't desirable to big name UFAs. We were a finalist for Marleau. When Vinny Lecavalier became a free agent from Tampa, his agent contacted Murray because we were a team he was interested in. Murray didn't pursue due to the term wanted (good move on Murray's part), but my point is that this nonsense of Anaheim not being a preferred destination for free agents is simply untrue. Murray simply doesn't pursue them because of the $ involved. Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes it's a bad thing.

Right now there is the biggest chance for our prospects to get a job. Terry, Steel, Kossila, Larsson, Petterson and a few dark horses can now show they are ready and they are what people think they are. .

This is not the biggest chance for our prospects to play. The year Kase came on the scene was. Current roster (lines made up):
Rakell-Getzlaf-Eaves
Cogliano-Kesler-Silfverberg
Kase-Henrique-Perry
Ritchie-Rowney-Gibbons

Lindholm-Manson
Fowler-Montour
Rookie-Sustr/Schenn

What spot do you see some of these guys competing for? If Kesler is injured than there's a spot for a center, but not sure where people see a spot for more than one o two rookies.

You say our roster is weaker than last year. Well I think it depends on how big the steps of the young players will be. And to be honest. We have a top 4 that is great. We added bottom pairing guys and we have 3 young players going for a job. Not much to do here. Up in front the same stroy. If Kes is healthy we are quite good, if not a lot will be determind how Steel or Kossila can bring.

Yes on paper, I fully believe the roster is weaker. Obviously player development can change that. Just hard for me to swallow our GM's comments after last season where he identifies weaknesses, and does little to nothing about it. Beauchemin>>Sustr/Schenn; Grant>Rowney. Like I said earlier, I knew major changes would be difficult, but if anything the Kesler situation made re-signing Grant even more important. I'm fine if Schenn/Sustr are simply to add depth, but the second they play over someone like Welinski when they're outplayed, they make us worse.

People here want the youth to play. Now it's the time they can claim their place.

As mentioned earlier, there's really not much room for youth.

 

[Duck Off]

Our roster definitely won't be worse to start this year than last when you consider all of the injuries.

I was talking about last year's playoff roster.

 

[Trojans86]

If anything that makes Murray look worse imo. He said everything right after we were eliminated and said a lot right at Q&A, yet his actions or solutions are ****.

“We need a significant change” - makes none. Imo, our roster is currently worse than last years with very little change.

“We need to rethink the way our team plays” “we need to manage the mins of our team better” - keeps a coach who has a bad history of not adapting.

For a guy who preached big changes it’s odd that he does nothing and keeps same coach.

I hear what you are saying but I dont think it is as easy for a GM to fire a coach who has made the conference finals and then the playoffs after the team was decimated with injury. I dont know for sure but I bet there is a lot more politics in making those decisions and it isnt as easy as just doing what he wants. Perhaps it may be hard to find the next coach if they see we fire coaches that make the playoffs 2 years in a row including making the conference finals and making the playoffs after those injuries.

As fans that follow the Ducks closely we can all clearly see he is a dinosaur and needs to go and the positive to me about that q&a is Murray kind of thinks like us. I was actually more concerned that Murray was content with RCs performance. He had clearly stated what he is demanding of RC and even has the replacement coach on staff. I think the threat and backup plans are in place if RC doesnt do what is needed.

And regarding roster changes, we absolutely did the right thing this off season. We have very limited cap space and have no idea how healthy Kesler and Eaves are or if the window is completely shut. The impatient move would have been to get a dominant winger only to find Kesler cant play and Steel isnt ready or give up prospects for a player when our team isnt even a playoff caliber team and we need to be rebuilding and collecting prospects. It makes a lot more sense to see how viable Kesler, Eaves, Steel and Terry are and whether our team is any good before going into buy mode.

 

[Trojans86]

Given the current situation, we need to change things with the current roster & prospects. They changed things at the coachs areas, sure not the head but behind. Noone will take Perry, we've bad luck with Eaves and Kesler. In the end of the day, the possibities to make huge changes are not there. The Ducks are not a preferred destination for things like Tavares going home. Face it, we only can trade for players.

Right now there is the biggest chance for our prospects to get a job. Terry, Steel, Kossila, Larsson, Petterson and a few dark horses can now show they are ready and they are what people think they are. You say our roster is weaker than last year. Well I think it depends on how big the steps of the young players will be. And to be honest. We have a top 4 that is great. We added bottom pairing guys and we have 3 young players going for a job. Not much to do here. Up in front the same stroy. If Kes is healthy we are quite good, if not a lot will be determind how Steel or Kossila can bring.

People here want the youth to play. Now it's the time they can claim their place.

Yep. How good our roster is has a ton to do with how healthy Kesler and Eaves are and how ready the young guys are. If Kesler is 95% then we are already a much better roster than last. If Eaves regains some form that is a huge addition. Steel and Terry could be huge boosts. I dont really see us being much worse unless Getzlaf takes a big step back. A lot of our young guys should take a step forward and the only old guys that played last year that could decline are Getzlaf and Perry.

Not having Bieksa alone is an enormous boost to our team. We were substantially better when he was in the press box.

 

[pbgoalie]

I don't buy that.

Yup, as soon as Montour pushes the play more than one time per period, he’ll be sitting

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Nope, it is not disingenuous. It is simply a statement that signing Beleskey to a long term contract when he was a free agent back then would have been a bad decision based upon how he actually played in the years beyond the signing of the contract. That, in the end, is how I evaluate the success of a multi year contract. You may do so differently by claiming that we should only look at a signing from a future forecast perspective, and that is your prerogative. But in my opinion that is a less appropriate measure of evaluation of a contract, since people will always disagree about the potential of any player over any future contract.

The premise here involves Murray's preference for not carrying impending UFAs on expiring contracts into the season. The risk is that you lose them for nothing, which we did in Beleskey's case. Whether, 5 years on, he was worth his contract is totally irrelevant. At the time that trade deadline hit, he was a valuable player. We lost that asset for nothing. That's the point. The fact that Beleskey joined some other situation and got hurt does not retroactively generate value.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Sucks about Jones. Hopefully he can make a full recovery. I have high hopes for him and Steel.

 

[Goose of Reason]

Lol at Murray signing Rowney and Sustr because they have experience playing for fast teams. Both fanbases said they were their worst players.

 

[Masch78]

Lol at Murray signing Rowney and Sustr because they have experience playing for fast teams. Both fanbases said they were their worst players.

Then should fan bases run hockey clubs.

 

[Paul4587]

Lol at Murray signing Rowney and Sustr because they have experience playing for fast teams. Both fanbases said they were their worst players.

I thought the Sustr comment was amusing because he was saying he would be a good fit because he played for a fast team. But he didn’t fit in their system and is anything but fast.

Rowney at least has some wheels although he’s not an absolute burner. The issue there is how he got three years, he should be an ok 4C/13th forward.

 

[ADHB]

This is a BM quote regarding the PP, that I haven't seen mentioned yet. It was in one of Stephens' articles.

“Well, we can’t be any worse. We were 25th. The players we have, it makes no sense for us to be 25th. That’s two years in a row it’s been brutal. You can’t stand still. You can’t hold the puck. You got to move the puck. You’ve got to move around. People have to change. Just watch the great teams on the power play. The puck is moving and people are moving. Nobody’s X-marks the spot and you go stand there. It doesn’t work.”

1. I'm glad he finally acknowledged it. This standing around in one spot waiting for something to happen is pointless. Not only do you not create opportunities, but it takes away the biggest advantage you have on the PP, which is making the defenders chase and tire out quickly.

2. Is there a reason it took so long to do so? It's been a problem for years.

 

[Paul4587]

When was the last time we had a good PP? I think the personnel has as much to do with it as the coaching.