Confirmed with Link: Ducks hire Greg Cronin as head coach

[FiveHoleTickler]

I think he's a good coach too but I also think he's a coach who players tune out after a couple seasons

Every coach has a shelf life for one reason or another. The average tenure is something like less than 3 years.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Are people here still calling Caryle a bad coach based on his last year? The year were half the team was injured and BM gave him a 4th line of Street Rowney and Gibbons? 2 soft midgets and a gentle giant for a coach known to dress soft players. The same coach who won a cup by dressing one of the toughest teams in modern history.

Carlyle was missing a lot from his top-6. Eaves never fully recovered from his unknown illness. Kelser was playing on half a hip and wanting to reach the 1,000 games marker. Perry was out until February. We only had Kase for 30 games, going 11g + 9a that span.

Anaheim was forced to start youths C Steel, RW Terry, and 18-year old C Lundy at the beginning of the season.

GM Murray tried to get RC some offensive help by trading away D Pettersson for F Sprong, but we know that experiment didn't work. That further depleted our defensive depth as we traded Vatanen the year before for Rico.

Ducks	2018-19
Coach	Games	W	L	OTL	Points	Points Share
Total	82​	35​	37​	10​	80​	0.488​
Carlyle	56​	21​	26​	9​	51​	0.455​
Murray	26​	14​	11​	1​	29​	0.558​

I think Carlyle is great when he has talented veterans. His style didn't mesh well with the younger guys and less talented guys. It was time for a rebuild as GM Murray knew Eaves and Kelser wouldn't come back from their injuries as well as buying out Perry. That's three out of your top-6 gone in flash.

 

[Bender66]

As someone who started this I guess, you're right – he got us to 3 WCF IIRC and he was a great coach in the playoffs. What I meant with my comment was more connected to the fact how some players viewed him, as IIRC there have multiple people came out stating how they hate him and how toxic he is. I cannot provide samples tho, but I think it was on Spitting Chiclets, some Twitter stories, etc.

Aaron Ward was probably the most vocal - it didn't hurt that Ward had a national tv gig to spout his opinions on RC

"he sucked the life and fun out of the game"

 

[Mr Rogers]

Aaron Ward was probably the most vocal - it didn't hurt that Ward had a national tv gig to spout his opinions on RC

"he sucked the life and fun out of the game"

I think it's a fair point. Randy seemed to be a really solid tactician, and i believe he understood the game and his players very well. But i got the feeling he approached the game like a general would approach each battle in war. it was all about strategy and out-maneuvering the other team in order to win, very little time for extra-curriculars. I don't think he had too many light-hearted moments.

 

[KelVarnsen]

But they’d go bowing every once in a while as a team!!!!

RC was a good coach but from all reports he was prickly and not super easy to play for long term it seemed.

 

[Kalv]

Interesting piece here:

New podcast episode with Cronin. I just started it, Cronin says he always takes car ride before and after the season with his car and this time he's personally meeting our players. Terry, Jonesy, Fowler already done (on the road), he is now in NY and will meet Zegras and Vatrano any day now. Cool to see.Also he goes in depth on how he sees analytics. Really good piece to listen to. I appreciate Cronin taking his time to do those podcasts and interviews, I don't think he has to do it, especially as he sounds like has already jumped in with work. But it's really cool he's doing that.

 

[Sean Garrity]

Interesting piece here:

New podcast episode with Cronin. I just started it, Cronin says he always takes car ride before and after the season with his car and this time he's personally meeting our players. Terry, Jonesy, Fowler already done (on the road), he is now in NY and will meet Zegras and Vatrano any day now. Cool to see.Also he goes in depth on how he sees analytics. Really good piece to listen to. I appreciate Cronin taking his time to do those podcasts and interviews, I don't think he has to do it, especially as he sounds like has already jumped in with work. But it's really cool he's doing that.

He's worked with young players for forever now, he should know how to connect and develop them which I think is the most important part of the hire. The kids need to develop and he has to have the veterans buy in to support his methods.

 

[robbieboy3686]

Interesting piece here:

New podcast episode with Cronin. I just started it, Cronin says he always takes car ride before and after the season with his car and this time he's personally meeting our players. Terry, Jonesy, Fowler already done (on the road), he is now in NY and will meet Zegras and Vatrano any day now. Cool to see.Also he goes in depth on how he sees analytics. Really good piece to listen to. I appreciate Cronin taking his time to do those podcasts and interviews, I don't think he has to do it, especially as he sounds like has already jumped in with work. But it's really cool he's doing that.

Said he met with Brock Nelson this trip also…

 

[Kalv]

Said he met with Brock Nelson this trip also…

Oh, I missed that. But doubt Nelson is the one on the trading block for the Isles

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Cronin can only do so much. It’s up to Verbeek to give the guy a roster worthy of competing

 

[MMC]

 

[duxfan1101]

He obviously didn't outright say it, but it sounded like Strome wasn't the biggest fan of Cronin in NYI. Alexis gave him plenty of opportunities to speak highly of Cronin and Strome pretty much deflected it every time.

 

[DavidBL]

He obviously didn't outright say it, but it sounded like Strome wasn't the biggest fan of Cronin in NYI. Alexis gave him plenty of opportunities to speak highly of Cronin and Strome pretty much deflected it every time.

I don't know, it didn't sound that bad. I think it is obvious that the youth will have to be ready for tough conversations.

 

[Leonardo87]

He obviously didn't outright say it, but it sounded like Strome wasn't the biggest fan of Cronin in NYI. Alexis gave him plenty of opportunities to speak highly of Cronin and Strome pretty much deflected it every time.

Listening to that small sample, I am liking Cronin even more now, to be honest. Need that.

 

[cheesymc]

He obviously didn't outright say it, but it sounded like Strome wasn't the biggest fan of Cronin in NYI. Alexis gave him plenty of opportunities to speak highly of Cronin and Strome pretty much deflected it every time.

That's awesome because we have Strome locked up for another 4 years, and I am assuming Cronin signed for at least 3 years.

 

[DavidBL]

That's awesome because we have Strome locked up for another 4 years, and I am assuming Cronin signed for at least 3 years.

Did you listen to the interview? I came away with a very different opinion.

 

[cheesymc]

Did you listen to the interview? I came away with a very different opinion.

It does sound a bit like Strome was holding back when he described it as "interesting" and I'm sure most rookies have those obstacles getting into the league. It might be a thing where Cronin will bring more accountability to his young players which is a good thing, but that Cronin might have a strong personality. Cronin also sounds like he's isn't going to be a sugarcoating positive reinforcer type and leans towards a straight shooter, no BS. Probably a 180 from Eakins. I am hopeful that Cronin maximizes work ethic and preparation.

 

[FiveHoleTickler]

He obviously didn't outright say it, but it sounded like Strome wasn't the biggest fan of Cronin in NYI. Alexis gave him plenty of opportunities to speak highly of Cronin and Strome pretty much deflected it every time.

I got the same feeling, somewhat. Sort of like a "We're not in Kansas anymore" type moment. Guys are going to be pushed and challenged in a way that Eakins maybe didn't try.

I do wonder about that with Eakins though. I'm not privy to the details of his time in Edmonton but with the bagel/donut story or whatever and the incident with Hall on the bench, I came away thinking he might have overplayed his hand as a hard ass with them. Then coming over here, maybe the pendulum swung too far in the other direction.

 

[Leonardo87]

I got the same feeling, somewhat. Sort of like a "We're not in Kansas anymore" type moment. Guys are going to be pushed and challenged in a way that Eakins maybe didn't try.

Last season was historically bad, and if this is an indication things will be different. Then I’m very hopeful can see this ship starting to turn. Just have to hope the players buy into what Cronin will try to do.

Strome was not good last year, so if anyone needs to be motivated, it’s him.

 

[Kalv]

Last season was historically bad, and if this is an indication things will be different. Then I’m very hopeful can see this ship starting to turn. Just have to hope the players buy into what Cronin will try to do.

Strome was not good last year, so if anyone needs to be motivated, it’s him.

We probably won't see much progress early. Usually drastic coaching change takes time to get going. Players will have completely new systems, etc. I agree with you tho.

 

[Leonardo87]

We probably won't see much progress early. Usually drastic coaching change takes time to get going. Players will have completely new systems, etc. I agree with you tho.

At least they will be learning a system, and not whack-a-mole. Lol.

 

[Mr Rogers]

It does sound a bit like Strome was holding back when he described it as "interesting" and I'm sure most rookies have those obstacles getting into the league. It might be a thing where Cronin will bring more accountability to his young players which is a good thing, but that Cronin might have a strong personality. Cronin also sounds like he's isn't going to be a sugarcoating positive reinforcer type and leans towards a straight shooter, no BS. Probably a 180 from Eakins. I am hopeful that Cronin maximizes work ethic and preparation.

Yeah i didn't take his responses as being terribly enthusiastic about seeing Cronin return. I got the feeling though that even Strome felt he had some maturing to do looking back at that time and that maybe Cronin was right about some stuff. kinda seemed like they might've butt heads a bit, but nothing too crazy and it's probably way behind them now.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

He obviously didn't outright say it, but it sounded like Strome wasn't the biggest fan of Cronin in NYI. Alexis gave him plenty of opportunities to speak highly of Cronin and Strome pretty much deflected it every time.

I had a different impression. It seemed to me that he was eager to tell Alexis (as he had to Cronin in their meeting) that he was more mature now and more open to the kind of coaching that Cronin provides, with a bit of a caveat that Cronin had had time to sort of hone his approach. Otherwise he was pretty unqualified in his praise of Cronin, he volunteered that Cronin's approach was really good and praised him for being open to criticism himself. To me, the takeaway was that it wouldn't necessarily be pleasant but it would be a positive.

I got the same feeling, somewhat. Sort of like a "We're not in Kansas anymore" type moment. Guys are going to be pushed and challenged in a way that Eakins maybe didn't try.

I definitely got a sort of "strap in" vibe, for sure.

 

[Mr Rogers]

I think it could be the case that Strome is just more honest than some guys, and doesn't just give standard, sugarcoated type answers. There has never been a player who adores absolutely everything about his coaches, past and present. Same thing with bosses at work.

I would say his review of him was neutral with a slight bias towards curious about how Cronin could change things for the better.

 

[Arthuros]

I had a different impression. It seemed to me that he was eager to tell Alexis (as he had to Cronin in their meeting) that he was more mature now and more open to the kind of coaching that Cronin provides, with a bit of a caveat that Cronin had had time to sort of hone his approach. Otherwise he was pretty unqualified in his praise of Cronin, he volunteered that Cronin's approach was really good and praised him for being open to criticism himself. To me, the takeaway was that it wouldn't necessarily be pleasant but it would be a positive.


I definitely got a sort of "strap in" vibe, for sure.

And if they're not careful, Comtois and Strome might be the twins in the background.