Speculation: How do you feel about the rebuild, and how confident are you in the team's direction?

[KyleJRM]

Half the guys people want traded have no actual trade value.

 

[Static]

The last three years both SoCal teams have been in essentially the same area of the standings and have similar level prospect pools to show for it.

But LA still has a ton of big contracts on that team.

 

[Trojans86]

LA could end up as a team with a bunch of solid player but no stars. None of their draft picks are trending toward star level. Still a long time for them to develop and Ive talked to Turcottes dad and he had some ibjury setbacks last year, but right now they still have a lot of ?s

 

[Hockey Duckie]

But LA still has a ton of big contracts on that team.

Things don't look too great for them the next two seasons. LA signed a few FA's with one-year terms and got their own Rico version in Denault with respect to age and contract term. They're gonna need their prospects to show up sooner because there might be a cap crunch for them in 2022-23 when they re-sign some of their RFA's. Kopi's got three seasons left and he will be turning 34 in August. Their bottom might fall off drastically if their prospect pool doesn't start showing up en masse soon.

We're sitting pretty now fiscally and have a nice collection of prospects. Thank goodness we started drafting defensemen in bunches again.

 

[91Fedorov]

Things don't look too great for them the next two seasons. LA signed a few FA's with one-year terms and got their own Rico version in Denault with respect to age and contract term. They're gonna need their prospects to show up sooner because there might be a cap crunch for them in 2022-23 when they re-sign some of their RFA's. Kopi's got three seasons left and he will be turning 34 in August. Their bottom might fall off drastically if their prospect pool doesn't start showing up en masse soon.

We're sitting pretty now fiscally and have a nice collection of prospects. Thank goodness we started drafting defensemen in bunches again.

I'm actually a bit surprised we haven't drafted more RHD. We have a practical log jam at left and almost empty cupboards at right.

I think our D will look good for the next few years the way it's set. Our top 4 was good but lacked an elite talent, we may have just gotten that. With Shatt pushed to 3rd pair and Manson to 2nd I think they'll both look better. We have more than enough competition for our 3rd pair left to fill out. But once Manson declines and Shatt's contract ends, we'll have some holes to fill on the right. I feel like we need to start trading some LHD for RHD prospects soon.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I'm actually a bit surprised we haven't drafted more RHD. We have a practical log jam at left and almost empty cupboards at right.

I think our D will look good for the next few years the way it's set. Our top 4 was good but lacked an elite talent, we may have just gotten that. With Shatt pushed to 3rd pair and Manson to 2nd I think they'll both look better. We have more than enough competition for our 3rd pair left to fill out. But once Manson declines and Shatt's contract ends, we'll have some holes to fill on the right. I feel like we need to start trading some LHD for RHD prospects soon.

Wait, what? We do have some RHD's in our system.

At the NHL level, RHD

Manson
Drysdale (2020, Rd 1)
Shattenkirk​

At the AHL level, RHD

Andersson (2018, Rd 2)​

In the system, RHD

Moore (2020, Rd 3)
Nickl (2020, Rd 4)​

Moore has already turned heads with his offense. Andersson seems like a two-way defenseman.

Assuming we re-sign both Manson and Lindholm, then all we're looking at for the NHL level are 3rd pairing spots for the next four or five seasons.

With Lindholm and Manson re-signed

Lindholm-Manson
Fowler-Drysdale
xxx - xxx​

On the left side, we currently have Benoit, Larsson, Guhle, and Curran at the AHL level. LaCombe and Thrun are entering year 3 of the NCAA. We just drafted Zellweger and Hinds. LaCombe and Zellweger are offensive d while Thrun and Hinds are the mashers with some offensive upside.

We've got a lot of depth for our blueline into the coming years.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

LA could end up as a team with a bunch of solid player but no stars. None of their draft picks are trending toward star level. Still a long time for them to develop and Ive talked to Turcottes dad and he had some ibjury setbacks last year, but right now they still have a lot of ?s

The Kings are giving themselves more chances to hit on players though, that's the point

 

[Trojans86]

The Kings are giving themselves more chances to hit on players though, that's the point

100%. I wish we would do the same.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

The Kings are giving themselves more chances to hit on players though, that's the point

Technically, sure, but I'm guessing you'd be surprised what the disparity actually is. 13 vs 11 picks in the first three rounds the last three seasons, 9 vs 8 in the top 50. Not exactly apples and oranges.

 

[MMC]

Bumping this again as it is about to enter new management…

 

[KyleJRM]

It's *possible* things are about to kick up a notch faster than we anticipated. We've got plenty of time to let the season play itself out, but this looks like it could be a nice transition year between tanking and competing. Something like the 2007-2008 Blackhawks or the 2017-18 Avs.

It doesn't look like we're going to get our no-doubt generational No. 1 lottery win, so we're just going to have to build the best team we can with a deep roster of quality players, and we seem poised to do that.

Next season we have a metric ton of cap space. We don't have to blow it all for the sake of blowing it, but we can do anything we want to do.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

I was very happy with the rebuild, now, who knows.

 

[lwvs84]

It's *possible* things are about to kick up a notch faster than we anticipated. We've got plenty of time to let the season play itself out, but this looks like it could be a nice transition year between tanking and competing. Something like the 2007-2008 Blackhawks or the 2017-18 Avs.

It doesn't look like we're going to get our no-doubt generational No. 1 lottery win, so we're just going to have to build the best team we can with a deep roster of quality players, and we seem poised to do that.

Next season we have a metric ton of cap space. We don't have to blow it all for the sake of blowing it, but we can do anything we want to do.

No way the "hockey gods" would let a pick like Wright go to the Ducks. I'm fine with a playoff push. It'll be even more impressive if we can end up contenders without getting a top 5 pick in an absolutely loaded draft.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I was very happy with the rebuild, now, who knows.

Madden is the only person that could be GM that would continue with the rebuild, but there's probably an internal reason why he wasn't chosen to be interim GM.

 

[Static]

Very curious if there will be any changes in philosophy and what Solomon is even allowed to do under the interm tag.

 

[bsu]

Maybe zegras will get his number now lol

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

Very curious if there will be any changes in philosophy and what Solomon is even allowed to do under the interm tag.

Honestly he'd be probably smart to just keep things on track. Ownership bought into whatever Murray was selling, keeping that continuity is probably a bonus. Then again he might feel he needs to make some kind of mark in this audition and I wouldn't blame him for that.

 

[Static]

Honestly he'd be probably smart to just keep things on track. Ownership bought into whatever Murray was selling, keeping that continuity is probably a bonus. Then again he might feel he needs to make some kind of mark in this audition and I wouldn't blame him for that.

I'm hoping if nothing else he increases the pressure on upgrading the infrastructure.

 

[ADHB]

I'm hoping if nothing else he increases the pressure on upgrading the infrastructure.

Good point. Solomon definitely leans a little more modern compared to Bob. Hope we can build up things like the analytics and scouting department, and continue to evolve when it comes to things like skills training, nutrition, workout regimens, etc.

 

[Bergey37]

I'm happy with the way the rebuild is progressing. Gains by Terry and Lundestrom are impressive; Comtois will get his game back, and Getzlaf seems thrilled to have a new pet winger. The coaches will keep the program going; I don't expect Solomon will put a heavy thumbprint on what we're doing in his interim phase. He'll be tasked to re-sign the players we want to keep, but I don't expect any major additions unless it's a slam-dunk, patently obvious deal which is unlikely. The questions are for the next GM.

 

[branmuffin17]

Eakins obviously was Bob's pick, but I wonder what Solomon thinks of him.

In that same respect, while Eakins was previously in the doghouse by the general fanbase, I wonder how he's currently being viewed, and if he might be re-signed.

Bob didn't make a move on a bunch of potential trades...for Henrique, Rakell, Manson etc., along with my boy Cam. Wonder if Bob leaving changes this.

 

[Paul4587]

Eakins should get to the end of the year. The current win streak shouldn’t influence anything let’s see what he does over an 82 game stretch.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Eakins obviously was Bob's pick, but I wonder what Solomon thinks of him.

In that same respect, while Eakins was previously in the doghouse by the general fanbase, I wonder how he's currently being viewed, and if he might be re-signed.

Bob didn't make a move on a bunch of potential trades...for Henrique, Rakell, Manson etc., along with my boy Cam. Wonder if Bob leaving changes this.

All good queries. It's gonna be weird b/c we go from a set vision to possibly a vastly different vision. This could also change our drafting strategies too.

 

[duckpuck]

Murray leaving will have no effect on the rebuild in the short run. If anything, it will lead to better decisions since Murray had a weird emotional attachment for players like Manson.

In the long run, I don't expect major changes in the rebuild. For better or worse, Murray did a decent job putting the foundation in place. Decisions will be made in the next few months on players like Lindholm, Manson and Rakell. Beyond that, they may try to trade some veterans (Silf Henrique Grant), but that seems unlikely unless the ducks fall out of contention. Whoever takes over on a permanent basis, will pretty much stay the course.

 

[MMC]

Bumping this again as we reached another notable point in the rebuild. Probably the most critical in terms of the impact it could have on the potential timeline of a new core. Also using this to offer my overall thoughts on this deadline, which I wanted to wait a bit to do to decompress so I wasn't just acting on emotion.

Overall, we traded Deslauriers, Manson, Lindholm, and Rakell, all of whom were expiring. I know some people were disappointed with the returns, but honestly, I'm really not with any of them. I have a hard time seeing how people really expected much more, considering these guys are rentals. The reality is teams just don't spend that much on rentals at the trade deadline anymore, as you can see it was guys like Hagel who really brought it home in the returns. I'd been an advocate for trading Manson and Rakell for quite some time, so I'm not too sad to see them go, but Lindholm really stings. Though I can appreciate having a GM who is very wary about who he gives long term deals to, as opposed to whatever the f*** is going on in San Jose right now. Overall, an emotional time for sure, but I'm happy with the futures we amassed. Now it's time slog through these last few miserable games, and excitedly await what could truly be a transformative offseason for our team. I'm still upset about losing these guys, but for the first time in quite some time, we can have hope real changes will be made in the offseason.

In the trades we brought back prospects in Helleson, Clang (who people REALLY need to chill TF out about), and Vaakanainen, took back NHLers in Moore, Simon, and ZAR (not sure why anyone is upset about these, we could certainly use the warm bodies and the forwards are expiring, Moore has an inconsequential cap hit for another year). Perhaps most importantly though, we've amassed the following draft capital over the next few seasons.

Looking at how deep our talent pool already is, with a good mix of depth and elite talent at every position, it's hard not to get excited about what we already have. And we could be months away from adding 4 more great prospects in the first two rounds (assuming we keep all the picks). So while myself and many others are sad to see our guys go, we're in such a good position to really build something special around the young guys we have that it's hard for me to be disappointed. We just have to accept that the time of that core leading us to compete is over. It's time to see what a Zegras, Drysdale, Terry, and McTavish led core can bring us.

My final note is that I'm still incredibly f***ing salty over the league being stupid enough to approve that Dadonov trade for us which got us excited lmao. Bunch of clowns.