I'm just so glad Bob's gone after seeing these returns lol. It was ridiculously annoying to see Bob not move everyone out over his talk of wanting "good young players". Like teams willingly give those away, especially for guys nearing 30 who are rentals or have 1 year left lmao. You either get that through the draft, and he most certainly did NOT maximize all the draft capital we could've acquired, or by trade, and again, he didn't care to build up a pool of assets to pull these trades off like Verbeek is doing. Guy had no clue whatsoever on how to do a rebuild, we'd have been stuck in no man's land.
Ducks have a top-5 farm team before Verbeek. Murray has been collecting 1st round picks. Some picks have panned out and some picks have not because that's a normal occurrence. Since the rebuild that started at the 2018-19 TDL, the Ducks have had two first round picks in 2019 and 2020 along with picking in the top-10 for three consecutive seasons with 2019 9th overall C Zegras, 2020 6th overall D Drysdale, and 2021 3rd overall C McTavish.
The most difficult part of the rebuild is mostly done by finding the next young core in RW Terry, C Lundy, C Zegras, RHD Drysdale, and C McTavish. Did I mention that the Ducks have a top-5 farm team that doesn't include Terry, Lundy, Zegras, and Drysdale?
Verbeek's words: (source =
link)
"This team doesn't need to be rebuilt; they're in the middle of their rebuild, so this is a great opportunity to take this team forward and turn them into a contender," Verbeek said during his introductory press conference. "You don't have to come in there and look to take a long time. There's good players in the NHL, good players in the minors and there are players that have been drafted. There's a lot coming to support the growth of this team. That's truly what I'm excited about."
Anaheim has two ways to go about this from this point: add more NHL players to supplement the core or reset the org by jettisoning several UFAs, who are part of the veteran core in Lindholm, Manson, Des, and Rakell.
Obviously, we know which path Verbeek wanted. But you are apparently mistaken that Murray has no clue on how to do a rebuild. Murray's way to rebuild is different from what you want, but that doesn't mean he has no clue. Murray wants insulation with his rebuild. An example of this is why he traded for Des.
Here's Des's words, from
the Athletic article:
"I have to give credit to Anaheim. They gave me a second boost in my career. Montreal was not going the way I wanted my last year there, and I went (to Anaheim) and just proved myself, that I can play and I can also do the heavy lifting. We had Josh Manson there, who usually took the heavy lifting, and then I got there, and he (was able to change his) mindset to play hockey and I think he proved to be a good defenseman. My role’s the same here. In Moose (Marcus Foligno) … I want to be that guy doing it and I want him to be — how many goals does he have, 19? — I want him to be on the ice. I’ll be in the box. I’ll do the five minutes.
Des does the fighting so Manson doesn't have to fight. That allows Manson to play more on the ice to help cover the kids. Rico and Silf's were informed that the org was going into a rebuild with their extensions, which they agreed with it. Rico's been a good offensive outlet for both Terry and Zegras. Silf works so well with Lundy as they both want to generate offense by playing very good defense.
Murray has a different perspective on doing a rebuild his way, from
the OC Register:
“I just felt like we needed more experience here,” Murray said of replacing Mark Morrison and Marty Wilford, Eakins’ assistants the past two seasons. “We’ve got a bunch of younger players. I didn’t feel good about younger players with a younger coaching staff. I needed more experience.”
“In the minors, because we’re going to have so many kids in the next little while with young teams, we just wanted a younger group down there, a younger group that has dealt with that age group before. I think that’s something that got overlooked this summer, changing the two staffs.”
“We’re rebuilding,” Murray acknowledged during an informal, 40-minute conversation 24 hours before the Ducks open training camp at Great Park Ice.
Asked what he tells Ducks fans when they recognize him at the gas station or on the golf course, Murray said, “We’re sticking to our plan. We’re rebuilding. This is how we’re doing it. We’re being patient. Everything we’re going to do going forward, all the trades we make, everything is for the future at this point in time.
“As those things come along, we’ll keep adding to that core young group we have. Just be patient. Just enjoy watching the young kids now and, hopefully, some of the veterans come back (to form) and give you something to be happy about.”
The rebuild started around the 2018-19 TDL. Murray has been that patient. When healthy, the whole team took off. They even shortened the bench late in games to secure wins, removing youths who aren't great at defense off the ice in Zegras and Drysdale. There's a whole lot of insulating going on.
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Verbeek's gone a totally different direction. He's got a lot more ammo now in terms of draft picks. I don't know what our timeline is now, but I do hope to have some top-4 D acquired before the next season starts b/c our PK is abysmal now. I also hope he signs Thrun and LaCombe after their junior seasons are over in the NCAA to bring more talent to the pro level.
