We were bad
But assuming Eakins is a “players coach” in two years of misery, the team mostly played hard throughout. Usually a players coach has the team lay down and just coast when they lose the team. They were badly coached, but don’t seem like a team that needs a hard a$$.
They need a strong fundamental coach to start developing and building
Sometimes, there's a case that talent matters more. We didn't win the cup until we acquired another HOF defenseman in Pronger.
In tracking the team meticulously for the past few years, our defense relied on talent being on the ice. When the trio of Fowler, Lindholm, and Manson were healthy, then our GAA would drop. When one or more are missing, then our GAA would rise.
We can look at Lindholm's past two seasons, one with Anaheim and one with Boston. With Anaheim, I discovered that Lindholm saves the Ducks about one GAA. With Boston, their GAA was reduced about one GAA. Similarly, this occurrence is seen on the PK.
Let's look at the PK efficiency between the past two seasons to identify talent matters.
Ducks | 2021-22 | Special | Teams | | | | | |
---|
Game Set | Games | PPG | PPO | PP Eff | | PK GA | TSH | PK Eff |
1 to 33 | 33 | 23 | 90 | 25.6% | | 12 | 85 | 85.9% |
34 to 62 | 29 | 19 | 85 | 22.4% | | 17 | 89 | 80.9% |
63 to 82 | 20 | 6 | 44 | 13.6% | | 14 | 50 | 72.0% |
- Game Set details:
- 1-33: Fowler, Lindholm, and Manson are healthy.
- 34-62: Fowler missed 4 games, Lindholm missed 2 games, and Manson missed 17 games.
- 63-82: Lindholm and Manson traded away.
Ducks | 2022-23 | Special | Teams | | | | | |
---|
Game Set | Games | PPG | PPO | PP Eff | | PK GA | TSH | PK Eff |
Total | 82 | 36 | 229 | 15.7% | | 78 | 280 | 72.1% |
Stothers handled the defense and PK unit for both seasons. Anaheim doesn't have NHL quality depth when injuries hit our top-end talents. Without higher end talent, you get mediocre production. After the 2021-22 TDL and this past season, our PK stunk. We didn't replace the defensive talents of Lindholm and Manson.
Since we're built from the net out from the previous regime, gutting the defense and not replacing the talent loss will lead to grim results.
Under Verbeek, he's collecting bigger, physical forwards and added more talent to the blue line via the draft, traded prospects, or UDFAs. This should give the roster more balance into the future.