I mean I'm critical of Cronin but even assuming that this really was the case and Eakins was intentionally sacrificing defense to the point that it was historically bad (for the entire league, not just the franchise) you still ended up with the team having the second least goals for while having the worst shots allowed stat in league history since the stat started being recorded.
I'm with you that outside our hot start we haven't seen much improvement from last year, but I don't know if I can agree that the dip in goal scoring relative to the improvement in shot suppression makes this team much worse than last year.
If we look back at Eakins' 2021-22 team, we were 3rd in the Pacific when Verbeek took over at all-star break. At the beginning of that season, we were involved in seven 1-goal games in the first nine games. In those 1-goal games, we went 1-3-3 (5 points). Then Eakins began shortening the bench at the end of games, sitting most of our youths in Z, Drysdale, Milano, and McTavish. That switch prompted the 8-game winning streak.
@Ducks DVM shared the context that people are omitting, it was a beyond a terrible defensive roster in 2022-23 season. Eakins was able to get more out of the team than this year's team. He found ways to earn points with far less talent.
- After 67 games
- Record
- Last year (Eakins): 22-35-10 (54 pts)
- This year (Cronin): 23-41-3 (49 pts)
- 1-goal games
- Last year (Eakins): 27 games, 14-3-10 (38 pts)
- This year (Cronin): 27 games, 13-11-3 (29 pts)
- Goal Diff
- Last year: 172 GF - 271 GA = - 99 GD
- This year: 169 GF - 244 GA = -75 GD
- PP
- Last year: 31st (15.72%) ... for the season
PP Goals: 36 pp goals
.
- This year: 24th (18.59%) ... for 67 games
PP Goals: 37 pp goals
- PK
- Last year: 31st (72.14%) ... for the season
PK Goals Against: 78 pk goals against
.
- This year: 31st (73.61%) ... for 67 games
PK Goals Against: 71 pk goals against
- Shoutout offensively
- Last year: 5 times (in 82 games)
- This year: 8 times (in 67 games)
We should have more points this year than last year with a vastly upgraded blueline as well as offensive talents in Carlsson and Killorn in tow for talent depth before the TDL. The fact we have fewer points than last year's team makes this year's team a worse product. And as
@Ducks DVM shared, we were playing man defense under Eakins and, now, playing man defense under Cronin, but we're still not getting it.