- The Blue Jackets signed Charlie Coyle to a new contract
- The Maple Leafs hired John Chayka as their new GM
- The Draft Lottery has come and gone
- The Islanders fired Patrick Roy and hired Pete DeBoer
A lot of other teams are conducting offseason business right now but we still have games to play! It's mid-May and the Ducks are still playing!
Ducks fans, after eight years...HOW GREAT IS THIS!?!
LET'S GO DUCKS!
Per Elliotte Friedman (link) the Kings are expected to have interest in hiring Ducks Assistant Coach Jay Woodcroft as their next head coach. It would suck to lose him as an assistant and I think the Ducks should do one of two things:
The Ducks have a good coaching staff and consistency behind the bench is key to sustaining success. They know better than us what Jay does/doesn't bring to the team but allowing a Division rival to improve themselves at our expense is unacceptable, IMO. Option #1 would be a jerk move by GMPV and the Samueli's, and you hate to prevent someone from getting a promotion and opportunity they've earned, but at the same time you cannot allow a Division rival to poach talent from your organization just to be nice guys.
I saw a Ducks flag flying from a car in West LA today. First time I've seen that in many years.
People at work are watching hockey for the first time and are loving this Ducks run. A guy came up to me two days ago, knowing I was a Ducks fan, and said "I actually was fired up when they tied the game." This is a guy that has not been a hockey fan before.
A friend of mine that is a Kings fan but cut the cord with cable/satellite said he watched the Ducks a lot this year because their games were free to watch and he's still watching them in the playoffs.
I'm sure many of you have similar stories of how you've seen the Ducks fandom grow in recent weeks/months and it's great to see! We know how exciting this team is but the fact that they're resonating with new fans is fantastic. Hopefully they have added permanent new fans and new customers and they can build on this momentum in the years to come.
Regardless of what happens at this point, Ducks GM Pat Verbeek deserves his flowers. This season has already been a huge success for the organization and his fingerprints are all over every piece of it.
He hired Joel Quenneville when no other GM would. He knew it would be controversial. He knew there would be criticism, outrage and negative reactions from throughout the hockey world. He did it anyway and boy, has that decision worked out well.
He drafted Pavel Mintyukov
He drafted Leo Carlsson
He drafted Beckett Sennecke
None of those were safe picks. In fact, two of the three raised eyebrows among Ducks fans and across the league. All worked out and all three are big contributors to this team right now.
He traded for Cutter Gauthier
He traded for Chris Kreider
He traded for Jacob Trouba
He traded for John Carlson
He traded for Ryan Poehling
He traded for Jeffrey Viel
He traded for Ross Johnston
Have those deals aged well? My word! Every one of those guys has been a key contributor to why this team is where it is. I wouldn't undo a single one of those trades.
He signed Mikael Granlund
He signed Radko Gudas
He signed Tim Washe
He signed Alex Killorn
Each signing added something different and each one was needed to get the Ducks where they are right now.
GM Pat Verbeek, man...crack open a Monster and take a bow. This team is what is because of you and us Ducks fans are lucky you're the GM of our favorite team.