GM Pat Verbeek’s vision for Ducks – faster and stronger contenders

Pat Verbeek has a vision for the future of the Ducks, an organization he is still getting to know after he was hired as general manager Feb. 3. For starters, he was in Toronto on Friday morning to watch one of the team’s top prospects play in a junior-level playoff game later that night.

“I’m going to go watch Mason McTavish play,” Verbeek said of the Ducks’ first-round draft pick (third overall) in 2021, a high-scoring center who had led the Hamilton (Ontario) Bulldogs to a 3-0 series lead over the Mississauga Steelheads. “I haven’t seen him, so I want to see him play.”

McTavish plays with some but not all of the traits Verbeek would like to see in all of the Ducks starting with the 2022-23 season. McTavish isn’t necessarily a speedy skater, but he has the sort of snarl and physicality Verbeek wants to become the standard within the organization.

“We’re not as fast as the rest of the NHL, that’s just my viewpoint,” Verbeek said during a conference call. “We have to make improvements there. There are certain elements when it comes to competing. We have the compete (level), but the strength isn’t there. It’s not good enough, no.”

Verbeek’s mission to mold the Ducks into a faster, stronger team begins with scouting in preparation for the NHL draft July 7-8 at Montreal’s Bell Centre. He also must get to know the Ducks’ deep prospect pool better, starting with McTavish and defenseman Olen Zellweger, a second-round pick in ’21

“It’s my background, I love to do it,” Verbeek said of scouting. “I have a thirst for knowledge, to know players, so I’m going to do it. I’m working with all our scouts to make sure I have knowledge of all the players we’re going to be discussing in the summertime. It’s important.”

Also on the agenda is hiring a new coaching staff for the Ducks’ AHL team in San Diego after firing coach Joel Bouchard and assistants Daniel Jacob and Max Talbot this week. Verbeek, in consultation with Ducks coach Dallas Eakins, also must find a replacement for assistant Geoff Ward, who resigned.

The ultimate goal is completing an ongoing rebuilding project that’s now in its fourth year, after a belated and slow-motion start by predecessor Bob Murray. Verbeek’s first moves as GM after replacing Murray, who resigned Nov. 10, were drastic but necessary.

Verbeek, believing he couldn’t re-sign unrestricted free agents Nicolas Deslauriers, Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson and Rickard Rakell, traded them before the March 21 deadline rather than risk losing them without gaining anything in return. It effectively ended the Ducks’ playoff chase.

The Ducks were 27-26-11 going into the deadline and within striking distance. They ended the season with a 31-37-14 record, dropping into seventh place in the Pacific Division. Their playoff drought reached four consecutive seasons, a first in the franchise’s history.

“We couldn’t let guys walk away,” Verbeek said. “It was a chance to set up the franchise, to put it in a good position down the road to build a lot of depth throughout the entire organization, whether it was in the minors or up top with the Anaheim Ducks.

‘Now we have a lot of draft picks over the next three years. Now it’s going to be our responsibility to draft well and to set this franchise up to be good down the road, to start looking at being a winning team, a contending team and, eventually, hopefully, a championship team.”

Verbeek’s challenge is to bolster the Ducks’ lineup by surrounding dynamic young players like Troy Terry, Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale with other dynamic players. The deadline trades of the four veterans, plus the retirement of Ryan Getzalf, left a void in the roster.

Terry, Zegras and Drysdale are part of a new Ducks core, Verbeek said. Terry led the Ducks with 37 goals and 67 points this past season. Zegras was selected as one of three finalists for the rookie of the year award. Drysdale was the Ducks’ third-leading scorer among their defensemen.

“I thought they had nice seasons, but as I told them, there’s so much more upside to where their games can go,” Verbeek said. “I gave them specific areas they need to improve in, that I’m looking for them to improve in, and I think if they look at those specific areas, things will improve drastically for the Anaheim Ducks.”

Additionally, Verbeek said he hadn’t spoken to goaltender John Gibson about his long-term future with the Ducks, but didn’t elaborate. Gibson, signed through the 2026-27 season, has been outspoken about wanting to win and expressed frustration with the current state of affairs.

So, what comes next? How active will Verbeek be in his first offseason as the Ducks’ GM?

“There’s lots of possibilities,” he said. “Whether we’re going to be able to execute them, that’s another story. There’s going to be lots of teams competing for the same players we are (in free agency). At the end of the day, the players are going to decide. (But) we’re going to make our sales pitch.

“Will there be opportunities as far as trades? Absolutely there will be opportunities, but I can’t tell you what they are. I have no idea. There were teams that came forward that I had no idea would come forward at the trade deadline and that’s going to be the same before the draft.

“I’m sure that’s what’s going to happen.”