Anaheim Ducks Offseason Dilemma: Right Shot Defensemen

With three veteran pillars hitting free agency, Pat Verbeek must decide between re-signing experienced leaders like Jacob Trouba or trusting a youth movement to sustain Anaheim’s resurgence.

Video Transcript

Drew, first off, how long are you gonna let the hair go?

Till I sign.

That was the, the promise at the start of the year.

It was grow until I sign an extension, and it’s still going .

Speaking of extensions, so are you looking forward to the summer to kinda talk those things over and, and potentially come back?

yeah, I mean, we’ll see where, where it goes.

I guess I’ve never been through the, the free agency situation, so I don’t have a lot of answers right now, and we’ll see where, where it goes.

So many- Was there any preliminary discussions with Pat at any point this year about extensions?

a little bit at the deadline.

Didn’t, didn’t get very far.

So many, have, have talked, Q and, and others have talked about your partnership with Jackson and, and how well did that work.

How much will that play a part in your, you know, contract talks and, and, you know, wanting to maybe re-sign here and continue that partnership?

Yeah.

I mean, obviously he’s a very, very special player.

I think he’s shown that, the growth he’s had throughout the, the time here, and then this year, the step he took is pretty impressive.

yeah, I think he’d be a great guy to play with for, for years to come.

that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s gonna be a partner if you’re here.

Mm-hmm.

Things, things change, obviously, but, yeah, whoever gets the opportunity to play with him is, is in a very good spot.

Expectation for the team going into the season was to make the playoffs.

You guys did that, and not only did that, but won a series.

Do you feel like once you guys got to that point, the expectation became, “Okay, let’s just keep going and see how far we can go”?

yeah.

I think, where we started the year, the goals we had in mind, I thought we, we did a pretty good job of achieving a lot of them and be able to win a series and play some meaningful hockey in big games.

And, I think we weren’t too far off it, but I think, you know, there’s, there’s another level that, this team’s gotta get to to kinda take that next step, and I think we knew that coming into the year, and we found out firsthand and got to kinda live the experience, which is beneficial for sure going into next year here.

Like, like you said, I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s up in the air.

We’ll see what the, the coming weeks and whatsoever.

I mean, but I would imagine that having a veteran presence like yourself is key for, for a blue line.

We, we know about the young talent that’s already on it, whatsoever, but that- Yeah having a veteran like yourself would- Yeah, I think that’s a- is, is one of those essential part, parts too.

Yeah.

I think that’s a role I would like to look forward to.

I guess kinda going through a similar situation in New York, and kinda seeing that, how the whole process played out and the growth of the team where, where we got to there, kind of at a similar stage here when I got there.

so it’d be kind of fun to have another, another crack at, I guess, growing with the group and trying to create something that, is a winning hockey team.

How much did coming here kinda re- reenergize you, rejuvenate you even?

a lot.

I think, that’s something I’ll always, no matter how this whole thing, I guess, plays out, something I’ll always be appreciative of, of Pat and the organization kinda took a, took a chance on me when I was down.

and I was certainly down.

I think those, finishing out that last year was tough, and, I don’t know, coming back this year, I had a lot to, lot to prove to myself, and I thought I did a good job of, of playing hockey again and pretty proud of that.

Whenever I talk to players that have been on deep runs or going well, they always say, you know, going from, from bad to mediocre is pretty easy.

From mediocre to pretty good gets a little tougher, but then each step gets tougher and tougher.

What do you think this team needs to, to get to the next level ’cause you’re kind of approaching that rarefied air here in Scott- Yeah Darwin?

I mean, I think the experience is, is a huge piece in playing those games and playing in series and seeing the, I guess, the emotional swings of winning and losing games in the playoffs.

that’s stuff you can’t really, no matter what anybody tells you, you kinda gotta live that out and figure it out for yourself and learn the feelings.

So I think that’s, being able to win a series and get to the next step is a big experience for this group.

I think that’s, probably the best way to build it.

You can bring guys in and talk, and you gotta go out there and play and be a part of the, the group and kinda be in the fight, and that’s kinda where you grow and, and learn.

And I had a great opportunity to do that this year.

At the end of last season, you said it had been a long season.

You were looking forward to settling down.

So this year, after going through this season, you know, how do you feel like you kinda settled in and you felt going kinda along with that, more just yourself and more comfortable in your game?

Yeah.

I think, I don’t know, just kinda stay quiet and play hockey, and that was kinda my mindset coming in was just go back out there and enjoy playing hockey again.

And I think this group kinda reenergized me with the, the young guys and some of the, the fun moments we had off the ice and on the ice, the experience.

yeah, it’s kind of reinvigorating, and I was happy to be here, excited to be here, excited to come to the rink every day and play with these guys, and it’s a fun group to be a part of.

Been on some long playoff runs with the Rangers, a lot of veterans on those team, and then with Anaheim, it’s a lot younger group.

How did this playoff run compare to some of the ones you had with the Rangers?

I think they’re all kind of different.

I think, the biggest thing here was I think the young guys were the reason we made it to the playoffs, and the young guys showed up in the playoffs and played really good and scored big goals and made big plays.

I think that was probably the most, I don’t know, encouraging thing to see is we got, got to that point, and then they kinda upped their game, which you wanna see out of those, those types of players, and those are the games they wanna play in.

And, yeah, I think that’s the, the young core is the, the future of the team here for sure, and they got a, a good piece in place.

A bit of Frankie in New York, obviously reunited out here.

How tough was it to see him go through the season that he did?

I mean, the broken shoulder- Yeah carried in the wine up, obviously, then what happened with his brother, didn’t get to play.

This is just a really tough year for a guy who’s kinda one of the emotional leaders here, right?

Yeah.

I think a lot to be said for how Frank handled it, and the attitude he comes to the rink every day with, and he’s still fun to be around, and he’s, he does a nice personality.

it’s been a stronger, tougher year for, for both of them.

yeah, you try to support him as much as you can as, as friends more than teammates.

get through that.

They obviously helped me when I got here, and I was, I was down pretty bad, so I think, try to support them and be there for them, and they, they handled things the best they could.

What’s the off-season plan for you?

stay here for a little bit and then probably go back to, to Michigan, see some family, and then hopefully get to, to France for a little bit.

Thank you.

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