How the Anaheim Ducks can Become a Destination for Star Players

As player empowerment reshapes the NHL, Anaheim must prioritize aggressive winning over long-term rebuilding to lure elite talent seeking immediate championship contention and organizational commitment to excellence.

Video Transcript

Well, Coach, it’s been a little over 12 hours.

How do you kind of digest last night’s game and maybe just the season as a whole?

Yeah, I think last night’s game was, you know, was an end of a, a nice playoff run for us.

I thought, there’s a lot of positives to take out of, the playoff experience, playing big games, having 3-2 in, in our favor and, and, and doing, getting it done and learning, being exposed at 3-2 to, ending the season, something you can take going forward.

but, you know, kind of reflection on the year, it’s kind of a lot of positivity that, you’re, you’re proud of, the way the guys competed.

the fact that we fought back in many games and we looked like we were getting nowhere in, in the course of games.

And, you know, so I think that, young guys did well, the older guys did well.

collectively, I think we, we picked each other up at some key moments of the season.

And, you know, I think it’s something to build off going forward that, we took a really big step and, you know, but it’s still everybody wants to get to the next step, and the biggest step is, a bigger challenge.

So that’s, what we’re thinking about this off-season going into this next year.

And, you know, but it’s a, you know, not too many teams are hap- happy at the end of a hockey season.

So we’ll, we’ll be pleased and, and, and move forward.

What was the message to the group this morning?

Well, we haven’t talked to, I haven’t talked to the guys yet.

I mean, there, there’s a bunch of the younger guys are in here right now.

But, you know, Pat and I, we haven’t talked, you know, anything about recapping.

but, you know, I think, we’ll be looking at it in a lot of positive, positive ways and, and, and look to, you know, always trying to get better in this, in, in our game.

And, you know, there’s a lot of nice ingredients around us, that we have already at our disposal.

We got a really nice team to work with.

So we’ll ha- we haven’t talked yet, so we’ll, we’ll, we’ll see how that plays out.

Coming out of, coming out of last night, coming out of the locker room, a couple of the words that were being used were, that this was a spark.

Uh- It was a what?

A spark.

This- Spark?

This was a spark for the group.

Yeah.

that hungry is another one of those words whatsoever.

When you, when you hear that, it W- what does that make you feel about what, what this group wants to do going forward?

Oh, it’s a, it’s a good, it’s a good thing to hear because that’s the, where you gotta get to.

I think that, the fact that we got to play playoff hockey, the fact that we, we got exposed to playing, when I say exposed, exposure, to playing, you know, two real good hockey teams that, you know, won, won a Cup recently or went to two finals in a row, in their situation.

So it was like we were, you know, we got, battle-tested teams, with a group that, you know, did some amazing things, over the course of the season, had two great stretches.

And, now we, we learned, you know, that exposure of what, how much fun it can be and how important it is that everybody gotta be a key piece and contribute in a meaningful way, in a positive way.

I thought the guys were very good in that area.

no matter where they were contributing and sometimes not playing, their participation and doing everything they could was, healthy for our team as well and, and pushed everybody in a, in a, in a good way as well.

How much will you pay attention to, or perhaps even be involved in what Pat does over this off-season in terms of, you know, maneuvering this roster and what he gets done- Yeah what doesn’t get done or whatever?

Yeah, that’s something that, I, I’ll see.

I mean, a lot of that stuff, going into last season was in place.

I don’t think that, you know, I had no familiarity with, basically almost any of the players.

Mm-hmm.

So this year, you know, we got, some pretty good idea of what, what we have and, and how that, how that’s gonna be talked about or worked out.

But I, I imagine that, you know, Big will be talking to everybody around the team and, and, you know But he’s got a really good group of, guys that work with him and, that have worked with him to this point as well.

And, so we all have some, I’m sure, sh- shared ideas and, and, and ultimately, you know, he’s, he’s very good and diligent about, moving forward and making the right decisions or doing the best he can and, make it the best it can be for us this year.

Obviously, this is a, a big first step for them to get into this contention and, and, and feel that.

But what do you feel the team is missing at this point?

What, what do they need to work on the most- going into next year?

I thought that, that one of the biggest things that, probably doesn’t look up and, and, and what we accomplished this year, but I think at the end of the year, our numbers thinking that we have to keep the puck out of our net were defensively, I think we had numbers that we, we can, look like there’s We turned the corner a little bit on how we have to play in our own end.

From the start of the year, we keep saying we gotta be better defensively, we gotta be better defensively.

I think our D zone coverage was improved and, our power play was, net net was a, had a big step forward in that area.

Penalty killing had a, had some strides.

and, you know, I think our team game, you know, offensively, defensively pretty good over the course of the season.

And, you know, so we saw some improvement in some younger kids.

We saw some contributions from older guys.That we’ll say that age gap that, not too many guys were in the middle grouping.

I think that, the way we looked at it as a staff, and I don’t care how old or how young you are, I mean, you know, it’s like, we expect everybody to do the best you can and knowing that, you know, we understand who’s young and there’s things you can grow along with and learn and, and, you know, you got some patience for.

at the same time, I think our guys were, you know, kept pushing to get up to speed and then, you know, no excuses and finding ways, you know, to overcome whatever deficiencies or But the, the, the willingness to do what we’re looking for was, very, receptive.

our coaching staff was outstanding, discounting the head coach.

And, uh- We had a lot of fun.

When we talk about some of the young guys, you, you made a point early in the season to give, sweater letters to some of those guys, to give them A’s, to give them that leadership experience.

When it comes to, you know, whether or not Rakko’s gonna be on the team, it could be a time to change over the leadership to this young core that you, you’ve bestowed that upon.

What did you see from them in taking on the leadership roles that they were given and, and how they kind of embraced that as the season went along into the playoffs?

I think each player, that we’re talking about, the younger guys, all were, were fine with it.

I think that, having that, you could say added responsibility, I think we try to give the, the, the A’s and, to guys that, younger guys that know they’re a big part of the future.

That hey, you just gotta go out there and play hockey.

You’re, you know, be yourself and come to the rink and represent, how a, a good pro in a, in a, in that position would grow in that, leadership role.

Or, you know, but at the same time is we’re counting on these guys to be a big part of the team.

And taking ownership of it, at that stage of their career is, is a great compliment.

And, but, and we don’t want it to affect how you’re gonna play.

Just carry yourself the way you always have in your life and, when you come play in this sport and the game.

that’s basically what we’re asking them to do, and I think is, you know, they’ve achieved good things to, to this point.

You know, just keep, moving along that chain.

This is your first year in the market.

will you be sticking around over the summer?

And what plans do you have for the off-season?

we’ll be going back to Connecticut, this summer.

my wife and I got maybe a couple, three grandkids for the first time coming, in the next little while here.

So we’ll, that’ll be, that’ll be on the front burner for, for a month or two or three.

At your introductory press conference, Pat had said that you had planned to reach out to some local organizations of survivors of sexual abuse, sexual assault.

Has there been any progress on that front?

And will that be something that you’ll be immersing yourself in this summer as well?

I’ve always been, very diligent in, in, in staying in tune, with the, the work that, I started, over the process of four years.

And, continuation with, different groups has been ongoing as well.

the organization here in the community’s been very involved and, I participated in a number of little activities.

And, I’m looking forward to doing that, once again.

I just wanted to ask you one about, Lukas.

you guys, backed him all season long, and, and we’ve, we’ve saw the clutch saves that he made repeatedly through, through the season.

but do you think that there is a, a, another level that he can get to?

‘Cause certainly he has the talent and the ability.

Yeah, goaltenders, you know, it’s certainly a, a position gets magnified.

We know the importance of it, and it becomes a different story, come playoff time.

You know the importance of, goaltending, the factor of, of influencing wins and losses and, and momentum in games and, you know.

And I thought that, Dasty, regular season he had a great start.

he had a, you know, good stretch, good stretches.

Won some games for us.

we really relied on him there a lot this season.

Played a lot of hockey, probably more than we probably thought at the beginning of the season.

Had a throw in the Olympics and, then he got 12 more playoff games and, that’s a lot of hockey.

at the same time, you know, we rely on him, we count on him, and, whether it’s the workload or whatever.

But it was one of those years that, you know, I think that, finding him, do we even wanna play him as much as we did this year, this year, next year?

That’s something we can visit and, knowing that, you know, that’s a, that’s part of the discussion we’d probably be having with him.

But it’s more so, that we love the kid.

He’s got great, he’s a great teammate.

He’s one of the guys and, not your traditional goalie.

So Leo and Cutter had a big impact in round one, maybe less so in round two.

What did you think of their game as the, the ice got kind of shrunk and, and tightened up there?

Yeah, they did.

They did a nice job on those guys, and I think that, you know, you gotta give Vegas credit ’cause they’re, they’re stenchy.

Their, their middle’s not a lot of room.

Their, their protection of the goal, the goal area, you know, and their gap was good.

Their defense are pretty mobile, and they didn’t give up our, the rush game that we got in the end, the prior si- series.

And so we’ll, you know, I, I, I still thought Cutter had some good games as the series progressed in, in the series.

Leo’s, started off all right.

Net line was okay at the end.

but, net, net, that experience is only gonna make him.

Knowing what a, how hard it is to achieve and how much fun it can be- knowing that, you’re gonna get some interest every single shift, and they’re gonna be making sure that you’re gonna be limited.

So that’s the, a good exposure that we’re gonna learn from, and he can, you know, get to apply it going forward.

A few of the young guys did step up in big ways in the playoffs, but were you a little disappointed in the way that the, the downfall in some of those games was the play of veterans, whether it was certain- Yeah turnovers at, at the wrong times, and things like that?

Did that kinda skew how those series went?

Well, every game’s a different game.

You’re, you know, you’re looking at one moment.

you know, the, you know, we had some tough losses in the game.

First game was a tough, tough loss, and then you had, you know, game five overtime.

You know, it could’ve been And you know, those, those, those are moments that are like, okay, but it’s, it’s not particularly who, how old you are or how much, you know, experience you have.

But you know, but going forward, you know, that, that’s Those are lessons that, we know that, every shift’s important and playing, you know, whatever you gotta do to get the job done.

That’s what, makes it so much fun.

And, the accountability that goes along with that, that’s something that we s- we, we’ve talked about at the start of the series or, each series.

And, you know, taking ownership is part of it and, you know, living up to it and saying, “Hey, I gotta be better in that situation.”

You know, that’s not a, that’s not a bad less- lesson to apply.

And then just one more on the individual.

Jackson, was incredible against Edmonton, right?

He’s such a huge part of why that series went the way it did.

Maybe less of an impact against Vegas.

What did you see from his playoff, start to finish?

I thought he’d take a big step forward, and, I really liked the way he played.

I mean, he was a factor.

Had some big hits in, in the Vegas series that, you know, he had And he was outstanding in the Edmonton series.

had a lot of ice time, had the puck a lot, you know, skated through a number of neutral zones, through people, past people.

His partner helps as, as well.

They made a nice pair.

certainly, you know, Jackson’s upside as a, as a defenseman in our game is, is, is gigantic.

The D core in general had a lot of moving parts this year.

Call-ups, depth guys, trade acquisitions.

you know, regardless of, of who comes back next year, what would you like to see from them as a unit- As a unit to tighten up your defense core?

Yeah.

defensively, you know, you did have a number of movement, who was playing what position, different partners.

you know, I, I, I think that’s a, with young defense, inexperienced defense, when you look at the games played, you know, that’s one position where you can say, you know, experience at some point’s gonna kick in, and it’s gonna be beneficial the more you play.

The more you see it, the more ice time you play in a game is better for you.

that’s a, a moving part, though, that I think that as a team we gotta get better.

And, and, and I think we got some organization.

That’s, that’s part of our discussions.

But, you know, I still thought, with the group we had, I thought they did a nice job of, trying to get better and, and learning the game and learning, what it takes to be a consistent pro, which we like the, the best description of a, a good defenseman is predictability, and I thought there was some improvement in that area.

Beckett Seneca was one of three guys that played every game, going from juniors to the NHL.

How much did he surprise you this year?

Well, he surprised me by, when he s- the first, first day of training camp, first couple days, I’m watching him.

I’m watching him from the summer to that s- next stage.

And, his training camp was just okay.

And then, he started the season, and he got off to a nice start, and, all of a sudden he was just, you know, getting better and better and, and learning the game and, adapting to the game.

And, basically, it’s a big step from where he was and where he is.

You know, there’s a lot, playing in the NHL.

You got a lot more responsibilities than just trying to score a goal every single shift.

And I thought he made big strides in, the overall part of the game.

I thought he got physical as the season grew, which is probably something that’s tough to do.

And, you know, took on more responsibility.

I, I liked how he stepped forward in the big games here against Vegas and, you know, didn’t get deterred.

they had a lot of tension on him.

but he was, very effective in, what we needed to do.

We love his attitude.

He’s one of the guys.

you know, he’s a good kid.

He’s gonna be, gonna be fun to watch him grow.

All right-

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