Crack open a tall can \u2013 or two \u2013 of Monster Energy drink.<\/p>\n
The Ducks\u2019 Pat Verbeek, known for his affinity for the caffeinated beverage, was named as one of three finalists for the NHL\u2019s Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Verbeek, 61, joined Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin, who like Verbeek had a formidable playing career, and the Colorado Avalanche\u2019s Chris MacFarland as the last three executives standing.<\/p>\n
All three of the hopefuls have their teams in the second round of the playoffs. Colorado led Minnesota 3-1 in their series and the Ducks were deadlocked 2-2 with the Vegas Golden Knights ahead of Tuesday night\u2019s Game 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an extreme honor, but I think the job\u2019s not done. There\u2019s, obviously, still lots to do. It\u2019s cool. I think this award is really an organizational award,\u201d Verbeek said Tuesday in Las Vegas on the day of Game 5 of the Ducks\u2019 conference semifinal series. \u201cYou know, you can look at our coaching staff, our coaching staff in San Diego (with the AHL\u2019s Gulls), our development people. You talk to all our scouts, whether professional scouts or amateur scouts, everybody has had a hand in this scenario. I think that\u2019s kind of how I view it as just a complete organizational award.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy name is to it, but I think that\u2019s what it boils down to, sure (the franchise getting recognition for the success it\u2019s had this season). I couldn\u2019t do my job without \u2026 I view myself as a cog in the machine and the machine can\u2019t run unless all the cogs are all working together. So, you can\u2019t do one without the other. So, that\u2019s how I kind of view it. The team has taken a big step from last year and, overall, there\u2019s been a lot of growth and you\u2019re seeing some of that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet only the Ducks are something of a surprise to remain alive at this point. Colorado, who won it all in 2022, went wire-to-wire as the Stanley Cup favorite this season. Minnesota has made the postseason in 12 of its past 14 campaigns, and raised its profile in December when it dealt for dazzling defenseman Quinn Hughes in perhaps the biggest blockbuster in recent memory.<\/p>\n
The Ducks, on the other hand, had missed the playoffs seven years in a row<\/a>, the longest drought in the Western Conference. They were down to the low 20s in terms of their percentage of making the playoffs on MoneyPuck as recently as mid-January.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s good for him, obviously. He\u2019s done such a good job of building this team bringing all these young guys together. So, it\u2019s well deserved,\u201d Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe said. \u201cObviously, the last few years were tough, but you could just see the growth and the progress that we made each year and throughout this season as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Verbeek took control of the front office in the thick of the 2021-22 season. He was brought in to mop up a mess made by Bob Murray in the final years of what had been a strong tenure.<\/p>\n Murray\u2019s era included runs to the conference finals in 2015 and 2017, as well as three consecutive nominations for GM of the year and one win.<\/p>\n Verbeek was aggressive in his approach, stacking assets in the form of draft picks and prospects while keeping expenditures low in terms of both player and coaching personnel.<\/p>\n With even his highest draft picks, he was also unafraid to go off the board, selecting Beckett Sennecke at No. 3 overall<\/a> in 2024 and Leo Carlsson at No. 2 overall<\/a> in 2023. He swung an elaborate and painstaking trade<\/a> to land another recent top-5 pick, Cutter Gauthier, after the former Boston College star refused to sign his entry-level deal with the Philadelphia Flyers.<\/p>\n This season, Gauthier, Carlsson and Sennecke finished first, second and third on the Ducks in scoring.<\/p>\n Last year under Greg Cronin, the first coach that Verbeek hired, the process began to bear fruit with a 21-point leap year-over-year. Over the summer, he installed Joel Quenneville<\/a>, the supremely qualified but recently disgraced head coach<\/a> of three Stanley Cup champions in Chicago.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy for him. He\u2019s done a heck of a job here. He\u2019s built from the ground up. He brought some young kids along and some veterans to guide them and lead them,\u201d Quenneville said. \u201cI\u2019m fortunate to be here myself, to be around it, you know there\u2019s a lot of upcoming prospects in the organization as well. So, there\u2019s a lot of positives coming out of this year. I think the patience he had in the first three years paid some dividends and I\u2019m happy to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, the Ducks are on the verge of reproducing the result that Quenneville got in his first year with the Blackhawks \u2013 there, he inherited a team that already had Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Patrick Sharp in place \u2013 when he reached the conference finals in Year 1.<\/p>\n