Verbeek is hoping Quenneville is able to do in Anaheim what he did in Chicago, where he had a young team whose core had forwards Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa, along with defensemen Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, and developed it into a three-time Cup winner.
Anaheim (35-37-10) was sixth in the Pacific Division this season and failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the seventh consecutive season. The Ducks finished 16 points behind the Blues for the second wild card from the Western Conference but improved by 21 points from 2023-24.
The Ducks’ young talent includes forwards Leo Carlsson, 20; Cutter Gauthier, 21; Mason McTavish, 22; and Trevor Zegras, 24; defensemen Olen Zellweger, 21; Pavel Mintyukov, 21; and Jackson LaCombe, 24; and goalie Lukas Dostal, 24.
“When I really boiled it down, the decision that really made it feel right was when he took over Chicago, how young that team, how raw that team and how talented they were,” Verbeek said. “I feel we’re in that same predicament as the same team that he took over.”
Quenneville said watching Anaheim play in person in January was eye-opening. The Ducks went into a rebuilding phase after they were swept in four games in the 2018 Western Conference First Round by the San Jose Sharks and are starting to work their way back up the standings.
“The first (NHL) game I went to in almost four years was [when] Anaheim played in Tampa Bay (on Jan. 16),” Quenneville said. “I hadn’t seen Tampa live in a long time, but I certainly hadn’t seen much of Anaheim, and I watched the game, and I was really impressed at the pace of the game and the skill and the speed that Anaheim had, and they’re only kids. It was a great game to watch. They lost (4-3) in [the shootout], but I was surprised, and I was impressed.”
When Quenneville replaced Denis Savard as Blackhawks coach four games into the 2008-09 season, Chicago had not qualified for the playoffs in the previous five seasons.
“The time of the franchise of where they’re at today, it reminds me of Chicago a lot and some of Florida as well,” Quenneville said. “I’ve been fortunate to be in some really nice places that we are in that stage of franchise growth and I’m excited about being a part of that.”
Having talked to a number of candidates for the position, Verbeek said a lengthy meeting with Quenneville convinced him to hire the veteran coach. The two were teammates with the New Jersey Devils in 1982-83 and again with the Hartford Whalers in 1989-90.
“I was impressed with the little details of how to play better defense, how to control the puck, how to become a puck-possession team,” Verbeek said. “Those things, until you get into it on a day-to-day (basis) with coaches, and you sit down and talk to them, you never know the coach’s methods of how they go about teaching. I was impressed with that.”
Three teams are without a coach: the Pittsburgh Penguins, Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks.
NHL.com independent correspondent Dan Arritt contributed to this report
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