On May 8, the Anaheim Ducks announced that the 12th head coach in franchise history was to be Joel Quenneville. This was the boldest move in Pat Verbeek’s tenure as general manager of the organization and potentially in the Ducks’ 31 years as an NHL franchise.
Verbeek was hired on Feb. 4, 2022, in the middle of the 2021-22 season and roughly six and a half weeks before the 2022 NHL trade deadline. To that point, the Ducks had missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons (soon to be four) and had drafted in the top ten in each of those years.
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The Ducks were a rebuilding team, but hadn’t quite realized or operated as such. Verbeek changed that, sending out previous core members of the roster at the 2022 trade deadline like Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson, and Rickard Rakell.
As perhaps expected, the Ducks missed the playoffs in all three (full) seasons of Verbeek’s tenure, continuing to finish near the bottom of the standings and accumulate top ten picks.
Heading into 2025-26, Verbeek’s fourth full season in the big chair, the Ducks have the third-longest playoff drought in the NHL, and he’ll face a new set of pressures, mandated by himself as well as ownership.
“I expect us to be very active and aggressive. I think I see this team at a point to where my expectation of this team is to make the playoffs next year,” Verbeek said on April 19, following the firing of Greg Cronin as head coach. “I expect our group to take a step, and so I’m going to be active and aggressive in making our team better.”
It’s been a tough sell to ask fans and ownership to buy into a long-term rebuild, especially in one of the league’s smaller markets, and having recently witnessed a sustained period of success between 2013-2018, where they qualified for the playoffs every season, won five consecutive Pacific Division titles, and reached the Western Conference Final twice.
“It has been a long, painful process, but we felt that we’ve reached a point where the rebuild is coming to an end,” Ducks co-owner Henry Samueli said following Thursday’s introductory press conference announcing Quenneville. “It really is, and it’s time to take the step to becoming a perennial playoff contender and eventually (a) Stanley Cup contender.”
The organization-wide mandate is to truly turn the corner and make the playoffs immediately. Speculation would suggest, this could have been a consequential contributing factor in Verbeek’s decision to appoint Quenneville as head coach.
There were several qualified and accomplished head coaching candidates on the market when the Ducks hired Quenneville, including reported finalists Rick Tocchet and Jay Woodcroft. Verbeek went with the most-qualified of the bunch, but also the one with the most baggage that could potentially alienate a significant portion of the fanbase.
“Oh, 100%. That is the pressure we’re putting on both Pat and Joel,” Samueli continued when asked if playoffs were the goal for 2025-26. “They know that the fans and the ownership expect to make the playoffs this season. It’s a lot of pressure to put on a coach and GM, but you’ve got to do it.”
The Samuelis (Henry and his wife, Susan) have been notoriously as “behind-the-scenes” as any owners in professional sports, delegating the spotlight to those they appoint in hockey-based roles.
However, with construction underway to improve Honda Center and create a surrounding sports and entertainment district (OCVIBE), the goal is to have a competitive team by the time ribbons are cut.
That also comes with the cutting of very large checks.
OCVIBE and Honda Center construction is setting the Samuelis back billions of dollars. They intend to now direct some of that spending toward the team and team staff, it would seem.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, one of the NHL’s premier insiders, reported on his “32 Thoughts” podcast that the Ducks will be paying Quenneville more to coach the team than they had previously paid at the position.
“The Ducks have not historically paid a ton to their coaches,” Friedman said. “They did do that here on some level for Quenneville.”
Friedman noted the length of Quenneville’s contract was either two years, two years plus an option for the third, or three years.
“We know what it’s like (to be a contender), and I miss it personally, going to playoff games,” Samueli said. “That’s one reason we were willing to write a much bigger check this time around. That’s because bringing in someone of Joel’s stature that’s going to cost more money, but we’re willing to make that investment into the team.
“We’ve told the same thing to Pat. Going out looking for players, you will have the budget you need to make this a serious playoff team. You don’t have to pinch pennies anymore. Do what it takes to make us a contender.”
As of now, the Ducks will have over $38.6 million in projected cap space heading into the 2025 offseason, and Verbeek has been given the green light and directive to spend as much as necessary to improve the team to the point of contention.
“Potentially, if necessary. He’s going to spend wisely,” Samueli said when asked if spending to the cap was in the cards. “We’re not going to write stupid checks, but I told him, do what it takes to make this a really steady, perennial playoff contender and Stanley Cup contender down the road. And if that means signing big-name free agents, go for it. We told him, going forward, you will not be constrained by the budget.”
There may be yet another factor to consider when analyzing why Verbeek was bold enough to hire as controversial a figure as Quenneville. Friedman reported that the conclusion of Verbeek’s contract was on the nearing horizon, a previously unknown tidbit.
“Verbeek, by the way, is heading towards the end of his contract,” Friedman said. “So, he knows the pressure’s on him, too, to show some results in Anaheim.”
As stated by Samueli and Verbeek, they felt the potential rewards outweighed the risks of hiring Quenneville as the next head coach of the Anaheim Ducks. Verbeek hasn’t been one to shy away from bold choices in his time as GM, but a new directive to put the finishing touches on a prolonged rebuild and get to the playoffs may have been a deciding factor.
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