Important Offseason Lies Ahead for San Diego Gulls, Anaheim Ducks Organization
Jun 29, 2022By Andy Zilch/SanDiegoGulls.com
There are five elements to the plot of every story: the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and conclusion. Depending on the scope, a hockey franchise can endure these elements in a matter of a decade, handful of seasons or even one year.
Today’s tale encompasses two separate stories, each coming together to define the entire Anaheim Ducks organization. The first of this two-part saga primarily involved a man who captained the National Hockey League club for 12 consecutive seasons, with the obvious climax a 2007 Stanley Cup championship. While this marked the highest peak for the organization, there is no doubt the team’s continued search for a second championship provided several productive seasons. The Ducks strung together two Western Conference Finals appearances, five consecutive Pacific Division titles and four consecutive 100+ point seasons. Ryan Getzlaf skated in his last professional game on April 24 and helped build a culture based on the foundation he learned throughout a successful career that included hockey’s greatest achievement. Putting the bowtie on his career meant the conclusion of part one of today’s story…and an era.
There’s no questioning that the previous few seasons are the falling action of the latter story. This is where the two stories interchange, however, and builds the mold for the second story. The youthful movement already garnered experience after learning from the Ducks’ strong veteran group led by Getzlaf and through impactful playing time. The page turning will be fast and furious as the organization looks to burst through the lower half of the NHL.
Part two begins before February 3, 2022, when the organization named Pat Verbeek the sixth general manager in team history, but that was the infancy of the rising action for the Ducks organization. The 57-year-old took the helm of a franchise making progress on the route back to contention after missing the postseason for three consecutive seasons.
"Where I was impressed was a couple of weeks ago, we had an organizational management meeting up in Anaheim," Gulls Assistant General Manager Bob Ferguson said. "Pat laid out his blueprint for what he is looking for over the next two to three years. There’s a plan and everybody believes in it. We have the pieces in place and the pieces on the way coming up through the organization and draft picks. It should work and we’re back to being a perennial playoff contender and always getting deep into the playoffs. That’s what our goal is. We know we’re not there yet but the way it was laid out by Pat and his plan. I think we all believe we’re going to get there very shortly."
LISTEN: FERGUSON JOINS GULLSCAST TO TALK OFFSEASON
The exposition of this story is the young players already in place to become the core for this group moving forward. The Ducks had back-to-back seasons of homegrown talent lead the team in points. Former Gulls Max Comtois and Troy Terry earned that honor in each of the past two seasons with stellar offensive play. Sprinkle in Max Jones, Isac Lundestrom, Sam Steel, Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale as players who, despite being 24-years-old or younger, logged considerable time in the NHL and intend to be the pulse of the team for years to come. Not to be forgotten is the group of draft selections that are aiming to enter the professional level shortly such as the 2021 third overall selection, Mason McTavish.
When examining the Ducks, it’s evident American Hockey League development is crucial in the growth of the players and a key cog moving forward. The San Diego Gulls are starting a new story flow of their own, mirroring the big club’s trajectory. On May 3, Verbeek tabbed Rob DiMaio to run the Gulls as the team's General Manager, who will look to steer the farm club in a successful direction.
"I saw something we can start," DiMaio stated when discussing why he joined the organization. "It’s not on the bottom floor of a rebuild or anything like that. I saw the opportunity to be involved with something at the early stages of it with Pat, and him being a new general manager, I felt I could really help him in doing whatever he needs me to do to be successful. That’s what was intriguing about it for me. It was a difficult move for me to make, but I already feel comfortable with Pat and the opportunities that lie ahead for us."
Just eight days later, the organization relieved the Gulls coaching staff of their respective duties, and the organization looks to turn a new leaf after the first sub .500 season in the San Diego’s seven-year AHL history. The Gulls completed the 2021-22 season with an overall record 28-33-7 for a total of 63 points. The team claimed the final Pacific Division playoff seed but lost 2-0 in a best-of-three first round matchup with the Ontario Reign.
"This was a tough year for everyone and we feel a clean slate is needed in San Diego," Verbeek said when he announced the decision. "These are extremely difficult decisions, but we are committed to returning to our winning ways in San Diego for our great fans. We wish Joel, Daniel and Max the best of luck in the future."
A mere 11 players from last season’s Gulls team are signed to a contract heading into this season. That group includes eight forwards, two defensemen and one goaltender. Those players are as follows: Hunter Drew, Bo Groulx, Bryce Kindopp, Josh Lopina, Blake McLaughlin, Danny O’Regan, Jacob Perreault, Brayden Tracey, Axel Andersson, Drew Helleson, and Lukas Dostal. Of those 11 players, seven were selected by the Ducks in the NHL Entry Draft. Nearly two thirds of the contracted players in Anaheim were drafted by the organization, which puts an emphasis on the yearly event that begins on July 7. The Ducks currently hold eight selections in the draft, with four in the first 53 picks.
"For me, what's really important is hockey sense and compete," Verbeek stated. "Those are two vital things that I'm going to be looking for in players. You have to have those elements to be able to win. Every general manager has their own vision. When it comes to drafting players, I have my vision. I'm going to communicate that to all of our amateur scouts, and we're going to make the list based on that."
‘A big offseason ahead’ is putting it lightly regarding the Gulls, who are looking to fill coaching vacancies, important lineup roles and build veteran leadership. There is no doubt the collegiate players from last April will look to hold a more prominent role with the organization and expand on the crash course learned at the tail end of the AHL season. And of course, new draftees could be brought in at some point over the season to hone their professional craft in San Diego.
"Here is San Diego, since we came out here, we’ve set a standard and the standard was a lot higher than what we achieved last year," Ferguson added. "We’re used to being the top two or three in our division and we never really got there last year, we never got any traction due to a lot of things and you could say all the excuses in the world. We just didn’t maintain the consistency through that and when we did, we seemed to lose it in a hurry.
"We got to build on that. We feel this year is very important for us just because we were so far below our regular standards last year. There was a lot of positive development with the players but it wasn’t full season development, everybody seemed to tail off at some point. We just got to continue to build on that and get back to our normal standards where we are producing three or four good young players to move up to the Anaheim roster the next year. And with that comes winning, and when you combine winning with developing players you going to have a successful organization. That’s what our goal is next year."
The rising action of the second tale will continue to be bred in San Diego as the organization looks to churn out more successful homegrown NHL players. There is no question what the climax of this story will be, and for fans in San Diego, the hope is that it includes a Calder Cup Championship alongside a Stanley Cup.