Verbeek Discusses Ducks Early Struggles, Looks Ahead to Future Plans

In the second episode of Ducks Stream's The Beeker, Ducks General Manager Pat Verbeek joined host Alexis Downie to break down Anaheim's early-season struggles, the growth of the club's young core and provide updates on the progress of its prospects across North America.
AnaheimDucks.com recaps some of Verbeek's key takeaways below. (Some of the answers have been lightly edited for clarity.)

On the start of the season
Looking back when the season started, I thought we'd be at or near .500. It's kind of been disappointing. I would split the first 20 games up into two different segments. I thought for the first 10 games our team, as a whole, didn't compete hard enough on the ice to win puck battles. I think that contributed to some losses. And over the last 10 games, I thought our team's competing a lot harder and we're giving ourselves a chance to win from that aspect. Overall, I think our special teams hasn't been very good. You could look back on the first night, Seattle scored three goals on us on the power play and it really hasn't gotten much better from there.

We're giving up multiple goals on the power play. It's just hard to overcome goals when you give them up on the power play. It means your team has to score a couple goals on the power play and our team hasn't been doing very well on the power play either until, Sunday night] when we scored three, which is really good to see…I think it's like a golf game. I could be driving the ball well and putting well in the same round, and then the irons let you down, and vice versa.
You can mix all the combinations up. I think that's kind of how our first 20 games has gone. We can be doing well in certain segments of the ice and then execution and reading of plays let us down. So there are multiple things that are going on. I would look at also a lot of new personnel that we've inserted into the lineup. It takes time for guys to be able to trust one another, and some of our younger players have made some mistakes, but I can't attribute all that to being young. Some of our veteran players haven't been playing very well either at times and making big critical mistakes that have hurt us as well. So there's a multitude of things that we need to correct.
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On the coaching staff**
We're early in this process. It's really hard to be able to look at 20 games and go, "Okay, where are we?" With the development it takes, and you look at 20-year-olds playing in the minors, some of those players don't start reaching their stride until January, believe it or not. It's hard for them to figure things out. We're kind of in the same process here with some of our younger guys. So I'm giving the coaching staff and the players some runway to try and figure things out.
On special teams struggles
I think that execution is probably the easiest answer, but there's certain other things like, and as I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of new guys in different spots, killing penalties and even on the power play. It really boils down for me to trust, being able to trust your teammate to do his job. Trust is really a major issue in the sense that if you don't trust your teammate to do his job, you start worrying about doing your teammate's job. Then what ends up happening is, you don't do your own job and then the puck ends up coming back to where you should have been, but you weren't. So there are certain things that have to be ironed out on the ice in practice. Really there's a lot of repetitive stuff, whether you look at our five-on-five play and our defensive-zone coverage, where we're making mistakes that shouldn't be made at this stage. It becomes a trust thing and a confidence thing as well.

On how he would scout the Ducks
I'm kind of looking at it two different ways. I have to put my coaching hat back on from years past in the sense that you're looking at systems. How are we playing systems? And then I really have to revert back to being a player. Power play situations where I've gotten to play a lot over the years and know there are certain things that work and certain things that don't work on the power play. There are a lot of plays that should be automatic. Players know it. They shouldn't be dusting the puck off and handling the puck too much. It should be one touch passes. The goalies are so good now, and the defenses are so good at reading plays that if it's not one-touched in certain aspects of the ice, the play's never going to happen because the coverages. It's the same with the penalty kill. Even when you're looking at automatics, once you have a guy have his back to the wall, there should be an automatic pressure situation, and guys are reading off where his outs are going to be, so you can apply pressure constantly on the PK. Those types of things we're having trouble with. Getting that sorted out will be a process to overcome.
On defensive prospect and 2021 third-round pick Tyson Hinds
Tyson's had a really good year. When he came into camp, I hadn't seen this player before and I was very impressed with him. Six-foot-three kid that can really move. His game is that of a simple one. With his skill and how he moves the puck simply, he doesn't try to handle it too much, which is perfect in the NHL. That's what you really want. He's a really good defender, and I've been really impressed with his hockey sense. There's a quiet side, an underrated offensive side to his game that, when I watched him about 10 days ago, I was really impressed with. I'm really excited for him for next year.

On defensive prospect and 2022 second-round pick Noah Warren
Noah's got another year in junior. He's kind of been dealing with a little bit of an ankle injury, so he hasn't been able to put up points, but at the NHL level, he's going to be a big, tough defender. He'll probably play with a more skilled offensive player. At some point, looking at him, he's going to be a guy who faces the other team's best opposition and be a guy who I call a "stopper" - a guy who does not allow other offensive players to do well.
On defensive prospect and 2020 third-round pick Ian Moore
Ian's in his second year at Harvard. I've seen him a little bit before playing with the [U.S U-18 team]. Six- foot-three and very, very mobile defender. He's another kid that you would like to see be a little more offensive because he does have really good hockey sense. At some point I would like to see him make a jump there from his offensive side. He's a good prospect.
On defensive prospect, and 2022 first-round pick, Pavel Mintyukov
Pavel's really having a great year in the OHL. He's a gifted kid offensively and really smart. His hockey sense is, I would put it pretty close to excellent. He really didn't show the type of player he was at rookie camp. I think he was kind of feeling his way through it. I could see him and, and Noah being partners one day in the future. For him, there are things that he needs to improve on structurally in his defensive game, but he competes, which is really good. We're going to need to add a little more structure to his game defensively though. There are certain things in his game he won't be able to get away with at the NHL level.

On defensive prospect and 2021 second-round pick Olen Zellweger
I just finished watching Olen. He's very fast. He can lead attack and can really come from behind and join the rush. He was very good the other night with his first pass, making quick plays. I think that he is a potential power play guy and he does a really good job of getting shots through. As I just mentioned with Pavel, these offensive guys I'm not worried about it because, while they can get away with this stuff in junior, they're smart enough and dedicated enough to really work at their game defensively. Olen's the same thing. He's going to have to put a lot more structure into his defensive game.
On forward prospect, and 2022 first-round pick Nathan Gaucher
Nathan's a big six-foot-three centerman or winger. I liked him more at center because he can keep playing in motion. He does a really good job forechecking. He does a really good job in front of the net and he really hunts pucks down. He wins a lot of loose puck battles to the corners, which are key to keeping offensive chances alive. He's got some spunk or testiness and tenacity to his game that I really like. You like that type of player and more of it in your lineup, because it just makes you hard to play against. In the future, I want us to be really hard to play against.
On unsigned college prospects Henry Thrun and Jackson Lacombe
Those two guys have played really well this year. I haven't had a chance to watch Henry yet, but our guys are. [Director of Player Personnel] Mike Stapleton and a few of our other scouts were watching [Harvard] play Michigan this past weekend. Henry had a really good game and so did Ian [Moore]. Both of them had really good games. With [Lacombe], the college game is really easy for him. I mean, he's an excellent skater. He's moving up the ice, but no one can catch him. That's how strong a skater he is. So those two guys, we certainly want to get them started with their pro career and they will have the decision whether they want to sign with us or not. That's the tough thing about being fourth year in college, they can decide not to sign with us.
On Ducks prospects at the 2023 World Junior Championship
I think Olen's going to be there for sure. I'm not sure about the rest. Warren has a chance, I think Hinds has a chance and even Luneau has a chance, too. Canada is deep in certain positions, so we'll see. I'm hoping one more can join the team and gain a really good experience.