Ben Shelley: Ducks register 39 shots but fall short against Blackhawks

Just got done watching the Ducks vs Blackhawks. What a let down that game was. This is why you don't listen to Analitics. Ducks shot 39 shots. Then they almost got shut out. There Defense was horrible. They gave up 4 goals and let the Hawks constantly enter the offensive zone uncontested. This team won't win very much if they keep giving up 4 or 5 goals every night. And this is a very old problem. Over the last 5 years the Ducks have been tring to run this system of high shot totals with fast skating. And every year this system is a disappointment. Dallas Eakins did it 4 years. And now Greg Cronin has done this system for 1+ years. And it's garbage. Because it's based off of flawed Analitics that over value offense.

Analitics doesn't even have a true metric for Defense. What Analitics calls Defense is just Puck possession. Or the lack of puck possession. But true Defense is based on not playing with the puck. Playing in Front of your goaltender and supporting him is the truest form of defense in hockey. But Analitics just doesn't see it. Most Because the just don't have the data to show defense.
And in part because they don't care. It's just easier to track just offense. Tring to figure out Defense is just too much work them. So they just lie about it to cover their tracks.

So what do the Ducks do now? Well I'm pretty sure Cronin will continue to follow Analitics. But I just want to win. But Analitics doesn't care about winning. All the they care about is their numbers and their jobs. And the Analitics community will continue to lie as long as they get a pay check. "Fake it till you make it". That's their moto. And they just kill teams by doing this. Their like Locust. They consume any team that hires them. And them move on to the next. And all I can do is make sure my team doesn't fall prey to Analitics. Their just bad people. I'm sure some are nice. But they lie. And they don't care what they destroy. As long as they get their's

I’m kinda done with the Ducks’ current approach, whatever it is. I’m not a ‘hockey guy’, but the sign of a good coach in any sport is the ability to adapt to the talent on hand and get the best out of your best players. The coaching staff seems to be failing at both of these objectives. Without Dostal looking like a Marvel superhero, this team could easily be 1-10 or 0-11 instead of 4-5-2. Last night Dostal looked human and the team was cooked. It’s time for some adjustments.

I’m kinda done with the Ducks’ current approach, whatever it is. I’m not a ‘hockey guy’, but the sign of a good coach in any sport is the ability to adapt to the talent on hand and get the best out of your best players. The coaching staff seems to be failing at both of these objectives. Without Dostal looking like a Marvel superhero, this team could easily be 1-10 or 0-11 instead of 4-5-2. Last night Dostal looked human and the team was cooked. It’s time for some adjustments.
- hardenx

It's really frustrating. The Ducks just don't have enough speed at forward to pull off the speed game. They got lots of speed in the defense. And that's helps alot with back checking and zone exits. But to get that forecheck going they need forward speed. Every team that runs the Analitics style speed system has a roster built for that system. Like the Seattle Kracken. They just have alot of speed. Or the New Jersey Devil's. They have alot of speed. Mostly what really ticked me off is watching 4 goals get scored on Dostal. The Ducks just had bad positioning because of a aggressive forecheck. And the Blackhawks would just enter the zone uncontested, get good positioning with lots of open shooting and passing lanes. It's easy to score with that much open ice. It's just not gonna work with this Ducks team as built.

Once again, Cronin can’t adjust doesn’t know what to do and today at practice the line mixing continues….

Score a meaningless goal with five seconds left otherwise ….it’s another one goal game…

We roll out slow slow and slower forwards…

Cronin and Verbeek somehow think Killorn
& Strome are viable top 9 players and they’re simply not… they’re 4th liners on any decent team.

We keep Cam in the lineup and he’s again a wreck back there.

Once again, Cronin can’t adjust doesn’t know what to do and today at practice the line mixing continues….

Score a meaningless goal with five seconds left otherwise ….it’s another one goal game…

We roll out slow slow and slower forwards…

Cronin and Verbeek somehow think Killorn
& Strome are viable top 9 players and they’re simply not… they’re 4th liners on any decent team.

We keep Cam in the lineup and he’s again a wreck back there.
- dozerD10

Between Terry, McTavish, Gauthier, Zegras, Carlsson, Mintykov, and I guess now Zellweger, it seems (from the outside) that the Ducks should have a nice young group to build around.

Are they not being deployed properly, or just the wrong mix of vets on the team? Maybe not enough push from the backend to properly generate offense?

Between Terry, McTavish, Gauthier, Zegras, Carlsson, Mintykov, and I guess now Zellweger, it seems (from the outside) that the Ducks should have a nice young group to build around.

Are they not being deployed properly, or just the wrong mix of vets on the team? Maybe not enough push from the backend to properly generate offense?
- Chunk

Verbeek has made 2 good FA signings taking term and money into account - Gudas and Frankie.... everyone else has been an abject disaster...

We needed goal scoring ... so instead of getting Taffoli who has killed us everywhere he's been ... we go for Fabbri... instead of taking Detroit to the cleaners for Walman like Grier did... we take Dummo...

Both Cronin and PV simply hate goal scorers... they want plugs ... shot blocking gritters...

Verbeek has made 2 good FA signings taking term and money into account - Gudas and Frankie.... everyone else has been an abject disaster...

We needed goal scoring ... so instead of getting Taffoli who has killed us everywhere he's been ... we go for Fabbri... instead of taking Detroit to the cleaners for Walman like Grier did... we take Dummo...

Both Cronin and PV simply hate goal scorers... they want plugs ... shot blocking gritters...
- dozerD10

Oof. Want Brodie?

There was a lot of concern that KD brought in a bunch of what you are talking about (Smith and Maroon especially), but thus far it's not as bad as expected. Still have trouble scoring, but the team D is a much better than last year, and there is at least some semblance of being an NHL team. I lived in Orange for 10 years ('12-'22) and always liked going to the games there. It'd be nice to see Anaheim get back to winning again soon.

Just got done watching Ducks vs Canucks. Gotta say. The Canucks really have a good plan that fits their team. The Canucks are a good good skating team. And they're faster than the Ducks. But they just don't rely on the the speed. They make adjustments based on the score. They use all the ice to move the puck through all three zones. Like skating foward through the neutral zone while making cross ice passes connecting with other teammates passes. It's just very fluid what Vancouver does. Now the Ducks are nowhere near that close to executing plays. So tring to beat the Canucks with speed kind of backfired. Because Vancouver was just better at it. But I gotta say Ducks just need to keep it simple. Play within what they can do. And just focus on execution.

Just got done watching Ducks vs Canucks. Gotta say. The Canucks really have a good plan that fits their team. The Canucks are a good good skating team. And they're faster than the Ducks. But they just don't rely on the the speed. They make adjustments based on the score. They use all the ice to move the puck through all three zones. Like skating foward through the neutral zone while making cross ice passes connecting with other teammates passes. It's just very fluid what Vancouver does. Now the Ducks are nowhere near that close to executing plays. So tring to beat the Canucks with speed kind of backfired. Because Vancouver was just better at it. But I gotta say Ducks just need to keep it simple. Play within what they can do. And just focus on execution.
- Eman87654

Cronin is Mor🤡n -

It's the day after the Ducks beat the Blackhawks.

I'm hearings things about Greg Cronin and the truth is nobody knows what going on in the locker room or practice ice. Things happen behind closed doors that can't be verified or can't be put into proper context. So I'm no expert at those things. All I can do is tell you that I don’t know.
What we do know is the Ducks are on a Three game win streak. They look better at times than they did last year. The game at Dallas was widely considered thier best game of the year. The Game at Chicago was won on back too back games aginst a more rested team. So right at this moment the Ducks are good.
Now people are saying that the Ducks players are unhappy. I haven't heard publicly that about that. Dmitry Kulikov said in a interview that Cronin was tough but a good guy. So it's hard to say what people think.
But here is my two cents on the situation.
#1: Greg Cronin has a contract. Probably for three years. He's on his second year. So he ain't getting fired. Maybe next year. But we can talk about that next year.
# 2: It isn't Coach's he's job to make players happy. Alot of things make people happy. But having a Boss tell you what to do ain't one of them. Maybe in Juniors or College that's how they do things. But the NHL is more Business like. And as a business the players are probably treated more like employees with salary's. I've personally haven't had many bosses I've liked. Most are cold or indifferent. Nice bosses are rare.
#3: There is a process to things. Kind of like the Military. This young Ducks team is probably going through boot camp in a hockey sort of way. The NHL is different from every other league in the World. The Talent is the Best. The systems are more complex. The Information gathering and processing is huge. Every team is more visible. And young players have to learn more. And it's my opinion that's it's just best to get it over with. Just take the whole year and teach basics. I mean rip that bandaid of in one shot. Is it boring? Yeah. Is it necessary? I believe it is. But thier is a idea that if you just let the players play that they'll just learn on thier own. And I think that's B.S. People don't learn own thier own. I train young men right right out of High school at my job. I'm a journeyman in construction. Most these guys can barely manage thier own lives coming out of high school. Yet thier suppose to learn on thier own. Not likely. Just absurd logic. If I didn't train them, alot of them would get hurt or just wander around the job all day and eventually quit.
#4: Being a tough coach ain't necessarily bad. Sometimes being nice just doesn't get things done. Veteran players probably don't need as much tough love as younger players. So if it's the Veteran Ducks players that are unhappy then I understand. But this Ducks team is young. And the ultimate truth is that people take advantage of nice guys. The old saying "nice guys finish last" is sadly very true. I wish it wasn't true. But if you need proof then look at our newly elected president Doand Trump. He won because he was a bad guy. Harris and Biden ment well. But they didn't get the win. So I'm just saying if the Ducks wana win. Then maybe being nice isn't a luxury they can afford right now.

It's the day after the Ducks beat the Blackhawks.

I'm hearings things about Greg Cronin and the truth is nobody knows what going on in the locker room or practice ice. Things happen behind closed doors that can't be verified or can't be put into proper context. So I'm no expert at those things. All I can do is tell you that I don’t know.
What we do know is the Ducks are on a Three game win streak. They look better at times than they did last year. The game at Dallas was widely considered thier best game of the year. The Game at Chicago was won on back too back games aginst a more rested team. So right at this moment the Ducks are good.
Now people are saying that the Ducks players are unhappy. I haven't heard publicly that about that. Dmitry Kulikov said in a interview that Cronin was tough but a good guy. So it's hard to say what people think.
But here is my two cents on the situation.
#1: Greg Cronin has a contract. Probably for three years. He's on his second year. So he ain't getting fired. Maybe next year. But we can talk about that next year.
# 2: It isn't Coach's he's job to make players happy. Alot of things make people happy. But having a Boss tell you what to do ain't one of them. Maybe in Juniors or College that's how they do things. But the NHL is more Business like. And as a business the players are probably treated more like employees with salary's. I've personally haven't had many bosses I've liked. Most are cold or indifferent. Nice bosses are rare.
#3: There is a process to things. Kind of like the Military. This young Ducks team is probably going through boot camp in a hockey sort of way. The NHL is different from every other league in the World. The Talent is the Best. The systems are more complex. The Information gathering and processing is huge. Every team is more visible. And young players have to learn more. And it's my opinion that's it's just best to get it over with. Just take the whole year and teach basics. I mean rip that bandaid of in one shot. Is it boring? Yeah. Is it necessary? I believe it is. But thier is a idea that if you just let the players play that they'll just learn on thier own. And I think that's B.S. People don't learn own thier own. I train young men right right out of High school at my job. I'm a journeyman in construction. Most these guys can barely manage thier own lives coming out of high school. Yet thier suppose to learn on thier own. Not likely. Just absurd logic. If I didn't train them, alot of them would get hurt or just wander around the job all day and eventually quit.
#4: Being a tough coach ain't necessarily bad. Sometimes being nice just doesn't get things done. Veteran players probably don't need as much tough love as younger players. So if it's the Veteran Ducks players that are unhappy then I understand. But this Ducks team is young. And the ultimate truth is that people take advantage of nice guys. The old saying "nice guys finish last" is sadly very true. I wish it wasn't true. But if you need proof then look at our newly elected president Doand Trump. He won because he was a bad guy. Harris and Biden ment well. But they didn't get the win. So I'm just saying if the Ducks wana win. Then maybe being nice isn't a luxury they can afford right now.
- Eman87654

Interesting ... I was a the Sabres game last night. You can tell Cronin has changed some approaches... esp on the PK as it is more aggressive..

His deployment of forwards is still really stupid. It's points in 4 straight so there is progress. But that was a game we should have never lost. Tons of good chances went for naught as we cannot hit the net nor finish ...

Leo has regressed. He had a perfect opportunity last night between the dots with no one in front of him and he makes an idiotic late pass to AK on the wing that went nowhere... McTavish is a complete mess.
Z is pretty much immune from Cronins' idiocy as he's just too good to be much affected...