Ducks Fans - I want you opinion

As long as Bob Murray is at the helm I fear we will never commit to a rebuild, which will only prolong the process. BM is under contract until the season after Seattle comes in and the Samuellis will not fire him, they are too loyal, I feel they do go in a different direction after that though.

The Ducks are not in a horrible position, quite the opposite actually, they are in a very good one but this offseason could sway that to even better or much worse. Lets be modest and say BM doesnt commit to a rebuild but moves out 1-2 players, the most likely to me are Manson + Rakell, who we should get good returns for each if moved.

Our prospect pool isnt great, it never was, its solid but unspectatular. Comtois, Zegras, Tracey, Lundestrom, Thurn, Mahura, Dotsal, etc the Ducks 100% have a top 15 I'd argue top 10 prospect pool but it is lacking in "star" prospects after Zegras but 3 picks in the top 36 this year will surely add to that. Steel had a very good rookie year, he was never going to be a point producer and win the art ross, his 2-way game is his strength and he will only get better over time, he's a great 2/3C potentially. Jones always projected as a bottom 6er, thats what he is, sure theres a chance he becomes a 2nd liner but thats his ceiling, He is 100% a Bob Murray type player which isnt as important in todays game. Troy Terry should see an increased role this year and im expecting a step forward from him, Milano/Heinen are fighting each other to not be exposed to SEA so that competition should make them both rise up hopefully.

The Getz era is over, it has been since 2017, His role should be reduced and his playing time should decrease as we ease into life without him, his main purpose should now be mentoring and not being our 1C

We do have cap space, Kesler will be LTIRd, but even then alot of teams will be operating with internal caps in the 68-75M range anyways this offseason will be unlike any before it spending wise for every team in every sport

Rakell and Manson have seen dips but so has the overall quality of the team, so thats bound to happen, it doesnt hurt their value nearly as much as people think

Gibson is getting older, trading him should be looked into, but not this offseason imo, the Goalie market is strong and his value isnt as high, a Gibson trade should be looked at after SEA comes in

That happens in a rebuild, players get put on the trade block, the only player I see as unlikely to be considered by Murray is Lindholm and Gibson, everyone else should be made available

That happens in a small market when a team isnt as good anymore

LA is stacked, but that should be ANAs last concern, we should be focused on us and not other teams

Tried to answer everything in order

How is the prospect pool weaker... Zegras is probably the best prospect in hockey, (at least up there with Byram and Kap) Steel is solid, Terry kind of overperformed expectations, Thrun is still a beast, Lacombe is still solid, we still have 6 OA, we have tons of depth guys in Jones BOG, Lundestrom... the only guy underperforming was like Comtois...? Tracey had a really good year as well...

I’m just happy to be back from suspension. Murray won’t commit to a full rebuild so it may be bubble time for a while.

Don't want to come across as a Bob Murray stan but he did lead the team to the most successful period in franchise history... 5 straight division titles, 6 straight playoff appearances and 2 trips to the conference finals. This notion that he doesn't know what he's doing or isn't the right guy to lead us out of this seems a bit overblown to me. We weren't very good around 2010-2013ish and we came out of that pretty well. You can argue we had prime Getzlaf and Perry to lead it, but based on pedigree Zegras and 6 OA should be as good or better. I don't think the kids Jones/Terry/Steel/Comtois can be any worse than last year and all have shown flashes of being pretty good. Cap wise we're pretty well set up for the future, no true boat anchor contract besides maybe the back end of Fowler. I'm thinking we should start to contend in 21-22 or for sure 22-23.

I started typing out my response to this post and re-did it about 6 times. What you said is exactly what I wanted to get across. Prospect-wise, Terry/Steel/Comtois/Lundestrom all have basically a full season or less experience at the NHL. If this team could somehow remain healthy (they were one of the top teams in the league when it came to man-games lost to injury), and sign someone like Brodie, I think they realistically have a chance to become one of the surprises of the next year or so.

I'm also not convinced that Eakins is the guy, but he definitely deserves a shot with a full/healthy roster.