Ducks make decision on future of HC Greg Cronin

The Ducks announced Saturday they’ve relieved head coach Greg Cronin of his duties. He had one season remaining on his contract, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic.

General manager Pat Verbeek released a statement on his decision:

"I want to personally thank Greg for his tireless work and dedication to the team. He is responsible in many ways for the improvement we’ve seen from our young core. However, after several weeks of careful evaluation, I concluded we needed a change in direction and a new voice. This was an extremely difficult decision for me to make, but I felt it was necessary to continue our progress toward becoming a Stanley Cup contender that I know we can be."

Cronin spent the last two seasons behind the bench in Anaheim, his first stint as an NHL bench boss. It was hardly his first time running a team, however, as the 61-year-old had head coaching experience at the NCAA level with Northeastern University and the AHL level with Colorado where he spent five seasons before the Ducks hired him in June 2023. He also had previous experience on an NHL bench as an assistant with the Islanders and Maple Leafs.

His first season was particularly rough. Anaheim managed a record of just 27-50-5 while being in the bottom-three in goals scored while allowing the 30th-most goals in the NHL. Beyond a career year from Frank Vatrano, many of their key players either underachieved or didn’t develop as planned, leading to some speculation that Anaheim might make a change after just one season.

That didn’t happen and things did go better for the Ducks this year. They added 21 points compared to the previous season, putting them sixth in the Pacific Division. Things improved on the goals-allowed side as they were 22nd in that regard this year, but once again, goal production was hard to come by as they once again ranked 30th overall although they did add 14 tallies compared to 2023-24. Key young forwards like Mason McTavish and Leo Carlsson took steps forward compared to their production a year ago, while Cutter Gauthier finished strong. Meanwhile, Jackson LaCombe became a top-pairing blueliner, so there were certainly more positives from a development perspective, but that wasn’t enough for Verbeek to retain Cronin.

While Verbeek references continuing progress toward being a Cup contender, there is a long way still to go for them to get there. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if he opts for another less experienced coach with an emphasis on player development or if he’ll look to more of a veteran option with an eye on trying to get back into the playoff picture quickly. Anaheim becomes the first true head coach opening around the NHL, although other teams will be conducting searches to see if there is a better fit behind the bench than the interim head coaches that finished the year in those roles.