DiMaio Excited for New Challenge with Ducks

As the calendar turns towards Ducks General Manager Pat Verbeek's initial offseason with the club, Anaheim's new lead executive crossed a first big item off his checklist Monday with the hiring of another key decision maker, Assistant GM Rob DiMaio.

DiMaio, 54, joins the Ducks after a distinguished scouting and personnel career with the St. Louis Blues, helping guide the club to its 2019 Stanley Cup championship. He's previously worked as a professional scout, Director of Pro Scouting and Director of Pro Personnel before taking his new role in Orange County.
"Rob brings a wealth of experience and expertise to our front office," Verbeek said. "He's helped build a Stanley Cup-winning club and he will play an integral role for us in all areas of hockey operations moving forward."
DiMaio joins Martin Madden and Jeff Solomon in his new role as Verbeek's most trusted confidants and will also be primarily responsible for managing the AHL's San Diego Gulls, Anaheim's primary development affiliate.
"I've known Pat for a long time and I know what he's done in this business both as a player and on the management side," DiMaio said. "I've always respected his work ethic and the way he handles himself. He's very dedicated to it and that was very intriguing. I like Pat a lot. He's sharp. It's a great opportunity for me."
He also added, "I want to thank my wife, Laura, for her patience and allowing me the opportunity to explore this new role in Anaheim."
DiMaio admitted it was a difficult decision to leave St. Louis, an organization with which he spent 15 seasons, and he was quick to thank and praise his former colleagues. He said he could not pass up the opportunity to join the rebuilding Ducks with for his former teammate, for whom he has great respect.
"I appreciated my time with Doug in St. Louis," DiMaio said, referring to Blues GM Doug Armstrong. "We came there together a long time ago. Basically 15 years of putting work in and developing our team. We were getting that group into being a consistent playoff performing team, a successful team and an eventual Stanley Cup-winning team. It's a bittersweet move for me to make because I had been there so long. I want to say thank you to everyone in St. Louis for all my opportunities.
"I saw something with Pat as something we can start. It's not 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 help him do whatever he needs me to do."
DiMaio played 894 career NHL games with seven different teams, including a season as Verbeek's teammate in Dallas, recording 106-171=277 points and 840 penalty minutes. He also collected 7-9=16 points in 62 Stanley Cup Playoff games across nine postseason appearances.

The veteran executive will work from his Toronto hometown, making frequent visits to San Diego while also providing his pro scouting expertise on the east coast. He expects to hit the ground running with a busy summer ahead, to be spent familiarizing himself with the team's current talent and working with Verbeek to identify free agents and trade targets who fit their vision for the club's future.
"We're going to try to build a bit of a different culture through Pat's vision," DiMaio said. "We're going to try to build this thing as properly as we can going forward."
DiMaio said he's excited to reunite with his friend and former teammate and expects their passion to push one another towards bringing a Stanley Cup back to Anaheim.
"I sat beside him in the locker room," DiMaio recalled. "His intensity in the game and how he approached it, he was a real, true professional. He practiced hard. He went to the areas of the game that were difficult to go and he made a living out of it. I really respect Pat. I'm not saying it because he hired me. I'm saying it because it's true."