Ducks General Manager Pat Verbeek spoke to the media Friday afternoon to discuss the recent trades of Mason McTavish and Olen Zellweger as well as drafting Nikita Klepov and Marcus Nordmark in the first round of the NHL Draft.
On the trade freeing up cap space
It certainly gives us a lot of flexibility in regards to Leo and Cutter. Certainly, it allows us to be more open-minded, but at the same time, we want to keep pushing ahead and address some spots that we think where we can make improvements in our roster. I guess it boiled down to opportunity for the players that we wanted to draft as well as allowing us to have flexibility. I think Klepov, he might have a chance to fast track to the NHL, and so that was another scenario that went into the decision.
On how active the Ducks plan to be in the coming days
Well, I mean, free agency's coming up, so certainly we're going to be very active in trying to fill our holes through free agency and/or possible through trade. I mean, there's going to be multiple scenarios that we're going to be exploring and looking at. I see us very active in trying to make our roster as strong as it can be.
On the decision to trade McTavish
Listen, it wasn't an easy decision. I lingered over it for a couple weeks, because there was a lot of discussions and that sort of thing. It became clearer, as we got into the draft a little bit. When Nikita Klepov was there (at pick 15), that really helped us make the decision. I think that was the primary drive behind it and then, at the same time, allowing us to have flexibility.
On drafting Klepov and Marcus Nordmark
Having no picks in the first round and, all of a sudden, being able to go to two and then analyzing the free agency market, we're excited to get these two players. We're excited to be able to add them to the group in the near future. Then at the same time, allowing us more flexibility to bolster our team for the upcoming season to keep pushing this football down the field, so to speak.
On Klepov being available impacting the trade
If he wasn't there, we wouldn't have made the deal. That was the decision that was in our minds, so it was a big part of why we did this.
On the Ducks' needs right now
There's still a couple things that are still on the table, so we'll address that here after tomorrow's over. If you look on defense, I'm confident on defense with the young kids coming in. They need a chance, they have to be able to spread their wings as well, so there's going to be a lot of opportunity for them to get better and to grow and really help this team, and pursue the playoffs and winning in the playoffs. A lot of that is driven by letting these young guys play. We'll explore some other things with our forwards and see exactly what we can do in the free agent market that we feel that's going to improve our team overall.
On the futures of defensemen Stian Solberg and Tristan Luneau
Well, I think Stian, we'll see at training camp. He went to the Worlds and did very well again. Tristan Luneau we see as making our team and adding a lot for us. I think he has the ability to be able to play with speed, he's obviously done some really good things in the American Hockey League with his point production. I think last year was a very good year for him to really round out his game in the defensive zone and just playing a little calmer, quieter game overall and picking his spots of when to jump up into the rush. I think there was things that he learned a lot, and when I looked back on last year, he scored a huge goal for us in Nashville. We think he deserves an opportunity and we're going to let him run with it.
On what led to the decision to part ways with McTavish
Well, I think I'm always looking for opportunities. We have to keep looking for ways to improve the team and I think that, sometimes, it looks like we're taking a step back, but there's other ways to address needs in our organization for the future. It might not seem like it's in the now, but these things change rather quickly, especially with Anton Wahlberg. We feel he's going to be close to ready to play next season. So we got time with him to give him some games and that thing, but the following year, we see him as being on the NHL team. There's certain things that we're making moves that are actually to help us moving forward as well.
On the decision to trade for draft picks
We explored adding different players to our team, and as it turned out, we made the decision to go with draft picks to solidify some spots. I think looking in the free agent world or through a trade market, I think there's going to be chances for us to make those moves that we need to make to deepen the NHL team.
On the free agent market
Well, I would say the free agency market's probably not as strong as it's been in past years, but there are certain players that we have our eye on to try and target. It's funny. After you get through the draft and you get through a little bit of free agency, teams start looking at their rosters again, and there'll be lots of more discussions as the off season unfolds. There'll be some opportunities that we'll keep looking at and we'll keep discussing over the next couple weeks.
On what they liked about Klepov
Our scouts were super excited, but I was super excited to get to him just because I think he provides what I call a 50/50 player in a sense. He's like equal part goal scorer, equal part playmaker. He does have creativity, has really good hockey sense, and obviously, with an 18-year-old, they need to get stronger. I believe, over the next year or so, if we get him stronger, he's going to be in a place that's going to be really good to play in the NHL. We just like his compete level, we like the drive that he has to score goals. Obviously, right now, it's just a matter of getting him stronger, because there's a lot of really top-notch athletic ability with this player as well.
On Nordmark's upside
When you start looking at your board and you start looking at your list, you don't want to take a chance. I didn't feel like we had the chance to do it and I don't like taking chances to hope that that player's going to be there. We like the player a lot and we wanted to be aggressive to make sure that we got that player.
On Anton Wahlberg
Yeah. We see him as a second-line potential. He's a big guy that skates well, he gets to the net, he's a really hard worker. Something that we really target with our players, so adding that size to the left side and someone that's closer to playing was important in this trade. Zellweger, he is a really solid NHL player, but we're looking at the future of our left side and Wahlberg fit that piece to fill in our organization on our left side.
On who will play center going forward
Well, as you see it now, we have options. Cutters played center before, Roger McQueen still... We're going to see what he looks like when he gets to camp. We have options, so we're just trying to see where these players are going to shake out when training camp arrives.
On trading Olen Zellweger
We had some interest with Zellweger and just trying to find what went into it, just finding the right fit as far as what we were looking to do with our organization and our future roster. I think with Zelly as well, it allowed Mintyukov, it's going to allow Solberg, it's going to allow Hinds...It just opens things up to where we can fill other spots with players. You can look at it the same way as when I moved Jamie Drysdale to get Cutter. Just to rearrange pieces in our roster to close other holes that we feel that we have.
On contract talks with Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier
Well, they're ongoing. That's all I can say. We're talking and we'll see where it goes.
On contract talks with Jacob Trouba and Radko Gudas
Well, the door, it's obviously still open, so we're sorting through that over here in the next... Well, what's the date today, 27th? Yeah, we got three, four days before they hit the market, so we're kind of working through that right now and we'll see where it goes.
