Greg Wyshynskiapr 19, 2025, 11:24 AM ET
Closegreg Wyshynski is a senior NHL writer at ESPN.
Anaheim Duck coach Greg Cronin will not return for next season, the team announced on Saturday.
There was no replacement. Cronin was signed throughout the 2025-26 season.
The ducks were 35-37-10 (80 points), with a percentage of 0.488 points. It was an improvement last season (27-50-5, 59 points), but getting Cronin back in the back of the bench after two seasons wasn’t enough. Anaheim missed out on the seventh consecutive season of playoffs.
Cronin, 61, was hired in June 2023 to take over the rebuilding roster, and previously served as head coach of the AHL Colorado Eagles.
Editor’s Pick
1 Related
“I would like to personally thank Greg for his tireless work and dedication to his team,” Duck General Manager Pat Webik said in a statement. “He is responsible for many things for improvement seen from our younger core. However, after a few weeks of careful evaluation, we concluded that direction and new voices needed to change.
Verbeek spoke to Cronin about his decision at an early Saturday morning meeting at Irvine’s duck lavish training complex, and the team quickly announced the change soon after.
“He’s going to say he’s completely shocked,” Verbeek told Cronin reporters. “That’s probably normal from his point of view. So this was very difficult and probably didn’t make much sense to him. Perhaps at some point, I’ll be able to jump in with him deeper than I can in today’s conversation.”
Verbeek also said he hopes the Ducks will make the playoffs next season, making the declaration for the first time in his three and a half years in the front office tenure.
“From my perspective, the team is of course right and we’re improving,” Verbeek says. “You may need to see a scenario where you need audio to push this group to another level.”
The Ducks were 23rd in team defense this season, but they combined the save percentage of the .901 team, the ninth best in the NHL, thanks to the plays of goalkeepers Lucas Dostal and John Gibson. Their offense suffered under Cronin, finishing 30th overall in both seasons behind the bench.
Anaheim has accumulated up front a collection of promising young offensive talents with centers Leo Carlson and Mason McTavish and rookie Winger Cutter Gautier. Cronin has been criticized by fans for not playing his younger players more frequently. The top Ducks in average ice time this season were Troy Terry (27), Frank Vatrano (31) and Alex Killon (35). There was also criticism from Cronin regarding the regression of 24-year-old star center Trevor Zegras. Trevor Zegras scored 47 points in 88 games in a season where he suffered two injuries under coach.
Verbeek took over coach Dallas Akins when he was hired as general manager in February 2022.
This report uses information from the Associated Press.
