Following the news conference to announce Joel Quenneville being named the 12th Ducks head coach in franchise history, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek spoke to local media. Below is a full transcript of the media scrum (Questions and answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity):

This seemed like an opportunity you couldn't pass up with someone of that caliber, regardless of what came with that.

He's the second-winningest coach of all time. Like I said, I've watched from afar. I watched how he coaches his teams. Ultimately, we had to get through that first part of all of that. And, like I said, I was very comfortable once we went through that process. I was more than comfortable with his hockey acumen, his teaching, being able to win. Ultimately, that was a driving force in hiring Joel.

Give us a little insight into your process after deciding to fire Greg (Cronin). Joel's on the market. He's your former teammate. He's the second-winningest coach in NHL history. How high on the list was he immediately and how much did you have to do before you decided that was the right move?

I sat and thought about the type of coach, first of all, what this team was going to need. And then once I came up with a list of those candidates, from a pedigree standpoint, it's hard to argue (against) Joel.  I went down different avenues at the same time. I spoke to Joel. Simultaneously, we were doing a lot of due diligence and then I spoke with other coaches at the same time. So, there were a lot of balls in the air, so to speak. That was my process. And then ultimately, it all boiled down to the comfort with our due diligence, and then I proceeded forward.

Did you have to accelerate (the hiring process) at all, given the number of (head coach) openings that were out there?

No, I didn't. I took my time, so to speak. I think what was very interesting was, and I mentioned it in my statement, when I spoke with coaches and how they viewed this as a really good opportunity to coach a team. And so I was, I guess, surprised hearing that. But, I guess if I look back on it, I guess it's nice. As Joel mentioned, too, this was a team that he wanted to be able to coach. And I'm excited that he wanted to coach here. And so it's a great opportunity for Joel, and it's a great opportunity for our players to really take this thing to the next level.

Thinking not only about this situation, but situations in general where you have a young team that needs to take that next step—what are you looking for? What attributes do you look for in a coach that will get those guys to the next tier?

I think the teaching, that's number one. I think the attention to details and being persistent in making sure those players follow those details. Details matter when you're playing, especially playing in your zone. And so I think those were some of the things that I looked at. When (Quenneville and I) went through the process of talking, I didn't really have to sit down and do my normal process. I'm really trying to get to know the person. You can sit there and watch from afar, but when you when you're looking to hire a coach, you have to spend time and really kind of dig into who they are and how they handle situations. I didn't have to do that as deeply because I've known him for a long time, and so there was a familiarity with him from that perspective. So, when I started to dive into the hockey part, I know what it was like to play with Joel. He was a competitive, tough guy to play against.  He was intelligent with how he defended. And so that mattered to me. And all of that came out in his presentation with video.  And so those are the types of attributes that I look in for in a coach.

A lot of people have described what happened in Chicago as a failure of hockey culture. There was a certain mentality around the game that didn't lend itself to solving a problem that's as delicate and as complicated as that. The guy who got the job right before you (Bob Murray) was an old school hockey guy who lost his job probably because of old school hockey stuff. As a guy who's grown up in the game your whole life, loved the game, loved the culture, how has this game changed and how are the Ducks equipped now to meet the modern challenges that come?

I think, obviously, things have changed a lot. I think at times, it's very difficult. But I think we are evolving not only as a league, but our management and how we do things. We go through education as well for ourselves and I think all of that's very, very helpful. It’s also helpful to be able to know how to handle situations. Unlike what Joel has gone through, I've gone through that too. Our organization has gone through it. So we are, from a lot of intensive purposes, prepared much better, I would say, over the last four years from my perspective and learning how to deal with scenarios that we've never had to face before. And so I feel confident in our ability to be able to handle that because we've gone through that process.

Not to say that (Cronin), or even Dallas (Eakins), weren't respected during their time here as coach. But what do you feel Joel brings, just from a pure respect factor with his resume and accomplishments, to a dressing room and to the players?

Well, obviously, it's instant respect. I mean, it's instant respect. It's no different than when I walked into a room with Scotty Bowman. No difference. The respect's there. And so you’ve got the attention of the players and the attention to detail and the competitiveness. All of that stuff goes into winning. And so ultimately, the respect is instant respect without having to even really cultivate, even start to cultivate, their relationships yet. So, in a lot of instances, that's getting way ahead of the game from a (coaching perspective), so that's an advantage.