Ducks GM Pat Verbeek Speaks on Cam Fowler Trade

The Ducks’ general manager met with local media via Zoom call to discuss the trade that sent defenseman Cam Fowler to the St. Louis Blues

Here is the entire transcription from Pat Verbeek’s video conference call with local media to discuss the Cam Fowler trade. Questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

Just before we get started, I wanted to make a quick statement that today was a difficult day. It was a difficult trade to make, especially with a person of Cam’s stature and his tenure with our organization. I think it's rare—and it's becoming increasingly rare—that a player spends this long with an organization.

So, having gone through that process today—and even yesterday—putting the trade together, it was a difficult time. 
This whole process started in the summertime where Cam and I and his agent, Pat Brisson, we had open discussions about Cam's future with the hockey club and as we kind of went through the summer and even through training camp, if opportunities arose, I would take that to Cam. It was kind of a real open dialogue and a real open and transparent situation for us and Cam.

As we kind of spilled into the months here, I think it became clear to both parties that Cam was looking for a change. So, when St. 
Louis approached us, it became mutual for both the organization and Cam that it would be a great opportunity for Cam to accept this opportunity to play in St. Louis.

And so having gone through all of that, it's always difficult and Cam's given so much to the organization. He’s given so much to the community of Anaheim and has meant a lot both on and off the ice. 
As always, we wish him the best and wish him good luck with his future team.

You said that St. Louis approached you about Fowler. Were they one of the teams that was on his trade list or did he have to waive in order for that to be completed?

St. Louis was not on his list. He had to waive his no-trade to go to St. Louis.

You said last week that the Jacob Trouba deal came together rather quickly. Did the acquisition of Trouba accelerate the process of finding Fowler a new team?

I’m not sure if it accelerated the process. I was looking for more balance on right shots and left shots and it became apparent that we were going to start to have a logjam of players deserving to be in the lineup. 
Both Cam and I realized that it was going to be difficult for our younger players to get in the lineup. It was kind of a mutual situation. Both of us realized that it was time for a change.

Based on (Blues GM Doug) Armstrong’s comments, it seemed like St. Louis had been looking for a defenseman for a few weeks now. When did they first make contact and when did Cam become a possibility for them?

I think over the whole course of the season. We’re always having discussions with other general managers. There's always situations where injuries occur and teams look to maybe make a few moves. I've been in contact with different general managers. St. 
Louis kind of ran into an injury problem. They’re looking to make the playoffs and I think this was an opportunity for them to acquire a good defensemen. There’s been a lot going on over the last little bit. It was probably three or four days ago where it started to get serious. 

When Trouba came in, the players were excited that you guys were adding. There had been a lot of subtraction because of where you guys are in the rebuild. A veteran (in Fowler) comes off, what do you see your outlook being for the rest of the year? You have pending UFAs, where you are in the standings. How do you see your acumen shaping up as the deadline approaches as far as buyer or seller?

It’s way too early to even think about that. I'm looking at us to get back on a winning track here. We had a good 10-game stint there and I kind of want us to get back there. 
We're close to getting back there, to the opposite side of these close games of losing. I want us to be on the winning side of these. That is so far down the road for me. 
The focus is on winning and trying to get ourselves back in a position to where we can fight for a playoff spot.

There was a logjam that presented itself by bringing in Trouba. Do you feel like the return for Fowler would have been a little bit better towards the deadline with teams looking to add?

I can't even ponder that question because we'll never know. It’s hard to gauge. 
You never know. These things turn out great or they could turn out not great. I've seen it both ways, so that's a hard question. 
If I was a seer, I could answer that question, but I'm not. 

Head coach Greg Cronin has expressed importance on having left-right pairings and you've kind of expressed that in the past as well. Do you think that it could be beneficial in the long term for someone like Olen Zellweger, who’s played on the right for most of his NHL career so far, to play on his off-side?

We’re going to experiment with both sides to see which he handles the best. He’s shown in junior and even his short sample size here that he can do it. It becomes easier sometimes when you break the puck out on your forehand versus always having to pull pucks to your backhand. There’s other times when you watch him that he can see the play better from his opposite side. It’s something we're going to experiment with and see where it goes.

How difficult had it become to sit one of your young defensemen each night? I know it's been kind of rotated, but how difficult had that become to have to sit them out?

It becomes a problem in the sense that the younger players don't understand and it's hard to explain that to them. We have to keep rotating guys because we don’t want to keep guys sitting on the sidelines too long and because they don't deserve to sit out. I've been fairly happy with how our young group has been performing and it becomes difficult for them to understand. That’s when you start to run into problems. I don't want them to have to go through that when they don't have to.

Who can you see growing with this, with Fowler no longer there, especially on that left side?

I can see all of our guys growing. Jackson LaCombe had a great game (against Toronto). I can see him growing. Pavel Mintyukov is going to get some power play time. We’ve got three guys that we can use on the backend on the power play and that's all going to be experience that's going to be needed down the road. I can see all of them taking advantage or taking a step with this opportunity.

Last week when you talked to us, you said that you were happy with the way the team had been improving, but there was still things to do. In midst of this five-game losing streak and the analytics kind of being in in the bottom corner across the board, are you still happy with the progress that this team is making or in terms of trying to get to that point of playing those competitive games?

I don’t like us losing. I felt in Toronto that we played a pretty good game. 
I think what we're going through right now, you talk about timely saves with goaltending. With our group right now, we need timely goals. You look at Mason McTavish, he had two breakways that could have put us up in the game. Or two home games ago before that (against Minnesota) could have put us up in the game.

Playing with the lead’s a lot easier than having to chase a game all the time. The other game in Toronto as well, Mason had a chance to tie the game. This is the stuff that is kind of part of the growing pains, but I think that for us, scoring timely goals is going to be important moving forward as well. 

In terms of just getting towards playing those meaningful games as you said in the preseason, the longer the streak goes on, how much further away do you come from that and look at it as big changes need to be made?

I hope we end it tonight (against Columbus).