Rick Paterson was promoted to GM of the San Diego Gulls, the Anaheim Ducks' AHL affiliate. He expects Pat Verbeek to be aggressive in pursuing veteran help for the Gulls' influx of young talent in free agency.
Rick Paterson was promoted to GM of the San Diego Gulls, the Anaheim Ducks' AHL affiliate. He expects Pat Verbeek to be aggressive in pursuing veteran help for the Gulls' influx of young talent in free agency.
On May 14, the Anaheim Ducks announced the promotion of Rick Paterson from Director of Professional Scouting to General Manager of the San Diego Gulls.
2024-25 will be Paterson's 21st season with the Anaheim Ducks organization. He's won two Stanley Cups as a scout (2004 with Tampa Bay and 2007 with Anaheim) and two as a player (1991 and 1992 with Pittsburgh).
The San Diego Gulls will likely have six or more rookies on thei roster in 2024-25. Nico Myatovic (19), Yegor Sidorov (19), Coulson Pitre (19), Sam Colangelo (22), Vyacheslav Buteyets (22), and Rodwin Dionicio (20) all signed ELCs with the Ducks since March 29 and will be likely be expected to play in the AHL.
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Patrick Williams of theAHL.com reports Paterson expects Ducks General Manager Pat Verbeek to be active in free agency to bolster the Gulls roster with veterans to surround all that young talent.
“We need leadership there with all of the kids," Paterson told Williams. "We want guys who will be leaders and teach young kids how to become pros both on and off the ice.”
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Pat Verbeek appointed Matt McIlvane as Gulls' head coach in the Summer of 2023 with an emphasis on a cohesive mandate geared toward player development.
"We had a really good relationship," Ducks defenseman Olen Zellweger said of McIlvane. "He communicated very well. I think we met for individual video multiple times, which is rare from the head coach. When you build a relationship like that, it helps you perform and execute on the ice."
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The Ducks have missed the NHL playoffs for six consecutive seasons. Along with all that losing comes a multitude of young recently-drafted talent. Accumulating talent is the first step, developing that talent into NHL players with fully realized potential is the next. Proper utilization of the Gulls will be instrumental in achieving that.
“The first thing is that Pat leads by example,” Paterson told Williams. “He works really, really hard, and in my opinion, I don’t think anybody who works for him has any choice but to work hard. That work ethic has certainly been taken to heart, and everybody does go out and work hard.”
Though the Gulls finished the 2023-24 campaign with a record of 26-35-10-1, there was a sizable positive culture shift felt throughout the Ducks organization.
The Gulls will deploy a roster full of potentially key pieces of the Ducks' future. Their developments seem like they'll be handled with proper care and calculation. Rick Paterson believes winning games will "help the atmosphere and help the players develop."
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