The Anaheim Ducks announced Saturday that head coach Greg Cronin has been relieved of his duties following the conclusion of the 2024–25 NHL regular season. No replacement has been named.
Cronin, in his second season with the club, was hired on June 4, 2023, to succeed Dallas Eakins. The Ducks finished the year 35-37-10, missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a seventh consecutive season. Anaheim placed sixth in the Pacific Division and finished 16 points behind the St. Louis Blues for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.
The team was officially eliminated from playoff contention following a 4–1 loss to the Calgary Flames on April 3.
GM Pat Verbeek made clear that there were plenty of positives during Cronin’s tenure:
“Today was a very tough day for this to happen. And I think Greg was responsible, in many ways, for the improvement of this team, when we look at accountability, you look at relevance. He brought this organization back, laying a solid foundation for all our young players and even our veterans, which has been very important.”
Anaheim showed measurable improvement under Cronin, finishing with 80 points—a 21-point increase over the previous season.
“In the end, it really wasn’t about wins and losses. I think when I talked about the concerns, some of those were things that, in my opinion, could not be overcome with whatever measuring stick you wanted to apply to it. So, with that, and with my experience as a player and being a manager, I thought at this time it was the right time to make the change and for our team to move forward.”
Verbeek said the decision was not based on Anaheim’s special teams performance. The Ducks finished last in the NHL on the power play at 11.8% and ranked 29th on the penalty kill at 74.2%. However, he indicated there were other contributing factors he shared privately with Cronin.
“I didn’t look at” the power play or penalty kill in making the decision, Verbeek said.
Cronin’s reaction, according to Verbeek, was one of surprise.
“I would say he was completely shocked, which is probably normal from his perspective. That’s why this was very difficult and probably didn’t make a lot of sense to him. Maybe at some point I’ll be able to dive in with him deeper than in some of the conversations we had today.”
Cronin concludes his tenure in Anaheim with a 62-87-15 record, his first at the NHL level as a head coach. Before joining the Ducks, he spent five seasons behind the bench with the Colorado Eagles, the AHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche. He also previously coached the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the AHL affiliate of the New York Islanders, from 2003–2005.
He becomes the seventh NHL head coach to be dismissed this season, joining Jim Montgomery (Boston Bruins, Nov. 19), Drew Bannister (St. Louis Blues, Nov. 24), Luke Richardson (Chicago Blackhawks, Dec. 5), Derek Lalonde (Detroit Red Wings, Dec. 26), John Tortorella (Philadelphia Flyers, March 27), and Peter Laviolette (New York Rangers, April 19).
