{"id":550248,"date":"2026-04-11T11:09:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T11:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/550248\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T11:09:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T11:09:40","slug":"playoff-contending-ducks-give-gm-pat-verbeek-multiyear-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/550248\/","title":{"rendered":"Playoff-contending Ducks give GM Pat Verbeek multiyear extension"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Apr 10, 2026, 05:23 PM ET<\/p>\n<p>ANAHEIM, Calif. &#8212; General manager Pat Verbeek has agreed to a multiyear contract extension with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/team\/_\/name\/ana\/anaheim-ducks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Anaheim Ducks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Stapleton has also received a promotion to senior vice president and associate general manager, the Ducks announced Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Verbeek took over the Ducks&#8217; front office in February 2022, three months after Bob Murray resigned amid allegations of workplace misconduct. Verbeek has presided over the bulk of Anaheim&#8217;s lengthy rebuilding project while assembling much of the current team, which is finally on the brink of ending the franchise&#8217;s seven-year playoff drought.<\/p>\n<p>Led by first-year coach Joel Quenneville, Anaheim (42-32-5) is currently in third place in the Pacific Division, but just one point out of first place with three games left in the regular season. The Ducks could clinch a playoff spot this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Editor&#8217;s Picks<a name=\"&amp;lpos=story:editorspicks:inline:1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/story\/_\/id\/48439757\/nhl-power-rankings-2025-26-top-teams-players-poll-best-games-free-agents\" class=\"img-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NHL_power_rankings_26_04_10_1x1.png&#038;w=130&#038;h=130&#038;scale=crop&#038;location=center.png\" width=\"65\" height=\"65\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Pat has done exactly as we hoped, having turned the Ducks into what we believe are perennial contenders for the next decade,&#8221; Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli said in a statement. &#8220;We are beyond exited to see the team continue developing into what is already an exciting, winning team ready to take the next step.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After several years of high draft picks beginning before Verbeek&#8217;s tenure, the Ducks have assembled one of the NHL&#8217;s most enviable collections of young talent led by center <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/5149153\/leo-carlsson\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Leo Carlsson<\/a>, goal-scoring forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/5080145\/cutter-gauthier\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cutter Gauthier<\/a>, promising rookie <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/5216858\/beckett-sennecke\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Beckett Sennecke<\/a> and U.S. Olympic defenseman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/4565262\/jackson-lacombe\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jackson LaCombe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Verbeek&#8217;s trade with Philadelphia to acquire Gauthier in January 2024 has been widely praised, but his decision to ship center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/4565230\/trevor-zegras\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Trevor Zegras<\/a> to the Flyers last summer has received criticism while Zegras thrives in Philadelphia. Verbeek also parted ways with Ducks mainstays <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/5495\/cam-fowler\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cam Fowler<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/2590824\/john-gibson\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">John Gibson<\/a> in recent years, clearing payroll room and playing time for Anaheim&#8217;s young talent.<\/p>\n<p>Most recently, Verbeek swung a deadline deal for longtime Washington defenseman <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/5118\/john-carlson\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">John Carlson<\/a>, who has scored 12 points in 13 games during Anaheim&#8217;s playoff charge.<\/p>\n<p>Last summer, Verbeek also persuaded Samueli to take the risk of hiring Quenneville, Verbeek&#8217;s former NHL teammate and a three-time Stanley Cup-winning coach who had been out of the league for nearly four years after being banned for his inaction in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/team\/_\/name\/chi\/chicago-blackhawks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chicago Blackhawks<\/a>&#8216; sexual assault scandal in 2010. Quenneville has immediately turned the young team into a playoff contender, and he became the second coach in NHL history to win 1,000 games this season.<\/p>\n<p>Verbeek became a front-office executive at Tampa Bay and Detroit after the conclusion of his 20-year playing career, which included two Stanley Cup championships.<\/p>\n<p>Stapleton was the Ducks&#8217; director of player personnel and assistant general manager under Verbeek following several years as an Anaheim scout. He played 14 NHL seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apr 10, 2026, 05:23 PM ET ANAHEIM, Calif. &#8212; General manager Pat Verbeek has agreed to a multiyear&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[2210,233,5292,1739,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-550248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim-ducks","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-ducks","10":"tag-anaheimducks","11":"tag-ducks","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116385770199854638","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}