Ducks Extend GM Pat Verbeek

The Ducks have agreed to terms with general manager Pat Verbeek on a multi-year contract extension, the team announced Friday. The team has also promoted assistant GM Mike Stapleton to associate GM, with the title of senior VP of hockey operations added.

It’s a welcome reward for Verbeek, who’s built a good chunk of the current Ducks roster that has the franchise on the verge of its first postseason appearance in eight years. He took over at the top of Anaheim’s hockey ops department in February 2022 after spending several years under Steve Yzerman as an assistant GM with both the Lightning and the Red Wings.

Since then, he’s been aggressive in his pursuit of finishing up the Ducks’ rebuild. He’s made six first-round selections during that time. With Nathan Gaucher making his NHL debut recently, four of them have already logged game action. Two of them, Leo Carlsson in 2023 and Beckett Sennecke in 2024, are already among the team’s top three scorers. The other name in that mix, Cutter Gauthier, was the fifth overall pick in 2022 by the Flyers, but Verbeek acquired his signing rights in exchange for Jamie Drysdale two years later.

Over the past couple of offseasons, he’s been busy trying to insulate his still-developing young core with experienced talent. He’s made free-agent splashes for Mikael Granlund,  Alex Killorn and captain Radko Gudas while weaponizing his cap space to acquire beleaguered names like Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba. His open-market record has been something of a mixed bag, but his trade history, particularly over the past two seasons, is difficult to argue with. He capped all of that work off by acquiring a likely Hall-of-Fame defenseman in John Carlson, albeit as a potential rental, at this year’s trade deadline.

Of Anaheim’s top 10 scorers, Verbeek has signed, drafted, or acquired seven of them. It’s fully his team now, especially after making his mark behind the bench last summer with the hiring of Joel Quenneville. As such, Ducks ownership had no intention of letting him reach the end of his contract without a new deal. Owners Henry and Susan Samueli said Verbeek has “turned the Ducks into what we believe are perennial contenders for the next decade.”

As for Stapleton, his promotion secures his Anaheim tenure should extend meaningfully into its second decade. The veteran of 697 NHL games never suited up in Orange County during his playing career, but has only been with the Ducks in his front-office work.

After several years of coaching in the OHL and AHL, Anaheim picked Stapleton up as a pro scout back in 2014. He was promoted to the team’s director of player personnel in 2022 before Verbeek bumped him up to an AGM role two years later.