Ducks turn to former USNTDP builder Greg Cronin as coach

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Greg Cronin spent 36 years coaching at nearly every level of hockey before he finally got his first chance to be an NHL head coach.

He believes the struggling but talented Anaheim Ducks will be worth that extraordinary wait.

General manager Pat Verbeek hired the 60year-old Cronin on Monday to lead the Ducks’ rebuilding effort out of the worst five-year stretch in franchise history. Cronin is a former NHL assistant and a former head coach in both the AHL and at Northeastern, earning widespread praise for teaching strong principles and leading young players.

For Cronin, who spent the past five seasons leading the Colorado Avalanche’s successful AHL affiliate, the Ducks’ combination of bountiful young talent and a patient organization are ideal – and as a surfer and long-distance runner, he should fit into Orange County’s lifestyle as well.

“I think this is right (in) my wheelhouse as a coach,” Cronin said during a news conference at Honda Center. “I’ve worked my tail off to get to this point, and I can’t emphasize enough how happy I am to be here.”

Cronin has 12 years of experience as an NHL assistant with the Toronto Maple Leafs and in two stints with the New York Islanders. The Massachusetts native with a pronounced Boston accent also played an important role in the creation of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program in the late 1990s.

When Cronin’s hiring became public, he began receiving texts from players he had helped across his 3 1/2 decades in the profession all the way back to the 1980s at the University of Maine, where he coached Ducks Hall of Famer Paul Kariya. Cronin has relationships at every level of hockey, and his knowledge and experience were just some of the reasons Verbeek called him “a tremendous fit” to take over a rebuilding team.