Ducks hire DiMaio as assistant general manager

The Ducks named Rob DiMaio as an assistant general manager and the general manager of their AHL team, the San Diego Gulls, GM Pat Verbeek announced Tuesday. DiMaio is a former NHL player who has spent the past 13 seasons as an executive with the St. Louis Blues.

In addition, Todd Marchant will not return as director of player personnel. Marchant had held an executive position since the 201112 season, after spending six seasons as a player with the Ducks. DiMaio joins Martin Madden and Jeff Solomon as assistant general managers.

The restructuring of the executive suite began with the retirement last spring of longtime assistant GM David McNab and continued with the resignations of GM Bob Murray and assistant GM David Nonis this past season. Verbeek was hired Feb. 3, replacing Murray.

Bob Ferguson, a longtime executive with the Ducks and the Gulls, retained his position as assistant GM in San Diego.

“Rob brings a wealth of experience and expertise to our front office,” Verbeek said of DiMaio in a statement released by the Ducks. “He’s helped build a Stanley Cup-winning club (in 201819 with the Blues) and he will play an integral role for us in all areas of hockey operations moving forward.”

Of not retaining Marchant, Verbeek said, “As part of a restructuring of the hockey operations department, I informed Todd Marchant that he will not be returning to the club next season. It was a very difficult decision, as Todd has been an important part of the Ducks franchise in a variety of roles as both a player and executive. We thank him for his great contributions and wish him the best in the future.”

DiMaio, 54, was the Blues’ director of player personnel since 2015, helping lead them to the Stanley Cup in 2019. He joined them as a scout in 2008 and later was their director of pro scouting. He played 894 games in the NHL with the New York Islanders, New York Rangers,

Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Boston, Carolina and Dallas.

He was the Islanders’ sixth-round pick (188th overall) in the 1987 draft.

DiMaio and Verbeek were teammates with Dallas in 2001-02, and remained friendly over the years as their paths crossed after they became professional scouts.

“I saw something with Pat as something we can start,” DiMaio said. “It’s not at the bottom. It’s not the bottom floor of a rebuild or anything like that. I saw something at the early stages of it with Pat, and him being a new general manager, I felt I could help him do whatever he needs me to do.

“I don’t have any specific stories about him. I sat beside him in the locker room. His intensity in the game and how he approached it, he was a real, true professional. He practiced hard. He went to the areas of the game that were difficult to go and he made a living out of it. I really respect Pat. I’m not saying it because he hired me. I’m saying it because it’s true.”