Mason McTavish left the Ducks organization, and on Wednesday insider Frank Seravalli pointed straight at Pat Verbeek.
Seravalli did not soften it. He said the way negotiations went down directly led to the exits of McTavish, Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras.
Three former first round picks. Gone within a short stretch. That is not bad luck, that is a pattern.
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The comments came Wednesday on Oilers Now, and Seravalli did not stop at Verbeek either.
He pointed to former head coach Greg Cronin too, saying Cronin did not do the GM any favours and helped create a tough environment in Anaheim.
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Verbeek has run the Ducks front office since February of 2022. Current bench boss Joel Quenneville was not hired until May of 2025, well after Cronin left the picture.
Losing McTavish, Drysdale and Zegras in the same stretch strips a huge chunk of drafted talent out of a rebuild that needed continuity, not turnover.
Anaheim finished this season 43-33-6 for 92 points, good for third in their division, and won a first round series over Edmonton before meeting Vegas in round two.
Anaheim's rebuild now rests on Gauthier and Sennecke
And it puts fresh pressure on Verbeek heading into an offseason where the Ducks core is still being rebuilt around players like Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke.
Gauthier put up 69 points this season with 41 goals. Sennecke, still just 20, chipped in 60 points and posted six points over his last ten games.
In net, Lukas Dostal heads into the summer as the clear starter after posting a save percentage of .888 across 56 games this season.
Both forwards are signed cheap, and both are part of the plan going forward. But the plan only works if Verbeek can actually keep talent in the building this time.
That is the real question hanging over Anaheim right now. Not whether the young core can produce, they already are.
It is whether ownership trusts the man running the negotiating table to stop losing players before their contracts run out.
Is Pat Verbeek the real reason the Ducks lost McTavish, Drysdale and Zegras?
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