The Anaheim Ducks have hired Greg Cronin to be their new bench boss.

It's rare to see someone land their first NHL head coaching gig at the age of 60, but there's no denying the wealth of experience Cronin brings to the table. A former player in the ECAC, Cronin parlayed that into an assistant coaching gig at the school for which he played – Colby College. After bouncing around several teams in the NCAA circuit as an assistant, Cronin took over as Head Coach at the University of Maine, where he had earlier earned his Master's Degree in Business.

In 1999, Cronin got his first NHL job as an assistant with the Islanders, later becoming Head Coach for their minor-league team Bridgeport. With that team, in 2003-04, only one player had more than 36 points in Bridgeport's 80-game season, but all of his goalies (including Rick DiPietro) had a GAA of below 1.90 and a SV% above 0.930.

Cronin moved on to become head coach at Northeastern University where he remained for six years until joining the Maple Leafs as an assistant (three years) and back to the Isles as an assistant (four years). He spent the last five years as Head Coach of the Colorado Eagles. Other than in 2021-22, the Eagles never finished among the Top 10 teams in goals scored. This past season, only six teams scored fewer goals than Colorado's 210.

All told, it's over 35 years of experience in a coaching capacity. Cronin will likely be a strong role model and teacher for this younger team. However, we can probably guess where his focus will be. Defense, and a team-first system.

If Trevor Zegras, under a different coach, gets 90 points – he'll get 75 under this one. That's an example, but you can extrapolate this across all fantasy-worthy players. The Ducks will be playing things tight. I get the sense that we've seen the last Michigan out of Zegras. New York Islanders 2.0?