Ducks General Manager Pat Verbeek spoke to media Friday afternoon about Anaheim's selection of Roger McQueen 10th overall in the 2025 NHL Draft and what's down the road for him and the Ducks.
On selecting McQueen 10th overall
I think I watched him when he was with the U-18s with Team Canada at a tournament probably almost two years ago now. There's certainly power forward written all over him in how he plays the game. He has a little bit of a mean side to him, which I like. There's a high compete there with him. And so I think that when we went through the injuries that he had, I think that we felt comfortable drafting him just all the things that he's gone through to overcome the injury that we felt comfortable drafting him.
On commentary that McQueen has the highest ceiling in the Draft
Well, it is hard to predict. Certainly had he not gone through the injuries, he probably would've been an arguably top four, top five in this Draft. He's a unique package in the sense that he moves really well for a 6-foot-5 guy. He has really good skill and he has the ability to be able to score. So I think that he's going to play a little different game than some of the guys that we have now in our mix.
On how extensively the Ducks looked into his health situation
Very, very extensive. Yeah, we dug deep and consulted a lot, consulted our doctors, consulted our sports science guy. So there was a lot of due diligence put into Roger making sure that we did our homework and at the end of the day we felt comfortable that he's going to be overcome any of the setbacks that he had last year.
On potentially trading the 10th pick
Well, there were a couple things that didn't pan out and then when we were able to get Roger, I think everything became moot and we just went ahead and made the selection.
On whether the Ducks will make moves on Day 2 of the Draft
I'm not sure at this point. I'm not sure the moves. It's hard to say right now. We continue to look at a bunch of different things and you never know how these things are going to turn out until they either do or they don't. So I can't project anything that could happen from our side at this point.
On where McQueen can improve his game
Well, obviously these kids there, they just have to gain weight and gain strength. I think that there's a lot of talent there. Skating ability, when he gets stronger, is going to continue to improve. But I think always this thing of getting stronger is the biggest part of being able to get to the NHL. There's many kids that they have the skill level and all of that, and even some of them have the ability with their skating ability, but the strength is the hardest thing for them to make up when they play. And if they don't have the strength, that makes it hard for them to be able to put their skilled game or their type of game on the ice. And so that's the biggest thing for me, for Roger, we're super excited about his skill. We're super excited. Plays a 200 foot game and I love that when I did see him play it at the U-18s . He plays a physical game, so he ended up getting suspended in that tournament for being physical. And that part of his game excites me as well. So yeah, I think every player has something to work on, but I would say the main thing is just getting stronger.
On a projected timeline for McQueen
He didn't play much last year. He's going to have to get back to Junior and get a good season of training the rest of the summer under his belt and go have a good season and hopefully play for Team Canada at the Christmas tournament and then we'll see. We can afford to take our time with Roger. So I think that's the good thing about it. We can take our time with him and let him progress that in his own natural timeline.
On whether McQueen will play college hockey
Well, that's hard to say. Whatever Roger decides. I think a lot of kids are being asked to do that, and we'll leave that up to Roger that it'll be his decision. And I don't think that we really can interfere with that too much. He can ask us our opinion, but it's really, at the end of the day, it's his decision to decide what he's going to do. Will he get opportunity? I'm sure he will get opportunity so that the toughest part is trying to understand his scenario and where he wants to go.
On rumors of a John Gibson trade
Yeah, I'm having discussions. Not sure where any of it's going to go. As I've talked to you guys in the past, I always look at things that get presented to me and if it makes sense for the Anaheim Ducks, we'll pursue it. If it doesn't, then we won't.
