The San Diego Gulls are changing the voice behind the bench.
The Anaheim Ducks announced that Dave Manson has been named head coach of their AHL affiliate, making him the sixth head coach in Gulls history. Kelly Buchberger and Steve McCarthy are joining him as assistant coaches, alongside goaltending coach Jeff Glass and video coordinator Lucas Hurtt.
For Manson, this is his first head coaching job at the professional level. Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek pointed to the work he did last season in San Diego, saying, "After helping lead the Gulls to the playoffs last season, it was clear Dave made a big impact behind the bench," said Ducks General Manager Pat Verbeek. "Dave brings nearly 25 years of coaching experience, and he will help strengthen the standard of excellence and development we have established in San Diego as head coach."
Manson, 59, arrived in San Diego as an assistant coach in 2025-26 and handled the defense and penalty kill. The Gulls made the postseason for the first time since the 2021-22 season, and the special teams numbers backed up the progress: their penalty kill finished eighth in the AHL at 83.5%, and they were the second-least penalized team in the league with 749 penalty minutes.
His coaching path has run through junior hockey and the pro game. Before San Diego, Manson spent the 2024-25 season with the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League.
He also worked with the Edmonton Oilers from 2022-24 after being promoted from the Bakersfield Condors on Feb. 10, 2022.
During his time in Edmonton, the Oilers reached the 2022 Western Conference Final and the 2023 Western Conference Second Round.
Manson’s résumé also includes four seasons as an assistant with Bakersfield from 2018-22, where the Condors won Pacific Division titles in 2019 and 2021. He helped develop defensemen such as Evan Bouchard, Philip Broberg and Vincent Desharnais as they moved through the Oilers organization. Before that, he spent 14 seasons coaching the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL, including six years as associate coach and eight as assistant coach, and helped develop NHL players including Leon Draisaitl and Josh Morrissey.
A first-round pick of Chicago in the 1985 NHL Draft, Manson played 1,103 NHL games over 16 seasons with Chicago, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Phoenix, Montreal, Dallas and Toronto. The Prince Albert, Saskatchewan native finished with 102-288=390 points and ranks 13th all-time in NHL penalty minutes with 2,792. His son, Josh, was drafted by Anaheim in the sixth round of the 2011 NHL Draft, spent eight seasons with the Ducks and helped Colorado win the Stanley Cup in 2022.
Buchberger, 59, brings a long coaching and development background of his own. He worked with the Edmonton Oilers in several roles from 2005-17, including assistant coach from 2008-14, and also spent time with the New York Islanders as an assistant in 2017-18. More recently, he was an assistant with the Laval Rocket from 2021-24, helping them reach the Eastern Conference Final in 2022 and working with players including Ducks forward Ryan Poehling, along with Canadiens forwards Cole Caufield and Jakub Dobes.
He has also been a head coach in the AHL and WHL. Buchberger coached the Springfield Falcons in 2007-08, going 25-35-10-10 in his lone season there, and later led the Tri-City Americans from 2018-21.
Tri-City reached the WHL playoffs in 2018-19, his only full season behind the bench, when the club went 34-28-6. The WHL playoffs were not held in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a player, Buchberger appeared in 1,182 NHL games with Edmonton, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Pittsburgh, recording 105-209=305 points and 2,297 penalty minutes, which rank top-40 all-time among NHL skaters. He won Stanley Cups with Edmonton in 1987 and 1990, captained the Oilers from 1995-99 and was also the first captain in Atlanta Thrashers history in 1999-00.
The Langenburg, Saskatchewan native represented Canada at the 1993, 1994 and 1996 World Championships, winning gold in 1994 and silver in 1996. He also shared the ice with Manson in Edmonton from 1991-94 and on Canada’s 1993 World Championship team.
McCarthy, 45, comes to San Diego after spending parts of the last five seasons as an assistant coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2021-26. He handled the defense and penalty kill there and coached Zach Werenski, who was named the 2025-26 James Norris Memorial Trophy winner as the NHL’s top defenseman.
Before Columbus, McCarthy worked with the Cleveland Monsters, the Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate, and helped them reach the playoffs in 2019. He also served as an assistant coach for Team Canada at the 2025 World Championship.
McCarthy’s playing career lasted 18 years. The Trail, British Columbia native played 302 NHL games with Chicago, Vancouver and Atlanta from 1999-2008, putting up 17-38=55 points and 168 penalty minutes.
Chicago selected him in the first round of the 1999 NHL Draft. He also played 191 AHL games with Norfolk, Chicago, Abbotsford, Springfield, Iowa and Lake Erie, finishing with 13-48=61 points and 126 penalty minutes.
On the international stage, he represented Canada at the 2000 and 2001 World Junior Championships, helping the team win bronze in both tournaments.
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