It’s not even July 1, and yet the Anaheim Ducks have been busy, uh, ducks!
Hold on tight, Anaheim Ducks fans!
If July is anything like the last few days of June, we could be in for a wild ride.
Clearly, the Anaheim Ducks are not content with the fact that they ALMOST made a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Rather than standing pat, and maybe pick up a free agent or two, Anaheim’s front office has been making moves that have – and there can be no doubt about this – made the organization stronger.
Some of the moves are obvious, such as trading for Carl Hagelin and Kevin Bieksa.
Acquiring Anton Khudobin from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for James Wisniewski not only gave Anaheim a legitimate back-up goaltender for 2015-2016, but it also cleared a bit of cap space for the team.
Focusing on the immediate future was not all the Anaheim Ducks did this past weekend though; drafting Jacob Larsson and handful of young, smart forwards with the sort of work-ethic that tends to get results allows the team to continue building the sort of deep, talented prospect pool that will allow the Ducks to remain competitive for a long time.
Finally, there’s the move that is attracting virtually no attention: the hiring of former Ottawa Senators head coach Paul MacLean. Whether you buy into the theory that MacLean was brought in to prepare the team for life without Bruce Boudreau (should Boudreau fail to get the desired results next season), this much cannot be argued: the Walrus is a good coach, and the Anaheim Ducks are better with him on the bench.
There might be more significant moves coming, but for now, we pose the question: if you had to rank Anaheim’s latest move, which would you say has been the most significant? Vote, and explain your thoughts below!