The Anaheim Ducks are continuing their stumble down the standings. Something has to be done, and it’s time for us to take a look at the hard truth about this team.
Every time the Anaheim Ducks seem to take a step forward, as they did in their hard-fought shootout win against the Nashville Predators, they almost immediately take a massive step back, like the 5-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights the very next game that saw John Gibson mercy pulled.
The outcry for the Anaheim Ducks to fire their head coach has reached a fever pitch, there’s been countless articles, petitions, and anger-tweets calling for his head. Is a coaching change needed? Yes. Will it solve all the problems? Not in the slightest.
The fact is, the Ducks will make a change with their head coach. It’s a matter of when not if. I foresee a zero percent chance that Randy Carlyle gets an extension following his contract expiring after this season. Short of a miraculous turn-around that leads to a deep playoff run and culminating in a Western Conference Finals appearance, at least, I think the longest Carlyle will be coach of the Anaheim Ducks is the last game of this season.
Don’t worry Ducks Nation. I think it’ll happen sooner than that, but worst case scenario is that he stays until the end of the 2018-19 season.
So, in addition, what do the Ducks need to do to turn this team around? It’s a difficult truth to swallow, but the Ducks need to seriously consider re-tooling their roster. As it stands now the Ducks top 9 forwards, when fully healthy, includes 5 players who are over 30. The three highest-paid Ducks are all 33 or older. The remaining four players in that top 9 include only 2 players who are 25 or younger.
The Ducks are not a team of spring chickens, and as the league continues to move towards a youth movement, it’s become more and more imperative to have a deep cupboard of impact players. Yes, the Ducks do have some great young players who have played in the NHL this season. Maxime Comtois, Sam Steel, Troy Terry, Kiefer Sherwood, and Isac Lundestrom should all be every-day NHLers relatively soon which is great.
However, none of them are projected to be true, elite, top-line forwards. As the Ducks core continues to age, it’s going to be difficult to replace their production with the team and prospects the Ducks have in the organization currently.
I’m not saying the Ducks need to rebuild completely and tear the team apart, but this team is a bit of a mish-mash of puzzle pieces that don’t come together to make a truly coherent picture. I would like to see this team define what they are. In order to do that, changes will have to be made to the team, and they’re going to be hard to accept as some fan-favorites will not be part of the team long-term. Let’s take a look at the roster and break it down into some different categories.