Today has been eerily quiet for Ducks fans. On a day when most teams sent down the last of their prospects in order to finalize their rosters, the Ducks have done absolutely nothing. The Ducks will have until Wednesday afternoon to make final decisions on their regular season roster.
The consensus, at least between sports writers, is that Brendan Mikkelson will make the team as a sixth or seventh defenseman. Although he did not have a strong performance against the Kings on Sunday night, he played well in all the previous games. It seems as though last year’s exposure to the NHL was crucial to the development of Mikkelson.
A very similar case can be observed when looking at Luca Sbisa. It’s clear that Sbisa has the skill to develop into a solid NHL defenseman, but he’s not quite there yet. Coach Randy Carlyle said “We think that he needs some tutoring. We think that we can provide him with that, but that’s one of those decisions – do you want to do that now, or do you think it’s better a year from now?” That quote alone will probably be enough to keep Sbisa around because there’s no one better at tutoring a young defenceman than Scott Niedermayer, who might not be around a year from now.
So which defenceman will go? Well, maybe none. The Ducks have the option of doing something they haven’t done in recent seasons, which is to carry eight defencemen and only 13 forwards. It’s not really a big deal if they do that, but it’s not very useful to those two extra defencemen either. If I had to guess, I’d say Sheldon Brookbank has lost his spot to the other defencemen with more potential or more experience.
The forwards situation is also interesting. Logan MacMillan is still with the team, and no one really knows why. He’s only played in one preseason game and hasn’t really impressed anyone too terribly. Everyone had assumed that he was still with the club for the same reason Mark Mitera was, which was to gain an understanding of NHL play. But Mitera was sent down long ago and MacMillan is still here after the final preseason game. Go figure.
If Andrew Ebbett gets sent down, everyone will be shocked. Not just because of his success last season, but because he’s done well during the preseason, especially when paired with other skill-players. Erik Christensen is in a tough situation as he returns from his injury. He’s shown he can play well with top players, but those roles are filled this season.
As I’ve said before the coaching staff has difficult decisions to make, but look for them to keep Mikkelson and send down MacMillan at the very least.