Anaheim Ducks: A Look at the Opening Four-Game Road Trip
Sep 25, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Anaheim Ducks center Ryan Kesler (17) and right wing Jakob Silfverberg (33) celebrate a goal in the third period of the game against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center. Kings won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
The boys of … Winter, are back. After Anaheim saw their boys of Summer (Angels) dismantled and swept out of the playoffs, they now have something else to look forward to. A championship contending hockey team.
The NHL officially kicks off tonight with four games including two Pacific divisional games. Sharks vs Kings and Flames vs Canucks. And the Ducks open their season tomorrow night at the Console Energy Center in Pittsburgh to play the Penguins.
The line combinations and starting goaltender for the Ducks are obviously undetermined to this point because there are still 24 hours to go before the puck drops. And we may see some different combinations than expected with injuries to Dany Heatley and Kyle Palmieri.
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Starting the season on the right track is always advantageous and it’s especially important with the loaded Western Conference that we see has formed in the NHL this season. The Dallas Stars are locked and loaded and ready to make a deep run at the Cup this season with some big additions on offense, the Minnesota Wild added some notable offensive players as well to an already impressive squad and we already know how good the Ducks, Kings, Sharks, Blues and Blackhawks are. And the Ducks would like to believe they’re more than capable of playing with those teams and even playing better than them. They proved it when they won the Pacific division last season.
This year, the Ducks start the season on the road for four consecutive games against: Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo and then finishing off the trip in Philadelphia.
“Last year we had a good road trip, a pretty big one at the beginning of the year, it was good for the team, you get to hang out and go out for dinner and stuff, and hopefully we can bring some points back home,” Frederik Andersen said about last years three game road trip to start the season.
It’s true, team-building is always accomplished when a team of any sort goes on an extended road trip like the ducks are going on this week. More than team building can be accomplished if you actually win games as well. It’s never easy to win on the road though, so let’s see if the Ducks can do so against their first four opponents this season.
Pittsburgh
May 2, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) skates with the puck against the New York Rangers during the second period in game one of the second round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the CONSOL Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The Ducks open up in Pittsburgh to play the Penguins tomorrow as previously stated. The Pens are an interesting team this season. They brought in a new Head Coach, Mike Johnston and new General Manager, Jim Rutherford after failing to meet expectations for the fifth straight season.
On the ice, they had some very significant acquisitions and departures. The biggest being the Draft Day trade of James Neal to Nashville for Patric Hornquist and Nick Spalling. They also brought in Thomas Greiss to add depth to a goal-tending situation that many people are very skeptical of after the poor play from Marc-Andre Fleury in the last few playoffs. They also brought in talented offensive defenseman Christian Erhoff who mightily underperformed in Buffalo after signing a pretty big contract. They have some young talent developing to hopefully surround Crosby and Malkin with players like Oli Maata and California native Beau Bennett.
Are the Penguins a better team than last season?
I would say no. They have a new system to still be learned with a new head coach and they lost one of the best goal scorers in the NHL in James Neal. They have world class skill with Crosby and Malkin, and can be classified as a good team in a bad conference. Watching Crosby and Getzlaf matchup against each other will be very fun to watch in this one.
Outcome of the game? Ducks win.
Detroit
Jan 18, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Red Wings left wing Henrik Zetterberg (40) receives congratulations from teammates after scoring in the second period against the Los Angeles Kings at Joe Louis Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
The Red Wings are still the same old Red Wings from last year. A team that has arguably the best scouting team in all of hockey and continuously improves their team through draft picks rather than spending big money on free agents. They look to be heading in a new direction now with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg aging, they now see Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar leading the way offensively.
Last year this was a team bombarded with injuries but good coaching lead them to a postseason appearance for the 23rd straight season. Coaching has been the talk all offseason long with the Red Wings as people all over the league are eager to know whether Mike Babcock will stay in Detroit or look for a new coaching challenge.
On the ice this offseason, they made little to no moves. They see an extremely similar team that they saw last year. An older team with some understandably young talent on both ends of the ice, and stable goaltending with Jimmy Howard. Two teams very familiar with eachother after a playoff series two seasons ago that is no longer possible after the realignment of Detroit to the Eastern Conference, face off on Saturday night.
Outcome of the game? Red Wings in overtime or a shootout.
Buffalo
Oct 3, 2014; Raleigh, NC, USA; Buffalo Sabres defensemen Andrej Meszaros (41) skates against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena. The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-1. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
The Sabres are the front runners in the sweepstakes for Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel in the next NHL Draft and are once again expected to be in the basement of the Eastern Conference.
Surprisingly however, the Sabres actually made steady improvements to their team this Summer. They have a new captain after adding Brian Gionta to the team, they brought back Matt Moulson back after playing half a season in Buffalo last year, they traded for shutdown defenseman and leadership oriented Josh Gorges, and also brought in veteran defenseman Andrej Mezaros as well as Andre Benoit.
They are an improved team from last season adding depth to their defense and offense, but still lack a lot between the pipes and have a lot of inexperienced and mediocre players on their roster.
Outcome of the game? Should be a fairly easy win for the Ducks.
Philadelphia
Apr 8, 2014; Sunrise, FL, USA; Philadelphia Flyers goalie Steve Mason (35) and Philadelphia Flyers center Claude Giroux (28) celebrate defeating the Florida Panthers 5-2 at BB&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports
The Flyers shocked a lot of people this week when they announced their 23 man roster after their roster contained no enforcer type players. We have always known the Flyers to be the “Broad Street Bullies” but they appear to be going in the direction of many other NHL teams by electing to not have an enforcer in their lineup.
The Flyers seem to have finally found a goaltender that can give them a chance to win on a nightly basis in Steve Mason. Which is what they’ve been looking for essentially ever since Ron Hextall left. The Flyers retain a similar roster to last seasons, adding in a couple new pieces with Michael Del Zotto and the return of R.J Umberger. They are a talented offensive team that can also play physical and the only question-mark as to if they can contend for a cup lies among their defensemen. They are an interesting matchup playing pretty similar styles of hockey.
Outcome of the game? Flyers win. Ducks coming off of a back to back situation on a long road trip will play dividends in this one.