Feb 5, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Anaheim Ducks players celebrate after a win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. The Ducks won 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
The Anaheim Ducks have had another great regular season to this point. Currently, they are third in the Western Conference and the NHL with a 35-15-7 record. Their 77 points are 11 more than the second-place San Jose Sharks in the Pacific Division, while their 36 points earned in road-games is the most in the NHL.
However, the Ducks have seen this movie before: a great regular season that gave a lot of postseason expectations. The Ducks have won the Pacific Division title the past two seasons, yet have won just one playoff round in those two seasons. They hope to flip this script this season, and this Ducks team may have more talent than either of the previous two. However their recent road-trip (especially some lopsided losses) have fans concerned.
The Ducks have the skill, chemistry and ability to contend for a Stanley Cup if they do these three things.
Next: 1. Play to Strengths
Feb 12, 2015; Raleigh, NC, USA; Anaheim Ducks forward Nate Thompson (44) skates with puck against the Carolina Hurricanes defensemen Brett Bellemore (73) during the first period at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
1. Return to the Team’s Identity
The Ducks are a versatile team, with some speed, some skill, and some size, but if they had to pick a way they could be most successful, it would be in their ability to use their size and physicality along the boards. The Ducks are at their best when they can establish their forecheck early on. The team utilizes players who can effectively grind along the boards and cycle the puck. However, the Ducks have been unable to do that as of late. They have been losing battles along the boards and not sustaining chances in the opposing third.
The dump-and-chase strategy epitomizes what hockey is: a game of patience. Goals and quality scoring chances are limited and usually arise from the opposing team making a mistake. Dump-and-chase, therefore, can be made extremely ineffective, since it requires puck-retrieval to initiate the grind, and the team on the attack can risk one-and-done chances that yield little to no offensive pressure.
However, a strong forecheck can initiate the cycle, wear an opponent out, and create the mistakes that lead to scoring chances. That has been an element the Ducks have really lacked as of late, but they need to get back to playing to their strengths. The Ducks do have players to engage in a quick-strike offense, but this is a team that could be in trouble if it decides to engage in a run-and-gun philosophy with other teams, especially against those that have more team-speed than they do (such as the Dallas Stars in last year’s playoff-series, where the Stars’ speed made up the sizable gap between the team’s regular-season records).
The Ducks have seemingly lost their identity during this stretch of poor play after the All-Star weekend, but luckily, there are still 25 more games left in the regular-season for the Ducks to figure things out. The team has a great group of forwards who are good in the corners and effective on the forecheck, including Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, Rickard Rakell, Nate Thompson, Patrick Maroon, and Devante Smith-Pelly. Those aren’t necessarily players that utilize speed as their best asset: instead, literal strength is where the team’s strength lies. Hopefully, the Ducks can get this issue sorted out in the next 55 days before the regular-season concludes.
Next: 2. Defense Corps
Feb 6, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) skates with the puck around Anaheim Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm (47) in the first period at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
2. Strengthen the Blue-Line
Entering the offseason, the Ducks had two areas of concern after their second-round playoff exit: center depth and the blue-line. To address the former, the Ducks made a blockbuster trade for Kesler, who has been everything the Ducks could have hoped for and more. He has been of tremendous help for players such as Matt Beleskey, who is having a career year (21 goals) playing alongside a bona-fide top-six centerman. The Ducks also traded for Thompson, who has been a stalwart on the penalty-kill, and Rakell has grown seemingly with each game. The Ducks have gotten the improvement down the middle that they were seeking after May.
However, the Ducks have not really addressed their issues on the blue-line nearly as much. The Ducks’ one move in the offseason for the defense was signing Clayton Stoner to a four-year, $13 million contract in free-agency. The Ducks did make a commitment to going younger after letting go of players such as Saku Koivu, Jonas Hiller, and Daniel Winnik in the offseason, but that meant that the Ducks would have to depend on major steps forward from a mostly young blue-line group.
However, the young-guys have mostly been spectacular. Hampus Lindholm, Cam Fowler, and Sami Vatanen have all been great this season, and the young trio have taken those steps forward that the team envisioned they would need to for the Ducks to have success. As long as Vatanen’s injury from Sunday is not season-ending and as long as the three of them stay healthy, the trio should be major contributors in the postseason. Instead, it is the veteran defensemen that have not been great for the Ducks.
Ben Lovejoy, Francois Beauchemin, Stoner, and Eric Brewer have all had their issues. Beauchemin has battled mumps and a broken finger this season. He leads the Ducks in ice-time, but he is far from being the number-one defenseman that anchors a championship-caliber blue-line. Lovejoy was a -4 in three games on the Ducks’ most recent five-game trip and was made a healthy scratch in the other two games. Stoner has been okay, but there is not much of a difference between him and Bryan Allen from last season. Brewer has been mostly a disappointment, and not only because the Ducks had to give up the Oilers’ 3rd round pick in this year’s draft to acquire him (an asset that the Ducks could really use at the upcoming March 2nd trade deadline, especially to upgrade defensively).
The Ducks have been linked to defensemen in trade rumors. Tyler Myers and Cody Franson seemed to be the names most linked to the Ducks, but both are now off the market, with Myers in Winnipeg and Franson in Nashville. Marc Methot just signed a four-year, $19.6 million extension with the Ottawa Senators. There are still plenty of other available defensemen, and more will become so as teams begin to fall out of the playoff picture.
General manager Bob Murray needs to acquire someone on the blue-line. The team’s recent defensive performances have not been encouraging, but honestly, the defense was always the biggest issue even before the season started. It’s an area that has to be addressed, and I trust that Murray will do so in a move that both helps the team and does not empty the asset cupboard for the Ducks.
The most recent Stanley Cup champions (the Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, and Boston Bruins) were all strong and deep on the blue-line. Even the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils, who lost in those Stanley Cup Finals, were strong defensively. After center, defense is arguably the most important position in the game, and the Ducks would be wise to address the area as best as possible before the deadline passes and the playoffs begin.
Next: 3. 20 Best Players
Feb 15, 2015; Anaheim, CA, USA; Anaheim Ducks center Andrew Cogliano (7) celebrates with his team after scoring a goal against the Washington Capitals during the first period at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
3. Play the Best Possible Lineup
With just a mere 25 regular season games to go, the Ducks need to stop getting “cute” with their lineup decisions and play the 18 most effective players each night. That means sitting players, namely veterans, who may make more money but aren’t worth more on the ice than some other players.
Despite the state of the defense, Brewer is the worst of the seven defensemen on the active roster. The Ducks paid a hefty price in acquiring the veteran, and his cap hit is greater than that of Lovejoy, Vatanen, or Lindholm (even after the Lightning retained 26% of his cap number and salary). However, his insertion into the lineup does not make the defense play better, and it certainly will not magically fix the mistakes that Stoner and Lovejoy make: rather, Brewer playing probably makes the situation even worse.
If the Ducks can acquire a defenseman at (or before) the trade deadline, that pushes out another player between Lovejoy and Stoner (probably the latter, since right-shot defensemen are so valuable, and Lovejoy is probably better than Stoner, in a vacuum). That could help the Ducks with their defensive inconsistencies.
Anaheim Ducks /
Anaheim Ducks
However, this doesn’t apply to just the defense. Rene Bourque does not need to play for the Ducks, no matter how enticing his “size” or “potential” is. He has been invisible in most of his games and has not generated many positives since the Ducks acquired him for Allen. His lack of effort neutralizes whatever talent he has, and there is no reason he should be playing on a line higher than what Maroon, Beleskey, or Smith-Pelly do. Whether it involves Bourque just sitting in the press-box or being waived, the Ducks should not be playing Bourque, no matter how long “goal-droughts” get. There is more to hockey than scoring goals, and a lack of scoring should not dictate the effectiveness of a player.
The lines are mostly jumbled, but the “established” parts of the lineup are that Getzlaf plays with Perry, Kesler centers the second line, Rakell plays on the third line with Jakob Silfverberg, and Thompson gets the fourth-line. How the rest of the lineup slots in is up to Bruce Boudreau, but the team was most effective with some variation of this lineup.
Patrick Maroon – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry Matt Beleskey – Ryan Kesler – Kyle Palmieri Andrew Cogliano – Rickard Rakell – Jakob Silfverberg Devante Smith-Pelly – Nate Thompson – Tim Jackman
But it’s not just the skaters where this area comes into play. The Ilya Bryzgalov era needs to end. Whether he is waived, or the team decides to scratch him and carry three goalies (after all, rosters expand after the trade deadline), the Ducks need to go with the tandem of Frederik Andersen and John Gibson.
The signing was a knee-jerk reaction when it happened: by the time Bryzgalov was ready to play, both Gibson and Jason LaBarbera were recovered from their injuries. His cap-hit of $2.88 million is more than Andersen, Gibson, and LaBarbera combined and eats into the limited space the Ducks have as a budget team.
Bryzgalov does not have great numbers. Yes, he is also the victim of some of the Ducks’ worst team efforts, but Andersen has delivered wins in those circumstances. Gibson has a 38-save shutout against the Chicago Blackhawks and a 35-save effort over the Carolina Hurricanes in similar circumstances, both of which led to wins. They aren’t the best way to get wins, but those two give the Ducks a chance in games that Bryzgalov, unfortunately, does not.
Andersen has done everything and more to basically cement his place in the crease for the Ducks. In his absence, Gibson has stepped in. In three appearances, Gibson is 1-1-0 with a 3.55 GAA and .890 SV%: numbers that are terrible. Yet, in front of the same defense, Bryzgalov is 1-4-1 with a 4.19 GAA and .841 SV%, which are even worse. There is no justification for Bryzgalov to play as the backup over Gibson.
The Ducks are quickly finding out what life can be like without Andersen. With Bryzgalov in net against the Hurricanes this past Thursday, there is no guarantee that Bryzgalov would have stopped 35 of 36 shots. His one win this season was in one of the Ducks’ more complete games of the season, when they limited the New Jersey Devils to a meager 15 shots on goal throughout the game.
To optimize the lineup, the Ducks have to go beyond contract and waiver-eligible status and just play the best players. In this case, Gibson has to be the other goalie ahead of Bryzgalov.
Next: Final Thoughts
Feb 12, 2015; Raleigh, NC, USA; Anaheim Ducks goalie John Gibson (36) is congratulated by teammate forward Ryan Getzlaf (15) after the game against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena. The Anaheim Ducks defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
The Ducks have their share of weaknesses. So does every team: no team is perfect or invincible, and the Ducks are going through a rough stretch that every team inevitably faces over the course of a long season. However, most of these are fixable. The Ducks have done a lot of this damage to themselves, and it isn’t as simple as saying “Go trade for Player X and everything is okay.”
The truth is that the Ducks have mismanaged their assets this season. In a perfect world, the Ducks could unload Brewer, Bryzgalov, and Bourque (along with Dany Heatley, for that matter), but they have no trade value, and the Ducks are stuck with them until their contracts expire (which, except for Bourque, comes at the end of this season).
Instead, the Ducks have to look to fix what they can. It goes with what the players on their roster can do. It involves playing the right 18 skaters and two goalies and committing to being better on the ice as a team. The Ducks are still a good team, and they have the potential to win a Stanley Cup, but it has to be better overall for that to become a reality.
