The Anaheim Ducks Blueline Depth Debacle: Too Many Players, Too Few Spots

If the Anaheim Ducks are in a youth movement, GM Bob Murray has made some head-scratching signings this offseason. What does adding more veterans to the mix, mean for the younger players?

The signings of Andrej Sustr and Luke Schenn seems to have yielded the Ducks too many defensemen and not enough spots to play them. Today we take a look at some of the offseason signings the Ducks made and what they mean, at least from my perspective.

Why Bob?

I’ve stated this before, but I’m still a tad confused by these signings. It’s really hard to understand where Anaheim Ducks General Manager Bob Murray‘s thinking is this offseason. While Henrique’s extension was certainly nice, a lot of Anaheim’s free agent signings are most likely just going to be rentals.

It’s not entirely a bad thing. Anaheim is in a period of transition as a team. They need to be careful that their young talent doesn’t get lost in the mix, with rentals coming in and out of the lineup. The Ducks aren’t in full rebuild mode by any stretch, but starting this new “youth movement” while many veterans like Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, Patrick Eaves, etc. still have some years in the tank, puts the young guys in a weird spot.

Looking at the blueline, it’s going to be even tougher to fight for a spot with Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson, Cam Fowler, and Brandon Montour all in the early stages of their respective careers. So where do Luke Schenn and Andrej Sustr fit in?

Square Pegs in Round Holes?

To be blunt, they don’t at the moment. They are likely to be the seventh and/ or eighth defensemen, much like Korbinian Holzer in years prior.  Marcus Pettersson and Jacob Larsson both are set to make the jump to the NHL full time this season. That means the Anaheim Ducks defense corps is rounded out by the rookies on the bottom pairing. Not to mention they’re also going to have to fight for a roster spot alongside Andy Welinski who was just re-signed.

I feel Schenn and Sustr will be severely underutilized since they are depth pieces meant to replace one of the rookies if they’re not able to make the jump. I think  Murray signed these two veterans partially due to the injury scare from this past year. While this might be a tinfoil hat theory,

I believe GMBM is being a little cautious and purposely stocking up on depth talent. I don’t blame him one bit. Losing as many key players to injuries like the Ducks did in 2017-18 was hard to watch as a fan. I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like being in his shoes.

At least he doesn’t have to worry about the Ducks being shorthanded this time around. Is the price of roster depth worth taking precious ice time away from the young players? It remains to be seen.