Anaheim Ducks Home Opener: Interview with a Detroit Red Wings Fan

A rematch, that has been 25 years in the making, happens tonight at Honda Center! The Anaheim Ducks face off against the Detroit Red Wings to celebrate their 25th anniversary season as a franchise. Ducks Nation is amped up and roaring to go, but what does this game mean to the fans in “Hockeytown”?

Twenty-five years ago, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim took the ice at Arrowhead Pond for their first regular season game in franchise history. The bright-eyed team of misfits was scheduled to face off against the Detroit Red Wings. The “Pond” was filled with enthusiastic fans who were ecstatic that a hockey team had finally landed in Orange County.

With freshly sharpened skates and an optimistic attitude, Anatoli Semenov skated out to center ice to battle Sergei Fedorov. Semenov put up a fight, but Fedorov won the face off. This was an early sign that the Red Wings would control the pace of the game. Detroit upset the Mighty Ducks, defeating them 7-2.

Tomorrow, the Anaheim Ducks and the Detroit Red Wings take the ice again in a rematch that has been 25-years in the making. No longer the infant team of 1993, the Anaheim Ducks are looking for different results this time around. Although their rivalry hasn’t been as prominent since the Red Wings moved to the Eastern Conference in 2014, the anticipation surrounding this game is riveting.

As part of Pucks of a Feather’s celebration of the Anaheim Ducks 25th anniversary, I had the distinct honor of interviewing Bob Heyrman, the site expert at Octopus Thrower. He provided me with some great insight from the perspective of a Detroit Red Wings fan.

Legend of the Octopus

Allow me to introduce you to Bob Heyrman and the Octopus Thrower. If you’re anything like me, you are probably wondering, what does the phrase “octopus thrower” have to do with the Detroit Red Wings? Up until a few days ago, I had no idea what it meant. For those of you who may not know the legend of the octopus, allow me to enlighten you. This tradition started in the early years of the NHL when the teams would play two best of seven contests. To win the Stanley Cup, a team had to win a total of eight games.

During Detroit’s 1952 cup run, two superstitious Red Wings fans thew an octopus out on the ice for good luck. The octopi’s eight legs represented the number of games the team had to win in order to raise the cup. They went on to sweep the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens, winning the Stanley Cup. Thus, the tradition was born.

The tradition has since been banned in Detroit, seeing as how it is a concern to the safety of the players. Plus, the smell and the mess don’t make for the most pleasant experience. Nevertheless, the Red Wings will always be known for their octopus throwing traditions. To keep the memory of their tradition alive, Detroit’s purple mascot, Al the Octopus, is raised to the rafters whenever the Red Wings make it to the playoffs.

Bob Heyrman probably knows this legend better than the back of his hand. He has been a fan of the Detroit Red Wings for 31 years. He’s seen the team raise the Stanely Cup four times, witnessed the Russian Five take the NHL world by storm, and he’s remained a faithful fan through their recent struggles.

Bob took over the duty’s as site expert in July, and he’s been doing a stand-up job. He might not have been at the helm long, but his vision for his site is admirable. Octopus Thrower is filled with quality daily content chalked full of hard facts and honest opinions. The Detroit Red Wings are represented well here at FanSided.

The Red Wings have a lot of young players on their team this season. These players are essentially the future of the franchise. Which of these young players should the NHL world keep their eyes on and why?

The Detroit Red Wings will be fielding a very young group on the back-end tonight led by Dennis Cholowski. He has looked fantastic early on this season. Libor Sulak, Joe Hicketts, and Filip Hronek are all trying to make their mark and unseat the experienced defenders.

Dylan Larkin is only 22-years-old. He is starting to come into his own. He has terrific vision and play-making ability. Larkin has worked on his 200-foot game, being reliable in all three zones. He started his career on the wing to limit his defensive responsibilities. He had the opportunity to learn from Henrik Zetterberg on a nightly basis. Last season, he excelled as the Wings top center, leapfrogging Hank in the lineup and the scorecard. Larkin led the Wings in total points and assists. We are expecting him to produce around 70 points this season.

Anthony Mantha is eyeing 30 goals this season. The Wings haven’t had a 30 goal scorer since 2009. In 2009 the Wings had four 30+ scorers with Marian Hossa netting 40. In addition to these two, the Wing certainly have a lot of question marks throughout their lineup. Frank Nielsen is an excellent two-way forward, but can he turn back the clock and achieve a 50 point season again?

Andreas Athanasiou is a world-class skater who has 20+ goal potential but has yet to reach that mark. He is sort of a one trick pony. He was known for floating around his defensive zone blue line hoping for the puck to find him so he could be off to the races. With the unexpected departure of Henrik Zetterberg, AA is now playing center. This will limit his floating ability. He needs to learn how to score and create through traffic.

The sixth overall pick from this last draft, Filip Zadina is 18-years-old. He is starting his professional career in the American Hockey League with the Grand Rapids Griffins. Big Michael Rasmussen was selected ninth overall in 2017. The 6’6” forward is staying in Detroit rather than being returned to Junior. He is learning on the fly, but his large frame makes for an active net-front presence on the power play. He also works effectively on the wall down low in the cycle game.

As someone who is on the outside looking in, what is the Anaheim Ducks biggest weakness?

Depth. It seems to me that depth up front has become a major issue for the Anaheim Ducks. I understand that Corey Perry is a tremendous loss. However, even with Perry in the lineup, he doesn’t help the Ducks down the middle.

Ryan Kesler is banged up. After his hip surgery last season, and being rushed back into the lineup, he has become more of a third line center. Adam Henrique is a guy I really like, but I’m not sure if he is a productive second line center. He is a very good player, yes. Nevertheless, the most successful teams have a 1-2 punch down the middle.

The Ducks and the Wings are both missing this. Think of the Toronto Maple Leafs with players like John Tavares, Auston Matthews, and Nazem Kadri. The Sharks are another good example of depth down the middle. They are able to roll out Joe Thornton and Logan Couture. The Kings have Anze Kopitar, who I consider to be one of the most underrated players in the league. They also have Jeff Carter.

I have tremendous respect for Ryan Getzlaf and everything he has done. He has been a staple in the Ducks lineup since they were “mighty.” He can’t do it all by himself. The Anaheim Ducks would benefit greatly if they can find someone of a similar caliber to slot in as their second line center. Whether they have that talent on their team right now has yet to be seen.

Are there any Ducks you’re looking forward to watching play on Monday night? Are there any Ducks you’re nervous to watch?

I am really looking forward to watching Cam Fowler. It is incredible to think that the kid has yet to turn 27-years-old. Fowler is a swift skating mobile defender who looks to create offense from the backend. He has the ability to skate out of danger, something the young Detroit defenders have been doing early on. I really like this Hampus Lindholm defender too. The pair makes for a nice one-two punch for the Ducks on the back-end.

Another kid I’m interested to see is Sam Steel. I am curious how his game will translate from the WHL to the NHL. Steel was a stand out in the Western Hockey League for the Regina Pats during his four seasons of work. He excelled during his final two junior seasons. He is only 20 and has the opportunity to go to school every night learning how to become a pro’s pro from Ducks leader and Captain, Ryan Getzlaf. I couldn’t think of a better situation to be in as a young player trying to find his way.

I think the Ducks should consider Andrej Sustr over Luke Schenn as their sixth defenseman. Sustr fell out of favor in Tampa, but I think he has much more of an upside to his game than Schenn displays.

John Gibson is going to be fun to watch. The Anaheim Ducks paid him to be elite. The Ducks have had quite the carousel of goaltenders over the past 10 years. It will be more relaxing as a franchise knowing you can plug Gibson in every night and he will give you a chance to win. Gibson is that goaltender who can make up for the lack of depth. He has the ability to steal a game, and for that matter, a playoff series.

This is a big game for the Anaheim Ducks and Ducks Nation. It marks the 25th anniversary of our inaugural home opener. The Ducks and Red Wing’s rivalry was also born that day.

Although their rivalry isn’t as prevalent as it has been in the past, this will still be a very exciting game to watch. What should be the Ducks biggest concern about the Red Wings come game day? What do they have that the Ducks don’t that could potentially lead to the Wings walking away with the “W”?

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• Anaheim Ducks might benefit tremendously by trading John Gibson
• How close are the Anaheim Ducks to becoming contenders again?

In all honesty, I wouldn’t choose the Red Wings to win this game. The Wings are coming off of a game in LA last night. It can be difficult to find your legs on the second game of a back to back

With that being said, if the Wings were able to edge out the Ducks tonight, it would be with their speed. The Detroit Red Wings have much more speed this season than they’ve had in recent years. This could potentially cause the Ducks some difficulty during tonight’s face off.

I miss the epic playoff battles between the Ducks and the Wings during those years where the Wings were in the Western Conference. The Eastern Conference is where the Wings should be, for travel purposes. However, I miss all of those wars with the “heavy” Western teams.

**Editors Note** It was a pleasure getting to know Bob and gain his perspective on the Anaheim Ducks. We hope to do something similar in the future. Be sure to head over to their Twitter/Facebook page to see how I answered Bob’s questions about the Ducks vs Red Wings matchup! 

With it being the 25th anniversary of the Anaheim Ducks inaugural home opener, we have a lot of content coming your way! To stay up to date, be sure to follow us on Twitter/Facebook!