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What Will It Take For the Anaheim Ducks to Turn This Team Around?

By Ciara Durant

CHICAGO, IL - OCTOBER 23: Anaheim Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle looks on in the 3rd period of game action during an NHL game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Anaheim Ducks on October 23, 2018 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - OCTOBER 23: Anaheim Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle looks on in the 3rd period of game action during an NHL game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Anaheim Ducks on October 23, 2018 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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ANAHEIM, CA – OCTOBER 28: Rickard Rakell #67 and Pontus Aberg #20 of the Anaheim Ducks celebrate Aberg’s second-period goal with their teammates during the game against the San Jose Sharks on October 28, 2018, at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Debora Robinson/NHLI via Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CA – OCTOBER 28: Rickard Rakell #67 and Pontus Aberg #20 of the Anaheim Ducks celebrate Aberg’s second-period goal with their teammates during the game against the San Jose Sharks on October 28, 2018, at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Debora Robinson/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Jonathan Maxfield: These Things Take Time

What is it going to take to turn this team around? I wish I had the answer, and I wish Bob Murray had the answer. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s a matter of one thing. I think there are multiple reasons why this team is in the predicament they’re in.

Coaching. The system Randy Carlyle uses is not good anymore. The league has moved in a direction that 90% of what the other teams are doing is counteracting the Ducks “strategy.” What is worse than that, Murray said he wanted the team to play faster and adopt a similar style to the top teams in the NHL. Whether through lack of ability, or desire to do so, it has not worked for Carlyle’s coaching style and it hasn’t worked for the Ducks on the ice.

When you’re playing a goulash of systems and changing things on a shift to shift basis, no one’s going to be able to get into a rhythm and play to their strengths entirely. Either play a new system or the old system. Stop mixing things up, it’s not working.

That doesn’t mean the players are not to blame though. There have been so many times this season the Ducks looked like they were legitimately coasting through as if they didn’t care and had given up on the game. Even usual spark plugs like Ryan Getzlaf and Andrew Cogliano have looked lackadaisical at times and that’s just not going to cut it.

Whether it’s the culture in the locker room, the culture the coach is bringing, or the culture of management, there is something truly amiss with the Anaheim Ducks and I don’t think there’s a fix all, or single move that could be made that would put the Ducks in a significantly better position right now.

It might just take time to chip away at the issues slowly, as opposed to attempting to put some duct tape over the holes and hoping for the best. I know fans are going to hate that answer, I hate that answer, but it may be the best one long term.

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