Anaheim Ducks: Early Season Pacific Division Power Rankings
The first month of hockey may have just ended, but it’s never to early to look at the Anaheim Ducks, their divisional rivals, and where they all stand. Today, we’re breaking down the Pacific Division with power rankings for the first month of the NHL season.
The Anaheim Ducks and NHL season started just over one month ago; one of the most exciting nights of the year for hockey fans. Going into this season the Pacific Division was certainly one of the more wide-open divisions in the league, with very few teams considered true locks to be playoff teams.
We saw teams like the San Jose Sharks and the Vegas Golden Knights make huge acquisitions, Erik Karlsson and Max Pacioretty, in hopes of replicating their impressive seasons last year. Teams like the Los Angeles Kings, the Calgary Flames, and the Arizona Coyotes made significant additions as well, in hopes of becoming relevant once again.
We saw the Vancouver Canucks stand relatively pat while hoping their crop of youngsters continues to grow. The Edmonton Oilers offseason looked similar to Vancouver, with the hopes that their young star Connon McDavid could ignite a spark in the team.
Of course, then we saw the Anaheim Ducks do very little. They made a few small acquisitions, but for the most part, it was a quiet offseason for the Anaheim Ducks. It was surprising, considering how their season ended against the San Jose Sharks.
Then again, that is all speculation; guesses based on words written on paper. What do these teams actually look like once their skates touch the ice? Let’s take a look at the Anaheim Ducks and their Pacific Divison rivals by breaking down the power rankings for the month of October.
8- Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings added a proven NHL goal scorer in Ilya Kovalchuk in the off-season, bringing the 35-year-old back to North America after five years playing in the KHL. They didn’t add much else in terms of signings, or trades, hoping instead that their team of wily veterans could find themselves and the magic that helped them win two Stanley Cups in three years less than a decade ago.
So far that has not been the case, the Kings find themselves the worst team in the Pacific Division standings, posting a 4-8-1 record thus far. This was poor enough for management to make a change behind the bench, firing coach John Stevens in just his second year with the team.
To this point in the season, not a single King has a positive +/- rating. Kovalchuk has breathed some life into the team posting 11 points in 13 games and Drew Doughty has been dominant on the heels of a huge contract extension, posting 10 points in 13 games. This, however, has not been enough.
Starting goaltender Jonathan Quick finds himself injured yet again with an injury similar to the Anaheim Duck Corey Perry, putting his season in jeopardy. The tandem of Jack Campbell and Peter Budaj does little to inspire confidence.
The Kings won only 2 games in their first 10, allowing 36 goals while only potting 18 of their own. Since the first 10, they’ve been 2-1. Nevertheless, those two wins came against other struggling teams such as the Columbus Blue Jackets and the New York Rangers, with their loss coming to another struggling team the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Kings have without question been disappointing thus far in the season. They are hopeful that a change behind the bench, giving Willie Desjardins the interim role, will rally the troops and save what could end up a lost season for the aging Kings.
7- Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks find themselves surprisingly, in the 5th seed in the Pacific Division, only 2 points out of 3rd. So, why are they this low in the power rankings? Well, to put it bluntly, numbers DO lie. The Anaheim Ducks may be 5th in the Pacific, but they have something the Kings don’t. The only reason they are not 8th in the power ranking because of their stellar goaltending. The Ducks find themselves 6-6-3 for the month of October, but again, numbers can lie.
The Ducks started out 5-1-1 to start the season despite giving up a staggering 251 shots in those 7 games while only managing 168 shots of their own. Only mustering 24 shots a game while allowing almost 36 shots a game is no way to win. Not to mention, the horrifying 2nd period against the Dallas Stars where the team allowed 30 shots in that single period alone.
The Anaheim Ducks have consistently been bailed out by John Gibson. Despite facing 99 more shots than Devyn Dubnyk, who leads the league in save percentage, Gibson currently has the second highest save percentage of goaltenders who have played 10 or more games.
Outside of goaltending, the Anaheim Ducks have had some players putting up serviceable, but not gaudy numbers. Rickard Rakell leads the team with 11 points in 15 games, Ryan Getzlaf is currently putting up more than a point per game, with 10 points in 9 games, and defensemen Hampus Lindholm and Cam Fowler have put up 8 and 9 points respectively in 15 games.
The Anaheim Ducks have had several significant injuries but it’s not fair to blame the teams 7 game losing streak, only snapped against the struggling Blue Jackets in overtime, on injuries. The Ducks have simply not looked good most nights. They did show signs of life against the Blue Jackets and it may be the jumpstart they needed, but if not it’s not a stretch to say the Anaheim Ducks coach, Randy Carlyle, might be the next NHL coach in the unemployment line.
6- Vegas Golden Knights
The “Cinderella Story” of last season, the expansion team surpassing all expectations, making it to the Stanley Cup finals in their inaugural season, reaching a position 4 teams who have been around much longer have not accomplished. This was a truly impressive feat, and one that had everyone excited heading into this season. With the additions of Paul Stastny and Max Pacioretty, despite losing key components to their team James Neal and David Perron, the sky was still seen as the limit.
At this point in the season, last season seems like a distant memory, currently sitting 7th in the Pacific Division and with an underwhelming record of 6-7-1, the Knights look more like the team people expected to see last season.
Marc-Andre Fleury has come back down to earth following his staggering .927% save percentage last season, posting a .901% save percentage to this point. He’s already coming up on half the number of total losses he had last season, in significantly fewer games.
Elsewhere on the team, Jonathan Marchessault continues to impress, posting 13 points in 14 games, while William Karlsson has still managed 10 points in 14 games, but has only scored 3 goals. This is a significant downgrade from his 40 goal season last season.
Vegas’ big acquisitions to this point have not paid dividends. Pacioretty has 2 points in 10 games, which are both assists. Paul Stastny has been limited to 3 games, all of which he has been scoreless.
The season is not lost for Vegas, due to the less than stellar group in the Pacific Division. However, they’re going to have to play significantly better than they have to this point in the season. Unlike the Ducks and Kings, the Golden Knights have been relatively consistent in their mediocrity.
Going 4-5-1 in their first 10 and 2-2 in the 4 games since, they’ve hovered around the .500 mark but have yet to truly hit a hot streak, or cold streak. It’s going to be an interesting next month for the Golden Knights as they attempt to define themselves as opposed to being a fringe team.
5- San Jose Sharks
The favorite to win the Pacific Division, the San Jose Sharks, have yet to show true dominance during the first month of the season. The team that locked up 30 goal scorer Evander Kane and acquired one of, if not the best, Defenseman in the game in Erik Karlsson. The Sharks were truly expected to be the team to beat in the Pacific. A 7-4-3 record to this point is not terrible but is hard to see it as anything but a disappointment given their expectations.
The team has been led by Timo Meier, Logan Couture, and Brent Burns to this point, all of which have an impressive 16 points in 14 games. Kane, Tomas Hertl and Kevin Lebanc have impressed, however, captain Joe Pavelski has a disappointing 6 points in 14 games.
Erik Karlsson has yet to take off, managing 7 points on his new team, but with a rough -9 +/- rating. The biggest disappointment thus far has to be goaltender Martin Jones only posting a fairly mediocre .900% save percentage. The Sharks are going to need significantly better goaltending if they want to reach their ultimate potential.
The team has been similar to the Golden Knights at this point, posting a 5-4-1 record in their first 10, and going 2-1-1 in the 4 since. So, like the Golden Knights, the Sharks are looking to find a groove. Trading wins and losses make it hard to create separation in the standings and the Sharks are looking to be much better than they have been to this point.
Their pre-season expectations and disappointing on-ice production put them slightly below the team directly above them in these power rankings.
4- Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers was the team a lot of people pegged to be the comeback team of the year in the Pacific Divison. The Oilers and Connor McDavid came into this season with a lot of drive and ambition. Goaltender Cam Talbot looked like he was on a rebound and the rest of the team looked to be more than just the team that stopped Connor McDavid from reaching his ultimate potential.
Edmonton, in the first month, has looked promising. They started out winning 6 of their first 10. The team still most definitely runs through Connor McDavid, who has a staggering 22 points through 14 games. However, they’ve had impressive outings from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl. Outside of those 3 though, the team has not exactly lit the world on fire offensively.
The next 4 highest scorers are truly strange. Tobias Rieder and Oscar Klefbom both have 7 points, which are all assists. Meanwhile, Alex Chiasson and Drake Caggiula have 6 and 5 points respectively, all goals.
Talbot has not exactly been great in his journey to bounce back after a disappointing year last year, managing only a .899% save percentage and 2.93 goals against average. However, Mikko Koskinen, a free agent pickup from over-seas for the Oilers has looked impressive in limited action. Posting a .935% save percentage in 3 games.
The Oilers are an interesting team that could really pressure for a playoff spot if they get hot, and could end up back in the lottery if McDavid can’t carry them on their back.
3- Arizona Coyotes
The Arizona Coyotes was a lot of people’s choice for the surprise team entering this season, myself included. Arizona started to look disappointing during the first few games of the season, getting shut out in 3 of their first 4 games. Their only game scoring a goal coming against the equally offensively challenged Ducks.
Since then, they’ve been on fire, winning 6 games and only losing 2, in which the Coyotes went on a 4 game stretch in which they outscored opponents 20 to 4. The Coyotes sit 7-5 through 12 games, good enough for 6th in the Pacific, but with 2-3 games in hand against their division rivals.
The slow start to the season has led to relatively underwhelming offensive stats for the team. Team leader, Clayton Keller, has 9 points and Oliver Ekman-Larsson has 7. This is certainly not overly impressive but they have scored by committee to this point and that’s not a terrible thing.
If the more offensively gifted players can step up and find their grooves, the depth of a team like the Coyotes could really help them go a long way in taking the next step to being a contender. Goaltending has been the strongest point of the Coyotes though, with both goalies Antti Raanta and Darcy Kuemper posting strong numbers with both posting over a .929% save percentage.
Arizona has been one of the hotter teams in the Pacific recently. If you take out the first 4 games of the season they’ve shown signs of being the sleeper many predicted. They’ve got a long way to go but they’re taking the right steps to make it happen.
2- Vancouver Canucks
If anyone predicted the Canucks to be one of the top two teams in the Pacific Division one month in, I’d say, “well actually, it’s possible given how Vegas did last season, but it’s definitely not one I’d put money on”.
Jokes aside, Vancouver has been an incredibly fun team to watch this season. They score a lot and they give up a lot of goals. If I were a fan of there’s, I’d probably have grey hair by now, but as an unbiased onlooker, it’s been a sight to behold.
They’re basically the polar opposite of the Coyotes. Starting the season 6-4 through their first 10, and going 3-2 since. They certainly have had their fair share of missteps but they’re finding ways to win games.
The team is led by rookie sensation Elias Pettersson who has scored an amazing 15 points through 10 games. They’ve seen strong offensive efforts from Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser as well. The only real downfall of the Vancouver Canucks has been their goaltending, which has been somewhat serviceable but not nearly good enough to steal games on a consistent basis or make it so that the skaters don’t need to score 5 goals to win most nights.
Starter Jakob Markstrom has been relatively mediocre, posting a .902% save percentage and a really rough 3.12 goals against average. Their backup, Anders Nilsson, has been slightly better, managing a .912% save percentage and 2.67 goals against average, but neither has been quite good enough.
Overall I think that the Canucks are severely over-achieving this season and I have a hard time seeing them maintaining this pace, especially as teams start to buckle down a bit and stop playing gun-slinging hockey. If the Canucks get some quality goaltending, however, it’s not out of the question that the Canucks could be a Cinderella story out of the Pacific Divison as they definitely have the offensive fire-power to make it happen.
1- Calgary Flames
A team that has come out and been a bit of a surprise to a lot of people has been the Calgary Flames. Not many thought they would be much of a contender this season. I predicted they’d make the playoffs, but they were a bit of a tossup for me.
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The Flames started the season on a back and forth streak, going 5-5 in their first ten games. This back and forth play saw them win 7-4 against the Vancouver Canucks but lose 9-1 against the Penguins. The Flames have, since the first 10, gone 4-0-1 making them the hottest team in the Pacific Division. Which is currently good enough for a 9-5-1 record one month into the season.
The team is led by Johnny Gaudreau who’s scored 19 points through 15 games. However, the Flames find themselves with quite a few impressive offensive performances from their players. Sean Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk both have 18 points, while off-season addition Elias Lindholm has 17 points and defenseman Mark Giordano has 15.
The Flames have a stellar offense and one that has the potential to be one of the more potent as the season progresses. Goaltending has been a mixed bag to this point, Mike Smith entered the season the starter, but through 10 games has posted a disappointing .871% save percentage and a disappointing 3.71 goals against average. Meanwhile, David Rittich has impressed with a .927% save percentage and 2.23 goals against average in the 7 games he’s played, two of which came in relief of Smith.
If the Flames get a goaltender, or Rittich can prove to be more than a capable backup on a hot-streak, watch out for the Flames. The Flames currently sit top of the division and with the offensive players they have, it’s not hard to see why.
Next. Three Stars of the Week, October 24-November 7. dark
If James Neal manages to improve from his disappointing 4 points in 15 games and looks more like the perennial 20-30 goal guy he has been the last five years. Lookout, because Calgary could be a real sleeper.