Anaheim Ducks: Fans, Average Isn’t Good Enough

The Anaheim Ducks season is almost 20 games old. And regardless if you are a Duck DieHard or a casual fan of the team you should not be satisfied with the product that has been on the ice so far this season.

I am the furthest thing from a negative person. I find the good or silver lining in almost everything, sometimes to a fault. Which is why it is unlike me to be so negative towards something but it has reached a breaking point. The 2018-19′ Anaheim Ducks are 8-8-3, and somehow are only 3 points out of first place in the Pacific Division and a mere point out of a playoff spot. And while this article coming out after a win over the Nashville Predators arguably one of the best teams in the league, is a little odd it still needs to be said. This Ducks team needs a shake-up, they are winning in spite of their system, not because of it. They are exactly what the record states they are and that is not good enough.

The Anaheim Ducks are celebrating their 25th anniversary season this year. 25 years of hockey in Southern California where the team has been everything from a “cute Mickey Mouse” team to a Stanley Cup champion and everything in between. But in the last 10-12 years, a marked change began with the franchise. Yes, they made the Stanely Cup Finals in 2003 and as incredible as it was no one was picking them to get there at the beginning of the season. The last decade or so the Ducks have made shrewd moves, great draft picks and played inspired hockey. This has led to one Stanley Cup Championship and some deep playoff runs making them a perennial contender year in and year out for Lord Stanley’s Cup. Which is why as fans we should be appalled by what we are watching right now.

I mention that I am from Boston a lot in my articles. And Boston has a connotation that the media makes this an incredibly hard place to play. And while its true at times it stems from the fact that many of the Boston teams have won recently or have been there in the end. Just making the playoffs isn’t an accomplishment and it’s not good enough, we want more. And that’s what us as Ducks fans have been elevated to and should want. This team has been too good for too long and has too much talent to be average. Looking like an AHL team against Minnesota and getting smacked on home ice to then turn around and beat Nashville. That should show the issues with this team. The talent and chemistry are there but if it is why is it one step forward one to two steps back? There is no excuse for a .500 record with this team and it’s approaching a fireable offense that the front office hasn’t made a change.

What more needs to be seen? This is a team with the likes of Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler and Adam Henrique at its core. With young talented forwards in Rickard Rakell, Ondrej Kase, and Jakob Silfverberg. Rookie talents like Sam Steel, Kiefer Sherwood, and Max Comtois. A veteran D core being led by Cam Fowler and Hampus Lindholm and one of if not the best goalie in the league in John Gibson. And they are 8-8-3. I understand not making snap judgments or making change for the sake of change. But it is clear Randy Carlyle’s system is outdated and won’t work.

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He is leaving his goalie out to dry and his system is stunting the growth and skill set of his young players. Yes, we have seen it get by in the regular season but again we deserve more unless all you want to celebrate is another Pacific Divison banner. The likes of Joel Quenneville are out there, Dallas Eakins has done great things for AHL affiliate San Diego and know a vast majority of the Ducks roster. And there are other external options. The wait and see approach has come and gone and change needs to happen.

I will never root for the Ducks to fail, the greatest prospect ever could be projected in the draft and I could never root for a tank. Projections are just that and you never know how a #1 overall pick will pan out. Look at Nail Yakupov, Erik Johnson or Rick DiPietro. There are no guarantees. But what can be guaranteed is the Ducks core know the clock is ticking. Getzlaf, Kesler, Corey Perry, and Henrique aren’t getting any younger and two of them are dealing with the injuries of that. It is put up or shut up time and like us, they deserve better. They deserve their hard work and effort to be rewarded and to be able to have a realistic chance to claim a Cup.

So enjoy the wins, always enjoy the Ducks wins but don’t think the problems are fixed and they won’t be with Carlyle. The Ducks should and will make the playoffs with Carlyle but that’s where it will end. And 25 years in the Ducks and the Ducks fans deserve far better than the middle of the flock.