In the offseason, we saw the Sharks pick up Erik Karlsson, the Flames signed James Neal, the Kings brought Ilya Kovalchuk back to the NHL, and the Golden Knights trade for Max Pacioretty. Meanwhile, the Anaheim Ducks did not make any big offseason moves.
Fans, myself included, began calling for the job of Anaheim Ducks General Manager Bob Murray due to his reluctance to make a move for any of the above players. The biggest reason for his reluctance was due to the fact that he’d have to fork over draft picks and certain prospects for rentals. As we all know, Bob isn’t a big fan of getting rentals.
When the season started against the Sharks at the SAP Center, the Anaheim Ducks won the game 5-2. Erik Karlsson had one shot on goal and had a +/- of -2. Currently, he has 2 goals and 22 points on the season.
Two days before that game, the Anaheim Ducks picked up soon-to-be unsung hero of the team, Pontus Aberg, off of waivers from the Edmonton Oilers. On October 28th, in a game against San Jose, he put up his first 2 goals as a Duck. He would repeat that same performance the next game putting up another two goals this time against the Philadelphia Flyers.
His best game to date was the Comeback on the Capitol where he put up 3 points (2g, 1a) and fueled the 6-5 comeback win against the Washington Capitals. He currently has 16 in 26 games with Anaheim.
Big Moves Are Still a Gamble
Though disliked throughout the majority of the fanbase, James Neal was available in free agency in the offseason. He is a goal scorer but he is also in his early 30’s. The Calgary Flames are currently learning that not everyone performs well in their 30’s.
As someone who owns Neal in fantasy hockey, his performance has been thoroughly disappointing. Through 34 games James Neal has put up a minuscule 7 points with 3 goals and 4 assists and is rocking a +/- of -9. Ducks fans everywhere are most likely relishing in that since he has not had the same impact he had in Vegas.
Speaking of Vegas, they beat out the Ducks, the Kings, and the Sharks in the Max Pacioretty sweepstakes. They traded Tomas Tatar, 2018 first round pick Nick Suzuki, and a 2019 2nd round pick to the Montreal Canadiens.
This is a deal GMBM could’ve easily matched or even surpassed but he chose not to because we know he doesn’t like to deal away prospects or high draft picks. Pacioretty has been relatively good this season putting up 10 goals and 9 assists in 29 games this season. He recently went down to injury in a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The jury is still out on whether he’s the missing the piece to the team. However, comparing him to waiver pickup Pontus Aberg, who has nearly the exact same amount of points in fewer games played, it’s hard to say that we really needed him.
Lastly, the LA Kings signed former Devil and KHL superstar Ilya Kovalchuk in the offseason. We all thought and expected him to be a high scoring threat for the Kings. Luckily for us, he hasn’t been all that for the Kings so far.
Kovalchuk has 5 goals and 9 assists in 29 games this season and is sporting a +/- of -13. He has also spent some time on the 4th line. Now granted, it is hard to score when you’re not getting much ice time, but at the same time, coaches don’t put players on the 4th line for fun.
Kovalchuk is 35 and isn’t getting any younger. Signing him at this point would’ve similar to last seasons Jason Chimera/Chris Kelly debacle for the Anaheim Ducks.
Smaller Trades Can Still Make a Big Impact
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Recently, the Ducks themselves made a trade for a forward. They traded defenseman Marcus Pettersson to the Pittsburgh Penguins for winger Daniel Sprong. Sprong immediately had an impact on the team as he scored his first goal as a Duck in his first game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Four games later against the Blue Jackets he would score two goals; one in regulation and the overtime game-winning goal. Then, in his return to Pittsburgh, he would have an assist on Adam Henrique‘s powerplay goal. He has 4 points (3g, 1a) in 6 games.
The team is jelling right now and trading most of them for one of these players would not have made sense. Having a star player like Karlsson or Pacioretty definitely sounds tempting and great on paper, but the Ducks are creating their own star players in form of Rickard Rakell, Ondrej Kase, Brandon Montour, and surprisingly Pontus Aberg. While I was disappointed in Bob’s lack of moves. It is now understandable why he didn’t rush into making any big trades.
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