Pucks of a Feather
Fansided

Why I’m Okay The Anaheim Ducks Season is Almost Over.

By Jonathan Maxfield

ANAHEIM, CA - MARCH 1: Brendan Guhle #2 of the Anaheim Ducks and Ryan Carpenter #40 of the Vegas Golden Knights skate during the game on March 1, 2019 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Debora Robinson/NHLI via Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CA - MARCH 1: Brendan Guhle #2 of the Anaheim Ducks and Ryan Carpenter #40 of the Vegas Golden Knights skate during the game on March 1, 2019 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Debora Robinson/NHLI via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 3
Next
Anaheim Ducks
PITTSBURGH, PA – JUNE 22: Hampus Lindholmli, sixth overall pick by the Anaheim Ducks, poses on stage with Ducks representatives during Round One of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft at Consol Energy Center on June 22, 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

The Anaheim Ducks’ Season is Winding Down… So, why am I not sad?

A question was recently asked on our Twitter account. We asked fans if anyone else was kind of sad that, with only seven games remaining, the Anaheim Ducks season is almost over. My answer was no, not really.

Don’t get me wrong, once the season is over I’m going to feel upset waking up each morning and not having a huge reason to consistently be checking Twitter or religiously checking the NHL website to see who is trending up and down.

I may be slightly upset that I won’t find myself staying up until 1:00 AM on a work night to watch the Ducks play, but ultimately this season has been a massive roller-coaster ride and I’m starting to feel the deep-fried fair food stirring in my stomach. So, it might be a good time to hop off.

There are 3 main reasons for that and I’m gonna lay them out for you today so you can understand my thinking, and maybe feel more excited than depressed that hockey season is drawing to a close once again.

Reason 1: The Draft!

The Anaheim Ducks franchise as we know it is quite a successful franchise. The current core of the team was started in 2005, in my eyes. That was the start of the transition from the Paul Kariya led “Mighty Ducks of Anaheim” to the “Anaheim Ducks” with the development of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and the soon to be re-arrival of Teemu Selanne and arrival of Scott Niedermayer. The franchise had a new trajectory.

Since that “Changing of the Guard” the Ducks have only had 3 top 10 picks in the NHL Entry Draft, only two of which were originally theirs. With those picks, the Ducks selected, in chronological order: Bobby Ryan, Hampus Lindholm, and Nick Ritchie. Not a bad crop of players. The most underwhelming of the three being Nick Ritchie. He has been impressive this season, and while he may not be an elite player, he is an NHL player and one who can fill many roles.

The other 2 are highly praised players, Bobby Ryan scoring 30 goals in 4 straight seasons with the Ducks before being traded and Hampus Lindholm seen as the best defenseman on the Ducks and a cornerstone piece of the franchise as they move forward. Acquiring a player of that caliber is always exciting and the prospect of drafting in the top 10 this season is something to salivate over.

There’s a ton of talent in this draft, and while the narrative has been “Hughes vs Kakko” all season, you shouldn’t sleep on the prospect of drafting a Dylan Cozens, Kirby Dach, Peyton Krebs, Cole Caufield, Ryan Suzuki, and Alex Turcotte, among others. The Anaheim Ducks are going to get a blue-chip prospect, which is something they’ve sorely, sorely missed in recent years due to always drafting in the 20-30 range.

That’s not taking into account the second 1st round pick the Ducks acquired, and Bob Murray‘s (with a ton of credit also going to Martin Madden) ability to make players like Rickard Rakell, John Gibson, Sami Vatanen, Brandon Montour, Shea Theodore, Max Jones, Josh Manson, Ondrej Kase, Troy Terry look like the steals of the draft picking them anywhere from the late 1st to 7th round.

As well as the possibility of Murray making some trades at the draft to perform some of the “major surgery” that this team required according to this team by Bob Murray. Needless to say, this will be one of the most exciting drafts in recent years for Ducks fan and I for one am incredibly excited for the Draft Lottery and subsequent draft.

Home/Ducks News