Anaheim Ducks rant week continues as Khalid Hart dives into why he, and Ducks Nation, have every right to be upset with how the season went.
Let’s get it out the way now, I’m upset. Not because we had a bad season. I’m upset because of what led to it. Back in the pre-season, Corey Perry got injured during pre-game warmups before the Anaheim Ducks played the Coyotes. Before the regular season even began that was a huge blow to the team and truth be told we never really recovered from it.
Yeah, we won our first three games against San Jose, Arizona, and Detroit but, outside of that nice little win streak, we hit a very ugly stride to begin the season. Historically, the Ducks always begin the regular season on a sour note, but this was different. Their consistency was all over the place, they couldn’t get a grip on their play and it seemed like every game we saw a different team. One night they lost to Nashville 5-2 and the next game they beat Tampa Bay 3-2. It was that kind of inconsistency that drove us fans up the wall.
Now here’s the funny thing. As inconsistent as they were, they were still very much in the game and played well enough to maintain a top 3 spot in the division. Then something happened. The Ducks won 9 of their last 10 before losing to the Rangers. The Rangers loss wasn’t a super bad one. It was Chad Johnson‘s first game with the Anaheim Ducks since they picked him up off waivers.
The Ducks lost 1-3 that night in New York. Okay, fine, whatever, it’s just one game. On to Boston, another 1-3 loss. The Ducks have been very good against Boston for the past few seasons but. hey, even a broken clock is wrong twice a day right? Okay, fine, 2 game losses happen to everyone no big deal.
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That 2 game losing streak turned into a 12 game losing streak and I truly wondered if they would ever win again. They finally did against our old bench boss’ Minnesota Wild. I’m pretty sure we were all shocked. Especially since it was a shutout win.
Why Was Randy Carlyle the Exception to the Rule?
Here’s why I’m upset: in any other sport be it the NBA, MLB, or NFL if a team is performing terribly a suffer a horrendous losing streak the coach is usually fired. Heck, if a team lost 5 in a row the GM would hand them a pink slip and immediately hire a replacement. That was not the case with our beloved Anaheim Ducks.
Bob Murray in his infinite wisdom decided not to fire his buddy, Randy Carlyle. I understand friendship and I understand loyalty, however, you cannot place personal feelings in the way of business and hockey is a business. I, like many of you lovely readers, was upset when Murray came out and publicly placed blame on the players for the losing streak.
I thought that selfish and it hurt the team because he didn’t want to fire his friend a second time and didn’t want to be wrong about rehiring Carlyle. Had he fired Carlyle at this point in the season the Anaheim Ducks might’ve made the playoffs in the 1st or 2nd Wild Card spot or even 3rd place in the division.
On the player side, I was disappointed in Rickard Rakell. Alright, chill and put the pitchforks down for a second you guys. You have to admit that Rakell did kind of vanish this season. None of us expected a former Oiler/Pred player to lead the team in goals at one point in the season. That title was meant to go to Rakell but unfortunately, this was just a down year for him.
He would go on to end the season at 18 goals. We just wanted more goals, that’s all. He’ll most definitely bring that back up. I was also upset with the team defensively. There were countless times they left Gibson out to dry and gave the opposition easy opportunities to score.
Overall, I was more upset with management than the players themselves. The players can only do so much. You can’t ask them to use an outdated play style and expect them to win all the time. That’d be like me trying to put a PS2 disc in my PS4, it’s not going to work. You also can’t expect your goalie to stop 40-50 shots a game and continuously use him game after game.
From a GM perspective, you can’t sign guys like Andrej Sustr, Luke Schenn, and Michael Del Zotto and expect to be successful. At least Del Zotto lasted more than 10 games and chipped in a few assists. I believe this season will be a stepping stone for seasons to come. We’re honestly a few pieces away from a Stanley Cup winning team assuming things like the upcoming draft and the Ryan Kesler/Patrick Eaves retirement talks go the right way.
In a perfect world, the Anaheim Ducks would draft 1st, 2nd or 3rd and Kesler/Eaves would both retire so that they aren’t causing any long term damage to their health. The offseason is going to be very interesting.