The Anaheim Ducks have been off for a month now after failing to qualify for the playoffs. It will be another 5 months before the Ducks are back on the ice and with what is sure to be significant changes.
The long summer in SoCal is well underway but nowhere close to being over. The Anaheim Ducks have a lot to do this summer. First and foremost, they must fill the coaching void, and there are a number of wonderful candidate on the market.
Nevertheless, there are holes throughout the line-up that must also be addressed. The ones that will make the most headlines are what to do with Ryan Kesler and Patrick Eaves due to health issues and concerns. However, the Ducks biggest turnover and change may be where they are all of a sudden deep to a fault.
The Ducks biggest surplus these days is on the wing. There is a case to be made that they currently have 12 NHL ready wings and unfortunately, they can only play 8 of them at the NHL level. There isn’t even a case to be made that any them still need time at the AHL level and keeping them from the NHL now is truly stunting their progression.
So with that said, what will GM Bob Murray do with this sudden surplus? They could be moved for assets on the backend or at center, but which of the 12 stays and which ones go? Let’s break this down by must keep, could move, should move.