Anaheim Ducks: Five Players Who Will Make a Comeback in 2019-20
A new season means a blank slate, and there are a few Anaheim Ducks we’re hoping to see make a comeback during the 2019-20 season.
Last Tuesday, the Anaheim Ducks announced their official schedule for the 2019-20 season! A new schedule means a chance to start fresh, and there are a lot of hopes and expectations that the coming season will bring about a lot of positive changes for the club. A new coach, a new team philosophy, and a few practical roster changes will hopefully promote a constructive environment that will help the 2019-20 Anaheim Ducks thrive.
The 2018-19 season was difficult, in more ways than one. Allowing the players to sit through most of the season stewing in such a toxic environment was not conducive to team-wide success. The entire team adopted a losing attitude, often skating onto the ice already feeling defeated.
Several players who were expected to step up throughout the season took several steps back. The development of other players was also suffocated by the destructive tactics promoted throughout the season. No one was willing to be accountable, not even the coaching staff or the front office. However, with 2018-19 now behind us, it’s time to look forward to the new season.
Bob Murray has taken several steps over the offseason to ensure that his team finds success going forward. He’s made it clear that if his players aren’t willing to adapt, there is no longer a place for them in Anaheim. With that being said, there are five players we hope will make a “comeback” in 2019-20.
Troy Terry
There were a lot of unfair expectations put on Troy Terry going into the 2018-19 season. He performed brilliantly during the rookie showcase in Las Vegas and he had a successful development camp. The Anaheim Ducks rewarded him with a spot on the opening night roster against the San Jose Sharks.
After the way the 2017-18 season ended, including the postseason, a player like Terry is exactly what the team needed. He is speedy, tenacious, and quick with the puck. When he’s put on the power play unit, the opposing team fears the one-man advantage. However, Randy Carlyle‘s dump and chase method and rookie jitters did a number on Terry’s confidence, and not in a good way.
He was ineffective during his first stint of the season, aside from his game winning shoot out goal during the home opener against the Detroit Red Wings. Starting the season off with the Anaheim Ducks didn’t offer him the environment he needed to grow. Terry, along with several other rookies, was sent down to San Diego in order to get a little more seasoning.
Under the leadership of Dallas Eakins, he thrived. His confidence grew ten fold and he stood out as one of the best players on the San Diego Gulls roster. This earned him a call up from the Ducks when injury struck. When he returned to Honda Center, he had that extra pep in his step that he had previously been missing, and his game vastly improved at an NHL level. However, his first stint with Anaheim kept the Ducks from utilizing him even earlier in the season.
2019-20 is going to be Troy Terry’s year to show the Anaheim Ducks organization what he can really offer to the franchise when he is in an environment that is conducive to his development and style. Dallas Eakins knows Terry’s strength’s and weaknesses and will put him in a position that will emphasize his strengths and help him improve on his weaknesses.
He doesn’t necessarily need to have the typical NHL “comeback”, especially after his second stint with the Anaheim Ducks. However, if you liked what you saw from Troy Terry last season, just wait and see what he can do when he plays for a coach that can put him in a position to succeed.
Ondrej Kase
The 2018-19 season brough a lot of bad luck Ondrej Kase‘s way. During the pre-season, a hit to the head by his fellow teammate, Brandon Montour‘s, skate caused a concussion. With a previous history of concussions, the injury would keep him out of the Anaheim Ducks lineup well into November.
However, when he reentered the lineup, the young Czech was one of the only players on the team who was actually being effective. Up until his return, the Ducks had been a rather boring team to watch at times. He continued to live up to his nickname as the Energizer Bunny, bringing life and energy back into the lineup.
In 30 games, he registered 20 points, including 11 goals and 9 assists. Nevertheless, tragedy struck once again, and Kase suffered a torn labrum. He required surgery and the shoulder injury would keep him sidelined for the rest of the season.
If Kase would have stayed healthy for the entirety of the season, he could have easily had a 55 point season. With those projected point totals, he would have been the Anaheim Ducks top point producer. That is incredibly impressive for a player who is only in his third season and is currently 23-years-old.
Although his full potential has been overshadowed by injury, he is one of the Anaheim Ducks hidden gems. It is likely that under a new coach, Kase will respond even better to a system driven by speed and energy. Plus, he already has a connection with Dallas Eakins from his time down in San Diego.
If he can manage to stay healthy, he will be an energy injection that could easily fule the entire team. Each season he gets better and better, and it is likely we could see him become a 50+ point player during his fourth season with the Anaheim Ducks.
Josh Manson
Entering the 2018-19 season, everyone was looking forward to seeing Josh Manson and Hampus Lindholm reunited on the blueline. Their chemistry during the 2017-18 season was undeniable and the two of them were the perfect candidates to lead the Anaheim Ducks defensive core. Fast forward to opening night, and Randy Carlyle decided it would be a wise idea to separate the two of them.
While his logic of pairing a defensively minded defenseman with an offensively minded defenseman wasn’t completely off, when it didn’t work out the way he had hoped, he should have gone back to the original pairings. Nevertheless, when Bob Murray took the reigns and the two were reunited, the damage from earlier in the season had already been done.
As a defensively minded defenseman, Manson is never going to be the kind of player who gets out on the ice and produces points like crazy. However, after coming off of his best season yet in 2017-18 with 30 points credited to his name, this past season left a lot to be desired. Of course, 16 points for Manson is still a pretty good point total, but it just proves that there are things he needs to work on as he prepares for 2019-20.
One of the Anaheim Ducks biggest issues last season was the lack of coverage for John Gibson. The blueline left him out to dry and came to expect Gibson to save them over and over again. Manson, as the Ducks defensively drive defenseman, should have led the charge and put himself between Gibson and the opposing team at all costs. His job is to create chaos for the other team in the defensive zone and this season, he seemed to play like he was half asleep. While this doesn’t just apply to Manson, he was trusted to be a leader this season and that is one area he was sub-par in.
Nevertheless, Josh Manson’s average time on ice this season skyrocketed from the previous season. He spent on average, 22:18 on the ice compared to his previous season average of 20:21. The coaching staff may have relied upon him a little too much, pushing him to his limits. A lot of Manson’s troubles are also linked to the performance of his team as a whole.
With a fresh start in 2019-20 and the prospect of Manson and Lindholm starting the season off together, we should see a new, and revitalized Josh Manson on the ice during the new season. A new coach is going to do wonders for a player like JM42. Don’t expect his point totals to get crazy, but you should expect to see a more responsible defenseman.
Ryan Getzlaf
Our fearless leader led the Anaheim Ducks in point this season, so why should he be a player we expect a comeback from? Ryan Getzlaf had one of his worst seasons point wise since he broke into the league in 2005-06. His Corsi For and Fenwick For stats were also both barely above 50%. Not to mention, he spent 15 games on the sidelines due to injury. The Anaheim Ducks adopted an attitude that allowed them to be okay with losing, and as the captain, he should have put an end to that.
Under the reign of Randy Carlyle, Getzlaf’s leadership skills were squandered. In his 14 years with the Anaheim Ducks, he faced hurdles he had never had to jump over before. He mentioned in his exit interview just how difficult things were for him during the Ducks 12 game losing streak. No one knew exactly what went wrong, it was a myriad of different issues. Nevertheless, you could see the negative effect it had on our captain.
His confidence seemed almost non-existent throughout the season aside from a few bursts of vibrancy here and there. It also didn’t help that the rest of his team seemed to have no desire to win while Randy Carlyle was coaching and things were constantly changing, offering absolutely no consistency.
Getzlaf was forced to play a style of hockey he wasn’t used to that was mixed with a style he had become accustomed to over the past 14 seasons in the NHL. It didn’t work for anyone, but for a veteran who has played for the same team during his entire career, he seemed to really struggle.
Although a new coach is coming in, Getzlaf is well aware that Dallas Eakins isn’t here to benefit him. However, that doesn’t mean that Eakins’ coaching style can’t benefit a player like Ryan Getzlaf too. With more consistency throughout the lineup and everyone on the same page, it will allow RG15 to get back to doing what he does best, setting up his teammates for success.
Rickard Rakell
After ending the 2017-18 season just one point shy of 70, Rickard Rakell was the player everyone hoped would step up and save the Anaheim Ducks from themselves. Nevertheless, just like the rest of the team, Rakell seemed to have disappeared during the 2018-19 season, posting only 43 points at the conclusion of the season.
While he still tied Jakob Silfverberg for second on the team in points, the player who had become accustomed to scoring 30+ goals and improving his point totals each season had digressed, taking several steps back. This earned him a lot of criticism.
It didn’t help that Rakell was put into a leadership role and given a lot of responsibility that he was not quite ready for. In the absence of Ryan Getzlaf, he was paired with several rookies and this really hindered his gameplay. Granted, none of the rookies really thrived under Randy Carlyle, and it wasn’t fair to Rakell that he was tasked with being in charge of them.
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Although he had played under Carlyle for the past few seasons, the style RC tried to execute was not one that really pushed Rakell to be his best, especially with the odd hybrid he tried to implement at the start of the 2018-19 season per Murray’s request.
Things really seemed to pick back up for him after Bob Murray took over as head coach, especially during the last month of the regular season. Dallas Eakins is much more accustomed to coaching his team in a style that is very similar to how Rakell played growing up in Sweden, and that was confirmed in an interview with fellow Swedish teammate, Hampus Lindholm.
After taking the offseason to breathe and allow his body to rest a little bit, there is no doubt we will see the Rickard Rakell come back in 2019-20 and be better than ever. He has the makings to be a franchise player and with a new coaching staff that is willing to implement speed, scoring, and a style that is conducive to success, he has all of the tools in his tool kit to be the best player for the Anaheim Ducks next season.
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Who are you hoping makes the biggest comeback in 2019-20? Did they make our list? Let us know by leaving a comment for us in the comment section down below.