Coach’s Corner: Who Are the Anaheim Ducks Next Superstars?
As we begin to usher in the next era of Anaheim Ducks hockey, who are the next superstars?
In hockey, we always focus on the next: the next goal, the next game, the next Stanley Cup winner. However, for Anaheim Ducks fans, the Stanley Cup window is temporarily closed for repairs and that’s okay for now.
Welcome back to another edition of Coach’s Corner. Yesterday, the fine staff of Pucks of a Feather ran a poll on my behalf. Many of you voted and the victor was future superstars. So, today I’m looking at who the next big star is.
With the departure of Corey Perry, and the seemingly finished Ryan Kesler out of the Ducks lineup, that leaves Ryan Getzlaf as the last household name superstar on the team. While players like Adam Henrique, Rickard Rakell, Cam Fowler, and even John Gibson are great players, they haven’t quite reached that level of superstardom yet (even though 3 of the 4 mentioned have been to the All-Star games recently.)
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Without tanking entirely (looking at you Edmonton and New Jersey) the Anaheim Ducks still have managed to amass some pretty sweet talent. Now, as great as these young fellas are they all can’t be total rockstars. Or could they?
Rather than pick out one individual player, I’m going to pick a duo. Keep in mind that duos don’t have to play on the same line (i.e. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews or Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin).
Who is the Next Dynamic Duo?
My first pick is Troy Terry. When I think Troy Terry I think back to the shootout that sent Team USA to the gold medal game beating Team Russia in the process. In that shootout, Terry put the team on his back and scored 3 goals to win it. After that performance, I was convinced he would be a superstar in the league someday. So far he’s got 13 points (4G, 9A) in 34 games. Not bad for a 5th rounder. Someday he’s going to go crazy as the team’s top line RW.
My next pick was going to be Max Comtois, but then I saw something in Zegras. I some clips of him playing for the US teams and then I saw more recent footage on Twitter and, man oh man, is this guy the truth. If you look back on his numbers he’s almost a points per game kind of guy.
He hasn’t started playing for Boston University yet but his last season was with the US National U18 team where he put up 87 points (26G, 61A) in 60 games. If you look at his stats he’s usually getting more assists than goals. He’s going to be a terrific playmaker as a 1st line center someday. Given how much he passes, he could be the next Getzlaf.
Maxime Comtois Can’t Be Left Out
I know I said I was only going to list two guys but I could not pass up Max Comtois. For contractual reasons Comtois only saw 10 games with the Ducks last season. In that 10 game stretch, he scored 7 points (2G, 5A). One of those goals came 49 seconds into his very first NHL game. He would score his second goal of the season the very next game. I believe he is another player who has the potential to be one of the team’s core superstars moving forward. We only got a small glimpse into what he could. Imagine what he could do with a full season of action.
Only time will tell if these guys prove me right. Terry will see more action this season. Currently, he is one of 4 RW’s on the current roster. Comtois may see action this season depending on how the roster shakes out. Zegras is obviously newer and the youngest of the three so he will spend some time in BU before making his way to the Ducks. Let’s look back on this in the 2021-2022 season when all three players are on the Anaheim Ducks full time.
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