After a loss like the Anaheim Ducks took last night, there’s not really much to say about looking towards the future. It’s more-so one gigantic, “I told you so”, to general manager Bob Murray who did nothing to improve this team from last year.
The Ducks had no offense, a very inconsistent defense, and again the goalies were left to try to carry the team. It’s the sign of many rebuilding seasons to come. The LA Kings were simply the more talented team and they were better in every way, while the Anaheim Ducks fell flat in nearly every category. Considering that this roster is as close to complete as possible for Anaheim, October 3rd is looking more like a dreaded day on the calendar than a celebrated one.
The Common Terrible Start
Right off the bat, the Anaheim Ducks gave the game away to LA. Devin Shore passed the puck off to a Kings player, and that netted them the game-winning goal just a few minutes into the first period. Other absolutely brainless plays like Ondrej Kase knocking the puck away from Nick Ritchie right in front of the net during a scoring chance just roasted the Ducks.
The positives to start were definitely the penalty killers, the defense, and a reduction in penalties. Considering that the defense would only let in a single goal for most the night, they showed a lot of improvement. Ryan Getzlaf also looked better tonight after sticking up for his team by bringing the physicality to the Kings. But, besides not taking a ton of penalties, nothing after that first glimmer of hope gave fans anything decent to look forward to.
More Blunders on Ice
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Max Jones would get the Anaheim Ducks a penalty pretty early in the second period after knocking over Kings goalie Cal Petersen, and after that, the game never really recovered for Anaheim. The defense played some great hockey for the second period, the best they’ve played all preseason, but the offense couldn’t buy a goal yet again.
Not to take anything away from Petersen’s outstanding performance, but the Ducks just don’t have any scoring ability that could have beaten him. Besides from the occasional lucky goal from Adam Henrique or Getzlaf, there’s not a single consistent skater on this team with enough offensive skill to help carry the freight of the others who like to pass. Even if there were better offensive players, it’s not like the lack of puck control and sloppy passing would help them anyways.
The Daggers in the Third Period
If there was a single moment from all three preseason games to point out that signifies the future of the Anaheim Ducks, it’d be the entire third period of this game. At one point, Anaheim had a five on three man advantage, and not only did they not come close to scoring once, but they also gave up a short-handed goal after the first penalty expired due to another defensive breakdown. Not only can they not score a goal, but the defense that locked down in the second was barely on the ice. The Kings ended up winning 3-0 after an empty-net goal, and the Ducks just leisurely skated off the ice knowing that they couldn’t have really done any better.
Everything about this game and this team is frustrating. From the lack of goal scorers to the inconsistent defense, the Anaheim Ducks look like a bottom-tier team thanks to a lack of caring from Bob Murray. They already look like they are in good shape to have a nice draft pick in 2020, and even if the Ducks aren’t planning to tank, they don’t really have a choice thanks to absolutely no help from the general manager. When looking at the Pacific, every team has improved thanks to either great drafting pay-offs or smart trading, and the Ducks haven’t done any smart trading. In terms of drafting pay-offs, they’ve done some decent drafting at best that not only is not paying off but isn’t even close to coming full circle.
Final Thoughts
The 2019-2020 Anaheim Ducks are a true enigma of a team in the fact that they can’t score and they can’t play defense long enough to hang in a game. In every single preseason game they’ve played in, the other team has outplayed them in almost every category. San Jose only ended up losing due to their knack for taking bad penalties, but the Coyotes and the Kings proved that the Ducks aren’t much of a surprise team this season. The only surprise that lies in Anaheim’s future is how high they’ll get to pick in the draft lottery in 2020 if they can’t step things up and if Murray won’t help out.
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