Shouldn’t the Anaheim Ducks be Tanking Already?
After sixteen games, the Anaheim Ducks are currently sitting in the first wild card spot and just one win away from second place in the Pacific Division. That seems like a nice picture for them, but it is a big problem. For this Anaheim team that is retooling, they aren’t taking it very seriously. Although it’s still early in the season, they seem to be doing too well. So that begs the question, is there a reason that the Ducks aren’t tanking, and what would tank bring to this team?
The Anaheim Ducks have been an early surprise in the NHL, and they’re battling it out with two other surprise teams in Vancouver and Edmonton. But in reality, the Ducks need to be battling the LA Kings in the basement for their future plans. Although no team wants to tank or lose, there comes a time where a championship window closes and there has to be some work to get back into another window of victory. For the Ducks, it is looking like they are going for a playoff spot and not a high draft pick. In the end, having a bad year or two in order to rebuild or retool is not what will hurt the Ducks, what will hurt the Ducks is pretending that they are still a team that is worthy enough of a playoff berth. Let’s just start looking at why Anaheim should be doing worse by looking at how late draft picks have hurt the team before.
Mediocre Drafting
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Before last season, the Anaheim Ducks had not missed the playoffs since 2011-2012. Since that time, they won five Pacific Division championships and had seen decent success as a team despite not making it back to the Stanley Cup Final. The area that they fell short in was drafting considering their high standings. And since the 2012 NHL Draft, they have only had five players pay off for them.
The five best players drafted since 2012 are Hampus Lindholm, Frederik Andersen, Shea Theodore, Brandon Montour, and Ondrej Kase. Notice how three of those five players are no longer Ducks. Lindholm is still an amazing defensive piece that holds the defense together along with Josh Manson and Jakob Silfverberg, and Kase is one of the best young skaters in the roster, but other than that, everything has been sub-par so far. When looking at the most highly touted prospects for Anaheim, it’s pretty plain to see that they have all struggled badly early on.
Let us just take a quick peek at some of the most hyped prospects and how they are doing now. Troy Terry looks lost every night he skates even though he managed to get four points so far, Max Jones already has six penalty minutes and he just managed to come back up from the AHL despite that, and Isac Lundestrom has two points in the eighteen games he’s played since he got drafted. Not very good, but two picks that have impressed so far are Max Comtois and Sam Steel. Steel already has five assists and Comtois has two goals and three assists. To be frank, it isn’t completely fair to expect all the prospects to play well in their first few games, but a lot of these prospects have had their fair share of games so far since they got picked. It is all those back-end first-round picks from Anaheim that has robbed them of many great players along with their one decent shot at a top ten pick being destroyed by Mr. Draft Bust himself in Nick Ritchie.
As unfortunate as it is, these “amazing” draft picks aren’t so amazing at all. 2019’s ninth overall pick in Trevor Zegras is incredibly promising though, and he is the kind of player that Anaheim wants to grab. But, they only got him by not playing too well last season, so why are they going to start trying now with a fantastic draft coming up? This Anaheim team would not be even remotely good enough to make it past the first round if they can even sneak in, so why have a repeat of 2018. All they got out of that last playoff appearance was an embarrassing sweep and a very unimpressive Lundestrom pick in the first round. It’s key to have more Zegras picks and less Lundestrom picks. And if they want to be playoff contenders, they are going to need a lot of changes that all start with the general manager.
To Trade or to Keep
Bob Murray is not exactly the most qualified person to be a general manager, but even he has to make up his mind at some point. What would be the point of trading if the Anaheim Ducks want to be a high lottery pick team? And what would be the point of tanking if you wanted to trade to keep the team playing well?
The Erik Gudbranson trade is one of those classic Murray moves that defy all logic of what the team is trying to do. In theory, this Ducks team does not have any expectations for a good reason, so why not let a younger defensive prospect take the place of an injured Josh Manson instead of getting rid of anything to get another veteran defenseman? At the end of the day, winning and losing is not going to matter if the Ducks don’t get at least a top ten pick in the draft. Even another ninth overall pick would be spectacular for Anaheim, at least then they could have another young prospect worthy of playing alongside Zegras. As it is now, the prospect pool is not looking anywhere near equal to the potential that Zegras brings alone. To trade to keep the team in contention is only hurting their future. It is either tank or trade to build a whole new team at this point, the damage of last year’s fiasco has already ruined whatever promise this Ducks team had. And there’s nothing worse than being stuck in the middle of a rebuild, the team across the street is a good example of that.
Trying Not to be the Angels
If there is one team that could set a great example for the Anaheim Ducks, it would be the Los Angeles Angels. They are in pretty similar boats, but the Ducks still have time to improve as a team. For the Angels, that ship sailed long ago. Let’s take a quick look at how the Angels are doing after being indecisive during a rebuild.
Last season, the Angels finished at 72-90 and that landed them at fourth place in the AL West. it was their worst season since 2016, and it marked the fifth season that they missed the playoffs. Luckily, they swapped from a general manager that ruined their farm system to a general manager that makes ridiculous trades and destroys the team even further.
After winning three AL West pennants straight from 2007-2009, the Angels were much like the Ducks in finding consistent success after their 2002 championship. They even drafted the best player in baseball, but it meant nothing. Former GM Jerry DiPoto depleted the farm system and made one of the worst free-agent acquisitions ever when he got Albert Pujols for ten years, and the Angels fell off hard after 2014. Despite their consistently bad play, the new GM in Billy Eppler has managed to trade for a bunch of duds to put a band-aid over a big bruise. From Justin Upton to Matt Harvey, it has been a disaster. The only bright spots for the Angels are a slightly improved farm system and the signing of Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani. On paper, the Angels have an explosive and exciting offense, but with a lack of any decent bullpen pitchers and a coaching staff that fails to offer any help, the Angels will stay in the basement for a while. It’s a shame to see the best player in baseball being wasted on a clueless team that is lost thanks to terrible management, but that’s the harsh reality for the Angels. For Murray to be making these random small trades for the Ducks to help their situation is the same as Eppler putting that band-aid on a big bruise like before. Just accept the tank and build for the future, because if the Ducks keep making these mistakes, they will end up with no future just like the baseball team that Anaheim used to be proud to call their own.
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In closing, this early success for the Anaheim Ducks has been nice, but if the team wants a better future, they will have to start losing now. Getting back-end first-rounders has not worked and will never work, and making small trades to “fix” the team only hurts more in the future when those acquisitions leave and you are still left with a problematic middle-ground team. The Ducks need to give their star players like John Gibson a better future than the Angels have given Mike Trout. And take it from the Los Angeles Angels, being in denial of the tank will only land you with no future and a city that wants nothing to do with you anymore.
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