Anaheim Ducks: Bob Murray Should Reconsider the Rebuild
By Brad Senecal
Looking at the Team’s Makeup
Right now the Anaheim Ducks are a team in flux. Upfront their best player is still arguably Ryan Getzlaf, but he turned 35 this past May and his play has admittedly been on the decline. The secondary options that remain consistent are Jakob Silfverberg and Adam Henrique, however, they are both now 30 and on most other teams would be best suited as defensive specialists who can contribute on offense in-depth roles. Rickard Rakell was once looked at as the future offensive leader after consecutive 30 goal seasons, but he has seen a decline in his play over the past few years.
The last group upfront is a common topic of discussion, being the Ducks group of youth. Players such as Troy Terry, Sam Steel, Max Jones, and Max Comtois, along with trade deadline additions Sonny Milano and Danton Heinen, are looked at as potential contributors in the future. Of course, there is a chance that any of these players could break out and have a great year offensively for the team, which would definitely help the team compete, but so far much of the results have varied.
On defense, the aforementioned Shattenkirk joins a group of Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, and Josh Manson to solidify a solid, yet sometimes inconsistent, top 4. Barring any other moves, the final two spots will be given to players such as Christian Djoos, Jacob Larsson, Brendan Guhle, Josh Mahura, Kodie Curran, and Jani Hakanpaa. Of course, the Anaheim Ducks are flanked by one of the leagues best goaltenders in John Gibson, and at the time of writing this, Anthony Stolarz will likely be the backup.
Looking at this team on paper, Bob Murray’s vision of a competitive team will be banking on a lot of players being the best version of themselves. Rakell scoring 30 goals again, Manson and Lindholm becoming a dominant shut down pairing, Shattenkirk solving the powerplay woes, and both Steel and Terry both cracking 30, 40, or 50 points.
These all would likely help propel the Anaheim Ducks to at least a playoff team, but there are a huge amount of ‘ifs’ in this plan. However, if we start to look into the Ducks immediate future, it would say the team is in a perfect spot to continue the rebuild.