saskduckfan

So our defense is going to be awful next year too? Benoit and Shattenkirk need replaced too, especially Benoit.

Fully agree, add Drysdale to the list of players to keep as well. Too early to give up on him and been injured all year so can't really include him in this mess. But out of the three you mentioned, those are the only top 6 guys on this team, plus Henrique. As I've said in the past, the rest are nothing but bottom 6 players with most of them belonging nowhere but the 4th line. This team is full of guys playing way too high in the lineup because they are just fillers. Max Jones on the 1st or 2nd line/PP unit, no thanks. Derek Grant on the PP, should not be there. Seriously there is nobody better. No wonder our PP is one of the worst in the league, just look at the guys we put on the ice. Vatrano and Strome should be no higher then the 3rd line, yet they are used to fill out the top 2. Lundestrom looks no better then a 4th line center and don't get me started on our amazing waiver pick ups in Leason and Megna. Neither should even be in the NHL. Silfverberg's best years are behind him. I would not be opposed to a complete overall, only problem is nobody wants any of these guys.

So far tonight against Colorado, wide open cross ice pass (bad defensive coverage and failure to clear their own zone), two deflections, and MacKinnon shot. Gibson with no chance on all 4 goals. But I assume all those are Gibson's fault. PS - complain all you want but he is going nowhere. Verbeek has told Gibson he is part of the plans and nor being traded.

But how did Gibson bone that play. As you said low shot from the point that he attempts to stick away into the corner. Unfortunately Benoit took his man to the side of the net and left him there. Gibson makes the play on the puck but it then goes off Benoit and the Blues player and into the net. Had Benoit continued to move his man a bit more, the puck goes into the corner as Gibson intended. Yes maybe Gibson could have made a play to cover the puck, but had Benoit done his job properly, both players wouldnt be standing at the side of open side of the neat where they are in the way. It is still more of a defense issue then on the goalie.

Here's the breakdown of 6 GA Saturday: 1st St Louis goal - 2 on 1, cross crease pass, tapped in, no chance for Gibson. 2nd Goal - player cutting through the high slot, wrist shot beats Gibson glove side, could have made the save. Defense standing back closer to net, covering nobody. Nobody attacking puck carrier allowing him to carry the puck across the slot for a better shooting angle. 3rd Goal - breakaway, Gibson gets a piece of wrist shot but trickles through. Gibson should have had save. 4th Goal - 2 on 1, cross crease pass, shot into open net, no chance 5th Goal- puck shot towards net, hits Benoit, then off of Blues forward and in. No chance for Gibson 6th Goal - wrist shot beats Gibson high on glove side. Should have had a save. Defense just standing around watching the Blues player carry the puck across the ice and making the shot. Nobody covering player or contesting the shot. So 3 of the 6 goals Gibson likely should have made the save. 3 he had no chance. 2 of the 3 he should have had, the defense should have been playing better in their own end instead of just collapsing down in front of the goalie. Collapsing causing partial screens and Blues players to carry the puck across the ice, through the slot, and pick their spots. Zero coverage, zero pressure on puck carrier. So yes Gibson should have made those saves, but the defense should also have had better coverage and not allowed the uncontested shot and carry in their own zone.

Last game vs St Louis in the two periods I watched, which involved 6 goals against, more then half of them were two on ones or breakaway goals. The goalie has next to no chance if they have to come across on a 2 on 1 and try to make a save. Gibson wasnt to blame for the majority of the goals against. Then there was another one that hit Benoit, then the Blues forward and into the net. By the way, how many goals have gone in off of Benoit standing close to the crease and gone in. It seems coming on a shot missing the net that it hits him and bounces in.

I agree with that, but with a competent defense in front of them, those numbers should increase. Look at the shots against per game. The Ducks average 40 shots against per game. That number has to come down and that is not on the goalies. That number comes down, the goals against comes down, save percentage goes up. The current Ducks defense is horrid. There is Fowler, who is not a number 1 defenseman, and a bunch of guys that would only be 5 or 6 or 7 filling out the rest of the roster. Guys like White, Beaulieu, Benoit should not be playing full time minutes. And Harrington should not be on a number one pair. This is why the Ducks goalie numbers are lower. Not because the goalies are bad, but the guys in front of them are so bad that they make the goalies look bad. How many times is a guy left wide open in the slot by this group? How many times do teams make the cross ice pass to score into an open night while playing 5 vs 5 against this group. Those happen way too much and it hasn't been fixed. Then we get the odd game where the Ducks actually look like they play defense and the shots are way down and the goals against are 1 or less. Problem is they don't play defense very often. Bring in some actual defensemen capable of playing the position vs the filler they got this year and watch the goaltending numbers get better.

Ducks won't be making many trades in the summer unless it is like the Kulikov trade where someone is looking to dump a player and no assets have to go back. Unless the trades sending back guys involve Henrique, Strome, or Vatrano. Not much else I could see the Ducks willing to move from their end. Maybe Lundestrom, maybe Fowler. We know Gibson is going nowhere as Verbeek told him that he has no intentions to trade him.

Why would they need to improve goaltending? They still have Gibson under contract and Dostal next year. Goaltending is set. Goaltending will be improved by having better defensemen, whether that's some of the promising kids or a free agent signing like Severson or Soucy, and by having a capable coach that actually has a system for the defense to play. Removing guys like White, Harrington, Beaulieu, even Benoit for that matter will improve the defense. And I've been more impressed with Harrington then Benoit lately, which is sad. Next year I would like to see the Ducks add a Severson on d and then let the kids battle it out. Fowler, Drysdale, Severson, Harrington (as a 6th/7th dman), and then let Zellwegger, Vaakanainen, Helleson, Lacombe, Mintyukov, Luneau, Warren battle for the final two or three spots.

Leason and Carrick can easily be replaced by someone better. Both of them are just warm bodies. They don't provide much and wouldn't be missed in the lineup. Carrick isn't even playing all that physical this year either. Same can be said for Jones, if there was someone better he wouldn't be missed.

If the Ducks don't get into the top 3, then I really want to see them pick Benson. A dynamic winger is just what this team needs.

So based on your roster, the Ducks will finish towards the bottom and get blown out constantly yet again.

With the year he is havi g playing with a proper structure and system I would put Lindholm in that definition of impact player. He was utilized wrong in Anaheim. And the Ducks never drafted Neidermayer. So Gibson is not an impact player? How about Troy Terry? What about going back 20 years. Getzlaf and Perry? Both late 1st round picks.

Impact players drafted in the last 15 years: 2010 - Fowler 2011 - Rakell (Gibson in 2nd round) 2012 - Lindholm 2013 - Theodore (just not impact player with Ducks) 2019 - Zegras 2021 - McTavish 2020 and 2022 - Drysdale and Mintyukov it's still too early to tell. Besides McTavish the highest pick was #6. If only the Ducks could redo the 2016 draft. Two 1st round picks and they go with Max Jones and Sam Steel. Dome of the players they could have picked instead include Adam Fox, Jordan Kyrou, or Tage Thompson. Could you imagine this team picked two of those 3 instead of Jones and Steel.

Clips are only going to show you the few good plays he makes. Nobody is going to post mistakes on youtube or anywhere for a guy. Only time will tell if he actually has what it takes. Still waiting for him to sign a contract, or will he take off and sign elsewhere like Thrun and Schultz did.

I agree. You want overpaod contracts for their position, Bobrovsky in Florida($10mil/season) and Campbell in Edmonton($5mil/season) and stick with the Oilers Nurse(9.25mil/season). In real dollars Nurse is being paid $12mil this season 😳

Nobody claimed him because he is not good. Honestly, what is Terry supposed to say in the paper, "I hate the pickup, the guy can't play blah blah blah". That would surely be a welcome for any new player to see and to create a huge conflict on the team. He was basically waived and not picked up because his contract is terrible and he has not been a good player worthy of that contract.

He must have a lot of patience or he sees something we dont. Or someone has some type of compromising information on him. It was quite obvious in mid November when this team had a whole 1 regulation win that they weren't any good. By that point, you could tell the team had no strengths.

It was also a learning season for Klingberg. Now he is taking those lessons he learned and using them effectively. 😁

What would have been wrong with Klingberg at 50% plus a 2023 2nd round pick to a team if the return was a 2023 1st round pick? 1st round is better then 2nd round any day of the week. Not saying that would have been offered, but if Kling and a pick results in a better return, what's wrong with that. Ducks already have 3 2nd round picks this year, what would it have hurt to give up one to try to get a better return.

Don't know, but it already looks like it is a few years too long.

He had his own draft capital to play with. 3 2nd round picks this year. Could have packaged one with Klingberg to get a better return. Maybe Klingberg and a 2nd gets one of their top prospects and a 3rd instead of the garbage that Verbeek got. Even just a top prospect for Klingberg and a 2nd would have beet better. Addison is on the outs with his coaching staff, maybe he could have pried him away with a prospect for Klingberg and a 2nd and 3rd next year. There are many options, but knowing Verbeek it was Im trading Klingberg only what do I get. If you look back the other return was what I said. I said Kulikov was worth nothing higher then a 3rd.

Personally I disagree with your assessment.Ducks likely get 1st Round Pick for Klingberg....as for the other 4 We will wait and see. MooseDuck That was your comment on Klingberg. So how can you be happy with a 4th in 2025, Sustr, and a no name college guy who wasnt efen one of the Wild's top 10 prospects? Sometimes you're so wishy washy. Cant even say when Verbeek makes mistakes. He would have never got a 1st but could have done better.

Why are you glad though? Verbeek once again got awful returns for his players. He couldnt pull a 2023 pick and he failed to get any impactful players to help the rebuild. Big fail in my mind. And you were the guy a few days before the deadline saying Klingberg would net a 1st in return. A 4th, unsigned college guy, and Sustr is a ling ways from a 1st.

Ummm, what???