dtsdlaw

You never know what players the other teams are looking at drafting ahead of their projected slot (Moritz Seider!?!), but I saw Sportsnet had their February rankings as Lafreniere, Byfield, Stutzle, Drysdale, Rossi, Perfetti, Holtz, Raymond, Lundell, and Mercer, in that order. It looks pretty likely that the Ducks will end up somewhere between 4th - 7th in the draft lottery odds, with 4th/5th most likely because all of the tiebreakers fall in their favor. I will be shocked if they draft higher than 7th. I also have a good feeling this is our year for a ping pong ball to get us in the top-3.

Exactly this. Murray is staring at a 3D chess game right now with all the assets this team has, the expansion draft around the corner, and apparently little to no pressure from ownership to succeed any time soon. It’s fun to speculate about what would make this team better in the short and long term, but no one really has any idea what’s going on inside GMBM’s mind except for GMBM.

Rico is playing so well, he gets top line RW and 2nd line C duties! Heh, I'm not sure the Ducks can get away with double-shifting him over the full 82. I think someone here mentioned that Heinan played some center in Boston. Can anyone confirm that? If true, maybe Heinan slots into that 3C role next season between Comtois and Terry and GMBM finds a true scorer to play top line RW, either via trade or UFA. Heinan and Terry played together in college, so maybe there's some pre-existing chemistry there? (crosses fingers). Either way, what to do with Steel and Lundestrom? Steel is still only 22 (just turned in February), but he just has not impressed so far at either end of the ice. I'm still pulling for him, but so far I don't think he's shown any particular tools in his toolbox that would lead us to believe his ceiling will be higher than a 30-35 point 3C in the NHL. Hope I'm wrong though. I also haven't seen Lundestrom play much this season in San Diego, but he also doesn't seem to be having a great year down there, so he'll likely need to make a big improvement to snatch the 3C role next season. That said, Getzlaf turns 35 in May, Rico turns 31 midway through the 2020-21 season, and I think it's pretty unlikely Zegras will be ready for a top-6 role any time soon. Our center depth over the next few seasons looks a bit sketchy to me, so I'd still like to see GMBM use some of our assets to bring in a young center with a higher ceiling than Steel/Lundestrom to help with the re-tool. For the upcoming draft, it would make sense to me if GMBM is targeting either Alexander Holtz or Lucas Raymond (both right-shot Swedish wingers), assuming we don't draw into the top-2 lottery spots.

Last night had a lot of luck, but what we're seeing is the result of having forward line combos that make sense and work. If you want to go back to the tank, break up that 67-14-33 line again and put two rookies who can't finish back on Getzlaf's line. That's pretty much how Eakins bumbled his way through the majority of the season. If they keep this same forward lineup through the end of the season, we're just going to see more and more... [gulp]... goals from our forwards. btw, love me some Elite #1C, but that 4th line hasn't missed a beat since the trade deadline. If the Ducks bring back Deslauriers-Backes-Rowney next season as their grind line, that's going to be just fine with me. That's a solid group of veterans that can help the younger players mature and grow into real NHLers while still contributing on the score sheet.

Just listened to the Kes and Juice podcast. The exact quotes were: His German song about losing notwithstanding, they sure didn't make it sound like Holzer is a guy who drags down a locker room.

Hopefully this means that he's overall happy with the D and that his focus is really on improving the offense and PP. Any thoughts on what he meant with respect to the Niedermayer/Pronger comment? Pronger was a trade, not a UFA signing, and it cost us Lupul (former #7 overall), Smid (former #9 OA), two 1st rounders (2007, 2008) and a 2nd rounder (2008). Was he hinting that he might deal a whole bunch of assets for an elite player to accelerate the rebuild?

Why say the "I foresaw it" thing though? Doesn't this kind of infantilize his head coach? "It's ok, Eakins. You have no significant positive NHL experience and I knew you'd make those mistakes. I foresaw it. [pats him on head]"

I thought maybe Shore too, but the original article said this: That made it sound like Ritchie exudes some negativity that affects the guys around him.

First bold, what the heck does this mean? Should we be calling him Darth Sidious from now on? Second bold, are you willing to talk about specific players by name, or is that not appropriate for this venue? I have my suspicions about which player your example is referring to, but I'm just curious if you could provide more insight here over all about what you saw from specific players during drills.

Would have to assume he’s talking about Ritchie here, right? Is this an admission that NR is a bad locker room guy? Also, was there any talk about the expansion draft? Would assume/hope that the ED will be in the back of GMBM ‘s mind this summer as he crafts the roster for next season.

Not sure if you have been reading the whole thread but this one is talking about the future potential, not this season. I hope he gets 30 this season. He’s been one of the few bright spots this year. But he turned 30 years old last month and I don’t see him hitting 30G again over the next several seasons (or ever) unless he’s moved into a pure scorer’s role rather than a 2nd line center role. He’s only got one 30G season on his resume (so far), so if GMBM is banking on him being that 30G+ guy that this team needs, we fans should keep our expectations for this team low for a bit longer than we’ll want to.

Rico only if he's moved to a pure scoring role on Getzlaf's LW. He's also only hit 30 once in his career, which was five seasons ago. Silf... I love the guy and think he should be the next captain, but his career high is 24 goals and he turns 30 years old in October. Do you honestly think he is going to best his career high by six goals after turning 30? Would love to see it, but I'm not holding my breath.

By this logic, with our goaltending tandem of John Gibson and Ryan Miller, the Ducks are also the 5th worst team in the NHL, so I assume next you'll be telling us the Ducks should trade Gibson to help with the rebuild because Lukas Dostal is looking great in the Czech league and Stolarz can hold down the fort until the team has been rebuilt with high draft picks. Not buying it. The Ducks aren't 5th worst in the NHL because of their top-4 defenders or their goaltending. They're 5th worst because they had a roster full of rookies who weren't as NHL-ready as almost everyone thought they were, including GMBM and the coaching staff who gave them way more than they could handle this season.

Trading any of the defenders just creates a hole that GMBM will have to fill by adding another player. Guhle and Mahura look like nice prospects, but I don't see either ever becoming as good as 4/47, and they have totally different skills sets than 42. IMO, you only trade a top-4 D-man if you have one in the system to fill that role. Like when GMBM traded Vats to give Monty the #4 spot. Even though Monty didn't really lock that spot down, the Vats trade made sense because of Monty's upside. So I don't think trading any of our current big-3 D-men makes any sense given what is currently in the system. Rakell may be a different story and I could see him being moved eventually if he doesn't find his scoring touch again. But he still has 30-goal potential. Who else in the entire organization has 30-goal potential? Anyone? No one currently with the big club, that's for sure.

See, I just don't get this idea of a slow burn rebuild. A slow burn keeps this team irrelevant for the next six years. Maybe more, since it will waste Gibby's prime years. I can't come up with a scenario where this team could slowly sell off its best assets over the next 2 seasons for picks and prospects, and then suddenly turn it around and becomes a contender with an entirely new cast of characters. If you think it can, I'd love to see it. But until I see it, I would suggest that you're either overvaluing the return the Ducks can get from trading its good players, or underestimating the amount of time it will take for any top prospects coming in to the organization to develop into good NHL players.

Anthony DeAngelo would be my target on the trade market for the RHD. Another interesting trade target would be Byfuglien (if healthy and interested in playing again). There are also a handful of interesting RHD UFAs this summer too. For centers, its too early to know who might be available. Its possible the draft lottery results could change things a lot too. For example, here's a scenario: let's say Montreal draws into the #2 draft spot and are staring at Byfield as the BPA, even though they already have Domi, Suzuki and Kotkanieni as their under-26 center depth. And maybe they also covet a guy like Drysdale as a future RHD to take over the right side of their defense down the road when Weber (34) and Petry (32) get old. And then let's say the Ducks don't move up in the lottery and end up in the 6-8 spot, and Drysdale is still on the board when the Ducks number is called. Does GMBM call up his close friend and former D-partner GM Marc Bergevin and try to pry one of Montreal's young centers away in exchange for the ability to draft Drysdale? Maybe even 19-year-old Kotkaniemi (3rd overall in 2017), who is apparently struggling a bit under the intense pressure of an original-6 Canadian market and is being pushed down the depth chart by Suzuki? Who knows, but right now there are too many scenarios to go through. I also think GMs will look to do a little re-shuffling this summer in anticipation of the expansion draft, and there may be a few names available that you wouldn't expect, simply because teams won't want to get squeezed as badly as several did by GMGM in 2017.

I just totally disagree with this, first and foremost because of the state of our D-corps and goaltending. They're too good to just scrap it all and start over. And they're not going to age out of being good any time soon either. If you look at the Stanley Cup champs over the past 10 seasons, at least half of each team's top-6 was 28 years old or older, with the only exceptions being the Pens in 2017 (they still had a 35-year-old Hainsey and a 33-year-old Daley logging substantial minutes) and Chicago in 2010 (with just Campbell (30) and Sopel (33) logging big minutes in their top-6). The Blues last season had Pietrangelo (29), Bouwmeester (35), Gunnarson (32) and Bortuzzo (29). The Caps in 2018 had Carlson (28), Niskanen (31), and Orpik (37). The Pens in 2016 had Letang (28), Lovejoy (31) and Daley (32). Chicago had Keith (31), Seabrook (29), Oduya (33), Rozsival (36) and Timmonen (39) in 2015 (with each of those guys two years younger in 2013, except Timonen who wasn't there). The Kings had Mitchell (36), Greene (30) and Regehr (33) in 2014 (with each guy two years younger in 2012, and a 37-year-old Scuderi that year instead of Regehr). Boston had Chara (33), Kaberle (32), Ference (31) and Seidenberg (29) when they won it all in 2011. So with Gibby (26), Lindholm (26), Fowler (28), Manson (28) and Gudbranson (28), the Ducks defensive core is really just entering their prime in terms of anchoring a competitive team. I think if the Ducks can just add a legit top-6 forward (either a scoring winger or a 2C) and a RHD who can run the PP over the next two seasons to what they currently have, they'll be right back in the mix in terms of contention. No need to raze this thing to the ground by selling off good players for magic beans. I'd rather GMBM be selling the magic beans we already have (such as Boston's 1st and the abundance of LW and LHD prospects) for impact players this summer.

Last season, the guys 32 and older who scored at least 25 goals were Ovi, Pavelski, Bergeron, Parise, Radulov, and Oshie. A handful of 30 & 31 year olds scored at least 25G too (Kane, Toews, Crosby, Kessel, Marchand). Maybe it’s a bit optimistic to think Rico will hit 25G at age 32, but it’s not totally unreasonable. He’s a great shooter and an extremely intelligent player, and if he plays with good distributors I definitely think he’s the type of player who keep pumping in goals well into his 30s. He’d need good players around him though, not these middle-six types he’s been playing with for most of his time in Anaheim.

I’m not big on Rico’s defensive game and I don’t think he’s that great of a distributor, but dude sure can snipe. And I don’t get the rationale for trading the team’s leading goal scorer when the team struggles to score goals. That’s backwards thinking IMO. I think if you put him in a pure scorer’s role, he’s a 25-30 goal guy for the next 3 years. Those aren’t elite numbers, but they’re certainly worthy of a top line wing spot on this team. So even if Rico isn’t going to be the preferred 2C, I’m still not in favor of trading him. At least not in the next couple of years. Moving Fowler and Lindholm also seems like a bad idea to me. If there’s a D-man trade coming, and if GMBM can find a RHD for the PP, I’d rather it be Manson who goes, and even then only if there’s an extension deal agreed to in principle with Gudbranson for immediately after the ED.

That would be the worst center depth in the Western conference. Unless you’re actually trying for another top-5 draft pick in 2021, entering next season with that group would be disaster. In terms of moving Henrique to LW, I’d still like to see Raks back on RW, especially since Spronger and Kase are now gone and Terry hasn’t been able to stick with the big club. RW depth is currently thin. A top line of Rico-Getz-Raks would be solid. I also don’t see Steel or Lundestrom as the answer at 2C, and Zegras filling that role in the next two seasons is a pipe dream. For LW depth, we’ve got a lot of guys in the same age bracket there with Jones, Comtois, Milano, and Heinan. Aside from maybe Comtois, I don’t see any future top liners in that group though, so I’d be fine moving one or more with picks to upgrade another spot (2C or RHD). And just watch, the Ducks will win the lottery and get Lafreniere too.

Because he's an ethnic Russian? We all know how GMBM feels about Russians. Since becoming GM of the Ducks in November 2008, he's drafted exactly one Russian - Igor Bobkov (G) in 2009. GMBM probably saw Kaliyev's name on the cover of the scouting report and just threw it in the trash. Yes, a hard push for a RHD that can run the PP, but I think the trade market is where to start. We have tons of assets and good picks. The Ducks should be looking to trade for a guy like Anthony DeAngelo. (stuck behind Trouba and Fox in New York and a pending RFA that will be asking for a raise). I would be willing to move the 1st we got from Boston and one of our prospects to get that done. I also think we need an upgrade at center. My preference is to move Rico to LW (to take advantage of his scoring ability) and to find a legit #2C in that 23-27 y/o range via a trade. Again, we have a ton of assets and picks to play with. Adding a legit #2C would also enable the team to have more flexibility in developing Zegras, which I think will be important since he went the NCAA route rather than to juniors.

2020 Masterton. Gotta be, right?

So happy for Bobby. Hope this is the first of many more great nights for him. Still one of my all time favorite NHLers.

He also didn’t come to the NHL until he was 20. Gretzky started at 18 years old.

Wow, Ovi now sits north of 700 goals for his career. Ovi needs 195 more goals as of this post, and he's got another 19 games left this season. He then turns 35 in September. Selanne scored 232 goals after he turned 35, and that included sitting out 3/4 of the 2007-08 season after winning the Cup and also the lockout shortened 2012-13 season. I've been converted into a believer. Ovechkin is going to break Gretzky's record.