After being a topic of great debate at the outset of the season, the Ducks ultimately made their choice in net. But was that choice the right one?
(BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)
It is remarkably alarming how quickly prosperity and luxury wash away to become much more loathsome adjectives – inadequacy, incompetency, ineptitude. With a month left in the regular season, the Anaheim Ducks sit on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.
Entering the 2009-10 season, the Ducks looked to be a solid team on paper – not a frontline contender, but strong enough to be assured a playoff spot by almost every panelist and prognosticator attempting to divine the team’s fortunes. Scoring was expected to increase thanks to some shrewd off-season dealings by Bob Murray, the heir apparent to Brian Burke’s GM throne after the latter took his show to Toronto last season. The one glaring sore spot was an unfamiliar lack of superstars on the blueline, the ratio having been cut in half when Chris Pronger was traded to the Flyers.
Idealistic about the future after a surprising playoff run and with the team bearing the trademark resilience of one surviving well in a salary cap era, Murray had no reason to expect that the Ducks could not be fitted with the right parts and reinvent their style accordingly. Once equally feared and loathed, the team underwent a profound and almost immediate fundamental shift in paradigm from the defensive to the offensive. Its anchor and captain, Scott Niedermayer – comfortable and adept at both ends of the rink – no doubt helped facilitate the decision to retool on the fly.
The only potential area for concern (and one that perhaps should have raised a few more red flags) was coach Randy Carlyle, a retired Norris Trophy-winning defenseman, and his ability and willingness to tailor his existing coaching style to the new personnel.
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