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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(STEPHEN DUNN/GETTY IMAGES)
Let me begin by begging your forgiveness for that awful pun, but let’s face facts: it was only a matter of time before that word got put to good use on this blog. The answer to that question in the context of the word “quacked” meaning “screwed” is not quite so simple.
Perhaps it’s too presumptuous and untoward to write off the Ducks’ season with a month remaining on the schedule. The numbers don’t paint the prettiest picture, but the simple fact is that the team is but a stone’s throw away from the playoffs – with just enough time to make up lost ground.
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Dear Santa,
Is it too late for a trade-in – even if only for a store credit – at the favorite hockey team shop? Sure, it’s been a good decade or so with my Ducks (you even brought me that silver cup I asked for two years ago), but now I want the latest and greatest. And Santa, to be honest, my old team just isn’t cutting it anymore.
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The Korean Connection/Flickr
Here we are, about a month and a half through the season, and the Ducks are off to a rough start. With a losing record, Anaheim is falling behind in the Western Conference standings. No one would’ve questioned any team’s success that came off of such a huge playoff run, and such great additions in the offseason (Joffrey Lupul, Saku Koivu, Nick Boynton, Steve Eminger). And, that’s not to mention one of the hottest young goaltenders in the league. However, Ducks fans are finding themselves at the point as the Ducks continue to lose.
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(VICTOR DECOLONGON/GETTY IMAGES)
In a scene that replays itself with such disquieting regularity that it must feel like Groundhog Day in Anaheim, for the third time since 2003, playoff hockey has seen the emergence of another young Ducks netminder.
On the eve of the 2009-10 NHL regular season, the Ducks find themselves in the familiar and enviable (but deceivingly so) position of having two quality goaltenders, each capable of starting at the pro level. With careful regard to the context, both past and present, it must be underscored before any legitimate assessment can be made of each netminder’s worth – both to the team and as a commodity on the trading block – that Randy Carlyle is approaching the potential platoon situation with ambivalence and a non-committal attitude, at least for now.
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