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.
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.
Rejoice, one and all, for it is again that magical time of the week — known to the rest of the world as Wednesday, or more colloquially, “hump day” — to rifle through the archives of NHL history for some good old-fashioned nostalgic treasures. (You’ll have to click through to get the good stuff.)
The subject at hand today is Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere. You may remember him from less acclaimed roles in Halifax, Hartford and Calgary (Mooseheads and Whalers and Flames, oh my!). His curriculum vitae prior to joining the Ducks franchise is thin — so thin, in fact, that he had only a scant 30 NHL games to his name upon arrival in June 2000. The collection of his hockey cards I have to show you chronicle that half-decade before he donned the eggplant and jade.
Not much is typically mentioned about Giguere’s brief stints in Hartford and Calgary, except as a point of contrast to emphasize the effect Francois Allaire’s teachings have had on his game. Often credited with saving Giguere’s career, Allaire helped hone the young goalie’s skills, adding focus and purpose to his play. The changes in his style are underscored in reading the various scouting reports on the cards pictured below. Giguere’s glove hand and athleticism received the bulk of the accolades throughout his junior career, and now the very notion of athleticism being a core tenet of his game seems preposterous. Instead, Allaire has instilled in him equal measures of confidence and discipline, both key ingredients that helped Giguere transcend his stereotype and become an iconoclast of the traditional Quebec-born goaltender: he became a puck blocker. No flash, no dash, but plenty of results.
Digging into the well of retro-reminiscence once more, this Qwednesday (still working on that name) please find enclosed a reminder of the way we were. You know, a team that needed sensational goaltending on a nightly basis because it couldn’t score to save its life. (It seems as though not much has changed it that department of late, although the goaltenders are not bailing the team out as frequently.)
If there exists a perfect counterpoint to Petr Sykora’s 5OT goal in the second round in the court of opinion regarding the defining moment of the Mighty Ducks’ 2003 playoff run, this moment would certainly be a contender for the title. Somewhat disappointingly, there does not seem to be a clip accompanied by Chris Cuthbert’s unforgettable cry of “how did that stay out?!” — a glib but accurate summation of Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s entire body of work that spring. The video drops in around the 2:30 mark, but Ducks fans will want to watch this one all the way through, even though the soundtrack isn’t English.
So now you decide: was the save complete and unmitigated luck? Or do you believe luck is just the residue of skill? No matter what the call, it’s clear that the video does not present a compelling case against over-sized shoulder pads.
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.
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.
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.
Few athletes throughout the annals of sport have managed to raise the bar of excellence for on-field play to legendary heights, the likes of which mere mortals can only dream — fewer still have done the same for the pre/post-game interview, arguably professional sport’s weakest link.
Enter Ilya Bryzgalov: interview superstar (or super-tsar, if you will). Proving to be equally adept at delivering both saves and quips, Bryz treats the Score to a few gems regarding the Canadian climate. Also note that during the interview, he transitions from one voice to another.
Hit the break to see Bryzgalov and Jean-Sebastien Giguere describe the designs featured on their respective masks.
(BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)
(STEPHEN DUNN/GETTY IMAGES)
The Korean Connection/Flickr
(VICTOR DECOLONGON/GETTY IMAGES)
