Following an eight-game home stand during which they went a brutal 1-6-1 and scored a paltry 13 goals, the Anaheim Ducks begin a six-game road trip tonight (Jan. 9) against playoff contender Nashville Predators.
The Ducks narrowly escaped their first encounter with the Predators with a 3-2 victory back on Nov. 14. On the heels of a major trade that included perceived franchise cornerstone Jamie Drysdale, previewing this game feels awkward, but let’s give it our best shot by looking at storylines, personnel, and tactics.
There’s a Number of Things Working Against the Ducks Right Now
This matchup is going to be difficult for many reasons. We’ll start with the Drysdale-sized elephant in the room. The undersized and injury-prone but highly-skilled skater and distributor was traded yesterday along with a second-round pick for Cutter Gauthier of the Philadelphia Flyers. The Ducks traded from their surplus (young defenseman with top-four potential) to acquire a glaring deficit (legitimate goal-scoring prospects). Long-term, maybe it works out. The problem is, it leaves the Ducks with a significant lineup hole that will be filled in the short term with someone less skilled and impactful than Drysdale was. The Ducks endured a painful stretch during his injury absence earlier this season, and they are heading right back to that scenario once again, except he won’t be back. More on that later.
Related: Grading Ducks’ Shocking Trade for Cutter Gauthier
Then, there’s the on-ice stuff. The Ducks just lost in brutal fashion to the Detroit Red Wings this past Sunday (Jan. 7). It was legacy night in Anaheim when the Ducks organization celebrated the triumphs and achievements during their second decade of existence (2002-03 to 2012-13), but the Ducks fell on old habits in front of their franchise legends in the last-minute loss. The turbulent game, marked by stretches of good pressure followed by penalty trouble and lack of discipline, followed a script that so many of their games this season have followed.
This team is not constructed or prepared to overcome its flaws, and it’s probably what facilitated Verbeek’s urge to seek additional offensive help. The power play is too inconsistent; against the Red Wings, both power play units looked completely lost. The penalty kill is good, but it relies entirely too much on the goaltenders to make saves. To begin with, the penalty kill is out there too frequently. To top it all off, the team can’t stay healthy. So,…
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