The Ducks entered this season with renewed direction, a new head coach and designs on making strides toward a future predicated on a prospect pool illuminated in neon lights.
Through 50 games, they’re in an almost identical position record-wise, as their 18-30-2 mark at this year’s All-Star break is just one point better than their 16-29-5 record heading into 2023’s pause.
But the Ducks have been considerably more competitive and entertaining than they were last season, having put mostly behind them myriad issues with structure, pace, discipline and puck management over the course of this campaign. They’ve reduced last season’s NHL-worst goals-against average from 4.09 to 3.40 while also increasing their penalty-kill percentage, which was the second-worst in the league last year, by nearly 6%.
There have been growing pains, both figurative and literal, as youthful inconsistency has been exacerbated considerably by a torrent of injury-related absences, almost all involving key players.
With the playoffs all but mathematically out of the question, the Ducks will seek to springboard themselves into next season across their final 32 contests, imploring players to continue raising their competitiveness and embracing the maxim that “you are what you do.”
What’s been going well
A full-force youth movement could dovetail nicely with the solidified presence of last year’s team leader in goals, Troy Terry, and some shrewd seasoned additions in free agency.
All three of the Ducks’ Canadian junior Defensemen of the Year have appeared promising as top-level pros this season in varying levels of exposure. Up front, they’ve enjoyed better balance and more scoring punch when healthy, though they’ve never had a full complement of players at their disposal this season. In goal, Lukáš Dostál has emerged as a sound Yang to veteran John Gibson’s Ying, with AHL goalie Tomas Suchanek providing some promise for the future as well.
Some veteran additions have panned out as well, as Frank Vatrano entered an energized rebuild and “matched that with his DNA, in terms of his compete level,” according to Coach Greg Cronin after Vatrano was named an All-Star.
Vatrano, whose 22 goals topped the team through 50 games, signed with the Ducks last year and was followed by in-your-face defenseman Radko Gudas this past summer. The two had previously been teammates with the Florida Panthers. Gudas has provided nastiness and security for his young cohorts, as well as extremely sound defensive play. He is one of just four Ducks with 20 or more games played to post a positive rating, and his plus-17 mark is 11 ticks higher than his next closest teammate, his frequent defense partner Urho Vaakanainen.
The Ducks entered the break on a four-game points streak that included three victories. That was their most successful stretch since they won six straight games as part of an early-season tear of eight wins in 10 opportunities.
“We’re not taking stupid penalties, that’s kind of flattened out,” Cronin said. “Turnovers were brutal, and the turnovers have kind of gone away.”
“The common denominator with us is that we’re able to exit our zone more cleanly and quicker,” Cronin added. “What we’re trying to promote offensively is valuing possession in the offensive zone.”
What’s been going wrong
Last year’s top point-producer, Trevor Zegras, has been perhaps the player most impacted by injuries, with two separate stints on injured reserve flanking a period during which he was hindered by a groin issue. No. 2 overall pick Leo Carlsson, two-time Stanley Cup champion Alex Killorn, since-traded Jamie Drysdale, effortful Max Jones, budding star Mason McTavish, natural goal-scorer Terry, former first-round draft pick Isac Lundeström, promising rookie Tristan Luneau and Calder Trophy candidate Pavel Mintyukov have all cycled through triage, as has Gibson. For reference, Killorn had missed four games aggregately in his previous eight seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, yet he has endured two long stretches on injured reserve this season after sustaining a broken finger and later undergoing knee surgery, costing him 16 games and counting.
Carlsson had been limited by two separate injuries, too, as well as an early-season load-management program. He has since emerged as the team’s best forward, a mantle once vied for primarily by Zegras and Terry. Zegras began the year being nagged by a groin injury that later forced him to miss 20 games, and then broke his ankle in a game against Nashville, moments after making a daring exit against pressure that Cronin said made him “do a double take.”
Terry missed time due to an upper-body injury after an accidental collision with McTavish. He had already been absent on the scoresheet early in the season, but he has been a force of late. He’s proven capable of driving play not only offensively but in transition, moving seamlessly from defense to the attack.
“He can dominate a shift by himself when he plays efficiently,” Cronin said of Terry’s “healthier” decision-making with the puck and his willingness to cut hard into the middle of the ice.
“My message with him was always about valuing himself as a threat without the puck,” Cronin continued. “Whether he did it because I was woodpeckering him or not, he’s not turning pucks over at the offensive blue line or along the wall to make one more play anymore.”
What could change
While Luneau and Mintyukov emerged as legit NHL defensemen early in the season, as Olen Zellweger has more recently, the Ducks’ blue line has been missing two of those three rearguards and also parted with another highly promising defender, Drysdale. That trade netted them coveted forward prospect Cutter Gauthier, who will likely make his Ducks debut once the NCAA campaign concludes.
Before that, the Ducks could sustain further losses as the trade deadline approaches in what has already taken shape as a sellers’ market. Veteran forwards Adam Henrique and Jakob Silfverberg are each in the final year of their contracts, as is defenseman Ilya Lybushkin.
Silfverberg, 33, has taken on an even stronger leadership role, especially as more fellow Swedes, like Carlsson, have arrived, while ramping up his defensive play even after he underwent hip surgery.
Henrique, who turned 34 on Tuesday, offers three-situation and three-position versatility. He has 14 points in his past 12 games and he scored his first career hat trick this season. Given the packages obtained in exchange for centers Elias Lindholm and Sean Monahan in pre-deadline deals, Henrique could fetch an irresistible return. Lyubushkin, 29, cost the Ducks a fourth-round pick in the offseason and could bring back a modest profit for GM Pat Verbeek.
One player who has been bandied about in national rumors is Zegras, despite his status on injured reserve, his prominence in the Ducks’ future and the fact that he has two more seasons left on a freshly inked three-year contract.
Cronin said Zegras had done all that was asked of him in becoming more defensively aware, using his stick effectively to break up plays and committing himself to a more comprehensive game.
“When he makes a mistake, he knows it; he knows everything,” Cronin said. “He’s one of the highest-IQ players I’ve ever coached.”
