Pretty much. To an extent. I think a better coaching staff who can actually develop young players could have helped this year not be a waste. I keep saying it but the whole Eakins is a youth development guy is a farce based on the assumption that results in the AHL=good youth development in the NHL. That said I agree that next year is a fresh opportunity to develop these guys, a lot of whom haven't seen NHL ice yet (the defensemen in particular).
Missing out on the top 4 in this draft is going to be brutal. It's what I expect at this point but it's still brutal to think about given how golden the opportunity is and how shit this year was overall.
It's very odd to say this and complain about the Ducks winning games or earning the loser points with an even crappier roster after the TDL. It kinda defies the logic. Against Arizona, Anaheim was putting in AHL goalie OEE in his first NHL game, Terry didn't fly out to Arizona b/c of baby issue, and we only had 5D to begin the game, but the Ducks still came away with a loser point.
Anaheim has the least Reg Wins, least "Reg + OT" wins, worst GA, and worst GD, but they're the third worst team in points and could surpass the Sharks.
Ducks | 2021-22 | Splits | | | | | | | | | |
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Game Set | GP | W | L | OTL | Pts | Pts % | . | GF | GA | GD | GD/GP |
Total | 82 | 31 | 37 | 14 | 76 | 46.3% | | 232 | 271 | -39 | -0.48 |
Gm 1 - 33 | 33 | 17 | 9 | 7 | 41 | 62.1% | | 104 | 91 | 13 | 0.39 |
Gm 34 - 62 | 29 | 10 | 16 | 3 | 23 | 39.7% | | 76 | 106 | -30 | -1.03 |
Gm 63 - 82 | 20 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 12 | 30.0% | | 52 | 74 | -22 | -1.10 |
Game set 1-33: Everyone's healthy, including the Defensive Trio of Lindholm, Manson, and Fowler.
Game set 34-62: Injuries and Covid it. Lindholm missed 2 games, Fowler missed 4, and Manson missed 17 games.
Game 63 is the TDL.
We were fielding three rookie blueliners (Drysdale, Benoit, and Mahura) in Game set 34-62 when at least one of the Defensive Trio fell to injury. The level of play dropped.
The Ducks were 3rd in the Pacific when Verbeek was hired. When Verbeek took over during All-star break, Manson was put on IR and missed 12 games without a replacement. Verbeek sat on his hands during All-Star break rather than to get some help on the blue line to prevent having 50% blueline rookies on the ice.
Ducks | 2022-23 | Splits | | | | | | | | | |
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| Games | W | L | OTL | Pts | Pts Pct | | GF | GA | GD | GD/Game |
Total | 80 | 23 | 45 | 12 | 58 | 36.3% | | 204 | 330 | -126 | -1.58 |
1 to 25 | 25 | 6 | 16 | 3 | 15 | 30.0% | | 63 | 105 | -42 | -1.68 |
26 to 49 | 24 | 9 | 13 | 2 | 20 | 41.7% | | 60 | 99 | -39 | -1.63 |
50 to 62 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 | 50.0% | | 35 | 51 | -16 | -1.23 |
63 to 80 | 18 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 10 | 27.8% | | 46 | 75 | -29 | -1.61 |
Verbeek never replaced the talents lost in Lindholm, Manson, or Des. The new summer replacement forwards weren't great at defending either in Strome (-29), Vatrano (-28), and Leason (-21). Yet, despite the terrible roster bestowed upon Eakins, there's progression made until the TDL.
For most of time after the TDL, we also were missing Rico until he returned for the Arizona and Colorado games. Rico piled up 3 points (2g, 1a) and a +1 rating since his return. Get talent inserted into the roster and our fortunes change.
I'm indifferent is Eakins stays or goes, but this year's roster was destined to fail on behest of the GM Verbeek. I predicted this would be the outcome as well before the season started.
I'd love to land any of the top-4. I'd still be ecstatic to land a top-6 pick because we're talking top-6 talent in our system b/c last year we went for a safer 3C pick in Gaucher than take a swing at top-6 scoring potentials RW Snuggerud or C Kulich.
I'm not in dire straits about our future that this year's top pick will make or break us. Terry and Z are producing like last year, but with far less talent on the team this year. Z has a new record high in scoring this year with two more games to go. McTavish looks like the real deal and could be 1C permanently next year or the year after. We're that spoiled that we have stars and potential superstars on our roster already. What's missing is a boatload of defensive talent at the NHL level. We were missing Drysdale this whole season (except for 8 games). Fortunately, they're coming soon in spades. LaCombe, Helleson, Andersson (if retained), Zellweger, Hinds, and Mintyukov are all going to be pros next season, 2023-24. The following season, defensemen Luneau, Warren, and Moore (if signed as a junior) will be making their way to the AHL.
Then we also have our own veterans such as Rico being productive yet again and Fowler reaching new production heights. Despite Vatrano's lack of defensive play, he's also hit a new high in scoring.
Any of the top-6 is great! Any of the top-4 is stupendous. Landing Bedard would be the crown jewel. Yet out of the top-6, the only player with NHL defensive acumen today is probably Carlsson, but he's still a year away from the NHL, imo. We're two to three seasons away from making a significant change in direction, which is all dependent on our blueline talent.