Ducks are at .500 - how will they finish?

[dgibb10]

arguably the worst team in hockey getting dragged by ridiculous goaltending?

 

[lwvs84]

IF the goaltending continues to carry the team, they could finish at or above .500. The team looks significantly more dangerous with Zegras in the lineup, plus the team could be better after the trade deadline through internal replacements. Defense will be... interesting... with Zellweger and Helleson playing every game after Dumoulin is traded. Colangelo should be at least a marginal upgrade over Fabbri. If Ducks replace Cronin (very unlikely) with a good coach, they could make a push for the playoffs. I think there will be some growing pains after the deadline, with 4 kids playing on defense and the goalies will have more bad games as the season goes on. This will probably lead them to be a bit below .500 by the end of the season.

 

[ESH]

Referring to a team who was 6 more losses than wins as a .500 team will never make sense to me

 

[JKG33]

Referring to a team who was 6 more losses than wins as a .500 team will never make sense to me

This. I came into the thread thinking how the f*** are the Ducks a .500 team? OTL's are a bullshit stat

Steve Kouleus and his gang on NHL Network Radio always refer to it almost with an asterisk, as "NHL 500" which is way more accurate.

 

[JoeSakic13]

They could very well finish better after the TDL if they finally sell on Gibson. Dostal is the starter and I’m sure they’d get at least one roster player (plus more obv.) that’s an upgrade on their current lineup.

 

[2faded]

I went slightly above based on a few things. We are .500 now but they worked up to .500 recently.

Goaltending: I think it will stay consistently good for the rest of the season.

LaCombe: I think part of the recent trend upwards was him emerging as a top D. I think he'll continue that level of play for the rest of the season.

Zegras stays healthy: He had a bad start and got his mojo back after being moved back to center. He's continued that on Carlsson's wing. Maybe he can get Carlsson going too and increase his production in the final stretch.

 

[Jumptheshark]

.500 is no longer .500 it is the new .400 due to the loser point. The fact their schedule does not matter. They have 28 games left, 9pts out of the playoffs and would need to jump 4 teams to make the playoffs.

Even though they are 4-1 in the last 5 games, they have only gained a single point on Vancouver over that time who sits in the last WC spot. Based upon rumblings from different places, they maybe ready to move on from John Gibson and a few other players.

Duck fans can correct me but it sounds like the team likes Dostal for the future number one. He needs a new contract in the off season and that maybe why we are hearing that Gibson, who has a 10 teams no trade list is interesting in either Edmonton and or the canes.

If the ducks do start selling it will affect what happens in the standings.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

.500 is no longer .500 it is the new .400 due to the loser point. The fact their schedule does not matter. They have 28 games left, 9pts out of the playoffs and would need to jump 4 teams to make the playoffs.

Even though they are 4-1 in the last 5 games, they have only gained a single point on Vancouver over that time who sits in the last WC spot. Based upon rumblings from different places, they maybe ready to move on from John Gibson and a few other players.

Duck fans can correct me but it sounds like the team likes Dostal for the future number one. He needs a new contract in the off season and that maybe why we are hearing that Gibson, who has a 10 teams no trade list is interesting in either Edmonton and or the canes.

If the ducks do start selling it will affect what happens in the standings.

That post about Gibson being interested in the Oilers or Canes, was misinterpreted from a podcast comment by Friedman. He stated that Gibson had interest in those teams earlier in the year but maybe not so much anymore. Somehow only the first part was posted and painted as though it was current info.

See post #280 in the related thread for a link Friedman: - Gibson is interested in Carolina or Edmonton

I don't get a sense that there's been any sort of trade demand. Since returning Nov 11 from off season surgery, Gibson has still started a bit more often than Dostal (22 starts to 19).
Dostal makes sense as a future #1 but they don't need to rush into it, if there isn't a deal out there for Gibson that the Ducks feel benefits their team more moving forward. Goaltending has been paramount to helping prop this team up, there has to be some clear motivation to make sense of breaking that up. One could also argue that having Gibson around, is helping the Ducks keep Dostal's negotiation leverage down to some degree. I'd be quite ok with bridging Dostal to his final RFA season, on a two year deal that matches Gibson's remaining term. Keep a strong tandem at 10-11M while we continuing trying to build up the rest of the team, then turn it over to Dostal at age 26 and give him the big long term deal

 

[Coffee]

Just wanna bump the thread one more time since the break is over now