Former Ducks (2024-25 edition)

[Hockey Duckie]

A few former Ducks mentioned here.

From the Marker Zone about Barys Astana going scored Earth with the jettisoning of several import players:

 

[CrazyDuck4u]

Man watching Drysdale play.. He is just not good in his own end..

 

[Mr Rogers]

Man watching Drysdale play.. He is just not good in his own end..

I thought he was struggling just as much offensively as well despite the goal. I hate to be that guy but it was a lucky shot haha.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I thought he was struggling just as much offensively as well despite the goal. I hate to be that guy but it was a lucky shot haha.

Not defending Drysdale, but we could stand to take more shots... even lucky ones.

 

[JonathnTaylorTavares]

Is Anthony Stolarz the real deal?

 

[WhatTheDuck]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1848852128582013127

 

[12ozPapa]

Holy shit McIlrath is still playing?!

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Holy shit McIlrath is still playing?!

He’s almost played one full season’s worth of games!

 

[Terry Yake]

man i wish we still had deslauriers

 

[MMC]

This makes me sad

 

[All Mighty]

This makes me sad

View attachment 920408

In 6 games while getting top PP time (4+ minutes per game), he has 0 goals, 1 assist, 5 SOG, and a -9 rating.

 

[Kevin Forbes]

Hey folks,
I used to do the prospect profiles and rankings for the Ducks for Hockey's Future when it was a thing. Back in the day, one of the guy's I was high on but never really stuck in the NHL was Mark Popovic, a second rounder in 2001.

Anyway, I recently saw that Popovic was helping out Valeri Nichuskin prepare for his return:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1848397707783663717

So that had me thinking about what he's up to and I found this podcast from 2020 where Popovic talks about his journey and specifically some mental approach/burnout that he had as he was leaving junior hockey and moving into pro hockey. Popovic was a player who was highly touted, captain of his junior team, played World Juniors, etc etc, but just wasn't having fun playing hockey. Anyway, it's a fascinating look behind the curtain. Not a lot of specific Anaheim content, but cool to hear his perspective on hockey development and growth.

 

[Leonardo87]

Cutter’s and Drysdale’s game last night is making me feel even better about that trade. I think once Gautheir scores his first goal, the ketchup bottle will flow. He brings what this team needs shooting the puck on net. Leo’s goal last night is a perfect example why you need to have someone crash the net when he is sniping. Either to deflect, screen, or clean up a rebound.

 

[12ozPapa]

Hey folks,
I used to do the prospect profiles and rankings for the Ducks for Hockey's Future when it was a thing. Back in the day, one of the guy's I was high on but never really stuck in the NHL was Mark Popovic, a second rounder in 2001.

Anyway, I recently saw that Popovic was helping out Valeri Nichuskin prepare for his return:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1848397707783663717

So that had me thinking about what he's up to and I found this podcast from 2020 where Popovic talks about his journey and specifically some mental approach/burnout that he had as he was leaving junior hockey and moving into pro hockey. Popovic was a player who was highly touted, captain of his junior team, played World Juniors, etc etc, but just wasn't having fun playing hockey. Anyway, it's a fascinating look behind the curtain. Not a lot of specific Anaheim content, but cool to hear his perspective on hockey development and growth.

Thanks for this. He was a player I had high hopes for.

Also, I wish HF still did the HF side of things!!

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Hey folks,
I used to do the prospect profiles and rankings for the Ducks for Hockey's Future when it was a thing. Back in the day, one of the guy's I was high on but never really stuck in the NHL was Mark Popovic, a second rounder in 2001.

Anyway, I recently saw that Popovic was helping out Valeri Nichuskin prepare for his return:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1848397707783663717

So that had me thinking about what he's up to and I found this podcast from 2020 where Popovic talks about his journey and specifically some mental approach/burnout that he had as he was leaving junior hockey and moving into pro hockey. Popovic was a player who was highly touted, captain of his junior team, played World Juniors, etc etc, but just wasn't having fun playing hockey. Anyway, it's a fascinating look behind the curtain. Not a lot of specific Anaheim content, but cool to hear his perspective on hockey development and growth.

Forbesy! Speaking of former ducks. Now we just need snarktacular and prof. frink to pop up out of nowhere. And that guy who used to gamble for a living.

 

[Kevin Forbes]

Thanks for this. He was a player I had high hopes for.

Also, I wish HF still did the HF side of things!!

Haha, I feel like I may have had some influence on those high hopes. Had him ranked right after Chistov, Smirnov and Bryzgalov.

 

[FiveTacos]

Cutter’s and Drysdale’s game last night is making me feel even better about that trade.

With Gauthier, even if he has ups and downs this year, he's a rookie, he has time. He just has to show flashes of more.

But Drysdale, even with injuries, now has quite a bit of NHL data. And I don't think he's substantially changed since he first came into the league. It's one thing to still need work defensively at his age, but this is the year he has to break out offensively or else you just have to conclude it's not gonna happen.

 

[Bender66]

Gauthier's one timer last night was already more than enough to justify the trade in my mind. Need more guys in Ducks org that have both the skill and willingness to just hammer one timers with reckless abandon every time they are on the ice

 

[12ozPapa]

Haha, I feel like I may have had some influence on those high hopes. Had him ranked right after Chistov, Smirnov and Bryzgalov.

I remember!!!

Chistov really should have turned into something.

 

[Rybread86]

Cutter’s and Drysdale’s game last night is making me feel even better about that trade. I think once Gautheir scores his first goal, the ketchup bottle will flow. He brings what this team needs shooting the puck on net. Leo’s goal last night is a perfect example why you need to have someone crash the net when he is sniping. Either to deflect, screen, or clean up a rebound.

I watched some of Drysdale. Man is he bad in his own end. Still pulling for him, he's young, but right now it looks like a great trade for us

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

I remember!!!

Chistov really should have turned into something.

That first game where Cheese had 4 points and Smirnov had 2 really set the table for a meal that just never arrived.

 

[HanSolo]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1849112559225393160

So weird how he never got those Norris trophies Oilers fans kept guaranteeing.

 

[Terry Yake]

That first game where Cheese had 4 points and Smirnov had 2 really set the table for a meal that just never arrived.

really thought they had something in chistov after his rookie year. then he forgot how to score in year 2 and that was it

smirnov was just an awful pick from the start. they saw how big he was and drafted him based off that

 

[FiveTacos]

I watched some of Drysdale. Man is he bad in his own end. Still pulling for him, he's young, but right now it looks like a great trade for us

Bad in his own end would be okay at his age if his offense were coming around. The problem is that his offense appears nonexistent. And maybe it was always wishful thinking built around his skating ability .... his actual OHL production wasn't mindblowing for a guy picked that high.

really thought they had something in chistov after his rookie year. then he forgot how to score in year 2 and that was it

smirnov was just an awful pick from the start. they saw how big he was and drafted him based off that

I understood the Chistov pick, he was even talked about going as high as #2. There was a clear top 5 that year, and we were gonna pick whoever dropped to us. In retrospect though, we might have been better off if we'd finished a draft spot or two lower, as out of that "blue chip" top 5 only Spezza and Kovalchuk panned out.

Never saw much out of Smirnov, but to be fair that was a pretty garbage draft and we were picking from a pretty questionable bunch by our pick. I don't think any of the names bandied about for our draft slot turned out to be anything of note.

 

[Kevin Forbes]

really thought they had something in chistov after his rookie year. then he forgot how to score in year 2 and that was it

smirnov was just an awful pick from the start. they saw how big he was and drafted him based off that

Yeah, in my old age, I've taken a more sympathetic view to "busts" (hence my interest in sharing the Popovic podcast).

Smirnov was big and he was a great skater. But the rest of his game just wasn't there. If memory serves, they even had him playing defense during his last year to see if his mobility and size could help back there.

In any case, I think Chistov and Smirnov really struggled with coming to North America and Anaheim didn't do a great job supporting them. Their second year was Fedorov year and if the stories about how the Ducks/Burke were trying to keep Lupul/Getzlaf/Perry away from Fedorov's partying ways after the lockout, leading to the trade with Columbus, it's easy to imagine that Sergei wasn't really helping them transition.

Lupul talked a bit about their struggles with transition too: Joffrey Lupul puts experience of Russian NHLers into perspective

Plus Smirnov spent more time in Cincy, so his overall experience (and transition to NA) was probably even worse than Chistov's.