People can criticize that approach if they want, but as long as management has adopted it, it makes sense not to rush out and trade for or sign some 28-30 Y/O to a long term deal when we already aren't sure what out future strengths and weaknesses will be as well as who might be worth moving in a deal for a future need. It's exactly why I never wanted Faulk at any price let alone giving up any good assets. We just need to be patient.
Our strengths are in forward potential and netminding (Dostal train is raring louder and louder). Hoping that one of Guhle, Larsson, or both become mainstays at the NHL level was a huge gamble. So much so that the Ducks were in on both Shattenkirk and Faulk.
I actually have no problem with Faulk for Kase, but I have a problem with a long term (which Bob correctly walked away from). Bob found an opportunity when the Canes signed Gardiner before getting rid of any roster defenseman first. We can afford to lose a forward because we're deep with forward prospects. What we are lacking at is an all around RHD b/c
we don't have that in our system. I thought Faulk was only a PP specialist, but through some research I discovered he loves to hit and block shots. It was his hitting, block shots, and health that enamored me with him because at least he plays defense. Also with Faulk, he would be the PP1 QB, displacing Fowler from the top unit.
Through a couple of articles, we know that Bob has been in touch with acquiring Gudz from Pitt. I think Bob was trying to wait it out for a better deal from Pitt, but we lost both Manson and Hampus. That facilitated an emergency to acquire Gudz at his price. I'm decently surprised that Gudz is fitting well with our defensive group as well as being the best pair complement to Fowler to date.
We haven't drafted a defenseman in the top two rounds before this year since we drafted Larsson, back in 2015. Guhle was a 2015 draftee as well, but in the second round at 51st overall. LaCombe was drafted this past draft and could stay in the NCAA for four years. Our situation today is reversed from recent years were we used to have a wealth of blue liners in our system.
Defensemen drafted by Ducks
2009: 4th round, Vatanen (we got lucky here)
2010: 1st round, Fowler
2011: 3rd round, Welinski and 6th round, Manson (we got extremely lucky here)
2012: 1st round, Lindholm
2013: 1st round, Theodore
2014: 2nd round, Pettersson and 2nd round, Montour
2015: 1st round, Larsson
2016: (
3rd round, Mahura... only defenseman drafted)
2017: =
no defensemen drafted =
2018: (
6th round, Drew... only defenseman drafted)
As you can see, we didn't spend any draft capital in the first two rounds in 2016 - 2018, a three year span. We got lucky with Vatanen and Manson. I included Welinski only because he did play in the playoffs with the Ducks, but his talent just wasn't enough. The only top two round prospect that hasn't panned out so far is Larsson.
Vats and Pettersson were traded for offense. Theodore was traded to protect Manson. Monty was traded for factors beyond my pay grade to know definitively, but the offer Buffalo gave the Ducks was probably a more significant reason as it was a young D prospect and a first round pick.
We're no longer deep at defense because we stopped spending draft capital on defensemen for the past three drafts in the first two rounds and we're not getting lucky with a Vatanen or a Manson. Vatanen wasn't a regular at the NHL level until age 23 and Manson at age 24. We spent a majority of our draft capital on forwards during 2016 - 18. What makes that three year span worse is we spent more draft capital on goalies than defensemen! In 2017, we drafted G Ek in the fifth round. In 2018, we drafted Dostal in the 3rd round and Durny in the 5th round.
The Ducks wanted to improve their forward situation as well as have depth at netminding. Thus, the defense suffered in reloading within the system. It's very possible that we trade a forward or two for defensive help. That's what I wasn't opposed to a Faulk trade, but on Duck term length. With the addition of Gudz and how he's panning out, we're coming up with roses as we gave away virtually nothing (a forward prospect I didn't know we had and a 2021 seventh round pick). Soon, Manson will return and we'll have a proper top-4 blue line without sacrificing any top forward prospects. I think we're getting lucky here. Unfortunately, that's where the luck ends because our youthful forwards are still ducklings and our PP stinks to holy hell. I'm more worried about lack of PP effectiveness than our struggling youth.
The PP suckage is due to lack of coaching than lack of talent. I don't have patience for that after 29 games.
Eakins, 2019-20 (29 games) : PP % = 10.5%
Murray, 2018-19 (26 games) : PP % = 21.8%
Almost the same roster, but someone can't coach their PP unit well.
