Hockey

Game #46 – Ducks vs. Hawks Preview: Picking On Your Own Size

By Sam Fels 1343 0

vs.

RECORDS: Ducks 17-22-5   Hawks 19-20-6

PUCK DROP: 7:30

TV: NBCSN Chicago

OC GANGSTAS: Anaheim Calling

After dropping yet another two games against teams they want to catch to barely hang on to the playoff chase, the Hawks get a rare Saturday night home game against one of the few teams in their wake. The Anaheim Ducks are in the middle of the rebuild the Hawks won’t allow themselves to take on, transitioning from the Getzlaf-Perry era to whatever Sam Steel and the rest of the kids can produce.

We’ll start with the Hawks, who are once again trotting out this mess of a lineup. As we said in the lineups post, yes the Hawks have injuries. And yes the roster wasn’t very good to begin with. But this is as mangled group of forwards as you’re likely to ever see. David Kampf is not a winger, much less a scoring winger, and has no business playing with Dach and Top Cat. Patrick Kane is a third-liner with one worker bee in Ryan Carpenter and one dunderhead in Alex Nylander. Dylan Sikura, still better than any of Nylander, Highmore, or Quenneville, has whatever confidence he might have gleaned from breaking his duck (sorry again) by sitting for another game. John Quenneville, whose next contribution that you’d notice will be his first, remains on the top line with Kubalik and Toews.

This is a one line team right now. So make it one. Put Kane up there with Toews and Kubalik and play them 22 minutes. Pair Sikura with Top Cat and Dach to give them speed and something of a puck-winner with skill. Use Kampf and Carpenter and Caggiula as a checking line. Mash a fourth line together and play them sparingly. The answers are simple. None of them have been taken, and it’s no wonder these players refuse to bother until they’re on the verge of getting embarrassed.

Anyway, Lehner starts even though he missed the morning skate as he’s over his knee- or ankle-knack.

Right, to the Ducks. Who suck. Truly down in the muck. Not sure why you should give a fuck? If you’re looking to us for help, you’re out of luck. You’ll see as soon as they drop the puck.

Let us have our fun.

Much like the Hawks, the Ducks are a top-heavy team. When Getzlaf and Silfverberg (who’s hurt anyway) and Henrique are out there, they can control the play. When they’re not, they get crushed. There’s a fair amount of kids out there now, like Steel, Comtois, Jones, Larsson, Ritchie (also hurt) and one or two others. The Ducks have admitted one era is over and it’s time to find the next one.

It’s still a pretty solid blue line with HAMPUS! HAMPUS! and Cam Fowler and Josh Manson (he’s mad…he’s bad…), despite Erik Gudbranson’s best efforts. Jacob Larsson is the kid back there that they will hope rises to meet the other three one days soon.

What the Ducks haven’t gotten is Vezina-level goaltending from Josh Gibson like they did for most of last season before he gave in to exhaustion. Ryan Miller hasn’t been much better, sending him back to his My Bloody Valentine records. Gibson has had it especially rough of late, so maybe Miller gets the start.

The Ducks don’t do anything especially well, but they might be eager to get out there in what could be a rare road win for them. It’s really about keeping their top six from going totally off, and you can do that through matchups if Colliton were ever bothered (he’s not). Toews has almost always caused Getzlaf to shrivel and give up, and probably can still in both of their advanced ages.

And if the Hawks can’t get this one before heading out on the road…well, that’s probably it. It’s probably it anyway.

Hockey

Game #46 – Ducks vs. Hawks Spotlight: Getz Shorty

By Sam Fels 1299 0

In the easiest sense, Ryan Getzlaf’s legacy is more than secure. Other than Teemu Selanne, he’ll go down as the greatest Duck in their history (whatever that’s worth). He’ll be a Hall of Famer, thanks to the 1,000 career points he’ll rack up before too long. It might even be first ballot, buoyed by having two gold medals for Team Canada which is seen as delivering your people out of the desert up there. He’s even got a ring, which came as a second center at a very young age. There’s not much to point to on the surface.

Still, those in the know we’ll say that once this became Getzlaf’s team, once he was the #1 center, he didn’t stand up to be counted when it mattered most. The Ducks managed two conference final appearances in that time, and in those springs he was chucked to the curb by either Jonathan Toews or various Predators. His style of floating around the outside and looking for passes didn’t inspire his team to greater heights. There was never a charge to the middle to get the goal his team had to have, both literally and figuratively. The past 13 seasons since the Ducks won have been short. Even the crosstown Kings have basically erased the memory of the Ducks one championship, and capitulating to Anze Kopitar in their one playoff series doesn’t help much.

And that might be what most remember, the string of Game 7 losses at home (there were five) where Getzlaf wasn’t anywhere to be found. These are the moments that people remember about players, and Getz doesn’t have any. There is symbolism in Toews or Kopitar or even Johansen scoring in those games and Getzlaf just waiting until it was time to grab his golf clubs. Maybe the points and the paycheck were always enough for him. Only he will know.

The Ducks are clearly ready to move on to the next generation, as Sam Steel, Max Comtois, Isac Lundestrom and others are getting serious time. Perhaps there’s one more move to make.

Getzlaf has the option of taking on one more chase for a ring, being that final, veteran piece. He has one year left on his deal after this one, and at the deadline or even in the summer he would still have value to a contender that needs a second line center. One that can flourish if someone else is taking the heavy fire. Getz’s $8.2M hit is big, but not so large that a team couldn’t make it work. The Ducks don’t have a ton of room to absorb some of his salary or take bad money back, but it’s it can be worked.

Is that what Getzlaf wants? The word on the street is that he’s always been happy to be out of a spotlight in Orange County, and you can’t argue with being warm all the time and amassing points that don’t matter beyond scrutiny of a ravenous fandom and media. You get the impression a market like Toronto or Boston or Vancouver would eat him alive. It would for a lot of players. After all he has accomplished and the money he’s made, you can certainly see why he feels he can duck it (sorry).

And those questions will certainly fade when he retires, which could be as soon as summer 2021 when that contract runs out. They’ll just see the statsheet. Will Ducks fans themselves think there should have been more? Perhaps with another bounce or two, or more inspiring performances from Getzlaf, they could have won in ’15 or ’17 or even ’14. Maybe it was always the goalies’ fault. That would be his and Bruce Boudreau’s argument.

A ring, two gold medals, 1,000 points. It doesn’t sound like a disappointment. But if that’s how it ends, it probably should be, just a little bit.

Hockey

Game #46 – Ducks vs. Hawks: Hedley Lamarr’s Mugs, Pugs, And Thugs

By Sam Fels 1212 0

Erik Gudbranson – It’s actually surprising this wasn’t the pylon the Hawks opted for in the summer. He would have fit right in. Gudbranson is the perfect Tallon player, in that he’s big, slow, and dumb, and sunk the Panthers and Canucks in his past. But the most frustrating thing is that this Mongo kept Olli Maatta out of the lineup in Pittsburgh, and the Hawks thought that qualified to give up Dominik Kahun (three assists last night) for. The Hawks opted for a player worse than Erik Gudbranson, at least in the eyes of a more successful organization than them right now.

Ryan Getzlaf – They say Kirby Dach could be a young Getz. That’s the last thing you’d want, because if he spends his career loitering around the outside and taking his 75 easy points without ever getting between the circles when it matters, the Hawks will go nowhere for a long time. Thankfully, it hasn’t looked like that at all. Yet.

Max Comtois – Sounds like something you need three drinks before getting the courage to ask your girlfriend to do it.

Hockey

Game #13: Hawks 2, Ducks 2 – Hawks Win Prep School Debate Club Matchup

By Rose Rankin 1762 0

One of the most confounding things about this Blackhawks team is its inconsistency. And tonight, that showed itself in them not repeating their woeful Saturday night performance and instead playing like a functional hockey team for most of the game. I know, crazy, right? Not that I’m complaining—let’s be honest, having to watch back-to-back games as bad as the one against the Kings might have caused me to have a stroke, so I’m OK with THIS inconsistent play. It’s been a long weekend so let’s just get to the bullets:

Box Score

Natural Stat Trick

–The first period tonight really couldn’t have been more different from that which took place 24 hours earlier. Whereas against the Kings they gave up two goals in less than five minutes and couldn’t stop tripping over their own dicks, in the first period tonight the Hawks SCORED two goals, and led in shots 15-12, and also led in possession with a 58 CF% at evens. They were playing, well, competent hockey. That really shouldn’t be so remarkable, but after some of the garbage we’ve seen, including such recent garbage, it is.

–One thing I’d like to think played a role in the reduction of garbage play is the lineups. Tonight DeBrincat-Strome-Kane was finally rolled out as the second line, which I among many other people have been clamoring for loudly for weeks. Saad-Toews-Nylander was your top line, and wouldn’t ‘ya know it, those lines finished with 60 CF% and 54 CF%. Who could have forseen that those guys would play well together? Obviously not Colliton. Kirby Dach moved to wing with Dominik Kubalik and David Kampf centering them, which actually makes perfect sense given Kubalik’s skill and Kampf’s defensive abilities. On that note Kampf completely bounced back from a shitty performance Saturday. Kubalik also looked promising but he kept trying to pass instead of shoot. So it’s nice that he and Dach are trying to develop some “chemistry” or whatever (I don’t like that term, but it’s a good catch-all), but Kubalik needs to trust himself a little more and just take the shot. Playing wing should also make life a little easier for Dach as he adjusts to what his life is now, which has been deemed to be up with the top club all year.

–Speaking of youngsters, A New Hope Adam Boqvist scored his first NHL goal. It came just a power play expired, when the unit was Boqvist, Kubalik, Toews, Dach and Nylander. And I’ve gotta tell you I am excited about that unit (and you know my skepticism about Fetch Nylander). But, Fetch has been playing better lately, there’s no denying that. More importantly, if this really is the next generation they’ve got to be a functional power play unit, so it was quite a relief to see that it’s possible. No, they’re not going to play great every night, but there IS potential. The Hawks also scored on a 5-on-3 where Alex DeBrincat had a great tap-in on an open net, and while that again shouldn’t be big news, at this point any scoring, and particularly any special teams scoring, is absolutely big news.

–The return of Erik Gustafsson was relatively uneventful. He wasn’t Slater Koekkoek bad, so whatever.

–Jonathan Toews got hosed on two penalties, the second of which resulted in the tying goal in the third. I firmly believe that bad calls get worked out karmically with calls that randomly go your way, so what will be will be. However, as I said on Twitter, that was pretty much bullshit that let the Ducks tie it up.

–Which brings us to the latter part of the game, where the possession tanked and the Ducks passed the Hawks in shots (and tied the game, of course). Again, the penalties were not the entire story so I’m not suggesting the refs stole the game—the Hawks had plenty of opportunity to play better in their own zone in the third and on power plays where they gave up shorthanded chances with alarming regularity. So things are still clearly a work in progress, and one improved game does not a good hockey team make.

–And the reason that defensive breakdowns didn’t result in the Hawks being embarrassed was…wait for it…goaltending. I said it before and I’ll say it again—duh, of course it was. Robin Lehner was outstanding, with a .947 SV% and enough highlight reel saves to count on two hands. Beyond the flashy shit, though, he was generally excellent with positioning and rebounds, as the Hawks need from anyone who has to play in net behind the likes of Brent Seabrook and Olli Maatta.

The fact that the Hawks got three points out of this weekend is kind of insane given how terrible they were for half of it, but whatever, maybe that Southern California environment is what they need. Onward and upward…

 

Hockey

Game #13 – Hawks vs. Ducks Spotlight: The Best Goalie In The League Is The Winter Soldier

By Sam Fels 1605 0

If you were to guess which goalies had the best save percentage since 2015, you might get Ben Bishop. He’s been really good, played behind some good Lightning teams, and then behind the trapping Stars last year. You’d figure Andrei Vasilevskiy would be there too, given that he pushed Bishop out of Tampa. Robin Lehner would be a surprise, but that’s the case. Wouldn’t shock you that Corey Crawford is fifth, even though he hasn’t played behind a good defensive team since before this stretch. Sergei Bobrovsky scans as well.

Did you know John Gibson is tied for first?

Yep, and there’s an argument that he’s the best goalie in the league. Because while the others have played behind at least competent teams for most of that stretch, Gibson was forced to prop up the Randy Carlyle led Ducks team, and remember that was a coach that couldn’t make toast. Last year, he even had to deal with a Bob Murray led Ducks team, and you can pretty much how that goes.

Last year, Gibson was the Vezina front-runner until he basically collapsed due to exhaustion. He was seeing 32 shots per game, but faded in January and February with SV%s of .900 and .822 in just three Feb. starts after getting hurt. He rebounded in March with a .922, while still facing over 33 shots per game.

He might have been even more impressive the season before, as he put up a .926, and according to HockeyReference.com saved 25 goals over average that year. That’s something like 12-14 points in the standings, which would be the difference from finishing second in the division as the Ducks did and not even coming close to the playoffs. That’s how important Gibson has been to the rebuilding Ducks. Sadly…well, not sadly because fuck Anaheim, he couldn’t do much about the rest of his team being severely outplayed by the Sharks as they were swept out quicker than you can say, “Orange County Needs To Be Blown Up.”

And that’s probably Gibson’s last frontier to break, as he doesn’t have a signature playoff run. He backstopped the Ducks to the conference final three seasons ago, where they were pulverized by the Predators, but hardly anyone remembers that. The collapse against the Kings five years ago is still fresh in the mind.

The other thing about Gibson, and it’s hard to believe because it was signed by Murray, is that he might have the best contract in the league. He signed an eight-year extension before last season that kicked in this one, and at 26 for the next eight years he’s making only $6.4M. Vezina goalies can make close to twice that, though that’s not going all that well for Carey Price or Sergei Bobrovsky. Gibson has time on his side, of course.

Whether the Ducks can give Gibson the support in front of him anytime soon, who knows? There are some kids that are promising, and Ryan Getzlaf seems to be summoning up a death rattle this season so far. And yet the Ducks remain one of the worst possession teams or goals-share teams, which means Gibson and backup Ryan Miller are getting shelled most nights. They won’t have to worry about that tonight obviously, but for the next eight years, Gibson will provide a baseline for this team they can build from that’s ahead of most bottom-feeders.

Murray actually got something right. What a world.

Everything Else

Farewell To A Formidable Foe

By Sam Fels 3312 0

In case you missed the news yesterday under the far brighter lights of the playoffs or it actually being warm for a change, Ryan Kesler is likely to miss all of next season after hip resurfacing surgery. This will be Kesler’s third major surgery, his second on his hip, and not only will he miss out next year, you get the feeling this is likely it for him. While one of the Bryan brothers in tennis (it doesn’t matter which one, does it?) have returned after this procedure, and Andy Murray is going to try to, Kesler at 36 and to hockey seems a stretch. Maybe he can, I just wouldn’t bet on it.

If it is the end, it will be the end of pretty much our favorite non-Hawk player to write about. Kesler was strange in that way. There probably wasn’t anyone who pissed us off more, his constant jabbering and cheap shots along with some big goals. His “feud” with Andrew Ladd, which basically involved him getting the shit kicked out of him, calling Ladd a coward for that, and then refusing to fight Ladd after doing so was kind of the height of heel-dom. You were waiting for Bobby “The Brain” Heenan to escort him off the ice. You get the feeling Jonathan Toews would still knife him if given the chance. You knew exactly what Toews and the Hawks were in for in 2015, and you got every bit of it. Kesler’s bravado in what he thought was right, and how it came up empty once again. He was the biggest and probably as close to perfect hockey villain you’ll find in the modern game. He could make your blood boil.

And yet other than Jarome Iginla, there probably isn’t a player since we started this blog that we wanted on the Hawks more. When he asked out of Vancouver, we wrote furiously and regularly about all the ways the Hawks could get him and what it would take, perhaps in the vain hope that someone somewhere would see it and bring it to Stan. Or that Patrick Kane would demand he be brought here after their Team USA excursions together. Maybe it was just the relief of not having to deal with him in another jersey we sought. Maybe because the Hawks haven’t had anyone like him since…god who even knows? Kesler’s snarl, brashness, combined with his actual ability probably goes all the way back to Roenick here.

That’s the thing about Kesler. For all the bullshit he put out there, it wasn’t bullshit because he could actually play. Mostly the yapping and pest-ing is reserved for players who can’t do anything else. But Kesler wasn’t that. He’s got a Selke for a reason. Multiple 70+ point seasons on his resume. Nine 20-goal seasons.

And he did it when it mattered most. A rite of springtime in Vancouver was Kesler carrying that team when the Sedins decided it was too hard.. He was everywhere in 2011, the city of Nashville basically declared war on him and he just kept kicking their ass and making them like it, until his body gave out and no one was there to pick up the slack. He was the biggest threat in 2015 when Getzlaf and Perry waved a dismissive hand at proceedings and wouldn’t come inside the circles. He even flashed some of that old self in the Ducks’ last trip to the conference final, though by that point his body was giving up the ghost.

Hockey has so few trash-talkers-but-back-it-up types. Most of the yapping is done from the bench from guys who play less than 10 minutes. It’s why we think David Backes is such a joke. Andrew Shaw when he was here was only a Diet version of Kesler, and now is just Diet Backes. Brad Marchand picked up the torch. But are there too many more? Not really.

Kesler vs. Toews harkened back to an older time of hockey, and maybe we enjoyed it because Toews always came out on top. You probably still can’t leave Joel Otto and Mark Messier in a room together. It was that type of personal duel in a team game. Joe Thornton would probably like a word with Kesler, too. Hell, there’s a whole list that would scroll onto the floor. And they always had to line up right against each other in every faceoff they took in those series. The fatigue of each other was palpable, and that was before the series even started.

I remember all the crap. I remember all the cross-checks and slashes and punches to the back of the head. I also remember Kesler literally diving headfirst into Corey Perry’s asshole to score an empty-netter to seal the US’s win over Canada in 2010. I remember him picking a fight with the entire country. Or guaranteeing he would score on Luongo, which he did. I also remember him ultimately coming up short, which is another main theme of Kesler’s career. It all happened with Kesler.

But it wasn’t ever Kesler’s fault. If the Sedins had shown 75% of his hutzpah in 2011 the Canucks probably get one game in Boston. If Getzlaf hadn’t done his normal quit thing when things are hard, or if Freddie Andersen wasn’t Freddie Andersen, the Ducks probably win that series and go on to win the Cup, too.

But it makes Kesler a more poetic figure that after doing all that he could, and all that he shouldn’t, it was never quite enough. He pretty much did everything he could in every possible way, and it wasn’t enough. For those who never had him on their team, it probably makes you smile. But that part of you that wanted him on your side, you have to feel for him a little. The fact that he never quite got it, that he thought all his and his team’s physical pressure would win the day, that he could enforce his way to victory instead of play his way, gave him a delightful, tragic idiot shine.

Kesler will always have the last laugh on me. I had to buy an ex-girlfriend a Kesler USA jersey before the ’14 Olympics. I sincerely enjoyed doing so. And I nearly got one for myself.

Farewell, Ryan. I doubt a player will ever make me feel murderous rage and insane devotion at the same time as you did. I’ll miss that.

Everything Else

Game #64 – Hawks vs. Ducks Preview/Guitar Tuning: Scalpers’ Night Off

By Sam Fels 1893 0

vs.

RECORDS: Hawks 26-28-9   Ducks 24-30-9

PUCK DROP: 9pm

TV: NBCSN

MICKEY’S BUDDIES: Anaheim Calling

You can probably imagine the execs at NBCSN wishing they had flex scheduling tonight. Or maybe they wish they didn’t have to put up with the NHL at all. Either way, a Hawks-Ducks matchup on your flagship night is sure to result in some shaking heads and sighs around the offices and truck and a declaration of, “Let’s just get through this”. But hey, this is our duty, and we’ll stick to it.

If you want to be relieved in finally getting to watch a team that’s a bigger mess than the Hawks, well you’re in luck the next two dates on the Hawks’ calendar. The Ducks have become perhaps the league’s leading calamity, and if they’re not it’s up the I-5 for the Hawks on Saturday afternoon. There was a time when Anaheim was floating around the playoff spots, though that was solely due to John Gibson and his Vezina-worthy form at the time. Then that dropped off, then he got hurt, and all that was left was Randy Carlyle‘s bashing-two-rocks-together system and ways, which was getting the Ducks pummeled every night to begin with.

They went 12 in a row without a win. Then they piled on seven regulation losses in a row soon after that. They’ve lost three in a row heading into this one, scoring two goals in the process. All told, since the middle of December this team is 5-19-4. That’s how you go for broke in the lottery, peeps. Whatever I might think of Jeremy Colliton, I can confidently say he’s no Randy Carlyle.

In a move his mentor Bob Pulford would undoubtedly nod in approval over, before falling over into a puddle of his own puke, Bob Murray finally shitcanned RANDY and inserted himself behind the bench. Perhaps he wanted a better look at the refuse he’s taped together, or perhaps whatever dignity he has left wouldn’t allow him to subject any other poor soul to this. It hasn’t much helped, as you might be able to tell.

The Ducks are somehow worse than the Hawks defensively and metrically, and basically have been all season. Carlyle’s tactics didn’t help, which seemed to harken back to 2007, the only time he knows. That and helmets actually cause concussions. This guy had an NHL coaching job, people.

Not only are the Ducks irretrievably bad and expensive, they’re now banged up. Ryan Getzlaf, John Gibson, and Ryan Miller could all miss out tonight. Ondrej Kase definitely will. This roster is basically bong residue. Ryan Kesler is dead and has also stopped caring, which is a real shock. Corey Perry returned from surgery 12 games ago and is a fourth-liner making $8 million. Hampus! Hampus! has lost the will to live, and Cam Fowler‘s injury history has finally caught up to him and now he’s terrible.

If there’s any hope for the Ducks, it’s that some of their kids are up and are probably going to get a look. Names like Sam Steel, Troy Terry, Max Jones, and Brendan Guhle are going to be carrying whatever the Ducks are going forward, so that at least gives their 12 fans something to watch. But this is a whole lot of ugly right now, which is perfect for this part of Orange County. If you’ve been there, you know.

For the Hawks, their playoff “chase,” such as it was, probably came to an end with the o-for-2 at home on the weekend. However, with the Ducks and Kings on the schedule they have a chance to at least get back where they were, and maybe you spring a surprise on the Sharks on Sunday night (no, you don’t). If the Hawks don’t collect all four points from the first two-thirds of this trip, they’re officially cooked and we can get on with our lives.

It’s unlikely that Corey Crawford will get the start, though he’ll get one on the weekend. Then again, you can’t ask for a softer landing than this. This should be a glorified practice against a team now running out the clock, but nothing is ever that simple for an outfit like the Hawks. This one’s for the diehards only, and the true creatures of the night.

See you there.

 

Game #64 Preview Suite

Preview

Spotlight

Q&A

Douchebag Du Jour

Lineups & How Teams Were Built

Everything Else

Game #64 – Hawks vs. Ducks Spotlight: Hampus! Hampus! For Chicago

By Sam Fels 1443 0

After a disastrous weekend that, if it didn’t turn the Hawks’ playoff chase to cinders, certainly threw it on the fire. So you’ll be forgiven if your eyes turn to next year and beyond, which is really what this season has been about all along. Except the Hawks didn’t have anyone to develop for next year, unless you count Henri Jokiharju, who isn’t here. Nor do Drake Caggiula or Dominik Kahun count. So basically it’s Dylan Strome and that’s it.

But in looking toward next season, you can dream about how the blue line will change. How it has to change, even if the Hawks’ front office doesn’t see it, or believes they have enough time to wait for their four kids who’ll never fit on the roster together anyway. If your scout’s hat is on, we get it.

There is only one name on the free agent pool that will change anything, and that’s Erik Karlsson. And he will be as expensive as possible, and may not be interested in coming to a team that is definitely in flux, at best. Maybe all it takes is money, but the Hawks seem unlikely to flash that kind of wad even if EK65 was batting his ever so lovely lashes at them. And the rest of the free agent pool blows when it comes to d-men.

So that means trade. Or trades. Jacob Trouba will be available for a price, but he’s spent the season proving he might not quite be worth the ransom the Jets would ask, and that’s before the intra-divisional tax. Cody Ceci is another who’ll be RFA, but he’s…well, he’s got a terminal case of being Cody Ceci. The Hawks have inquired before, but they have to aim higher.

We present Hampus Lindholm.

Hampus! Hampus!’s numbers won’t leap off the page at you. 34 points is his career-high. 13 goals is another. But you have to look deeper than that.

Lindholm’s defensive responsibilities have grown and grown as he’s gone along, with a dwindling number of shifts starting in the defensive zone. That hasn’t stopped him topping the team-rate in Corsi, scoring chances, and until this season, high-danger chances. And keep in mind the last three seasons he’s been playing for the dumbest coach in the world. It’s hard to judge anyone under that. When he had a coach that played at least an up-tempo style in Bruce Boudreau, he simply kicked around what was in front of him, including carrying a 57% share in ’14-’15. He is one of the more underrated d-men in the league.

And he’s done it with a couple partners, so he’s not a product of getting to play with someone special and just coattail-riding. He’s mostly been with Josh Manson, but also Brandon Montour and some Cam Fowler, and he’s always lifted them up. He is what the Hawks are looking for, especially as they need someone who can lift a player or two up.

So, why would the Ducks trade a 25-year-old d-man who does all these things? Especially one signed for three more seasons at an incredibly reasonable $5.2M hit? Because A) they’re the Ducks and they’re stupid and B) because they’re going to have to jump-start a rebuild with something. Their forwards are just going to be salary-clearing, which won’t net much in return. They just re-signed Jakob Silfverberg for some unknown reason, which might have gotten them something tangible in return.

They have to cash in on a chip somewhere. Offer them Boqvist, because the idealized version of Boqvist is probably Lindholm anyway. Offer them Boqvist and Beaudin, fuck. There’s not enough room for everyone, and you can make do with Jokiharju and Mitchell. Or offer them Jokiharju, who’s development you might have already fucked but other teams don’t know that yet. You need a splash, and Hampus! Hampus! is it.

The Hawks are going to have to get creative. Here’s a start.

Game #64 Preview Suite

Preview

Spotlight

Q&A

Douchebag Du Jour

Lineups & How Teams Were Built

Everything Else

Game #64 – Hawks vs. Ducks Q&A: CJ Woodling of AnaheimCalling.com

By Sam Fels 1449 0

CJ is the editor of AnaheimCalling.com. Follow him @CJWoodling. 

Now that the Ducks have decided to start over, is Bob Murray really the guy you want leading this rebuild?

The Ducks have decided to do more of a retool rather than a full-blown rebuild, more out of necessity than anything else. With more than 30% of the Ducks cap space tied up in Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Ryan Kesler, all with full NMCs for the next 3-4 seasons, they really can’t completely blow it all up.
That said, they have some good prospects on the verge of making an impact, some of while we’ll see tonight in Troy Terry, Max Jones, and Brendan Guhle, to name a few. With John Gibson still just 25 and locked up for 7 more years and younger pieces like Rickard Rakell, Hampus Lindholm, and Ondrej Kase, they could be competitive again very soon.

Bob Murray has never had to do a retool like this, however. He inherited a team in 2009 with a recent cup win and transitioned it to a consistent competitor without rebuilding. Most of us are willing to see what he can do with this team given the pieces he currently has.

Why was Jakob Silfverberg someone the Ducks decided they have to have?

Bob Murray has a history of handing out extensions like candy to anyone who has performed halfway decently in recent seasons. Jakob Silfverberg has been a good two-way player and a good playoff performer over the years. Murray loves his safe, low-risk, two-way players, so it’s not surprising he wanted to hang onto him. The fan base, however, is fairly divided over the extension.
There’s a ton of bad paper on the Ducks. Is anyone getting bought out in the summer?
There are three candidates for buyout on the Ducks in Getzlaf, Perry, and Kesler. Murray has only every bought out one player in his tenure, so it’s unlikely he does it again, especially for one of these expensive players.
Getzlaf is still a borderline-elite player, so he’s off the board. Corey Perry has looked fantastic since coming back from knee surgery, so he’s probably off the table as well. That leaves us with Ryan Kesler, who has less than 10 points on the season and who’s hip is on the verge of exploding at any moment. Buying out Kesler would save the Ducks more than $4 million, but put more than $2 million on the books for six more seasons. Not sure if ownership is willing to swallow that.

Might the Ducks have to lose someone who is young and productive just to accommodate all the bad paper they have and get picks/prospects?

We kind of saw that with the trade of Brandon Montour, trading a 24-year-old good, offensive blueliner for a 1st round pick. However, getting Brendan Guhle back, a 21-year-old with elite skating ability, might mitigate what was lost there. With several kids on the verge of making an impact on the Ducks, I don’t foresee the Ducks losing another young and productive player unless next season unexpectedly goes down the tube again.

 

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Game #64 – Hawks vs. Ducks Douchebag Du Jour: GMBM Is The Worst Kind Of Movement

By Sam Fels 1500 0

Yeah, we’re jaded. Bob Murray was the “GM” of the Hawks when Jeremy Roenick was traded, which took the Hawks a couple decades to recover from. Really he was just Pulford’s and Wirtz’s mouthpiece. He also oversaw the trades of Eddie Belfour and Chris Chelios, which is something like seeing over pissing on the ashes of the building you already helped destroy.

But in case you were wondering what it looks like to sign old players to bad contracts and then watch them deteriorate without the banners and memories, we present Murray and the Anaheim Ducks. This is what Stan Bowman would appear to the world if he wasn’t sitting in the chair for three Cups.

It was Murray who signed Getzlaf and Perry to contracts that pay them until heat-death, even though they were over 30 and Getzlaf was already proving to be a dog who just floated around the outside and looked for a pass that would relieve him of responsibility. Perry’s style was always liable to break down his body. Ryan Kesler’s body was already breaking down when Murray added another six years to his contract. That’s $23.6M per year for the three, thank you very much.

While Murray did build the team that did make two conference finals in three years, he also hired Randy Carlyle, who remember, couldn’t make toast. He just re-signed Jakob Silfverberg, who would seem to define the term “middle six guy.” He is lukewarm if ever a player was. Adam Henrique just got a new contract that takes him well into his 30s, and you wouldn’t know Adam Henrique from Adam (that’s convenient).

So it’s a wonder why he has been allowed to start the rebuild the Ducks so desperately need, which he didn’t even really do. Shifting Andrew Cogliano is a definite “whatever” move, and that’s been about it. The Ducks have cap space next year with not really anyone they have to bring back, but they’ve always been a budget team so who knows how close to the rising cap they can get.

There are some kids in the minors who are lighting it up, but one wonders how much space there is for them unless the Senators are going to take all of the three aging, broken, ass-boils mentioned above off the Ducks’ hands. Murray nearly rolled the boulder up the hill, but then it rolled back over him on its way down. One wonders why he gets another try.

 

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