Ask Me About My Left-Winger

By now you probably know that Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry are fraternal twins. The only difference between the two is that Perry can’t grow facial hair and Getzlaf thinks he’s Mr. Clean. But every forward combination has three skaters. Where’s their triplet? Wouldn’t Bob Murray like to know?

Murray has been the Anaheim’s General Manager since 2008. He adopted Getzlaf and Perry only a short time into their NHL careers. After the Edmonton Oilers signed Dustin Penner to an offer sheet, Murray has stuck them with a carousel of left-wingers.

The numbers going forward are specifically with Ryan Getzlaf gathered from stats.hockeyanalysis.com.

Chris Kunitz is the first left wing that comes to mind. Every Canadian star’s hype man played 1069 minutes with Getzlaf. Together they posted a staggering 59 CF%. Not too shabby, but then Ryan Whitney happened.

Bobby Ryan was the Ducks’ next big thing after he was drafted second overall following Sidney Crosby. The RPG line went on to have tremendous success. Ryan played a total of 2553 minutes with Getzlaf in his time in Southern California. The three were arguably the most feared offensive line in the NHL during that time. Ducks fans thought they had a winner in Ryan, but Silver wanted too much money years down the line. “Might as well trade him before this gets awkward,” said Bob Murray in his bathroom mirror.

Soon, Matt Beleskey came onto the scene. Beleskey found himself with Getzlaf for over 868 minutes. #39 was notorious for being a checking forward that was always around the puck. I love the guy, but he was nothing more than a third line winger. And so the trend began.

Murray started to get sentimental and went back to the heavy route. Patrick Maroon found his way onto the top line for over a season. He was never the fastest skater, but he was more than willing to win battles along the boards. As Maroon started to produce, his contract demands also went up. The heavy cycle was successful enough that Murray traded Maroon and replaced him with a younger version in Nick Ritchie.

More fluff, more goals.

If you’re ever feeling down and need a pick-me-up, here is a list of line mates Ryan Getzlaf has played with since 2008. For humor sake the cutoff was at 30 minutes. The notables:

Teemu Selanne, Kyle Palmieri, Todd Bertuzzi, Rickard Rakell, Devante Smith-Pelly, David Perron (all above 265 minutes played).

Now things get entertaining.

Niklas Hagman, Jason Blake, Chris Stewart, Rene Bourque, Joffrey Lupul, Emerson Etem, Todd Marchant, Jiri Sekac, Jamie Mcginn, Mike Santorelli, Travis Moen, Carl Hagelin, Daniel Winnik, George Parros, KYLE CALDER (!), Ryan Garbutt, Brandon Pirri, Erik Christensen, Nate Thompson, Brendan Morrison, Brian Sutherby, Brandon McMillan, Dan Sexton, Evgeny Artyukhin, Brad Winchester, and Mike Brown.

It’s a strange thought, but maybe all Getzlaf and Perry need is a quality NHL forward to play with. Hopefully Patrick Eaves or Rickard Rakell (lefties are overrated in 2017) can do the trick in 2017-2018.

Do you have what it takes to be Anaheim top line left wing? Chances are Bob Murray is ready to give you a shot.