Monday Musings: Lines, Preseason, and Poltics

Monday Musings is my weekly platform to briefly touch on things in the Ducks’ and hockey world over the last seven days. I will talk about anything from a specific game to greater NHL issues and anything else that I feel I want to get my thoughts out on. Please feel free to discuss anything I bring up extensively in the comments, I look forward to hearing y’alls thoughts as well.

Anaheim’s Lineup

With the injuries that Anaheim has currently (Kesler, Lindholm, Vatanen, and maybe Eaves) many believe that the Ducks could be in a lot of trouble to start the season. Anaheim have been notoriously slow starters over the last few years and missing the key players they are could mean another rough October for the Southern California club. However, I am not all that concerned. I believe the young guns that Anaheim has invested time in the last few years (namely Ritchie, Kase, and Montour) are ready to assume larger roles with the big club and will be able to pick up a good amount of the slack left by Anaheim’s injured members. While I don’t expect them to suddenly be playing like season NHL vets, I firmly believe that the experience they’ve gained over the last season(s) has really manifested over the off-season and they will be a key part of Anaheim being a contender when their veterans return. [Note: Working on an an article taking a deeper dive into Anaheim’s current forward lineup. Was hoping to have it out last week but taking a little longer than I expected. Hoping to have it out ASAP.]

Preseason

It was a joke so everyone calm down. Preseason records and results don’t matter.

Politics

Obviously, the big talking point over the last weekend was the NFL anthem protests and everyone is choosing sides. The issue even bled into the NHL when the Pittsburgh Penguins announced that they would still be going to the White House after the Golden State Warriors decided they would pass on the visit. Everyone has been choosing sides all weekend, people have been throwing “stick to sports” around more than John Ahlers throws out Antoine Vermette’s faceoff stats, and it’s created quite the shit-storm.

This really hasn’t been covered here on AC throughout the weekend because I felt we had nothing fairly relevant to add to the conversation. And that usually is how things will go here. Political or moral issues will always come up and sometimes they will affect us personally, our site, or the sport we love. And, when they do, we will talk about them and give our views and opinions where we feel they are relevant and constructive. If you don’t like that, that’s totally fine. You, by all means, may skip those articles and move to a podcast, gameday preview, or anything else on our site. But they will happen and we reserve the right to talk about it when it happens. And to be clear, sports and politics are not mutually exclusive in this country. Both are so heavily ingrained in our culture and so much a part of what makes us all Americans. The two have never been separate and they never will be.

If you are curious, some of our sister sites have covered this issue extensively throughout the weekend and we encourage you to read their articles and consider what they have to say:

Pension Plan Puppets

Five for Howling #1

Five for Howling #2

Pensburgh

I debated closing the comments of this article from the start but I will leave them open for now. Our community guidelines are in effect as always and I will be keeping an eye on the comments closely. Anyone who is not willing to have a civil and adult discussion on sensitive issues like this should go somewhere else unless they want to be banned. -JC