The weekly rankings are back!!!!! For those who missed this segment last season, this is a weekly series on Anaheim Calling to take a look at how various players on the team have fared. I will rank a random topic along on a scale of 1 to 5 stars and place different Ducks within the categories based on their performance over the past week.
My reasoning for the rating of the Ducks will be based on stats, results, and probably some of my bias. My reasoning for the rating of the random topic will be completely biased #dealwithit. I will elaborate more on some players than others. I expect everyone to probably disagree with me on both topics and all of my takes will be outed. If there is something you would like me to rank, please feel free to leave it in the comments.
On to the fun!
The games included in the ratings for this week are October 23rd against the Blackhawks, October 25th against the Stars, and October 21st against the Sharks.
As I teased last week, this week’s rankings will be Halloween themed!! (I know Halloween was technically yesterday, but who cares? These are my rankings so I do what I want) So I will be ranking different parts of Halloween. As always, these rankings are 100% correct, and no one can tell me otherwise.
5 Stars: The Candy
As I proved on last week’s rankings, I am a candy aficionado. With this being established, I can say Halloween is the best time for a candy lover (Let’s be real that is everyone, besides maybe Thyme because he is a monster that likes Garlic Custard. Ya that is a real deep cut for the long time commenters on the site). If you are a child, you are allowed to go house to house taking candy from each person for free! If you are an adult, you can go buy a whole bag of candy at the store and no one will judge you for it. Little do they know that majority of that will not be passed out and will in fact just be eaten by you. Oh wait, that is only me??? Well whatever, like I said earlier, my rankings, my rules, mwaha.
No Duck had a 5 star week.
4 Stars: Pumpkin Carving
Pumpkin Carving is something that allows everyone to express their inner artist. People can go for something simple like a face or go really extravagant, like trying to make a Mighty Ducks logo that more or less falls apart in the middle of carving of it. That definitely is NOT something that happened to me a few years back. Definitely NOT. Regardless it is a fun time to sit down and get your hands dirty with your loved ones.
John Gibson – So this will be the first week that Gibson does not get the 5 star rating, but it isn’t because he was bad, he just was not amazing. He posted a 1.67 GSAA over the 3 games played in the week and a .913 SV%. He was bound to have a subpar week at some point, but this subpar week was still a 4-star performance.
Nick Ritchie/Pontus Aberg – Ryan Getzlaf – Rickard Rakell – This was the best line for the Ducks on the week. Ritchie played two games with Getzlaf and Rakell, while Aberg played with them in one game. I am including all 4 because of the impact Aberg had in the one game with Rakell and Getzlaf. All of them were around 45% CF% and they were the most productive line on the week. Getzlaf had 2 goals and 2 primary assists, Aberg had 2 goals, Rakell had 1 goal and 1 secondary assist, and Ritchie had 1 primary assist.
Marcus Pettersson – Not going to lie this one is puzzling to me, but I have to give credit where credit is due number wise. Pettersson put up the following shot and chance metrics: 55% CF%, 50% SCF%, and 37.5 HDCF%. With how the Ducks defense has played so far this year, these numbers are kinda mind blowing.
3 Stars: The Costumes
This might be a bit controversial but Costumes for Halloween is just average. Now if everyone did it right, then this would be higher, but the generic Party City costumes that everyone rocks keeps it at 3 stars.
Kiefer Sherwood – Sherwood was decent on the week. He did not score any points, but he was 5th on the team in CF% with a 46% CF%, along with a 50% SCF% and 46% HDCF%. For a guy that has been shifted up and down the lineup, he seems to always outperform expectations. If the Ducks as a whole ever right the ship, I can see him flourishing.
2 Stars: The Crash from the Candy
So we all know that everyone will eat lots and lots of candy on Halloween. Well a sugar rush will inevitably come from that along with the eventual crash. This crash can derail your night.
Cam Fowler – Josh Manson – This pairing was not very good, but they were not a complete tire fire at least. Both players put up a 43% CF%, 40% SCF%, and around a 40% HDCF%.
Andrew Cogliano – Ryan Kesler – Isac Lundestrom – This line was decent but still not great over the course of the week. None of them put up any points on the week, and like most of the team were poor in shot and chance metrics.
Adam Henrique & Ben Street – This was a tough one to place. These two played together for most of the week and were around 45% CF%, but lower in SCF%. Also Street ended the week with a 15% HDCF% and Henrique with a 46% HDCF%. They are kind of in this weird middle ground between 2 and 3 stars.
1 Star: The House That Gives Out Toothbrushes
These people are the ruiners of fun. Let the kids have a night without responsibility!!!!
Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Montour – Alright this experiment needs to end. Both players just do not mesh with one another. They each ended up around 39% CF%, 26% SCF%, and 25% HDCF%. Not good.
Luke Schenn – Schenn was not good in the 2 games he played in this week. 37% CF%, 35% SCF% and 25% HDCF%. Someone in the organization has started to realize that with the recent roster transactions.
Sam Steel & Brian Gibbons – These two played together for the majority of the week and neither put up great numbers over the week. Both were well below 40% in CF%, SCF%, and HDCF%. Not exactly what you want to see.
Unranked: Halloween Parties (The Adult Ones)
I tried to keep the ranking to more classic Halloween tropes, but I should mention Halloween Parties as an Adult. They are always a blast and should get some recognition in this week’s rankings.
Andy Welinski (1 Game Played), Jakob Silfverberg (1 Game Played), Joseph Blandisi (1 Game Played), Jacob Larsson (1 Game Played), Maxime Comtois (1 Game Played).
*All skater stats are from Naturalstattrick unless stated otherwise. All goalie stats are from Corsica unless stated otherwise.