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Anaheim Ducks Weekly Rankings Oct 3rd-Oct 8th: Too Gritty

Posted on by JakeRudolph

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 arbitrarily 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.

This season, we have our own DraftKings Fantasy League, therefore we have added to the bottom of the rankings this season the top performers of the week for the Ducks in daily fantasy. On to the fun!

The games included in the ratings for this week are October 3rd against the Sharks, October 6th against the Coyotes, and October 8th against the Red Wings.

One of the biggest and most influential announcements in the history of the NHL happened last week: The Flyers revealed Gritty to the world!!! This date will live in infamy and we will soon refer to all things hockey as Pre-Gritty and Post-Gritty. In honor of this grand occasion, I turn my ranking attention to Mascots in the NHL. Like last season, these rankings are 100% correct, and no one can tell me otherwise.

5 Stars: Gritty

The roller-coaster of emotions and takes that followed the announcement of Gritty was a spectacle to watch. Everyone was horrified- and quite frankly thought this was an elaborate joke from the Flyers, but as time went on that opinion started to change. People stopped laughing at the massive orange beard and the terrifying eyes that won’t stop moving, and started to realize Gritty represented all of us! From not being too proud to fall on the ice, to wanting to shoot someone with a T shirt cannon, Gritty is the mascot by the people, for the people.

Also just went we thought Gritty had gone and done it all, he does this:

Gritty is life!

John Gibson – Gibson posted a 4.5 GSAA over the first week of the season, winning all 3 games and having a .958 SV%. Yes you read that right: 4.5 GSAA and a .958 SV%. Nothing more needs to be said.

4 Stars: Wild Wing

I may catch flack in the Ducks community for placing Wild Wing at 4 stars, but this should not be seen as a knock. Just like the players listed below, Wild Wing is a very good mascot; he just is not on the same level as Gritty. Wild Wing is the perfect mascot for the franchise that came from Disney roots. His face is meant to be similar to the old Mighty Ducks crest, and was so beloved he actually got his own jersey along with a patch on other jerseys. In addition, many Ducks fans who were younger during the origins of the franchise will lovingly remember Wild Wing descending from the rafters before a game to hype up the crowd. Once again, Wild Wing will fly on Sunday games and old and younger fans will cheer.

Max Comtois – Adam Henrique – Jakob Silfverberg – This line was by far the most dangerous for the Ducks, with Comtois having 2 goals and a secondary assist, Henrique having 1 goal and 2 primary assists, and Silfverberg having 1 goal, 2 primary assists, and 2 secondary assists. Now you might be wondering with this type of production, why wouldn’t this line be at 5 stars? Well, it is due to their performance outside of the goal scoring. They were the worst line for the Ducks in CF%, with each player being around 30%, and they weren’t much better in SCF% and HDCF%. If it was not for their production this week, this line would be ranked a fair amount lower, to be honest. Good on them for scoring, but the play outside of that needs to improve.

3 Stars: Sabretooth

I don’t really have a great opinion on Sabretooth, but I mean he makes sense as being the Sabres mascot being a Saber Tooth Tiger. I guess that makes him average.

Andrew Cogliano – Sam Steel – Kiefer Sherwood – This line was not amazing this week, with all 3 players being below 50% in CF%, SCF%, and HDCF%. I probably should rank them a bit lower, but due to there being two rookies on the line I am going to give them a 3-star rating for starting to find their legs in the NHL.

Ben Street – Carter Rowney – Brian Gibbons – This line was surprisingly not that bad. Both Street and Rowney had a point on Rowney’s empty net goal against San Jose, but on top of that while they were on the ice the Ducks were not getting shelled. After the 4th line play the team received last season, this is a nice surprise. Street and Rowney were around 45% CF%, while Gibbons was at 57% CF%. On top of that Street and Gibbons were above 50% in SCF%, with Rowney being slightly below 50 at 48%, and all three were well above 50% in HDCF%. I would like to see them get a little more of the shot attempts, but if this is the performance the Ducks get from their 4th line moving forward, it would be a very big step in the right direction.

Josh Manson – Cam Fowler – It is somewhat surprising to me that the numbers how this pairing was average this week. I feel like any time I looked at who was on the ice after a disastrous play it was them. But this is actually a good way to show that the numbers have value. Yes those plays were or could have been disastrous, but outside of those memorable plays, this pairing was solid. Utilizing what we saw, we can all say they need to clean up the major mistakes, but also using the numbers we can say that if this pair eliminates those mistakes, they will become a positive force in the Ducks lineup. Granted their CF% was not great, both being underneath 40%, but both hovered around 45% in SCF% and HDCF%, which makes them the best D pairing on the week for the team. I know it’s a somewhat low bar, but still important to mention.

2 Stars: Chance

So can anyone please tell me why a team named the Golden Knights in a city as well known as Las Vegas went with something that looks like it belongs in Pokemon or as a baddie in Doctor Who? My “sources” -aka the internets- tell me he is supposed to be a Gila Monster, which is a venomous lizard native to desert areas. Nothing screams Las Vegas or Golden Knights like a lizard that people have to Google to figure out. There were so many things they could have done that would have been better than this monstrosity. They could have been boring and just had a Knight, they could have really bought into the name being Chance and have the mascot be dice or something. Any of these ideas would have been better than a Gila Monster. The sad thing is, he is not even close to the worst mascot in the league, which is why he only gets the 2 star spot.

Rickard Rakell – Ryan Getzlaf – Troy Terry – Rakell had 1 goal, 1 primary assist, and 1 secondary assist on the week, while Getzlaf had 2 secondary assists on the week. This line did not dominate the shot or chance battle either on the week, with each player being around 35% CF%, 30% SCF%, and 15% HDCF% on the week. I know Getzlaf went out near the end of the Arizona game, but this is the Ducks’ top line. If the team is going to have success, this line with Getzlaf needs to dominate play. I do want to give Terry a bit of a shout-out for getting much better as the week went along.

Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Montour – This pairing was not great this week, similar to the team as a whole. Both players were well under 40% in CF%, SCF%, and HDCF%. The main difference between them and the Fowler-Manson pairing is they were not able to transition the puck from the D zone to the O zone well enough to create dangerous scoring chances for.

1 Star: Hunter

People tried to make jokes when Gritty was announced, that he was nightmare fuel. Well they were obviously wrong, but Hunter IS actually nightmare fuel. Hunter is a Lynx, which of course makes total sense for a team named the Oilers, but this is not what makes him terrifying: it is the design of his face. Take one look at him and you will instantly see something that should be in some sort of werewolf horror flick. He looks like he is about to bite your head off. Hunter is without a doubt the worst mascot in the NHL.

Luke Schenn – Marcus Pettersson – Well this pairing was as bad as we all thought it might be. I think Pettersson did the best he could under the circumstances, but wow did the Ducks get shelled when they were on the ice. Pettersson finished the week with a 31.67 CF%, 34 SCF%, and 18 HDCF%. Schenn ended up with a 25 CF%, 12.5 SCF%, and 0% HDCF% (7 High Danger Chances against in 2 games played). They were bad. The Ducks need to not play Luke Schenn anymore.

Unranked: Youppi

Youppi was originally the mascot of the Montreal Expos and only became the mascot of the Canadiens once the Expos left town. I am leaving him unranked because he is not an NHL mascot in my opinion!!

(Full Disclosure: I am just doing this to irritate Felix.)

Pontus Aberg (1 Game Played), Andrej Sustr (1 Game Played), Isac Lundestrom (1 Game Played)

Draftkings Performers of the Week:

With a lot of my strategy in DraftKings being which players are riding a hot streak, the following are the list of Ducks that are riding that hot streak on DraftKings:

  • John Gibson – Over the course of 3 games played, Gibson scored 8.4 points per game. For the upcoming slate today, Gibson is the most expensive goaltender at $8500, but as can be seen with his average score, he is worth the cost.
  • Jakob Silfverberg – Silfverberg was the most productive forward, with 4.33 points per game. That is a pretty steady amount to have in the lineup, but he will cost $6400 dollars on the upcoming slate. My main concern is if he is not scoring, his peripheral stats (shots on goal and blocked shots) are not extremely high to make him worth it at that cost.
  • Maxime Comtois – Comtois was the best value forward on the Ducks roster this past week. He scored 3.5 points per game and with a $4500 price tag today, he is a viable option for use. He is hot right now and cheap.
  • Hampus Lindholm – Lindholm posted a 3.17 point per game fantasy week. He will have a salary of $4500 for today’s slate, which makes him a decent value option on the back end. My only concern with playing him is the lack of PP time.

If you are interested in joining in on the fun, check out this link to create an account

Once you have done that, check out the Anaheim Calling DraftKings League!

*All skater stats are from Naturalstattrick unless stated otherwise. All goalie stats are from Corsica unless stated otherwise. Draftings data per Rotogrinders

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