Good evening Anaheim.
As the Ducks have now dropped to bitter rivals the LA Kings and Edmonton Oilers amidst our last 7 games, it seems fitting to diagnose what has changed in these past two weeks that has our team falling. A massive skid, falling behind in scoring every single game, and being outscored 33 – 12. Adding onto this, I have just finished watching The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix. The series is directed by Mike Flanagan, and is a miniseries that compiles together Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous works into a loose narrative structure. I, being a huge fan of the show and a gigantic nerd, believe it would be fun to use this theme as we look into what has been going wrong for this Anaheim team.
Once Upon a Midnight Terry…
Let’s address the Raven in the room. Troy Terry has been bad. And that sucks. The player that used to be the franchise favorite, and its back-to-back all star representative, has fallen disastrously flat in the past 8 games. Casuals will point at his lack of goal production, which is absolutely fair. Our top winger isn’t scoring, and has been the “veteran Duck” on a line with a wickedly smart 18 year old center and a proven Stanley Cup champion. But what has sent off more sirens to me has been his shot output. Troy Terry, our newly minted $7 million dollar man, has 7 shots on goal in his past 8 games. 7. This is where I am most fearful, because that to me looks more like a confidence issue than anything else. I do not know what the weight of a team would feel like. I do not know what getting nearly your career earnings to this point in one year would feel like. But it seems like something happened in these past weeks, and I’m fearful it’s the weight of responsibility getting to him.
The PIM and the Pendulum
Two things can be true.
Mason McTavish has been the best offensive player on the Anaheim Ducks.
Mason McTavish has also been the most penalty reckless player on the Anaheim Ducks. Searching around in the dark, Mason has been put in a weird space for the Ducks. On one hand, he’s a true bulldog, just getting in everyone’s face, being physical and being a presence in the middle of the ice. On the other hand, he is still 20, has growing to do, and clearly is trying to get away with things that aren’t going to fly in the league. With a Greg Cronin system that is clearly demanding physicality and grit in the players, it’s easy to see why Mason is averaging 2 PIM per game in the last 8. If the team wants to get better, it needs to start with not getting themselves down a man early in the game. And if McTavish is a true future captain like people think he will be, he needs to lead from the front.
The Drys-Dale Heart // The Purloined Trevor
These two felt like they should be joined together. Injuries happen to each team, no NHL team in history ever finishes the year with the same roster they started with. But the writing on the wall is palpable here. With Jamie, you get the consideration of his injury from last year. No one knows how his rehab process went, and to what extent the injury was, but we were told and saw he was somewhat back in the first few games of the season. Obviously from this he’s been put back on IR, and no real update has been given. Zegras, in the midst of his defensive emergence, was also placed on IR and there’s no real timetable for whatever injury is nagging him. This team has shown a clear need for both of these players, especially Zegras, and with others failing to step up in their stead their return can’t come soon enough. With Terry’s woes offensively, it’s clear to see his best play comes from being deployed on the same line as Trevor. And with how our defense needs to play fast as much as it plays physical, having Drysdale out there could significantly help to limit opposing teams, even if just from a talent standpoint alone. Are there legs to the discussion that the two players who missed most of camp are the ones who got injured first in this high intensity coaching system? Maybe, but until they return, we can only guess.
The Cask of Cam-ontillado
Talk about getting a brick wall built in front of you. Cam Fowler has rather noticeably lost his step as the Ducks best defenseman and it’s sad to see. The main issue in my opinion: he’s just not as fast as he is relying on himself being. He’s showing his age, his fatigue, and he’s getting around the ice less like an offensive defenseman, and more like a jester at Carnival wanting more wine from a cellar with a fake wall (too much? probably). With the aforementioned injury to Drysdale, the team is crying out for someone to step into a top four role on the blueline alongside the veteran Fowler. This has led to the coaching staff hampering his ability to grow as a player by leveraging his versatility to have an impact now instead of developing him to be a complete defender. A fact that is perhaps best highlighted by his being deployed on his offside. Cam Fowler has just become a middle of the lineup defenseman now. Nothing flashy, nothing impressive, just a guy that is going to make just as many mistakes as he will good plays. It’s a weird resting place for a guy who is going to stay with the Ducks for as long as he wants and most Ducks fans still really enjoy watching.
via @AnaheimDucks on Twitter
Quoth the Official: “Not a Goal”
I’m not one to believe in curses. I believe in free will, people making their own decisions and having to make choices to make more choices later on. However, in the spirit of Poe, and this article, let’s see where the wheels really fell off for this team. Going 0-4 in regulation for a homestead is bad, especially with teams like St. Louis and Montreal on the docket. Extending it towards a 7 game losing streak, is another thing. So where did it all come from? The Silver-Bug not getting his deserved goal. Hex, curse, or whatever, any person watching the games from that moment onward could see the team hasn’t been what it used to be earlier in the season. The closest time the team came to snapping out of that may have been the Habs game, but more penalties and weird French Canadian magic ended that. Burn some sage, bury the puck, just do something. Right the ship Cronin, get the player’s feet back underneath them, and end November like how we started it.