Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Bob Murray: Big difference between Ducks, Kings is Doughty

2014 NHL Stanley Cup Final - Game Three

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 09: Drew Doughty #8 of the Los Angeles Kings looks on during the third period of Game Three of the 2014 NHL Stanley Cup Final against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on June 9, 2014 in New York, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Getty Images

The Anaheim Ducks took the Los Angeles Kings to Game 7 in the second round of the 2014 NHL playoffs, so the gap between these two squads doesn’t appear to be huge. But it nevertheless exists and Ducks GM Bob Murray gave it a name when he asked about the missing pieces to Anaheim’s puzzle.

“You watch the Kings, for example, and you watch how Drew Doughty has emerged as a superstar,” Murray said, per the Ducks’ website. “Do we have a defenseman who can be that way? When we won the Stanley Cup, we had Scotty and Chris [Pronger]. That’s in the back of my mind all the time. Where is that guy, can you find that guy, and can you afford that guy?”

The Kings and former Ducks aren’t the only recent championship teams that have been backed by top-tier defensemen. The Chicago Blackhawks have Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, the Boston Bruins have Zdeno Chara, the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins had Sergei Gonchar, and the 2008 Detroit Red Wings had Nicklas Lidstrom.

Finding a blueliner that can lead you to glory on the free agent market rarely happens as teams are quick to lock up that caliber of player to a long-term contract and it’s similarly unusual to find one on the trade market.

In 2009, Philadelphia had to give up two first-round picks along with two former first-round selections (Joffrey Lupul and Luca Sbisa) to get Pronger mere months before his 35th birthday and even then, it was a good move for the Flyers. Pronger led them to the Stanley Cup Final and might have taken them that one step further had his career not been cut short due to a concussion.

Since they lost Pronger, the Flyers have tried desperately to fill that void, but even a team run as boldly as Philadelphia was lucky to succeed in getting a guy at that level on the market once in the last five years. Most teams haven’t accomplished that much.

So if the Ducks want their own Doughty, they’ll likely have to look within for answers. They have to hope that Cam Fowler continues to progress after taking a step forward in 2013-14 or perhaps that one of their top prospects like Shea Theodore emerges as a top-tier blueliner over the next five years.

In the meantime, Murray suggested that the team also needs a centerman and unlike Doughty-level defenseman, that is something obtainable on the trade market.

Follow @RyanDadoun