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What’s the long-term outlook for the Ducks?

By Adam GretzMar 19, 2020, 12:05 PM EDT

With the 2019-20 NHL season on hold we are going to review where each NHL team stands at this moment until the season resumes. Here we take a look at the long-term outlook for the Anaheim Ducks.

Pending free agents

The core

The face of the franchise at this point is still John Gibson, and while his numbers took a bit of a hit this season he is still one of the league’s elite goalies. As long as the Ducks have him as their foundation there is always the chance that he can give them a chance.

Is it unfair to put so much on one player to carry a team? Of course it is, but right now he is the reason for hope.

Beyond him, the Ducks have a handful of long-term contracts on their books.

Defenseman Cam Fowler is signed through the 2025-26 season. Forwards Adam Henrique and Jakob Silfverberg are signed through 2023-24, while Rickard Rakell, Hampus Lindholm and Josh Manson are all signed through the 2021-22 season.

Ryan Getzlaf, one of the franchise icons, still has one more year after this one at $8.25 million.

Long-term needs

Offense, offense, and more offense.

Even when the Ducks were still a contender as recently as a couple of years ago they were still only a middle-of-the-pack team offensively. Over the past two years, though, they have plummeted to the bottom of the league.

Since the start of the 2018-19 season they are the second-lowest scoring team in the league (2.47 goals per game, ahead of only the Detroit Red Wings), second-worst in shots per game (again ahead of only Detroit) and third-worst on the power play (ahead of only Nashville and Detroit).

Rickard Rakell and Jakob Silfverberg are still good top-six options, and they do have some young players starting to break into the league (Sam Steel, Max Jones being at the top of the list) but they need to start taking big steps in the coming seasons.

For as promising as those young players may be, they still lack a young franchise player to serve as a long-term building block. Their best hope for acquiring that: Some draft lottery luck. The Ducks have two first-round picks this season (Bostons, plus their own pick which will be a lottery pick) and along with their own second-round pick will have three of the top-40 picks in the 2020 draft.

Long-term strength

For all of their current and long-term flaws, they still have an impact player at the one position that can make a meaningful difference — goaltender.

Even though Gibson had a down year this season he is still one among the league’s best and is capable of single-handedly changing their short-term outlook.

Since becoming Anaheim’s starter during the 2015-16 season his .919 save percentage ranks eighth in the NHL among 55 goalies that have appeared in at least 100 games.

They have him signed long-term at $6.4 million per season. Given how good Gibson has been, how dominant he can be when he is at at his best, and his age, that is a more than fair number for the Ducks to build around. The issue now is whether or not they have the players and resources to do that.

MORE:
• Looking at the 2019-20 Anaheim Ducks
• Ducks’ biggest surprises, disappointments so far

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

Looking at the 2019-20 Anaheim Ducks

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By Adam GretzMar 19, 2020, 10:05 AM EDT

With the 2019-20 NHL season on hold we are going to review where each NHL team stands at this moment until the season resumes. Here we take a look at the long-term outlook for the Anaheim Ducks.

Anaheim Ducks

Record: 29-33-9 (71 games), 6th place in Pacific Division; out of playoff spot
Leading scorer: Adam Henrique — 43 points (26 goals, 17 assists)

In-season roster moves

Season overview

Things looked somewhat promising at the beginning of the year when the Ducks won six out of their first eight games, but it quickly turned into another season of regression and disappointment after that.

At the time of the season suspension the Ducks were in sixth place in the Pacific Division and on track for their worst overall record since the 2003-04 season.

They rank among the bottom-five in goals scored, goals against, power play percentage, penalty kill percentage, and shots on goal per game. It is going to be their second straight season without the postseason and the third consecutive year with a decrease in total points. Ryan Getzlaf, Jakob Silfverberg, and Rickard Rakell proved to still be productive players, but none of them made a significant impact that could help carry the offense. Most concerning is that none of their young forwards took a meaningful step forward offensively.

Along with a lack of offense, they have also been hit hard by injuries, especially on defense. Not one of their defensemen has played in more than 60 games this season, while Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, and Josh Manson (their top-three blue-liners) combined to miss 49 man-games due to injury.

Put those two things together, along with a down year (by his standards) season from starting goalie John Gibson and it is the recipe for a long season.

Highlight of the season so far

This is an easy one. Nicolas Deslauriers recording a natural hat trick against the Ottawa Senators. Before this game he had just four goals in 58 games this season and only 28 goals in 375 career games.

MORE:
• Ducks’ biggest surprises, disappointments so far
• Ducks’ long-term outlook

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

PHT Morning Skate: Celebrating the Sedins; When will Canadiens sell?

By Adam GretzFeb 13, 2020, 8:05 AM EST

Welcome to the PHT Morning Skate, a collection of links from around the hockey world. Have a link you want to submit? Email us at phtblog@nbcsports.com.

• Examining the Hall of Fame credentials for Henrik and Daniel Sedin. (TSN)

• The numbers that defined the Sedin’s career. (Sportsnet)

• The Mighty Ducks sequel series. (Variety)

• The Jason Zucker trade makes sense for the Pittsburgh Penguins on every level. (Pensburgh)

• Tyler Seguin is lacking goals for the Dallas Stars. (Rotoworld)

• With Connor McDavid sidelined it is time for Leon Draisaitl to put the Edmonton Oilers on his back. (The Hockey News)

• Victor Olofsson and Kyle Okposo could return for the Buffalo Sabers. (Buffalo Hockey Beat)

• The Montreal Canadiens have to decide at what point they will start selling players. (Habs Eyes On The Prize)

• Cole Bardeau has been recalled by the New York Islanders due to Casey Cizikas‘ injury. (Lighthouse Hockey)

• Detroit Red Wings forward Anthony Mantha has an ambitious plan for the rest of this season. (Detroit Free Press)

• San Jose Sharks defenseman Brent Burns shows Mario Ferraro how to better protect himself. (NBC Bay Area)

• Trading Josh Manson would be a very tough but also very beneficial move for the Anaheim Ducks. (Anaheim Calling)

• Carter Hart‘s new goalie mask for the Philadelphia Flyers honors Ray Emery. (NBC Philadelphia)

• Why a Josh Anderson trade should not be a priority for the Boston Bruins. (Bruins Daily)

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

WATCH LIVE: Predators visit Ducks on NBCSN

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By Sean LeahyJan 5, 2020, 9:50 PM EST

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with Sunday’s matchup between the Nashville Predators and Anaheim Ducks. Coverage begins at 10 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

Anaheim has lost three straight games and six of their last eight (2-5-1). They currently sit in last place in the Western Conference, 10 points outside the 2nd Wild Card. They saw their run of six-straight playoff appearances snapped last season, and are in jeopardy of missing out on the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999-00 to 2001-02 (three straight seasons). In their last game at Arizona, the Ducks dropped a 2-1 lead, allowing three goals in the third period to lose 4-2.

For a second straight season, the Ducks are at the bottom of the scoring charts in the NHL. After finishing last in the league last season (2.39 goals/game), they are currently 30th in the league in scoring (2.49 goals/game – only DET is averaging fewer).

Speaking on Thursday, GM David Poile said that while he is not planning on firing head coach Peter Laviolette, there may be changes ahead if the Predators do not improve as the trade deadline approaches in February.

“I met with [Laviolette] this morning,” he said. “We had a long talk about lots of different situations going forward. I’m not contemplating making any coaching change at this time… We’ve really got some soul searching to do right now. I have to do some real thinking about where we’re going for the rest of this year… Right now, we’re not in the playoffs and I’m open for business, if you will… I guess the point I’m saying today is, sitting here outside of the playoffs, we have for the last several years been buyers at the trading deadline. If we don’t improve here shortly, we might be a seller for the first time in a number of years. I’m hoping that’s not the case, but as I said, I am open for business and I’m certainly going to be willing to listen to different teams’ thought processes on any of our players at this point.”

Ryan Ellis was placed on Injured Reserve on Friday after the defenseman took an elbow to the head from Dallas’ Corey Perry less than three minutes into the Winter Classic. Ellis needed help leaving the ice and did not return to the game, while Perry was handed a five-game suspension for elbowing. Ellis is tied for second on Nashville with 28 points and has averaged 23:24 TOI per game this season. Alexandre Carrier was called up from the AHL on Friday, with Jarred Tinordi, who was recalled from Milwaukee on Dec 26, expected to see some time in the lineup.

With his defensive partner Ryan Ellis sidelined, even more pressure will be on captain Roman Josi to produce. Josi, who signed an 8-year, $72.472M contract in October, leads the Predators in points (14G-27A, 41 points) and is averaging 25:36 TOI per game this season (fourth in NHL). Josi enters Saturday’s game against Los Angeles riding a career-long eight-game point streak (7G-8A, 15 points), which includes five multi-point games. Only one defenseman in franchise history has ever had a 9-game point streak (Shea Weber in 2010-11). Josi was selected to the All-Star Game this season, the 3rd selection of his career (second straight).

[COVERAGE BEGINS AT 10 P.M. ET – NBCSN]

WHAT: Nashville Predators at Anaheim Ducks
WHERE: Honda Center
WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 5, 10 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Predators-Ducks stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

PREDATORS
Filip Forsberg – Ryan Johansen – Viktor Arvidsson
Calle Jarnkrok – Kyle Turris – Mikael Granlund
Rocco Grimaldi – Nick Bonino – Craig Smith
Yakov Trenin – Colin Blackwell – Austin Watson

Roman Josi – Yannick Weber
Jarred Tinordi – Mattias Ekholm
Dan Hamhuis – Matt Irwin

Starting goalie: Juuse Saros

DUCKS
Adam Henrique – Ryan Getzlaf – Sam Carrick
Max Jones – Sam Steel – Ondrej Kase
Max Comtois – Isac Lundestrom – Jakob Silfverberg
Nicolas Deslauriers – Devin Shore – Carter Rowney

Hampus Lindholm – Josh Manson
Cam Fowler – Erik Gudbranson
Jacob Larsson – Korbinian Holzer

Starting goalie: John Gibson

Alex Faust and analyst Brian Hayward will call the action from Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Ducks’ Josh Manson scores bizarre own goal (Video)

Ducks
NHL
By Adam GretzDec 31, 2019, 4:55 PM EST

As far as own goals go, this one by Anaheim’s Josh Manson might be one of the most cringeworthy ones you will see.

Late in the first period of their game in Vegas, the Golden Knights took the lead on a chaotic play around the net.

It seemed that all of the Ducks were waiting for a whistle, thinking that the puck had been covered by goalie John Gibson.

It was not covered. Because the referee never lost sight of the puck, play continued. It was at that point that Manson just casually tapped the puck across the goal line.

Did he think the play was over? Was he trying to slide it under Gibson to get a stoppage? Did he just temporarily lose track of what was going on? Who knows! Either way, that is a tough one to give up if you are the Ducks.

Alex Tuch ended up getting credit for the goal for the Golden Knights. It is his sixth goal of the season.

Related: Maple Leafs get holiday gift thanks to Devils’ own goal

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.