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It was a promising start to the season for the Anaheim Ducks, with the team going 9-6-0 through the first 15 games of the season.
However, what followed in the next 14 games afterwards was pretty much a worst-case scenario, as Anaheim earned just a single win in that stretch, posting a disastrous 1-13-0 record. For as much attention as the San Jose Sharks’ terrible start received, the Ducks have, at least in terms of results, been just about as bad over their most recent stretch.
Anaheim is now coming off two straight wins from a back-to-back set to cap off their road trip, which isn’t insignificant, but it’s still tough to generate a ton of optimism about the team’s position right now. While it looked like the Ducks could have a legitimate shot at the postseason in a weak Pacific Division after their hot start, it’s now just a matter of whether they’re going to find themselves in the basement of the Western Conference yet again.
Since mid-November (Nov. 15, to be exact), the Ducks have posted the second-worst goals against per game in the NHL, along with the third-lowest goals per game. What’s maybe even more troubling about those stats is that Anaheim’s special teams groups have actually been operating at fairly respectable rates, illustrating how tough of a time the Ducks have had at 5-on-5 (with only 20 goals scored at 5-on-5 over the last 16 games).
Injuries haven’t helped: Mason McTavish has been out of action for the last seven games, while Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale have both missed the majority of the season to this point. Especially with McTavish and Zegras out, for a team that doesn’t have a ton of depth scoring to elevate in their absences, it puts a lot of pressure on the remaining top forwards. With Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano completely cooling off over December, Anaheim has struggled for offense.
On the bright side, both Troy Terry and Alex Killorn have started to get going a little more over the recent stretch, with Terry scoring three goals and six points over his last five games, while Killorn has started to recover from a similarly slow start. Plus, Adam Henrique continues to build his trade value for a possible deadline deal, with a hat trick in New Jersey, and six goals over his last five games.
Within the defense group, Cam Fowler, Pavel Mintyukov and even Radko Gudas have been able to provide a bit of offense, but there have still been defensive struggles from the blue line at times. For what it’s worth, Jackson LaCombe, while still a positive addition to the group overall this year, is currently tied for the second-worst plus-minus in the league right now, while Cam Fowler isn’t too far behind him.
In goal, John Gibson has been able to rebuild his value a little bit, to the point where you could wonder if he’ll re-emerge as a top trade candidate at some point in the near future. Meanwhile, though Lukas Dostal struggled a little bit there after a hot start, he’s now posted a .915 save percentage over his last four appearances (and came within inches of a goal himself as well).
However, with all this in mind, the Ducks are still just 31 games into the year. With the third-fewest points in the Western Conference and 51 games still to go, it remains to be seen as to whether Anaheim can salvage their season... and what that even really means for this team.
At this point, even as bad as the Pacific Division and Western Conference have been, it still seems unlikely that the Ducks will find a way to the playoffs at this point. That said, that was never really the expectation coming into the year anyways.
Coming off the back-to-back victories, the Ducks now have a chance to build a bit of momentum, entering an eight-game homestand that will take them through the Holiday Break and to the end of the first week of January.
They’ll play their final games before the break against other losing-record Pacific teams, in the Calgary Flames and Seattle Kraken. After playing almost all their games in December against teams who are higher in the standings, the Ducks will at least face somewhat of a lower quality of competition for the pair of games, as they look to build a bit of a win streak and head into the break on a positive note.
It’s an opportunity to start to turn things around for themselves, and maybe more importantly, set themselves up for later. Development of young talent remains key, and the team is still making a lot of progress in that regard, with the likes of Leo Carlsson, Pavel Mintyukov and Jackson LaCombe all getting huge opportunities.
Aside from that though, the other focus will be on the trade deadline, with the likes of Adam Henrique, Ilya Lyubushkin and maybe even John Gibson as the team's options to bring back assets. As much as team success is important, it’ll often also aid individual players if others are performing around them – and for the Ducks’ trade candidates, better numbers could possibly mean a better return at the deadline.
The Ducks have also seemed a little outmatched recently more than to start the season. Even if the playoffs aren’t wildly likely, it would be great to see Anaheim manage to rid themselves of these skids where it seems they can go ages without a win. We've seen that at their best, the Ducks can be a competitive, entertaining team, it's just a matter of consistency from period to period and game to game.
The Ducks will be back in action tomorrow, when they host the Flames.
Anaheim Ducks Blogger • 
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