Gumped Up

Momma says the Anaheim Ducks are like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get. So far that's the the theme of the season. They look like a championship team one game and a lottery team the next. It has to drive head coach Randy Carlyle nuts.

In any given season or group of seasons team A can have team B in their pocket. For the Ducks, their whipping boys have been Calgary the last few years. In 2016-17, Columbus has had the Ducks number. From the negative side, what does it say about your club, when they are outclassed by an also ran like the Jackets. The positive end is that if the Ducks had their choice, they would rather beat up on a division foe five to ten (playoffs) times a year than a cross conference one they play twice.

That still doesn't explain the overall inconsistency from game to game. Quite a few of the important cogs of the team are relatively young men, but there is more than enough veteran presence to make up for it for sure. Upon further analysis the two biggest problem areas are the same as the have been for quite some time, they become magnified depending on the matchup.

The team is still cursed with brain dead periods of taking bad penalties. It will continue to be a sore point until some of the key players understand they are more valuable on the ice than in the sin bin. The second huge problem has a cascading effect. Lack of offensively adept left wings, has left the team with only one scoring line. Anaheim's second line of Cogliano-Kesler-Silfverberg is better suited for a checking or shutdown role than a scoring role. Its unrealistic and unfair to expect Jacob Silfverberg to be a threat the way he was in Raleigh Thursday night.

Last year Ryan Garbutt had good chemistry with Ryan Getzlaf, so he could be part of the top six. Another offensively adept wing gives Anaheim two lines their opposition needs to contend with. Continuing the domino effect, either Boll or Cramarosa would alternate as the 12th/13th forward instead of both suiting up every night.

Milestone

After his helper on Ryan Kesler's empty net goal against Carolina, Ryan Getzlaf became the Duck all-time leader in assists. After the game, he told the assembled media how he felt breaking Teemu Selanne's record, “Teemu is such a friend and mentor to all of us. It's a big thing. I don't know if it would've meant as much passing certain guys, but I played with 'T' so long, and I have a lot of respect for him. “

Ducks @ Nashville

The Ducks with their wildly inconsistent effort, invade Music city tonight. Don't expect many changes as Carlyle said he wants to keep the continuity of his lines. Among tonight's attendees in the Ducks press box will be Ukrainian Holder and Jared Boll. John Gibson will defend Anaheim's goal. Here is tonight's expected lineup::

Forwards
Richie-Getzlaf-Perry
Cogliano-Kesler-Silfverberg
Cramarosa-Rakell-Vermette
Garbutt-Sgarbosa-Wagner

Defensemen
Fowler-Manson
Stoner-Vatanen
Lindholm-Bieksa

Goalies
Gibson
Bernier

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