Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Stand Or Fowl?

October 19, 2016, 11:48 AM ET [15 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT



It's beginning to feel like deja vu all over again, to coin the phrase made famous by the inimitable Yogi Berra.

The Anaheim Ducks are having trouble navigating. It's as if they are playing with a broken wing.


The Ducks are a bit of a mess right now. They can't score goals, they take far too many stupid penalties. Randy Carlyle cannot roll three solid D pairs in all three zones zone because his penalty killers are seemingly always on the ice.

The Ducks are missing a future NHL All Star on their blue line due to contract acrimony and it appears to be missing with the on ice chemistry.


The Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins are not the only two NHL teams scouting the Anaheim Ducks.

According to Newsday, New York Rangers AGM Chris Drury and Rangers director of player personnel, were both on hand for Anaheim’s loss to the Islanders in Brooklyn on Sunday.

It's duck hunting season.






Four Rangers dignitaries were in attendance at Tuesday night’s game between the Ducks- Devils game that saw Taylor Hall score two second period goals to seals a 2-1 win for the home team.


The Ducks are flying sideways and are in trouble. They are winless in four games and have scored just seven goals for in their four games. Their special teams aren't so special. The Ducks are mired is a five game road grind through Dallas, Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, Newark and Philadelphia. The Ducks struggled to a 1-7-2 beginning to the 2015-16 season.


The Ducks are already 0-2-1 in games decided by a single goal this season.

“You’re not going to win many games just scoring one goal. You’ve got to play perfect defense or you really got to pitch a shutout to win the hockey game. We had our chances in the game. We miss a penalty shot. Power play had some good looks. We pushed in the third. But you can’t take five straight penalties in the second period to take you out of the hockey game. And that’s unacceptable. We’ve talked about it and we’ve talked about it and we’ve talked about it", said Randy Carlyle after the 2-1 loss in New Jersey.

With every passing day, Lindholm's loss is looming larger.

In Lindholm's absence, Carlyle is having to play defenseman in expanded TOI roles which is causing in-zone breakdowns that lead to chances against John Gibson.


Fowler is skating 24:46 TOI per game, Vatanen 23:49. This is not the issue.


Kevin Bieksa is logging 21:08 TOI which is too much ice time for my liking.

Recently waived Clayton Stoner is struggling while playing 17:54 TOI while youngster Josh Manson is eating 17:51 TOI. Rookie Jacob Larsson is logging 16:25 TOI.


Defensemen Cam Fowler and Sami Vatanen have scored three of Anaheim's seven goals for. Where are veteran forwards Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, Antoine Vermette, Jacob Silfverberg and other scorers?

Unsigned RFA defenseman Hampus Lindholm and is the 9,000 lb. Duck in the room. Right now, the Ducks need Lindholm more than he needs them. Randy Carlyle can ill afford to have his team's malaise continue.

The issue is term and dollars.

Lindholm and his agent, Claude Lemieux are looking for a six year deal for north of $6 million average annual salary per season. Lemieux has exchanged multiple proposals with Ducks GM Bob Murray. Murray is pitching the Jones/Ristolainen $5.4M AAV. Lemieux appears to be driving the hard line in his negotiations with Murray. Murray and Lemieux will eventually agree on a mutually beneficial number. Lindholm is waiting for a deal to finalize at home in Sweden right now. Even when he does sign his new long term contract, he is lacking a work visa. Therefore, he may need to wait a week or two before he can play for the Ducks. He would first have to get his work visa in order before he can play.



The Ducks are scraping their salary cap and can ill afford to sign Lindholm today to his asking price. Bob Murray is scraping his cap ceiling and has only $400K in cap slush to invest in Lindholm. Murray has to subtract Cam Fowler's $4M AAV (x2) and Clayton Stoner's $3.25M AAV (x2) in order to be able to do business with Lindholm.

Bob Murray and Randy Carlyle have NHL ready youngsters in Shea Theodore and Brandon Montour buried in the AHL right now. When Fowler leaves, Theodore can be elevated to Anaheim to take the place of the veteran QB.

The Rangers need a scoring left winger. Their blue line is limping with vets Kevin Klein and Dan Girardi missing games due to injury.






***



Is a Cam Fowler for Chris Kreider trade in the offing? I've been told that Bob Murray wants a young, skilled forward as apart of a trade for Fowler. Chris Kreider leads the Rangers in scoring with three goals and three assists. I doubt very seriously that Jeff Gorton and Chris Drury want to part with arguably their best forward in exchange for Fowler. Kreider is no doubt attractive to the Ducks, however, he carries a $4.625 million average annual value for the next four seasons. The Ducks would have to trade Fowler's $4 million AAV PLUS anbother contract in order to squeeze Kreider into Anaheim's salary cap.

Fowler for Kreider looks good on a legal pad, however, has zero chance of becoming a reality any time soon. You know damn well that Gorton and Drury are not trading LW Jimmy Vesey for Cam Folwer. Don't vbe surprised if the Rangers are offering right winger J.T. Miller, 23, in any prospective deal with the Ducks.


Bob Murray and his AGM, director of player personnel and scouts invested a considerable amount of time scouting the Buffalo Sabres last season and the season before that. They were gathering intel on two Buffalo left wingers in Jamie McGinn and Zemgus Girgensons. McGinn would eventually be traded to Anaheim at the 2016 NHL trade deadline. He has since signed a lucrative UFA contract with the Arizona Coyotes. I was told last season that had Girgensons been more of a point producer, he likely would have been the LW traded to the Ducks rather than McGinn.

In 2014-16. Girgensons, 22, was an NHL All Star. In 61 games, he scored 15 goals and 15 assists. In 71 games last season, the Latvian Locomotive scored just 7 goals and 11 assists. Needless to say, then first year Buffalo head coach Dan Bylsma was expecting more production from his 6'2", 200 lb. power center/winger. Girgensons, 14th overall pick at the 2012 NHL Draft now has 208 NHL games under his belt. Despite his lack of offense, Girgensons landed 125 hits and blocked 45 shots. His poor season in his contract year negatively impacted his negotiations with Sabres GM Tim Murray this past summer. Girgensons lost his leverage by virtue of his sub-par offennsive output. In September, he signed a one year $1,150,000 contract. Girgensons played very well during training camp and in the exhibitioins games that he played in. He has one goal in the three games played so far this season.

Girgensons offers quakity and value. He's a four year NHL veteran who can play the power center and power wing. He seemingly is the type of forward that Bob Murray wants to take possession of in a trade for Fowler.

The Boston Bruins crave a puck mover of Fowler's ilk and will likely have to part with talented 24 year old LW Ryan Spooner in any trade with Anaheim.



Would Detroit GM Ken Holland be willing to part with power left winger Justin Abdelkader, 29, in exchange for Cam Fowler. Great young player, however, he carries Krieder's $4.25M AAV for the next 7 seasons. Tomas Tatar plays LW and comes at a $2.75M AAV. Tatar will be RFA next summer. Anthiny Mantha cannot earn a full time ride in Detroit. It's not likely that the Ducks would want to take on a prospect that seemingly has plateaued in his development. The Ducks want a plug-n-play winger who can pull on his skates and new sweater and start producing immediately.
Join the Discussion: » 15 Comments » Post New Comment
More from GARTH'S CORNER
» Hailing Taxis
» He With The Gold Makes The Rules
» Sedentary Seven
» The Sedentary Seven
» GadZuccs