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If there’s one clear area where the Anaheim Ducks are lacking talent, it’s the top of their forward group.
Essentially, the team has no true top-line forwards and I’d also say that with Ryan Getzlaf in the midst of a decline, Rickard Rakell is potentially the only player who would be a top-six forward on just about any other team. We know what the Ducks have at this point in veteran forwards Adam Henrique and Jakob Silfverberg and considering their age, there’s likely minimal room for them in terms of development.
I see five forwards who need to take a step next season for the Ducks to have success and those are: Max Comtois, Danton Heinen, Sonny Milano, Sam Steel, Troy Terry. You could also potentially include Max Jones in there, though his offensive ceiling is likely lower than those mentioned. These are forwards where we really don’t know how high they could play in the lineup and while we can’t expect that all (or even most) of these players will develop into legitimate top-six forwards, a couple of them taking a big step next season would significantly help the Ducks.
The team does have some quality prospects in the pipeline, in Jacob Perreault and Trevor Zegras, among others. But if this team wants to compete as soon as possible, they’ll be counting on some of those younger, more inexperienced forwards on their roster for offensive production.
If a couple of Anaheim’s forwards can show signs that they could become legitimate top-six forwards, the Ducks really aren’t all that far off from being a playoff team. However, if none can develop past the range of a middle-six forward, it’s going to be very difficult for Anaheim to bounce back next season.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):