View from the Top
How about it Ducks fans? The team that was flirting with last place at Thanksgiving worked its way to first place in the Pacific Division before the start of spring. Nothing is over. There are 18 more games left in the regular season. Also, its not the time for gloating, rather its time to take a minute to appreciate the accomplishment.
This team could have quit on the season. They didn't. When the Ducks bottomed out, GM Bob Murray could have fired his coach, Bruce Boudreau, just like many of us wanted. He didn't. Captain Ryan Getzlaf was far from 100% at the start of the season. It would have been easy for him to take himself out of the lineup. Instead he gutted it out and became the leagues munber one star last month. Murray could have panicked and started selling off players. Instead he played it cool and swung some shrewd deals at the trade deadline.
From the Administration, to the coaching staff and on to the players, everyone stepped it up. There were many opportunities in several areas where the season could have fallen apart. Instead the Ducks are now in first place.
Trading Places and Places and …
The more I thought about this, the more I found it interesting.
On February 15 last year the Ducks traded Devante Smith-Pelly to Montreal for Jiri Sekac. Almost a year later, the Ducks sent Jiri Sekac to Chicago for Ryan Garbutt. Shortly after that, DSP was dealt to NJ for Stefan Mateau.
Last June, Anaheim exchanged Emerson Etem for the Rangers speedy forward Carl Hagelin. Etem only lasted eight months in the big apple. He was subsequently traded to Vancouver for Nicklas Jensen. Hagelin didn't last much longer with the Ducks. He went to Pittsburgh in exchange for David Perron.
The chains of trades bring up a few interesting questions.
1) DSP and Etem were relatively high draft picks by the Ducks. Neither one of them had much success in Anaheim or any of their other stops. Did the scouting miss on these guys?
2) Pat Maroon is another product of the Ducks system. How long does he last in Edmonton? Is he going to be another Duck prospect flameout?
3) The players that the Ducks swung one-on-one deals for, don't stay around either. Can we expect Perron, Garbutt and Brandon Pirri to be playing somewhere else in a years time?
Just somethig that occupied my thoughts.