The Anaheim Ducks have a fatal flaw: their goaltending.
They are they enter Wednesday night’s action the #1 team in the NHL standings with 47 points, 2 better than the Chicago Blackhawks. Their+8 goal differential (97 goals for, 89 goals against) reveals that they are a team that can light the lamp but they cannot keep the puck out of their own net.
A combination of long term injuries and the mumps infection outbreak have caused the Ducks to use 13 different defensemen this season. The Ducks have also had to start four different goalies in 33 games.
At this time last season, Bob Murray had an embarrassment of riches in terms of organizational goaltending depth. Then pending UFA Jonas Hiller was playing well and was being challenged by Frederik Andersen and Viktor Fasth for the starting job. Gibson was playing outstandingly in Norfolk and Igor Bobkov was just entering the picture as a top prospect.
Last summer, Murray opted to pass on re-signing Hiller and he is now starring in Calgary. Fasth has been banished to hockey Siberia in Edmonton and has become a spaghetti strainer: everything easily passes through him. Andersen had seized the starter’s role but has been injured on and off in the first 90 days of this season. Andersen is prone to moments of distress that cause him to lose his confidence inside games. Gibson was the heir apparent to the throne until he was injured.
The Ducks were built specifically to win the Stanley Cup this season. Wonky goaltending will continue to undermine his team’s lofty goals. Murray went all-in when he traded for power center Ryan Kesler. Murray has Getzlaf, Perry, Kesler and several other highly productive forwards that can take his team on a deep playoff run.
His defense is a yard sale and his goaltending is now an undependable lot.
Murray needs a veteran starting goalie in the worst way.
The day after the Freddy Andersen and Bryzgalov were hammered for a six pack in the 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs, the Ducks are left searching for answers to their unreliable, mercurial goaltending. Anderson was lifted after allowing 4 goals against to the Leafs. Bryzgalov was none better allowing 2 goals on just 7 shots against him. If I’m Bob Murray, I’m panicking right about now because Bryz is not the Band-Aid that he was expected to be when he signed his PTO contract two weeks ago. Murray has had to use four goalies this season. When healthy and confident, he has a 17-5-4 record with a 2.46 GAA and .912 save %.
Rather than leaning on youngster John Gibson to get them back on the winning way, Ducks GM Bob Murray has demoted Gibson back to AHL Norfolk. Gibson has appeared in only four games with the Ducks this season, posting a 2-2-0 record with one shutout, a 2.28 GAA and .927 save percentage. On November 2, Gibson tweaked his groin during pregame warmups. He was sidelined for 21 games before he was activated from IR in Tuesday. Gibson was the go-to guy last spring in the NHL Playoffs, however posted a 2-2 record. He was 3-0 in the 2013-13 regular season. Journeyman backup Jason LaBarbera is 2-0 and Gibson is 2-0. Bryzgalov has yet to start a game and likely won’t see the net again if Murray knows what is good for his team.
The Ducks identified Gibson as their goalie of the future when they selected him in the second round (39th overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. The Ducks brass has decided that he cannot help them now and that he can use a heavy workload in order to regain his confidence and his muscle memory in the AHL. What Gibson needs right now is touch more rubber than Michelin slicks at the Daytona 500.
So, what will Murray do now about his goaltending dilemma?
He is looking for a trade partner right now.
Last week, he sent two scouts to Buffalo to watch the Sabres play the Kings and the Flames. Jhonas Enroth started and won both games for the Sabres. In fact, Enroth was 4-0 on Buffalo’s most recent home stand. Enroth is 9-2 in his last 11 starts, and is a huge reason why the Sabres have a 10-4 record in their past 14 games. I can’t see Tim Murray his number one goalie to Anaheim right now considering the Sabres have found their winning ways.
Michal Neuvirth is on Bob Murray’s radar right now, and has been since earlier this season when the 26 year old Czech goalie started two games against the Ducks. Neuvirth lost both starts to the Ducks, however, he was fantastic in defeat making 69 saves on 77 combined shots. Neuvirth was injured in a collision with San Jose Sharks D Jason Braun on November 18 and spent a couple weeks on IR. He returned on December 6 when he lost to Florida. Enroth’s heroics kept Neuvirth on the bench until Ted Nolan started him in Winnipeg on Tuesday night, where he lost 5-1.
Tim Murray has learned that he can count on Enroth. He can trade Neuvirth now and not miss a beat.
Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau is familiar with Neuvirth having coached him Washington.
Bob Murray and his scouts have been keeping close tabs on Tyler Myers for most of this season. Murray knows that his team is only as good as its starting goaltending and its top four D.
Myers and Neuvirth would provide some stability in the two areas where the Ducks are most vulnerable right now.
You are probably asking why Buffalo would trade their best D right now, right?
The answer is simple:
You trade assets at their highest value.
Myers has been playing some of the best hockey of his six year career for the past month. He's munching 25 minutes TOI per night and has taken his defensive and offensive games to new levels the like of which Sabres fans haven't seen since he won the Calder Trophy.
If Tim Murray is serious about selecting Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel in June's entry draft, he will have to make roster moves like subtracting pending UFAs to be in Chris Stewart or Drew Stafford or both. Trading Myers would fetch Tim Murray another first round pick in this year's draft to go along with the three first rounders that he already owns. To say nothing of acquiring a young power forward prospect in Nick Ritchie whom the Ducks selected in the first round in 2014.
I've been wildly entertained by the streak that has seen the Sabres go 10-4.
I like watching winning hockey. I would much rather watch Connor McDavid win multiple Stanley Cups with the Sabres the next 10 seasons.
***
***
How embarrassing is it that Nashville Predators forward James Neal has been busted and fined by the NHL for diving?
Thanks, NHL.com
The NHL has fined Neal $2,000 as supplementary discipline under the new NHL Rule 64 (Diving/Embellishment).
Revised for the 2014-15 season following offseason approval by the League's Board of Governors and the National Hockey League Players' Association, NHL Rule 64 is designed to bring attention to and more seriously penalize players (and teams) who repeatedly dive and embellish in an attempt to draw penalties. Fines are assessed to players and head coaches on a graduated scale outlined below:
The first offense is a warning for the player. The second is a $2,000 fine for the player and no fine for the head coach; the third offense is a $3,000 fine and no fine for coach; the fourth is a $4,000 fine and no fine for the head coach.
The fifth offense will nail the player $5,0000 and the head coach$2,000. The sixth, seventh and eighth offenses will net a $5,000 player fine and $3,000, $4,000, and $5,000 fines respectively for the head coach.
Neal is a pioneer in that he's the first diver ever to be fined by the NHL.