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There is a silver lining in Anaheim

April 21, 2018, 9:29 AM ET [27 Comments]
Steve Palumbo
Colorado Avalanche Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
It's been a couple of days since the smack down by San Jose. I figure that's long enough to digest what exactly went wrong for the Anaheim Ducks in the first round sweep that included a grand total of four goals for.

Real talk - the Ducks, as constructed and coached, were just not good enough to sustain the same compete level as the Sharks. They were severely handcuffed by the Cam Fowler injury and it showed with several odd-man rushes against and a third defense pairing that did more harm than good.

Though the summer is going to be far longer than anticipated - it's not all doom and gloom in Anaheim. There are a few silver linings.

- Rickard Rakell, Ondrej Kase and Jacob Silfverberg are players to build with and around. They were the clearly the most noticeable Ducks forwards in the series, along with Andrew Cogliano. Why? Because they have speed, skill and play with tempo.

They were the only ducks forwards that managed to carry the puck into the attacking zone with speed. That bodes well going forward in this uptempo league.

Three of the four Ducks goals came from Rakell, Silfverberg and Cogliano. Hampus Lindholm had the other.

- John Gibson is a true number one. For some reason the Ducks fan base finds it easy to pick apart the Ducks goaltending and I cannot figure out why. One of the most consistent facets of Anaheim's season came from the crease. With Ryan Miller signed for another season, the goalie situation is solid. In years past, the man in a the net may have been a question mark - not any more.

- The Ducks have a great, young defense corp. The retirement of Francois Beauchemin is sad. He was a great soldier for many years in Anaheim. Truth be told, he was holding the team back. Randy Carlyle had an unfettering trust in his veteran, but it killed the Ducks. He lacked the speed to keep up with some of the NHL's elite talent and it cost the team on the score sheet.

Bring back a healthy Fowler and another year of Marcus Pettersson and Andy Welinski to go along with Brandon Montour, Josh Manson and Lindholm - that has the making of a very good unit for a very long time.

***

There is a foundation in place and NO, Trading Ryan Getzlaf or Corey Perry is not an option. Those contracts are unmovable. Getzlaf still has a solid compete level but Perry is not worthy of top line or even second line minutes anymore. He needs a less significant role next season.

If the Ducks move on from Carlyle and I think they should, they need to bring in a new blood coach - not a retread. They need a coach that is better suited for the current NHL and one that can develop the younger players. We can discuss this more of Carlyle is let go. For now it's a moot point.

While it sucks to see sucks to see the season ended so abruptly, it does open the gates for a new era in Anaheim. The Ducks don't rebuild, they retool.

Thanks for reading,
Steve
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