We are just about a month away from the start of the 2012-13. Excited yet? I know I am. In case you’ve been living in a hole the Kings got some new additions to the newly expanded Pacific division; Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton. Along with the new additions the Kings will say goodbye to longtime division rival the Dallas Stars who are moving to the Central.
As a lead up to the season we’ll be breaking down each team and providing all the pertinent information you’ll need to prepare yourself for the year ahead. Without further adieu, I give you the Anaheim Ducks.
2012-13 Record
30-12-6 - 66pts (2nd in the Western Conference, 3rd in the NHL)
16-7-1 Home, 14-5-5 Away
Eliminated in Round One of the 2012-13 playoffs by Detroit Red Wings in 7 games.
Top-5 scorers in 2012-13
Ryan Getzlaf - 44gp - 15g - 34a - 49p - plus-14
Corey Perry - 44gp - 15g -21a -36p - plus-10
Bobby Ryan - 46gp - 11g - 19a - 30p - plus-3
Saku Koivu - 47gp - 8g - 19a - 27p - plus-4
Teemu Selanne - 46gp 12g - 12a - 24p - minus-10
Goaltender stats
Viktor Fasth - 25gp (15-6-2), .921 SV%, 2.18GAA, 4 shutouts
Jonas Hiller - 26gp (15-6-4), .912 SV%, 2.36, 1 shutout
Team Stats
Goals for per game - 2.79 (8th in the NHL)
Goals against per game - 2.40 (11th)
Powerplay - 21.5% (4th)
Penalty Kill - 81.5% (13th)
Hits - 1149 (13th)
Faceoff % - 47.5 (26th)
Additions/Subtractions
OUT
Bobby Ryan (OTT)
Troy Bodie (TOR)
Nate Guenin (COL)
Toni Lydman
IN:
Stefan Noesen (OTT)
Jakob Silfverberg (OTT)
Mark Fistric (EDM)
Dustin Penner (LAK)
Alex Grant (PITT)
Nolan Yonkman (FLA)
UNKNOWN
Teemu Selanne (Unsigned UFA )
LONG-TERM INJ.
Sheldon Souray (4-6 months wrist surgery)
2012-13 vs. Kings
Record - 2-2-0
Goals for/against - 14/14
Leading scorers: Nick Bonino (2gp, 3g, 1a, 4p), Ryan Getzlaf (3gp, 2g, 1a, 3p) Souray, Perry, Koivu (tied with 3 points each)
Goaltenders - Fasth - 3gp, .888SV%, 2.95 GAA , Hiller - 1gp, .882 SV%, 4.00GAA
2012-13 King stats vs. Ducks
Dustin Brown - 4gp - 4g, 2a, 6p
Drew Doughty - 4gp 2g, 4a, 6p
Anze Kopitar - 4gp, 0g, 6a, 6p
Mike Richards 4 gp, 1g, 3a, 4p
Slava Voynov, 4gp, 1g, 2a, 3a
Goaltending
Jonathan Quick - 3gp, .898 SV%, 2.38 GAA
Jonathan Bernier - 2gp, .837 SV%, 2.57GAA
Results
LAK W @LA 5-2
LAK W @LA 2-1
LAK L @ ANA 4-7
LAK L @ ANA 3-4 (SO)
Analysis
Anaheim had a year that no one really expected. After missing the playoffs in 2011-12 and finishing below .500, the Ducks came storming back in the shortened lockout season and ran away with the division and gave Chicago a run for the conference. It was completely unprecedented given the performance that saw them finish in the bottom-5 of the league the previous season.
Part of the reason for their return to form was Ryan Getzlaf again being a point-per-game player. The prior season Getzlaf struggled to hit even double digits in goals and finished with a career low of 57 points outside of his rookie season. A back in form Getzlaf helped lead the Anaheim offense yet again. He is a key cog in the Anaheim offense, and when he is clicking it seems like the whole team is. Also helping out was the acquisitions of veteren defensemen Sheldon Souray and Bryan Allen, and the addition of young guns Emerson Etem, Kyle Palmieri, and Nick Bonino.
Boudreau was able to jumpstart a pretty stagnant 2011-12 offense by playing his typical style of giving up a little defensively to gain offensively. Keep a sharp eye on Corey Perry this year, who scored a majority of his goals by hanging around the blue line and attempting to exit the zone early enough to get a jump on defenseman. Like he did against the Kings in the April 7th game at Honda center.
Boudreau successfully took advantage of Corey Perry’s opportunistic style and let the horses out of the barn so to speak, allowing the Ducks to play a more wide-open offensive style than Randy Carlyle.
Victor Fasth was also a tremendous asset that was basically an afterthought to start the new season. With a more open offensive style the Ducks needed a goalie who would stand on his head at times to keep them in games, and Fasth did just that.
Moving forward the Ducks have an incredible youth pipeline that will sustain them and provide them with new talents every year. Get used to hearing names like Lindholm, Gibson, Vatanen, and Silfverberg, because this is the next wave of Anaheim talent, and it’s very close to making the jump. Bobby Ryan is a major subtraction to this Duck offense, but they got blue chip prospect Jakob Silfverberg and forward Stefan Noesen who isn’t bad either.
They play a wide open style that can be hard to handle sometimes, which was evident in the 7-4 run up they had on the Kings at the start of the season. However, the Kings got the better of the Ducks towards the end of the season and slowly ground away at the them, like they do most opponents. It will be interesting to see how Anaheim sustains over the course of an 82-game season, as many people were not convinced of their 48 game and playoff performance. After a blistering start the Ducks slumped towards the end, going 5-4-1 over their last 10 and 9-9-2 over their last 20. Despite being the upper seed they were eliminated at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings in seven games during the first round. If Selanne chooses not to re-sign that could also be a huge loss to the team's offense until one of Palmieri, Etem, or Bonino are more prepared to take on top-6 minutes on a regular basis.
The Kings and Ducks match up in almost exactly opposite ways, and that always leads to very closely contested chess matches. You have the tight checking, defense first Kings going up against the high-flying skilled Ducks. It wouldn’t be surprising to see these two teams duke it out amongst the top of the division for the majority of next season.
Scheduled Games
@Anaheim Dec. 3rd
@Anaheim Jan. 23rd
@LA Jan. 25th (At Dodger Stadium)
@LA Mar. 15th
@LA Apr. 12th
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