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Ducks excited for more offensive freedom; plus news and notes

September 18, 2019, 1:26 PM ET [8 Comments]
Steve Palumbo
Colorado Avalanche Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Last season was a nightmare for the Anaheim Ducks offense. Randy Carlyle's coaching "style" stifled creativity and sucked the fun out of the game. This season Dallas Eakins has removed that governor and it looks like fun times are here again.

Injuries aside, the Ducks seemed "off" last season. Under Carlyle, they played a boring and predictable style of hockey. This often made their opponents look that much faster than them. We know why. Carlyle frowned on creativity and held his player back from playing their game. Eakins is preaching the opposite and that is a great thing for those on the ice and for us in the stands.

Eakins made it a point to get to know his players as people over the summer. He wanted to better understand what makes them tick and how he could best utilize their individual skillsets - something Carlyle didn't seem to have much interest in. It seems like his due diligence may already be paying off.

Eakins is implementing an offense that encourages his players to be themselves, to use their strengths and to not be afraid to take chances. He already has a track record of getting the most offensively out of his team. Eakins former team, the San Diego Gulls finished in the top 10 of AHL offenses, averaging 3.51 goals per game. Can you imagine the Ducks averaging that many goals per game with a healthy John Gibson in net?

Rickard Rakell and Adam Henrique have already publicly expressed their excitement about being able to just play hockey again without fear of venturing outside of the coaches gameplan. Rakell and Henrique each failed to crack the 20-goal mark for the first time since the 2014-15 season under Carlyle.

Happy players are productive players and I expect we will see both this season.
...

The Ducks played their first preseason game on Tuesday night, a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks. Anaheim rallied from an early 2-0 hole to pick up the "W."

Devin Shore, Nicolas Deslauriers, Adam Henrique, and Max Jones scored for the Ducks. Nine different Ducks had at least one point.

...

Last week the Ducks announced that both Patrick Eaves and Ryen Kelser would miss the entire season. I don't think we will ever see these two suit up in an NHL game again.

That's terrible news for a couple of great players. There is a silver lining though - more roster space for Anaheim's very talented youngsters.

Thanks for reading,
Steve
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