Drysdale =========
The most positive thing about this injury is he did not re-injure his labrum, the injury from last year that cost him the season. Supposedly, this is a lower body injury (LBI) and considered day-to-day. After tonight's game, the Ducks will have three more days off.
Drysdale's injury isn't as pressing as it was last year due to having more talented depth. The Ducks have found a combination that can hold for the time being. We don't have to rush Drysdale back onto the ice until he's 100% healthy.
Although, the silent treatment from the Ducks' org truly is depressing because Drysdale was listed day-to-day on Oct 19th.
Luneau ==========
Luneau's situation is very unique. The Ducks' brass love his skills on the ice, but keeping him with the NHL club probably has more to do with body development. This idea becomes more apparent when the org formally announced the "strength mgmt" program for fellow rookie Leo Carlsson, to improve his strength and stamina. Part of the regiment of the "strength mgmt" is rest period. Luneau playing at the CHL schedule doesn't give time for proper growth physically since there's not enough rest period between games.
On a tangent, when the OHL shutdown due to COVID, prospects couldn't play hockey in the OHL. There were some players who had the option to play abroad and they did. One of those players is Mason McTavish. Due to some red tape business, McTavish couldn't go to Swiss league early because of his status as a minor, who didn't turn 18 years old until Jan 30th. With all those several months of not playing hockey, McTavish continued to train his body as well as practice session on his hockey skills and skating.
- McTavish's D+0 season
- Swiss Men's League, 2nd tier regular season: 13 games
- Swiss Men's League, 2nd tier playoff season: 4 games
- 2g + 5a, +2 rating, and sweep win
- WJC-18: 7 games
- 5g + 6a, +10 rating, and a gold medal
- That's a total of only 24 games played.
McTavish's skill development wasn't hampered, but his physical development was on display against the Swiss Men's League and more so at the WJC-18 where he ran roughshod over the Russians in the gold medal game. In Mac's D+1 season, he tore up the OHL, OHL playoffs, carried his team in the Memorial cup, and captained team Canada to a WJC-20 gold medal with MVP honors.
Back to Luneau, it appears there's a long term plan here to get Luneau's body into NHL-ready as soon as possible. Since this year was considered a development year, GM Verbeek wants to push his rebuild timeline up a year with throwing up so many rookies onto the NHL roster rather than adhere to his own modus operandi of preferring overripen prospects. The point with so many rookies up this year was to get exposure and see where the org was at with the rookies. There are some great surprises in G Dostal, LD Mintyukov, and LD/RD LaCombe. There are good surprises in C Groulx and C Carlsson. And there is a questionable surprise in Luneau. Carlsson and Luneau do need to add more mass and strength.
Luneau now qualifies for a two-week AHL conditioning stint. And then the WJC-20 will be calling. Afterwards, there's a month and a half until the March TDL. RD Lyubushkin is on a one-year deal and presumed to be a TDL candidate before the season started. If that thought is still a green light, then RD Luneau could potentially stay up with the NHL club all season long.
