2012/2013 Season Expecations

[bumperkisser]

That's how I'm leaning too, or at least what I hope. It just bothered me seeing how poorly handled some players were. I really enjoyed seeing the players get excited again, and I can't stress enough how important I think that is(and something I think was seriously lacking under Carlyle), but man it was a bit frustrating at times. I'm no expert, but it was very apparent that a couple of key players were not being used properly, and these were important players too. From the standpoint of trying to win hockey games, I don't think it made sense... of course, like you said, by that point the season was pretty much a bust, so it's possible it was just for experimental purposes. It's just, that also means we still have yet to see exactly what Boudreau is going to do, and that makes me antsy. I'd be more comfortable if I knew Boudreau saw what he had, and how to use it. I hate being in the dark.

He should indeed, and I think Hiller will have a strong season himself. That's a big reason I think Anaheim could fight for a playoff spot. I don't think they'll go anywhere in the playoffs(I don't think they have the right team for that) but I think they can compete.

Edit: Also, when talking about the experimental part, at least in regards to Fowler, Boudreau might have wanted him to focus primarily on one area(namely defense) to really prepare for a bigger role the following season. Despite what his stats say, and what others might think, I felt like Fowler took big strides in the defensive zone. He really showed a committment, and that solid D play carried over into the World Championships where he was one of the US's best defensive guys. Now, I don't understand that approach on the PP, but at even strength I would praise Boudreau for that decision, if that is the case. If Fowler can find a way to be that guy defensively, and be the confident offensive puck distributor we saw in the 1st season, I think he could put together a pretty damn good two-way game for Anaheim.

OMG yes. this x1000. if fowler is NOT roaming im going to be so pissed.. if he is a stationary tool on the PP i'm going to want to kill BB

 

[The Flying V]

My expectations are Seth Jones.

 

[Kalv]

Actually this is great season so far. We are tied for 1st in the league through mid january, and if we take the alphabetical order - we`re 1st Don`t screw this up

 

[Yeaoh]

People are gonna hate me, but I want this season to end bad. I just LOVE the prospects available in the Top 5-7 and I don't think we'd get ou of the 1st round in the playoffs even if we made it in. Better make the most of it.

 

[maplehawk]

Just a few thoughts about key players who need to better this season...

http://thehockeywriters.com/anaheim-ducks-need-bounce-back-years-from-several-key-players/

Perhaps the biggest disappointment for the Ducks last season was the lack of production from captain and perennial point-per-game player, Ryan Getzlaf. Getzlaf posted just 11 goals and 57 points in 2011/2012, his lowest point totals since his rookie season, despite playing all 82 games for the first time in 4 years.

 

[Kalv]

People are gonna hate me, but I want this season to end bad. I just LOVE the prospects available in the Top 5-7 and I don't think we'd get ou of the 1st round in the playoffs even if we made it in. Better make the most of it.

Add ''resigning Getzlaf and Perry'' to that, and i`ll hate you a little bit less

I want a good season. Don`t forget this is most likely Selanne last season in NHL as a player

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Just a few thoughts about key players who need to better this season...

http://thehockeywriters.com/anaheim-ducks-need-bounce-back-years-from-several-key-players/

Can't complain too much about media attention the Ducks get, but I wish those who review the team spent some time watching them.

Fowler can't be trusted with 22+ minutes because of his plus/minus, Boudreau brought a free-flowing open offensive style . . . . Come on.

 

[maplehawk]

Can't complain too much about media attention the Ducks get, but I wish those who review the team spent some time watching them.

Fowler can't be trusted with 22+ minutes because of his plus/minus, Boudreau brought a free-flowing open offensive style . . . . Come on.

You disagreeing/misunderstanding with what I'm saying doesn't mean I don't watch the team I cover, but thanks for your concern.

The Boudreau point was meant to be a comparison to Carlyle's system. There is no denying that Carlyle's teams played a defensive-oriented system. With center-pieces like Pronger and Niedermayer on the back end, the defensive system flourished and resulted in a dominant team. With a significantly weaker defensive core post-cup, the team was less able to thrive under Carlyle's system and he himself didn't quite adapt.

Boudreau brings a much more offensive-oriented coaching strategy to the table, having plenty of experience with offensive workhorses like Ovechkin and Backstrom.

Perhaps you misunderstood the comparison I was trying to make, but I'm not sure how one could disagree outright with this point.

The Fowler point is pretty straight-forward I would've thought. If he's going to play 22+ minutes a night, he should be looking to improve 5 on 5. He's the type of player the Ducks want on the ice that much, but he still has to prove that the time should be his versus another d-man. I never said anywhere that he can't be trusted, in fact, it's pretty evident that he is trusted with those minutes as he averaged 23+ last year. He's still young, progressing, and a very good player but it's hard to deny the areas he needs to work on when he posts by far the team's worst +/- at minus-28 with the next closest being minus-14.

Hope that clears things up.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

You disagreeing/misunderstanding with what I'm saying doesn't mean I don't watch the team I cover, but thanks for your concern.

The Boudreau point was meant to be a comparison to Carlyle's system. There is no denying that Carlyle's teams played a defensive-oriented system. With center-pieces like Pronger and Niedermayer on the back end, the defensive system flourished and resulted in a dominant team. With a significantly weaker defensive core post-cup, the team was less able to thrive under Carlyle's system and he himself didn't quite adapt.

Boudreau brings a much more offensive-oriented coaching strategy to the table, having plenty of experience with offensive workhorses like Ovechkin and Backstrom.

Perhaps you misunderstood the comparison I was trying to make, but I'm not sure how one could disagree outright with this point.

The Fowler point is pretty straight-forward I would've thought. If he's going to play 22+ minutes a night, he should be looking to improve 5 on 5. He's the type of player the Ducks want on the ice that much, but he still has to prove that the time should be his versus another d-man. I never said anywhere that he can't be trusted, in fact, it's pretty evident that he is trusted with those minutes as he averaged 23+ last year. He's still young, progressing, and a very good player but it's hard to deny the areas he needs to work on when he posts by far the team's worst +/- at mins-28 with the next closest being minus-14.

Hope that clears things up.

Citing generalities doesn't actually rebut a charge of not watching.
That aside, you said " . . . the team appeared to thrive under the more wide open offensive style Boudreau implemented . . . ." That means, Boudreau implemented a more wide open style [than his predecessor], and that it worked. No, it didn't. Boudreau's first weeks were a disaster and the team didn't stop spinning out of control until BB locked the wings down and shortened the gap. The team did move away from Carlyle's emphasis on cycling to focus more on work in front of the net, but that's not what you said. You said, again, the team appeared to thrive under the more wide open etc. I did not misunderstand.

If, as you claim, you wanted to just generally say: Boudreau is more offensively-minded, and that's a big change from Carlyle, you could have. It would have been a fatuous, least-common-denominator, everyone-knows-that analysis, but at least it would have had the virtue of being accurate.

As for Fowler, again you're boxscore scouting (thanks for that phrase, Paul!), taking the easy presumption that Fowler's numbers are a result of his poor defensive prowess. Even if it was your intention to imply (and I'm not sure that it's implied from what you wrote) that Fowler was trusted with 22+ minutes and did not perform well, that statement also implies that Fowler's ice time is in jeopardy from the team's new additions (whom you did not mention). It isn't.

So, if you do indeed watch the games, and you'd like to start giving that impression, you should write as if you've seen one.

 

[Sojourn]

I would certainly disagree with the implication that Boudreau implemented a more wide open style compared to Carlyle. On that count, I agree with Damn Skippy.

However, I have no complaints regarding the Fowler comments. As happy as I was with Fowler's improvements in the defensive zone, there is still work to be done there, and the role that Anaheim is expecting Fowler to fill all but guarantees that we have a lot riding on his play. If Fowler's +/- looks bad, just stats or not, Anaheim is probably going to be in trouble.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

I would certainly disagree with the implication that Boudreau implemented a more wide open style compared to Carlyle. On that count, I agree with Damn Skippy.

However, I have no complaints regarding the Fowler comments. As happy as I was with Fowler's improvements in the defensive zone, there is still work to be done there, and the role that Anaheim is expecting Fowler to fill all but guarantees that we have a lot riding on his play. If Fowler's +/- looks bad, just stats or not, Anaheim is probably going to be in trouble.

Fair enough. To the extent it portends a bad year for the team, Fowler having another abysmal +/- would definitely be a bad thing.

 

[snarktacular]

I haven't been completely satisfied with Fowler's defensive game since he's entered the league, but I would say I'm more pleased with it last year than his rookie year. Despite what the numbers say, I think he made big improvements. I do think they should scale back his minutes a bit, though.

To me the bigger "sophomore slump" disappointment was how his PP production dropped off a cliff.


And yeah. Boudreau's system wasn't more wide open offensively than Carlyle's. I don't think Boudreau has been a wide-open offensive coach for quite some time now. If anything, the team has looked much tighter defensively since BB came into town. Less getting stuck in the zone, fewer rushes against.

 

[Exit Dose]

To me the bigger "sophomore slump" disappointment was how his PP production dropped off a cliff.

In fairness to Cam, everyone's PP production dropped off that same cliff. It's my biggest worry about Boudreau as our coach. The PP system in Norfolk looks similarly awful.

 

[Mr Rogers]

IIRC there was a lot of standing around and lack of movement in the PP last year. Completely opposite from the dynamite PP of 10-11.

 

[snarktacular]

Yeah the PP was all kinds of horrible everywhere. Moving Teemu away from his favorite spot. Not giving Getzlaf the puck as much in the half wall. Everyone just kind of standing around.

But I still was a little more unhappy with Fowler's play. I won't put the blame of the PP in general on him, but I think he underperformed a little more than others.

 

[Ducksgo*]

My expectations are Seth Jones.

Ehhhh I'm hoping for McKinnon

 

[Sojourn]

Yeah the PP was all kinds of horrible everywhere. Moving Teemu away from his favorite spot. Not giving Getzlaf the puck as much in the half wall. Everyone just kind of standing around.

But I still was a little more unhappy with Fowler's play. I won't put the blame of the PP in general on him, but I think he underperformed a little more than others.

To be fair to him, I think you can fault the coach there. Fowler played the point on the PP like he had a shock collar on, and the range was 5 feet across the blue line. You can't take a skater and puck distributor like that, and put those kinds of restrictions on him.

 

[snarktacular]

To be fair to him, I think you can fault the coach there. Fowler played the point on the PP like he had a shock collar on, and the range was 5 feet across the blue line. You can't take a skater and puck distributor like that, and put those kinds of restrictions on him.

That might be part of it. To be more specific, I wasn't happy with the passes he made, his passing/skating/shooting decisions, and his decisions on whether to pinch or not. I guess the pinching thing could be due to a mandate from the coach causing him to second guess and be slow to react.

edit: and yes, I do blame the coaching more than any of the players. In fact, when I said earlier that I don't blame Fowler for the unit's ineffectiveness as a whole, that's a large part of what I meant. I think the coaches set up some kind of ass-backwards system to take away just about everybody's strengths.

 

[RPGrizzly]

That might be part of it. To be more specific, I wasn't happy with the passes he made, his passing/skating/shooting decisions, and his decisions on whether to pinch or not. I guess the pinching thing could be due to a mandate from the coach causing him to second guess and be slow to react.

edit: and yes, I do blame the coaching more than any of the players. In fact, when I said earlier that I don't blame Fowler for the unit's ineffectiveness as a whole, that's a large part of what I meant. I think the coaches set up some kind of ass-backwards system to take away just about everybody's strengths.

Yes, coaching. Who was in charge of the PP last season? Lauer, Woods? Boudreau? It flat-out ****ing sucked. Way too much standing around and shots right into the goalie's logo. Foligno ran the same power play for one season and made them look like the Russian 5 out there.

You have to mention Visnovsky's play, too. Quarterbacked the PP in 10-11 and led all defensemen in points. Hurt shoulder before the playoffs and played through it, then instead of resting it he immediately plays in the World Championships. He started last season with a broken finger and played terribly. Broke another finger and took a month off. His injuries forced the coaches to give Fowler big minutes after playing mainly sheltered minutes. It's pretty hard to expect greatness from a 20 year old defenseman who suddenly finds himself matching up against the other team's best forwards, while being a leader in our transition game, because by default, he became our best puck moving defenseman.

Visnovsky wasn't the same when he came back, talking retirement, looking and playing disinterested. I'm not trying to excuse Fowler's bad play though. He unexpectedly took on a much bigger role last year and despite not playing particularly well, he made some strides. He was forced to improve defensively by not playing sheltered minutes and we did see improvements, he started to get inside positionally on players way more and his stick was a lot more active.

Again I agree with you, our power play looked like a complete gongshow most of the time with too little movement, every team would send their forwards aggressively to the points and we'd lose control. For that you look to the coaches to adjust but they didn't. Like you said you can't point to any one single player and fault him. Sure Fowler was ineffective, but what about the defenseman who led the league in points the previous year?

 

[KelVarnsen]

Well I have been bumping around different sites and cant find 1 that actually predicts the Ducks to make the playoffs. Seems almost everyone picks the Ducks last in the division and close to last in the conference. Is Barstool the only one who cant see this roster has major holes? Too many "ifs" for my liking.

Hopefully the Ducks play inspired hockey and we can send Selanne out on a high.

 

[Sojourn]

That might be part of it. To be more specific, I wasn't happy with the passes he made, his passing/skating/shooting decisions, and his decisions on whether to pinch or not. I guess the pinching thing could be due to a mandate from the coach causing him to second guess and be slow to react.

edit: and yes, I do blame the coaching more than any of the players. In fact, when I said earlier that I don't blame Fowler for the unit's ineffectiveness as a whole, that's a large part of what I meant. I think the coaches set up some kind of ass-backwards system to take away just about everybody's strengths.

One area that I can't really overlook in regards to Fowler are the shooting decisions. I think Fowler's shot is a bit underrated(not great, but better than he's often given credit for), but he was forcing a lot of shots last season. If there's no shooting lane, and your teammates aren't moving(something the team was guilty of a lot on the PP), you should just be sending it down low.

I didn't understand then, and I still don't understand, what the coaches were trying to do on the PP. It just baffled me how the coaches could see the players they had, and use them so horribly. It's not as if there's a secret to seeing the strengths of players. How many viewings does it take to figure out that Getzlaf is a passer? That Selanne is a gifted shooter? That Fowler is a world class skater? Even if you'd never seen them before, their strengths are obvious.

 

[Finnpin]

I expect Ryan to be our most productive forward in the first 10-15 games as he has pro games already this season.

 

[JabbaJabba]

Offence is a mess right now, too many question marks that could go well or could go very bad. The worst case scenario is if the kids can't handle NHL and Anaheim is forced to play RPG and the Finns all the time. And of course, the top players could underachieve again and injuries are always a possibility.

One thing that keeps my hopes up is goaltending. Hiller should play better than during the start of the last season. He can definitely rob some games even if he faces a ton of shots. If I remember correctly, ever since Boudreau took over the amount of shots against lowered which definitely helps Hiller. On top of that, they finally have a solid backup in Fasth who should be able to take some of Hiller's workload.

Actually there are two things that keep my hopes up. The other thing is defence. Lydman and Beauchemin are healthy and they are were trustworthy defenders. Now that they have brought in veterans like Allen and Souray the defence looks fine. Fowler and Sbisa are fine young defencemen who are developing nicely. With a possibility of signing Huskins as 7th defender would only make the situation even better. I would be happy with Guenin as 7th guy to be honest.

So even though the offence is a mystery box, that defence and goaltending should take care of some mistakes and should keep every game tight.

 

[Fallenity]

I put 20 dollars on Anaheim winning the division, so here's hoping. I think Getzlaf and Ryan will put up good numbers, while Perry flounders. We lose Perry in the off-season and keep Getzlaf. Selanne will be on fire in the first 20 games, especially on the PP, but then the grind gets to him and he slows down. Hiller will play his best and Fasth will be at the same level as Dan Ellis, maybe a bit better. He gets better as the season progresses. Sbisa will be our best defenseman and Allen will be a positive surprise. Sourey will be effective on the PP, but will end the season with negative +/-. Lydman gets injured at some point and Lindholm gets a look. If Lindholm isn't healed yet, then Vatanen who'll have played well in the AHL. Ryan will get his own line with Palmieri and / or Bonino and the line will be very productive.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

I put 20 dollars on Anaheim winning the division, so here's hoping.

At what odds?