Answer this.

[KaseMeOutside]

Are the Ducks "great" at anything.

If the answer is no, then how can Anaheim continue to field this team? If they are truly in "cup or bust" mode, how can they think they have any chance if they are not elite at anything?

My opinions:
Anaheim is not elite offensively
Anaheim is not elite defensively
Anaheim is not elite in goal(though Gibson HAS played great)

At one time under Boudreau the Ducks were great at something(scoring) and Murray decided he wanted a bunch of muckers and grinders, which is whatever but how can you expect an offensive coach to coach a roster with no identity?

Boudreau has his issues as well, namely his usage of certain players.

I keep coming back to what many of you have said, Murray is not a "finisher" he can build a team to a certain level but he can't put it over the top, because he doesn't have a vision that he sticks to. He is extremely reactionary which has gotten the Ducks into alot of trouble the last 18 months.

Anyways I am interested in your opinions

Click to read more...

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Are they great at anything? No. But they could reasonably continue to field the same the same team if they think it WILL be great, soon. Whether that is itself reasonable is another story, I don't think it is. They need a reliable 25-30 goal scorer.

I'm hopeful the return of Thompson means the bottom 6 is a group that's more coherent and effective. In a very small sample our bottom 6 guys have looked great. That second line is the real bugger right now, no one on it can finish for ****.

 

[Unholy]

BM decided to stand pat during the god awful start with both players and coaching staff so yeah think it's safe to say he still thinks his group can get back into it and try and make another run. There will be some trade deadline stuff going on but that's usually the case anyways.

Maybe it's the owners who are content with just trying to make the playoffs consistently and maybe getting lucky to get back to the Final.

 

[Quack Shot]

Great at PK, recently PP has shown a lot of improvement so I think special teams will be our "greatness" the second half. I agree that BM is very reactionary and I think when you a great at something such as offense, you leave that alone and tweak the rest, not a 25% overhaul every year like he does.

 

[Getzmonster]

PK. Everything else is average.

I don't think a team can be "elite" at anything without elite players driving that part of the game. We only have elite players in Getz and Perry, and they are both struggling to get back on pace for average career years, probably won't. Murray has dumbed-down the bottom six offensively, so even if the twins were on fire, I doubt we are some offensively elite team anyhow. Our defense is worse in some ways than last season, and I'd describe last season's blueline as good, not great. Our 6 were outplayed by Chicago's 4. They have elite, we don't.

Goaltending is the same as the D, good, not great. Gibson might have some potential to be great, and Freddie can get hot for stretches and play like a world-beater, but he is still mainly an average starter.


In all fairness though, we know what we are in this market, a budget team. Being elite wasn't really part of the equation after the HOF'ers left. I don't see many teams winning Cups based on elite offense alone, and with just Getz and Perry we, at best, would be building a team of strong offensive support to maintain that offensive eliteness, while hoping that a solid, deep defense would be enough to overcome the lack of a true elite guy on the back end. Strength by committee I guess. We came close to having that last season and it still wasn't enough.

You can't win anything on offense alone, and in trying to improve the the overall team defense (compensating for a lack of eliteness), Murray has diminished the one elite aspect of the team (offense). And here we are.

I'm starting to doubt that we can win anything being led by two elite forwards, no matter what stage of their careers they are in. We need a game changer on the back end or we are probably always going to be the bridesmaids, hoping to catch a little lightening in a bottle (like we almost did last season).

Maybe that's being overly pessimistic, I dunno.

 

[Lord Flashheart]

Are the Ducks "great" at anything.

If the answer is no, then how can Anaheim continue to field this team? If they are truly in "cup or bust" mode, how can they think they have any chance if they are not elite at anything?

My opinions:
Anaheim is not elite offensively
Anaheim is not elite defensively
Anaheim is not elite in goal(though Gibson HAS played great)

At one time under Boudreau the Ducks were great at something(scoring) and Murray decided he wanted a bunch of muckers and grinders, which is whatever but how can you expect an offensive coach to coach a roster with no identity?

Boudreau has his issues as well, namely his usage of certain players.

I keep coming back to what many of you have said, Murray is not a "finisher" he can build a team to a certain level but he can't put it over the top, because he doesn't have a vision that he sticks to. He is extremely reactionary which has gotten the Ducks into alot of trouble the last 18 months.

Anyways I am interested in your opinions

While he certainly made mistakes, especially this off-season (I, among others, was pointing them out even before the season started), I'm not entirely sure that non-finisher label can really stick to him. How do you know one is non-finisher when team operates on an internal budget (how many contenders are there on an internal budget? where would Hawks and Kings be with same restrictions? with less Cups I'd imagine)? Or, if my hypothesis of ownership not really wanting to go all in is true can we really label Murray as not being able to finish when that's not even a goal?

 

[Ramenbot]

For all the hype the "youth movement" got, it didn't really amount to much. At least not much that's on the current roster. Lindholm and Vatanen are great. Where's everyone else? Let go or traded. Bonino+whatever for Kesler was fine. Everything else though...

 

[Italian President]

This roster is elite offensively, they average for the lowest shooting rate in the league right now. Once that averages back, we've got a world class top line now that Rakell has found his home there, a strong second once Ritchie develops and an insanely good bottom 6. There's only 3-4 teams I'd say have a better offense than Anaheim right now, things will turn around.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I get that Murray tinkers. Each time he's tinkered, the team goes further in the playoffs. He stopped thinking about winning the regular season when he realized he had a playoff team. So his decisions, IMO, seems like that of what can he do to improve the playoff team.

Of all of the moves, the one player I miss is Palms. He's an actual finisher. Now as for Bieksa, we needed veteran dmen help b/c a) Despres is still relatively young and b) Manson is relatively young. With Despres being injured, Manson has shown to have improved. So it's still possible that we can probably move Bieksa at the trade deadline because of the emergence of Manson with Despres. But we're lacking defensive, defensive talent in the minors (Theo and Montour aren't great defensive d-men prospects just yet).

 

[Exit Dose]

For all the hype the "youth movement" got, it didn't really amount to much. At least not much that's on the current roster. Lindholm and Vatanen are great. Where's everyone else? Let go or traded. Bonino+whatever for Kesler was fine. Everything else though...

Rakell seems to be doing just fine, as are the goalies, Fowler, Palmieri, Holland is off to a nice start, but I guess they shouldn't have been praised for what their potential was/is, because...reasons. The only over hyped prospect that I saw go through our ranks was Etem, and that was because a few people here lost their minds over his WHL numbers combined with where he was from.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

While he certainly made mistakes, especially this off-season (I, among others, was pointing them out even before the season started), I'm not entirely sure that non-finisher label can really stick to him. How do you know one is non-finisher when team operates on an internal budget (how many contenders are there on an internal budget? where would Hawks and Kings be with same restrictions? with less Cups I'd imagine)? Or, if my hypothesis of ownership not really wanting to go all in is true can we really label Murray as not being able to finish when that's not even a goal?

The Hawks and Kings would be nowhere with budget spending. Look at the comparison, the Ducks spend around the midpoint, maybe a little higher now, and those two spent sometimes more than what the cap was set at. It's not even that they spent to the cap, both teams were helped by the CBA loophole allowing them to back dive on contracts, especially the Hawks. Ducks couldn't really compete with that.

 

[Theridion]

This roster is elite offensively, they average for the lowest shooting rate in the league right now. Once that averages back, we've got a world class top line now that Rakell has found his home there, a strong second once Ritchie develops and an insanely good bottom 6. There's only 3-4 teams I'd say have a better offense than Anaheim right now, things will turn around.

The first 20+ games to this season seem to disagree with you.

This team can't finish. This team has bad transitioning. This team has low speed. This team can't/won't hit anymore.

Against average or good teams, this squad looks pathetic, like it is trying to just hold on. And Chicago and TB games this week showed they can't play with the big boys anymore.

Your idealism is based off of lingering historical butterflies in your tummy. Not current facts or visual evidence.

We just won 1-0 against a poor squad with non elite goaltending... on home ice with a fair number of PP opportunities.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

The first 20+ games to this season seem to disagree with you.

This team can't finish. This team has bad transitioning. This team has low speed. This team can't/won't hit anymore.

Against average or good teams, this squad looks pathetic, like it is trying to just hold on. And Chicago and TB games this week showed they can't play with the big boys anymore.

Your idealism is based off of lingering historical butterflies in your tummy. Not current facts or visual evidence.

We just won 1-0 against a poor squad with non elite goaltending... on home ice with a fair number of PP opportunities.

You're being ridiculous. They were easily the better team in both those games for all but two minutes. Elite is a bit much but your way too far the other way.

 

[Ducks DVM]

The first 20+ games to this season seem to disagree with you.

This team can't finish. This team has bad transitioning. This team has low speed. This team can't/won't hit anymore.

Against average or good teams, this squad looks pathetic, like it is trying to just hold on. And Chicago and TB games this week showed they can't play with the big boys anymore.

Your idealism is based off of lingering historical butterflies in your tummy. Not current facts or visual evidence.

We just won 1-0 against a poor squad with non elite goaltending... on home ice with a fair number of PP opportunities.

I'd say the Chicago and Tampa games showed exactly that they CAN play with the big boys.

They can't finish though.

 

[Sojourn]

This roster is elite offensively, they average for the lowest shooting rate in the league right now. Once that averages back, we've got a world class top line now that Rakell has found his home there, a strong second once Ritchie develops and an insanely good bottom 6. There's only 3-4 teams I'd say have a better offense than Anaheim right now, things will turn around.

Not buying it.

A team that is elite offensively would look it, shooting percentage be damned. They would dictate the play, create chances, and you wouldn't need to point to their shooting percentage as an argument for their elite play. You'd point to their play on the ice.

They've been better the last few games, which is a good sign, but if they start putting up elite offensive numbers it isn't going to be because their shooting percentage starts to increase. It will be because they actually start playing better offensive hockey. The shooting percentage will follow, it won't cause it.

 

[Ducks DVM]

Not buying it.

A team that is elite offensively would look it, shooting percentage be damned. They would dictate the play, create chances, and you wouldn't need to point to their shooting percentage as an argument for their elite play. You'd point to their play on the ice.

They've been better the last few games, which is a good sign, but if they start putting up elite offensive numbers it isn't going to be because their shooting percentage starts to increase. It will be because they actually start playing better offensive hockey. The shooting percentage will follow, it won't cause it.

There are 3-5 teams in every single Division that are as good or better on offense than we are. I wouldn't put this group in the top 15-20.

 

[Sojourn]

I definitely didn't walk away from the Chicago game thinking that we can't compete with the best teams. That's what made it all the more frustrating, because the Ducks had that game. A stupid penalty from Getzlaf, and an inability to finish the last 2 minutes are why we lost.

 

[Vipers31]

I think that line of thinking is complete bullcrap, tbh. Nobody cares if you're (thought to be) elite in any given category. Us being an elite offensive team by paper at one point in no way whatsoever made us more of a contender than we were last year, where we were not that kind of threat in any single way. The only thing that matters is being the better all-around team at the right time. Where team building playes a big role, but so does luck. I'm not saying our team is built perfectly, I certainly don't think so, but it's also wrong to consider us chanceless just because noonne perceives us to be elite in any one category.

 

[Ducks in a row]

Are the Ducks "great" at anything.

If the answer is no, then how can Anaheim continue to field this team? If they are truly in "cup or bust" mode, how can they think they have any chance if they are not elite at anything?

My opinions:
Anaheim is not elite offensively
Anaheim is not elite defensively
Anaheim is not elite in goal(though Gibson HAS played great)

At one time under Boudreau the Ducks were great at something(scoring) and Murray decided he wanted a bunch of muckers and grinders, which is whatever but how can you expect an offensive coach to coach a roster with no identity?

Boudreau has his issues as well, namely his usage of certain players.

I keep coming back to what many of you have said, Murray is not a "finisher" he can build a team to a certain level but he can't put it over the top, because he doesn't have a vision that he sticks to. He is extremely reactionary which has gotten the Ducks into alot of trouble the last 18 months.

Anyways I am interested in your opinions

http://www.nhl.com/stats/team?repor...ummary&season=20152016&gameType=2&aggregate=0

#1 PK%

Another thing is they are a good faceoff team only Hurricanes,Coyotes,Wild and Sharks are better at winning faceoffs.

 

[George Binks]

They are great in letting us down

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

I think bieska is awful , if we can get rid of or replace him I think that will help a ton on defensive. Offensively I think when things start to even out well be alright. ... I still think we are missing a top 6 winger. Maroon has been a huge disappointment, silverberg and Kesler need to pick it up... rakell has looked dangerous on the top line. I think we need a legit goal scorer for 2nd line, someone that can create offense on their own, and put the puck in the net when given the chance.

 

[QnebO]

They have elite center and winger,
they could have elite offensive defenseman developing
They could have elite goalie developing

Goodness of Getz & Perry have made many guys like Beleskey offensively overrated. The first line has been missing a real elite 1st liner for a long time now.

Coaching change would be refreshing.

 

[QnebO]

^ And with that I meant, 1st line has been missing elite 3rd link in it.