Hockey Duckie
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Record: 16-15-5 (37 pts), 5th in West
Last 10: 4-5-1
Streak: 1 losses
vs
Record: 11-20-6 (28 pts), 8th in West
Last 10: 3-7-0
Streak: 1 Loss
Series Record: Ducks 2, Yotes 4
Gm 7: Ducks 1, Yotes 0
Gm 8: Ducks 2, Yotes 3
Gm 19: Ducks 3, Yotes 4
Gm 20: Ducks 3, Yotes 4 (shootout)
Gm 31: Yotes 2, Ducks 3 (OT)
Gm 32: Yotes 5, Ducks 1
Gm 8: Ducks 2, Yotes 3
Gm 19: Ducks 3, Yotes 4
Gm 20: Ducks 3, Yotes 4 (shootout)
Gm 31: Yotes 2, Ducks 3 (OT)
Gm 32: Yotes 5, Ducks 1
Fortunes may look differently if the Ducks held onto 3-0 leads in games 19 and 20 against the Yotes, with the Ducks winning the series up to date. The best we can hope for is to go .500 at this point. These are the last two games we will see the Yotes for the rest of the season.
Geez. Time flies fast.
Draft Position Watch
| Draft | Position | Watch | 2-Apr | |||
| Pos | Team | GP | Wins | Losses | OTL | Pts |
| 1 | Buffalo | 36 | 7 | 23 | 6 | 20 |
| 2 | Anaheim | 37 | 11 | 20 | 6 | 28 |
| 3 | Ottawa | 37 | 12 | 21 | 4 | 28 |
| 4 | Detroit | 38 | 12 | 21 | 5 | 29 |
| 5 | New Jersey | 34 | 13 | 16 | 5 | 31 |
For Anaheim, it is, "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose." That is a French saying that translates to, "The more things change, the more they remain the same."
Road Trip recap
5-game Road Trip: 2-3-0 (4 points)
Ducks 1, Minny 2
Ducks 2, Minny 3
Ducks 4, Blues 1
Ducks 3, Blues 2 (OT)
Ducks 2, Avs 5
Ducks 2, Minny 3
Ducks 4, Blues 1
Ducks 3, Blues 2 (OT)
Ducks 2, Avs 5
That was a good road trip with respect to the rest of our season. We had three 1-goal games, going 1-2-0. We got blown out once and blew out a team as well. Out of the five games, we played four games with 7D. The only game we played with 6D was the second Minny game.
I don't know if the 7D actually works, though. The Blues were slumping coming and they continued to slump when we faced them. The blowout in the last game of the road trip came with about 24 hours between the two games where the Ducks had to fly out of St. Louis, Missouri to Denver, Colorado. That could have been taxing for our forwards, where Silf played over 21 minutes, more than any player on the team against the Blues.
With Steel going to IR, that may be another excuse to run 7D.
Volkov debut?
Anaheim made a trade on March 24, 2021. They acquired forward Alexander Volkov for prospect Antoine Morand and a conditional seventh-round 2023 pick. There is a 7-day quarantine period for Volkov before he can lace up the skate for Anaheim. That time period has passed. There have been reports that Volkov was seen skating with Comtois and Lundestrom.
With Anaheim, Volkov has a better path to becoming an NHL mainstay than he did on the talent compacted Tampa Bay Lightning. This is a low risk gamble for GM Murray. Murray has acquired players with the same low risk gamble in hopes something good could happen such as F Sonny Milano and F Danton Heinen. Milano has been injured for most of the season due to concussion. Heinen has been mutely solid and was put on the trading block to be held out of games, but the trade did not come to fruition.
Drysdale's 7th NHL game?
Under the new 2021 shortened season schedule, a rookie needs to play seven games to initiate the Entry Level Contract (ELC) for that season. Jamie Drysdale has played six games this season. In his first game with the NHL club, Drysdale scored a goal and an assist to help the Ducks win the game.
According to Eakins, Drysdale looked like he has been playing defense at the NHL level for years:
“He came in like he had been there for a very long time,” Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins said after Drysdale’s debut. “He closed like we’ve seen him close in San Diego. He moved the puck fast and hard like we’ve seen. He got shots through. He was a very, very confident young man. A really, really good first showing at this level.
“All the people at home should be very, very happy with that draft pick and the job that our scouts and management have put into that young man.”
“All the people at home should be very, very happy with that draft pick and the job that our scouts and management have put into that young man.”
ESPN is sharing that Drysdale has a TOI/game of 15:46 for all six games. Drysdale did get injured early in one of those games where he only notched 2:22 total. If we exclude that game, then Drysdale averages 18:27 TOI in the five games he played in completely. That average speaks volume of Drysdale's game and trust with the head coach to be rewarded with the minutes. Not bad at all for an 18-year old and soothes the mind of all Duck fans to know they have landed an NHLer in an 18-year old today.
...
GM Murray has a very good long term plan based upon its draft picks and youth movement, but some of those short term moves seem very questionable.
Although there has not been much going on between the Duck games, there are a few underlying stories that build up to this game.
Let's go, Ducks!
