How excited are you about the upcoming season?

[ohcomeonref]

I'm excited about watching our young guys develop. I want to see Ricky pot 40, Kase get 50 points, and I really want Steel to make the big show this year. But I'm not remotely excited about the teams chances to do anything this year.

 

[Zegras Zebra]

2/10

Realistically I can't expect this team to make the playoffs. Perry is declining, Kesler and Eaves might still be injured/ sick and at their ages aren't likely to be the same players ever again. Getzlaf is the only great player right now (Rakell is the tier below). The young D are developing nicely, and if Gibson stays healthy should be in the Vezina mix. It would be nice to see if some of the young forwards can crack the lineup, but I doubt they have a good chance to develop in the NHL with Carlyle as the coach.

I actually hope the Ducks lose their first 6 games, Carlyle gets fired and the new coach changes the philosophy towards youth, speed and puck movement instead of a heavy game like it is now.

 

[Dirk316]

We will have by far the softest team in team history. This team will be unwatchable
The fan base wanted small players with speed and you guys are getting them

 

[IDuck]

Not even remotely. RC has sucked dry any expectations I had of watching an entertaining product on the ice. 82 games of “can the goalies hold on long enough for us to fluke out a win or OTL” just doesn’t do it for me, and BM lying to the face of season ticket holders about pretending to have the ability/desire to change anything doesn’t do anything but add to that feeling of ennui.

this is me too...ducks have systematic and player issues that are very alarming...ducks system cant compete in todays NHL, and there are players who have a big salary cap hit/big roles who look to be done in the NHL...also, the fact that we have some good players coming up who wont be able to get a look because our hockey ops. are stuck in the 80's and prefer to play players who "grind it out" then players who are hungry to play in the NHL and have skill...this year is going to be UGLY!!!!.
i have never said (in the last 10+ years) the ducks wont make the PO's before the season starts, but this team has NO CHANCE to make the PO's, and the worst part is they will be to good to finish in a lottery spot...my hope is RC is gone, perry is gone, and maybe even kesler is gone by the end of the season...I know our team cant afford to do a rebuild but I hope for a complete overhaul, im pretty sick of this crap year after year.

 

[KyleJRM]

This will be my first as a season ticket holder, so 10/10 on that level.

On pure hockey? 6/10. There's both upside and downside here.

 

[pbgoalie]

For the first time in a long time, not very excited about the Ducks at all.
Hoping something happens, but it’s been a frustrating time, watching the Carlyle mess, Bieksa, inactivity

By the end of last year I found myself more and more interested in the Vegas story, so maybe that newness will wear off

 

[pbgoalie]

We will have by far the softest team in team history. This team will be unwatchable
The fan base wanted small players with speed and you guys are getting them

Funny you think not wanting useless garbage like Boll is wanting small and weak.
Personally, I want Ritchie to show a little more, and we need him to for the benefit of his size, and psychotic abilities when pushed. Manson is invaluable.
But we can’t be slow, lazy, AND dumb.....at times we’ve been all of those....

I certainly want speed, and we can’t have a fourth line that isnt good enough to play 6 minutes a night for “toughness”. That doesn’t mean 12 smurfs....

 

[Elvs]

Not very. Not unless Murray can somehow find a way to trade Perry or Kesler. Until that happens, I'm just expecting to watch an aging, tired and declining team playing uninspired hockey. Maybe Carlyle is also part of that problem.

I'll probably feel more into it once the season starts. The first couple of months are usually fun. But with this team right now, I'm mostly just looking forward to seeing the new jerseys lol.

 

[analytics]

I disagree...
I think at the very least the team will be better than last year, now a lot of teams are better in the pacific.. but we still have the deepest defense/best goalie tandem

- No way we have the same injury bugs as we had last year
- Kase/Rakell/Ritchie all should continue getting better
- No more kevin "*******" bieska in the line up(chance for Larsson/pettersson/welinski which are much better options)

- I think perry will trend up a little from last year(not expecting mvp season but 20/50 would be nice)
- Not to mention we have some interesting pieces in Steel/terry/jones/kossila that could really boost the team with their skillsets if they get looks


Obviously the health of kesler/eaves is a concern but we honestly played without both of them last year and made the playoffs with a ton more injuries to boot.

This is the train of thought far more Duck fans ought to be on.

Remember, if the Ducks didn't have some of the most injuries to star players in history of the game, there's an extremely high probability they win their 6th consecutive division title. It's just mind blowing how negative and spoiled the vast majority of this fanbase is, to the extent I'd prefer listening leaf fans riddled with personal bias. At least they aren't irrationally pessimistic.

Let's just say, in fairness to every player on the roster and every staff member of the organization, this is realistically a 6-time consecutive division winning quality team we're talking about here. Because it is.

What's happened between last year and now to re-ignite the annual "blow it up, rebuild, retool, no playoffs" thread I've literally been reading for all 6 of these years. Let's examine:

Subtractions:
-Kevin Bieksa
-Francois Beauchemin
-Antoine Vermette

Additions:
-Patrick Eaves (welcome back)
-Brian Gibbons
-Carter Rowny
-Sam Steel/Troy Terry (if)

Okay, well that's certainly not enough to oust a perennial division champion into uninspired mediocrity. Maybe it's aging/natural development?

Aging(-):
Getzlaf: very lateral "decline" until 35+ at the expense of decreased PK time
Perry: physically can't decline much more, the big leap has already happened
Kesler: was already effectively not on the roster last season and the Ducks achieved very good results, transitions to 3C with Silf/Cogs or replaced by Steel

Development(+):
Kase(22): almost guaranteed to improve
Ritchie(22): likely improves and finds his way to a decent middle to bottom-6 career
Rakell (25): may take final step in development, reaching 80pts
Fowler (26): One final small jump, gains a bit more weight
Manson (26): Still definitely room to grow offensively despite age, scored 37 points with ~0 powerplay time
Lindholm (24): Last season was the best of his career, this could the the big breakthrough for Lindholm where he eclipses 40 points
Montour (24): Kid is just scratching the surface despite his age, may easily reach 40-50 one day with a solid all-around game to support it
Larsson/Pettersson(): One of which will round of the 3rd pairing this season and have a chance to grow into a big contributor on D for Anaheim

Obviously, there is a lot more good than bad going forward for this team especially in the short-term while Getzlaf is still a clear top-10 Center in the world. Henrique has expressed interest in re-signing as well.

This roster is genuinely stacked on paper, and to anyone focusing on the lack of elite talent on forward outside of Getzlaf (and maybe Rakell), please look at a team like Nashville, or Vegas. It's asinine to suggest you need a certain roster configuration to win the cup. The best overall team regardless of balance and composition will have the highest chance to win assuming an equal level of execution, at which point the nature of probability will determine the outcome.

Rakell Getzlaf Eaves
Henrique Steel Kase
Cogs Kesler Silverberg
Gibbons Rowney Perry
(ritchie traded, terry ahl)

There's plenty of talent here, when backed by a top-5 Defense/Goalie tandem in the league, will have a chance to contend with almost certainty.

The one and only downfall of this team will be RC's antiquated system. Most teams are actually sacrificing possession for pace, particularly in the neutral zone. Where Anaheim attacks other teams by slowly and methodically zig-zagging through the ice, most teams (see Vegas) push the pace forward with a far more linear, north/south style of play with focus on stretching the ice in this direction. The immediate benefits don't meet the visible eye, but the underlying data shows the consequences of suffocating the opposition with pace: consistently inducing fatigue, nerves, and more mistakes.

My message to Ducks fans out there, enjoy these next 2-4 seasons with Getzlaf while you can, it will be far more enjoyable than you think. Past that, to keep this team contending into the future, it's all about Sam Steel, Morand, Lundestrom, Groulx, McLaughlin developing into the next wave of pivots.

 

[mightyquack]

There's more then 1 downfall to the team if Steel/Kesler/Rowney are 3 of your centers (and a pretty damn significant hole at that). Steel is completely untested at NHL level, Kesler might not even play (and if he does who knows the state of his hip) and Rowney is an NHL/AHL tweener. Even if you move Henrique to middle (and assume Kesler isn't playing this season), Anaheim has 0 good bottom 6 centers and will get exposed pretty badly against any half decent team.

Either way, I'll be happy hockey is back - but I fully expect a lousy season from Anaheim, especially with RC as the coach. If we had a good coach I'd feel better as I believe the team could be alright with a good coach in charge...but with RC? No chance.

 

[Ducks DVM]

This is the train of thought far more Duck fans ought to be on.

Remember, if the Ducks didn't have some of the most injuries to star players in history of the game, there's an extremely high probability they win their 6th consecutive division title. It's just mind blowing how negative and spoiled the vast majority of this fanbase is, to the extent I'd prefer listening leaf fans riddled with personal bias. At least they aren't irrationally pessimistic.

Let's just say, in fairness to every player on the roster and every staff member of the organization, this is realistically a 6-time consecutive division winning quality team we're talking about here. Because it is.

What's happened between last year and now to re-ignite the annual "blow it up, rebuild, retool, no playoffs" thread I've literally been reading for all 6 of these years. Let's examine:

Subtractions:
-Kevin Bieksa
-Francois Beauchemin
-Antoine Vermette

Additions:
-Patrick Eaves (welcome back)
-Brian Gibbons
-Carter Rowny
-Sam Steel/Troy Terry (if)

Okay, well that's certainly not enough to oust a perennial division champion into uninspired mediocrity. Maybe it's aging/natural development?

Aging(-):
Getzlaf: very lateral "decline" until 35+ at the expense of decreased PK time
Perry: physically can't decline much more, the big leap has already happened
Kesler: was already effectively not on the roster last season and the Ducks achieved very good results, transitions to 3C with Silf/Cogs or replaced by Steel

Development(+):
Kase(22): almost guaranteed to improve
Ritchie(22): likely improves and finds his way to a decent middle to bottom-6 career
Rakell (25): may take final step in development, reaching 80pts
Fowler (26): One final small jump, gains a bit more weight
Manson (26): Still definitely room to grow offensively despite age, scored 37 points with ~0 powerplay time
Lindholm (24): Last season was the best of his career, this could the the big breakthrough for Lindholm where he eclipses 40 points
Montour (24): Kid is just scratching the surface despite his age, may easily reach 40-50 one day with a solid all-around game to support it
Larsson/Pettersson(): One of which will round of the 3rd pairing this season and have a chance to grow into a big contributor on D for Anaheim

Obviously, there is a lot more good than bad going forward for this team especially in the short-term while Getzlaf is still a clear top-10 Center in the world. Henrique has expressed interest in re-signing as well.

This roster is genuinely stacked on paper, and to anyone focusing on the lack of elite talent on forward outside of Getzlaf (and maybe Rakell), please look at a team like Nashville, or Vegas. It's asinine to suggest you need a certain roster configuration to win the cup. The best overall team regardless of balance and composition will have the highest chance to win assuming an equal level of execution, at which point the nature of probability will determine the outcome.

Rakell Getzlaf Eaves
Henrique Steel Kase
Cogs Kesler Silverberg
Gibbons Rowney Perry
(ritchie traded, terry ahl)

There's plenty of talent here, when backed by a top-5 Defense/Goalie tandem in the league, will have a chance to contend with almost certainty.

The one and only downfall of this team will be RC's antiquated system. Most teams are actually sacrificing possession for pace, particularly in the neutral zone. Where Anaheim attacks other teams by slowly and methodically zig-zagging through the ice, most teams (see Vegas) push the pace forward with a far more linear, north/south style of play with focus on stretching the ice in this direction. The immediate benefits don't meet the visible eye, but the underlying data shows the consequences of suffocating the opposition with pace: consistently inducing fatigue, nerves, and more mistakes.

My message to Ducks fans out there, enjoy these next 2-4 seasons with Getzlaf while you can, it will be far more enjoyable than you think. Past that, to keep this team contending into the future, it's all about Sam Steel, Morand, Lundestrom, Groulx, McLaughlin developing into the next wave of pivots.

The thing is - none of that matters except your last bolded point, because the team is boring as hell to watch in person on the vast majority of nights. They’re slow, they make the same mistakes again and again, there are a number of key players clearly mailing it in and/or playing scared, and the system does not work with the current personnel, but “changed man” RC continues hammering in infinitely varied peg styles into his round holes. Unsuccessfully. It was boring when they were actually dominant in ‘16-17. It was excruciating last year.

 

[70sSanO]

Not excited. Last year was incredibly difficult to watch. I don't know if I can take another year of Carlyle coached Ducks. I can't imagine anyone actually thinking that any of our prospects will actually be given a real shot. If it weren't for the injuries last year, Kase would have never been given a shot.

We will ice a predictable veteran team that will have a slow start and just try to hang onto any lead we have. Gibson will have to be Hiller 2010 2.0 as we will play most of our time in our own zone. I hope I'm wrong, but lately I look more to fall because everyone is back in school and I'll get more waves than the watching Ducks.

John

 

[Duck Off]

Very excited for hockey like always. Just lowest expectations I’ve had entering a season in years.

 

[KyleJRM]

I find the unyielding, ridiculous pessimism to be annoying. This fan base is *spoiled*. They've lost the ability to tell the difference between a team that isn't elite and an actually bad team. They're not one of the top 3 teams in the league and they're not a tank-fest with uberprospects to dream on. They're just a really good hockey team. The flaws are real, but so are the strengths, and the strengths are more important. There's a whole lot of franchises out there that can go a decade trying to find a No. 1 center or an elite goalie, and we take them for granted. There's plenty of young, interesting talent on the roster too.

It's going to get even worse when we hit the season and people find out that the only rookie/prospect winning a regular job is maybe a third-pairing defenseman. It'd be so nice if we had a sexy forward prospect ready to jump in and give us a shot of fanbase adrenaline, but we're wishcasting when we try to cram Terry and Steel into those roles. Both need some serious AHL time.

So we're going to have to settle for everyone being bored with a team that will probably be better than its opponent most nights it steps on the ice.

 

[Carelton CA]

The only thing that could reignite my excitement for this team is RC being fired ASAP. A lot of teams out west loading up while BM is status quo.

 

[The Duck Knight]

I find the unyielding, ridiculous pessimism to be annoying. This fan base is *spoiled*. They've lost the ability to tell the difference between a team that isn't elite and an actually bad team. They're not one of the top 3 teams in the league and they're not a tank-fest with uberprospects to dream on. They're just a really good hockey team. The flaws are real, but so are the strengths, and the strengths are more important. There's a whole lot of franchises out there that can go a decade trying to find a No. 1 center or an elite goalie, and we take them for granted. There's plenty of young, interesting talent on the roster too.

It's going to get even worse when we hit the season and people find out that the only rookie/prospect winning a regular job is maybe a third-pairing defenseman. It'd be so nice if we had a sexy forward prospect ready to jump in and give us a shot of fanbase adrenaline, but we're wishcasting when we try to cram Terry and Steel into those roles. Both need some serious AHL time.

So we're going to have to settle for everyone being bored with a team that will probably be better than its opponent most nights it steps on the ice.

Which is actually the worst thing to be. If a team can't truly contend for a Cup they are in purgatory. They are going to have trouble getting elite players because they aren't going to have high draft picks, while also not being able to win, which IMO is the actual goal, not to be okay, but not bad. Can this team make the playoffs? Sure if Gibson and Getzlaf stay healthy. Even that might be a stretch because that also assumes that no one in the Pacific will be better. Calgary definitely looks better. LA improved with Kovalchuk and Vilardi. San Jose is a lock. Vegas might fall out without another move. Arizona has injected a lot of speed and skill in their lineup. Vancouver is tanking. And Edmonton can make it if they get the goaltending they got from the year before rather than last year. Do I think they even win a round as currently constructed? No.
Are they going to be fun to watch slogging their way up and down the ice on a nightly basis, being outshot regularly, and playing RC's antiquated system? Definitely not.

 

[Pennaduck]

I find the unyielding, ridiculous pessimism to be annoying. This fan base is *spoiled*. They've lost the ability to tell the difference between a team that isn't elite and an actually bad team. They're not one of the top 3 teams in the league and they're not a tank-fest with uberprospects to dream on. They're just a really good hockey team. The flaws are real, but so are the strengths, and the strengths are more important. There's a whole lot of franchises out there that can go a decade trying to find a No. 1 center or an elite goalie, and we take them for granted. There's plenty of young, interesting talent on the roster too.

It's going to get even worse when we hit the season and people find out that the only rookie/prospect winning a regular job is maybe a third-pairing defenseman. It'd be so nice if we had a sexy forward prospect ready to jump in and give us a shot of fanbase adrenaline, but we're wishcasting when we try to cram Terry and Steel into those roles. Both need some serious AHL time.

So we're going to have to settle for everyone being bored with a team that will probably be better than its opponent most nights it steps on the ice.

I think these are fair points to be honest. But from my perspective, we always seem to be one or two pieces away form being a true contender yet too handcuffed by injuries, salary, and/or Bob's conservative approach to withholding his assets to make the final leap, which makes it frustrating for me as a fan. I'm grateful that we are consistently a playoff caliber team and obviously thrilled to get to watch guys like Getzlaf and Rakell and Lindholm and Gibson play every night. It just very much seems like we are stuck in the purgatory of not being quite good enough to win it all but not being bad enough to change course and rebuild.

And I have a hard time getting excited when the biggest additions to come into the team over the past 6 months or so are all depth guys who will have at most only a marginal impact on the overall success of the team.

Also, for all the strengths of the team that we can boast, we are still a team that takes too many bad penalties, struggles on the powerplay, and relies too heavily on getting great goaltending to win games. Some of that is on coaching, some on the players, but it's been a trend for several seasons now and I don't see any moves that Bob has made recently to make me think any of it will be different this season.

I hope I am wrong about all of that and I am definitely excited for the season to start. I just think it'll ultimately end up being another year of Getzlaf being in his prime that we have wasted. Honestly it all just feels like we are spinning tires now until Perry and Kesler come off the books and our top prospects step up.

 

[KyleJRM]

I'd be more sympathetic to the "we're in purgatory" camp if we hadn't *just* seen a Cup winner that had been good for a really long time but hadn't gotten over the hump, wasn't considered one of the top-3 teams in the league before the season, and had a huge chunk of its fan base declaring the window to be closed.

I agree that the lack of mobility is frustrating. I think there's room for improvement on the roster, but it's going to be subtle and broad. A step forward each from Kase, Ritchie and Montour is better than a Kovalchuk addition, but it's not as exciting in July.

 

[Elvs]

I find the unyielding, ridiculous pessimism to be annoying. This fan base is *spoiled*. They've lost the ability to tell the difference between a team that isn't elite and an actually bad team. They're not one of the top 3 teams in the league and they're not a tank-fest with uberprospects to dream on. They're just a really good hockey team. The flaws are real, but so are the strengths, and the strengths are more important. There's a whole lot of franchises out there that can go a decade trying to find a No. 1 center or an elite goalie, and we take them for granted. There's plenty of young, interesting talent on the roster too.

It's going to get even worse when we hit the season and people find out that the only rookie/prospect winning a regular job is maybe a third-pairing defenseman. It'd be so nice if we had a sexy forward prospect ready to jump in and give us a shot of fanbase adrenaline, but we're wishcasting when we try to cram Terry and Steel into those roles. Both need some serious AHL time.

So we're going to have to settle for everyone being bored with a team that will probably be better than its opponent most nights it steps on the ice.

How good/bad the team is has nothing to do with how excited I am. In fact I love getting behind an underdog, and so I was actually entertained when the Ducks suffered all those injuries early in the season and had to rely on a bunch of tweeners and minor league call ups. My problem is the uninspired hockey being played on so many nights. I don't care about the names on the back. I'm more entertained watching a hard fought game between Arizona and Detroit, than I am watching a snoozefest between Pittsburgh and Washington. I rather watch Logan Shaw trying than Corey Perry floating.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

This is the train of thought far more Duck fans ought to be on.

Remember, if the Ducks didn't have some of the most injuries to star players in history of the game, there's an extremely high probability they win their 6th consecutive division title. It's just mind blowing how negative and spoiled the vast majority of this fanbase is, to the extent I'd prefer listening leaf fans riddled with personal bias. At least they aren't irrationally pessimistic.

Let's just say, in fairness to every player on the roster and every staff member of the organization, this is realistically a 6-time consecutive division winning quality team we're talking about here. Because it is.

What's happened between last year and now to re-ignite the annual "blow it up, rebuild, retool, no playoffs" thread I've literally been reading for all 6 of these years. Let's examine:

Subtractions:
-Kevin Bieksa
-Francois Beauchemin
-Antoine Vermette

Additions:
-Patrick Eaves (welcome back)
-Brian Gibbons
-Carter Rowny
-Sam Steel/Troy Terry (if)

Okay, well that's certainly not enough to oust a perennial division champion into uninspired mediocrity. Maybe it's aging/natural development?

Aging(-):
Getzlaf: very lateral "decline" until 35+ at the expense of decreased PK time
Perry: physically can't decline much more, the big leap has already happened
Kesler: was already effectively not on the roster last season and the Ducks achieved very good results, transitions to 3C with Silf/Cogs or replaced by Steel

Development(+):
Kase(22): almost guaranteed to improve
Ritchie(22): likely improves and finds his way to a decent middle to bottom-6 career
Rakell (25): may take final step in development, reaching 80pts
Fowler (26): One final small jump, gains a bit more weight
Manson (26): Still definitely room to grow offensively despite age, scored 37 points with ~0 powerplay time
Lindholm (24): Last season was the best of his career, this could the the big breakthrough for Lindholm where he eclipses 40 points
Montour (24): Kid is just scratching the surface despite his age, may easily reach 40-50 one day with a solid all-around game to support it
Larsson/Pettersson(): One of which will round of the 3rd pairing this season and have a chance to grow into a big contributor on D for Anaheim

Obviously, there is a lot more good than bad going forward for this team especially in the short-term while Getzlaf is still a clear top-10 Center in the world. Henrique has expressed interest in re-signing as well.

This roster is genuinely stacked on paper, and to anyone focusing on the lack of elite talent on forward outside of Getzlaf (and maybe Rakell), please look at a team like Nashville, or Vegas. It's asinine to suggest you need a certain roster configuration to win the cup. The best overall team regardless of balance and composition will have the highest chance to win assuming an equal level of execution, at which point the nature of probability will determine the outcome.

Rakell Getzlaf Eaves
Henrique Steel Kase
Cogs Kesler Silverberg
Gibbons Rowney Perry
(ritchie traded, terry ahl)

There's plenty of talent here, when backed by a top-5 Defense/Goalie tandem in the league, will have a chance to contend with almost certainty.

The one and only downfall of this team will be RC's antiquated system. Most teams are actually sacrificing possession for pace, particularly in the neutral zone. Where Anaheim attacks other teams by slowly and methodically zig-zagging through the ice, most teams (see Vegas) push the pace forward with a far more linear, north/south style of play with focus on stretching the ice in this direction. The immediate benefits don't meet the visible eye, but the underlying data shows the consequences of suffocating the opposition with pace: consistently inducing fatigue, nerves, and more mistakes.

My message to Ducks fans out there, enjoy these next 2-4 seasons with Getzlaf while you can, it will be far more enjoyable than you think. Past that, to keep this team contending into the future, it's all about Sam Steel, Morand, Lundestrom, Groulx, McLaughlin developing into the next wave of pivots.

Different flavors of this same smarmy, condescending poster appear every off season.

 

[KyleJRM]

m/t

 

[The Duck Knight]

I'd be more sympathetic to the "we're in purgatory" camp if we hadn't *just* seen a Cup winner that had been good for a really long time but hadn't gotten over the hump, wasn't considered one of the top-3 teams in the league before the season, and had a huge chunk of its fan base declaring the window to be closed.

I agree that the lack of mobility is frustrating. I think there's room for improvement on the roster, but it's going to be subtle and broad. A step forward each from Kase, Ritchie and Montour is better than a Kovalchuk addition, but it's not as exciting in July.

Look at the roster and coach Washington just won with and tell me that our roster right now minus Kesler and or Eaves with this coach can do the same. They had 3 elite PPG players playing like PPG players supplemented by scoring depth throughout the lineup and bottom six with Oshie/Eller/Burakovsky/Vrana. They also have a 4th line that can chip in big goals. We have Getzlaf and Rakell carrying us with some support from Henrique and Kase as well as pretty much nothing from our 4th line in the 5 minutes they play. They play elite an trapping system when they get the lead. We passively sit back in the dzone and get shelled with shots and then play dump and chase hockey that often doesn't result in pucks getting to scoring areas with traffic.

 

[AngelDuck]

There's more then 1 downfall to the team if Steel/Kesler/Rowney are 3 of your centers (and a pretty damn significant hole at that). Steel is completely untested at NHL level, Kesler might not even play (and if he does who knows the state of his hip) and Rowney is an NHL/AHL tweener. Even if you move Henrique to middle (and assume Kesler isn't playing this season), Anaheim has 0 good bottom 6 centers and will get exposed pretty badly against any half decent team.

Either way, I'll be happy hockey is back - but I fully expect a lousy season from Anaheim, especially with RC as the coach. If we had a good coach I'd feel better as I believe the team could be alright with a good coach in charge...but with RC? No chance.

I agree, although I think Steel will surprise you. I expect him to be in the NHL and I expect a solid contribution from him this season. I think he can do what Bonino did for us before he broke out in 2014. He’s the one prospect I’m comfortable saying that about right now

 

[KyleJRM]

Look at the roster and coach Washington just won with and tell me that our roster right now minus Kesler and or Eaves with this coach can do the same. They had 3 elite PPG players playing like PPG players supplemented by scoring depth throughout the lineup and bottom six with Oshie/Eller/Burakovsky/Vrana. They also have a 4th line that can chip in big goals. We have Getzlaf and Rakell carrying us with some support from Henrique and Kase as well as pretty much nothing from our 4th line in the 5 minutes they play. They play elite an trapping system when they get the lead. We passively sit back in the dzone and get shelled with shots and then play dump and chase hockey that often doesn't result in pucks getting to scoring areas with traffic.

Yes, their forwards are better. Now do defense and goaltending.

 

[The Duck Knight]

Yes, their forwards are better. Now do defense and goaltending.

Holtby in that playoffs was better than Gibson has ever been in the playoffs. Carlson>any of our d-men. They have a very good and balanced top 4. Their 3rd pair of Orpik-Djoos would be comparable to what we could have this year with Larsson-Schenn. Most importantly is that they played shutdown defense as a 5 man unit while also being dangerous offensively. Let's not even get into the comparison between powerplays either.