Anaheim Ducks: Defensemen need to take offensive responsibility

Generating Offense is a Mindset

The Anaheim Ducks defensemen need to start creating more chaos in the front of the opposition’s net; push and shoot the puck up high where the goaltender has to look around bodies and screens. Make the goaltender work their tails off. Don’t make it easy for him to find the puck by mindlessly launching from the perimeter with no traffic in front.

Shooting from up high, quicker, and more often will make the opposition respect their shot and the player, rather than knowing they will just rim it around the boards on the perimeter. Continued passive play will only clog the zone and make it more difficult for the Ducks’ forwards to operate.

I am calling specifically for these four blueliners to change their attitudes and stop making the passive, easy play in the offensive zone. Make the strong, tough play in getting the puck toward the net and giving your teammates more room to operate and find ways to put the puck in the back of the net.

It’s imperative for them to start to dictate the pace, press the opposition back, and join in transition when opportunities present themselves. Attack, attack, attack. It’s a mindset.

Who knows, maybe some of the pucks that they shoot will go in with all the bodies in the front of the goalie. Deflections, tip-ins, and rebounds start to happen, creating offensive scoring chances. In any case, Fowler, Montour, Lindholm, and Manson need to start being the offensive force that we know that are capable of being.

The bottom line is this: The Ducks need their defensemen to start playing a bigger role in the team’s offense or this team is going nowhere.