Anaheim Ducks: Positives to take away after a rough 2018 season
By Redan Lopez
The Anaheim Ducks missed the playoffs for the first time in seven years. Despite a quick and unfortunate end to their season, the Ducks can take away several positives from this campaign with hopes to return to contention next season.
The 2018-2019 season was unlike recent ones for the Anaheim Ducks. It ended early and without any postseason excitement. The Ducks (35-37-10) regrettably found themselves experiencing more lows than highs, marked by three separate losing streaks of at least seven games.
None was worse than when the Ducks lost a franchise-worst 12 games from December 18 to January 15. Consistent losing buried the Ducks in the standings and shook the confidence of several key players, including prominent goal scorers Rickard Rakell and Jakob Silfverberg.
Aside from losing, injuries became a factor. The absence of wingers Patrick Eaves (again), Ondrej Kase (torn labrum) and Corey Perry (knee surgery) for the majority of the season hurt offensively.
Drop off in scoring production from defensemen Cam Fowler (8 goals & 24 assists last season, 5 goals &18 assists this season) and Josh Manson (3 goals, 13 assists), who had a career year last year (7 goals, 30 assists) proved costly.
Forwards Rakell (33 goals last year, 18 this season) and captain Ryan Getzlaf (11 goals, 50 assists in 56 games last season, 14 goals 34 assists in 67 games this season) experienced down years which factored into the Ducks being the worst scoring team in the league at 2.39 goals per game.
In the midst of adversity, the Anaheim Ducks organization shook things up. Firing coach Randy Carlyle and replacing him with General Manager Bob Murray was the first step in sparking change. Yet, it came too late. The Ducks dug themselves into too deep a hole to recover from.
On the flip side, the Ducks have to be encouraged by some of the strong trends and fresh personnel they saw as the season progressed. Not everything was poor. The hope for Ducks fans, management, and players alike is that these positives can be carried into the next season. Here are some of the highlights the Ducks should focus on with their season now in the books.