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Pacific Division Preview: How Ducks, Kings stack up against the rest

By Redan Lopez

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 10: Drew Doughty #8 of the Los Angeles Kings and Troy Terry #61 of the Anaheim Ducks fight for control of the puck during the third period at Honda Center on March 10, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 10: Drew Doughty #8 of the Los Angeles Kings and Troy Terry #61 of the Anaheim Ducks fight for control of the puck during the third period at Honda Center on March 10, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images) /
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Anaheim Ducks
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – JANUARY 19: Troy Terry #61 of the Anaheim Ducks plays against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on January 19, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. The Ducks defeated the Devils 3-2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

4. Anaheim Ducks (6th last season)

Corey Perry is gone, and the Ducks are in for an accelerated retooling of the team.

The Ducks will be counting on their young guys to contribute and reach the playoffs. By the looks of the 2019 Rookie Faceoff that took place yesterday against the Kings at Great Park Ice, they are ready. Sam Steel, Maxime Comtois, Kiefer Sherwood, and Max Jones scored in a 4-1 win yesterday and showed they have the speed and grit to potentially get the Ducks back to contention.

Last year marked a rough stretch where the Ducks were consistent at being inconsistent. A strong October and November was washed away by a disastrous January and February which saw the Ducks win only two out of twenty games. The club did get better towards the end of the season as it integrated young talent in the lineup, but it was too little too late.

The hiring of ex-San Diego Gulls coach Dallas Eakins will definitely help with the development of the young players. Working with them in the past should be an advantage for Eakins as he can put them in positions of success.

I also see captain Ryan Getzlaf and winger Rickard Rakell having bounce-back seasons. Both Getzlaf (14 goals, 34 assists) and Rakell (18 goals, 25 assists) experienced down years. Rakell, a 30+ goal scorer the last two seasons, had trouble finding the back of the net. His shooting percentage was down over 5% from last season (14.8% to 9.3%).

The Ducks are bound to find more offense this season. I see them scoring anywhere from 30-50 more goals after only scoring 196 last season (last in the NHL).  Factor in the return of energetic winger Ondrej Kase with the sharpshooting ability of Daniel Sprong and the increased involvement of the Ducks’ defensemen in the offense – the Ducks should be a force to be reckoned with.

The steadiness of goaltenders John Gibson and Ryan Miller in net boosted by a more potent offense this season will get the Ducks into the playoffs as a wild card.

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