Ducks suck. They have turned boooooooooooooooring.
Good game Hawks. Officials tried to **** us yet again but no matter. Bolland didn't interfere with Hiller...Hiller just sucks.
Sorry Wolf I know they are your second team but daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn talk about a team that plays with zero emotion. They make the Hawks on a bad night look like the 80 Oilers and Islanders combined. The ducks bench all game looked like zombies and they just looked out of place on the ice.
What is wrong in Anaheim?
I'll tell you what's wrong there.
1) Coaching changes take time. The Ducks have won only 2 games under Boudreau, who is still testing his lines out. Remember, he just got hired not too long ago. Dale Hunter is dealing with the same issue in Washington and hell, even John Stevens is dealing with it in LA. These changes of systems don't just happen overnight.
2) As I said in the GDT yesterday, I expected this. In fact, I expected the Hawks would score more goals. They would also be more focused on winning in WInnipeg on Saturday for Teemu than to deal with us. Turns out I was right.... and if they played like they did against us, I expect the Jets to do the same thing to the Ducks. The Jets are on fire right now.
3) The lines are weird.... Getz with Selanne? That has never happened before. Typically, its the RPG line as the 1st line and Selanne is on the 2nd line with Blake and Koivu. Sure, I know why Boudreau is doing it, but I don't see why he would. In most of his career, Getz hardly ever partnered up with Selanne... which leads me to another point ---- too many damn RWs on the Ducks.... but thats another story for later.
4) The philosophy itself has changed... It wasn't just the coaching change itself, but the system is also changed. An all-defensive system for years has now turned into all-offensive system all of a sudden. That hasn't happened since Brian Murray coached back in 2001-02. Yeah, its been almost 10 years. The prior coaches between Murray and Boudreau in that time have all been defensive-oriented (Carlyle, Babcock) ... Carlyle had been the coach also for 6 years.
5) As RK pointed out, the lack of heart. Sure, Parros dodged fights he wasn't going to win anyway, but the only fight I can recall last night was the one Brookbank was in... That alone speaks a lot for itself. Just a coaching change won't change the heart of the team.
6) They've either lost close games or got slaughtered in games like last night, and those are a lot. They've lost in games of 2 of more goals 11 times this year alone, including to Columbus in late October.
The close games they hardly ever win... or at least recently anyway. Out of the whole year, they are 5-7 in games with results by one goal, and most of those were in October when they were hot. In fact, After October, they're 2-7 in those same games.... and its only mid-December. So yeah, if they did win these games, this could be talked about with some other team right now.
7) BHP is right on having no 3rd + 4th Lines. MacMillan has been sent up and down throughout the year to the minors and back... They gave up on 2/3 of their 4th line in the offseason (Ruutu and Winchester are both gone), and their 3rd line has always been a hot mess. They constantly put too much playing time on the top 2 lines, which Boudreau has shifted players between the two lines with the exception of Bobby Ryan being demoted to the 4th line in one game this year... (I just never remembered ever seeing Selanne with Getzlaf til last night) The other two lines are left out to dry.
8) Lubo Visnovsky was injured for some of the year... He just came back against Phoenix the other night.
9) Getz as captain... There, I said it. This has been a hot topic issue for awhile. He's put too much pressure on himself when he's worn the C, and its noticeable that even the fans see it. He's definitely no JT, thats for sure. As soon as Selanne retires and the other veteran players leave, it will be up to Getz to mature.... I'm surprised that he hasn't really done so at the moment....
I don't know what can solve the woes of the Ducks, but I can tell you that having a disciplinarian like Carlyle really made it look like it's really ruined them to the point where they completely collapsed. Boudreau may be a players' coach, but it seems now that even after 10 games, its too little, too late.
