Pool Outlook for Anaheim

The Anaheim Ducks were definitely one of the league's most impressive teams, given the confidence that side had in a brand spanking new number one goalie and a back-up with just about the same amount of experience going in.  The collective group was very solid at both ends of the ice, up until the last couple games of the Western Conference Finals, that is.

Anaheim was bested by a better playoff-tested team in Chicago, with the series finishing up on Saturday night, a display of pure playoff talent against a very strong regular season team that didn't leave it all on the ice when it really mattered.  It was certainly some of the intangibles that the Ducks had lacked at the end of that series, some of which they were showing that they had, but they just couldn't consistently contribute them.

The core group of this team has still got some years left in them, which is great for the franchise and great for us hockey poolies, since they do like to put points up on the board and help our teams out that way, for sure.  At the end of the day, however, they are the ones that want to win and want to be remembered for being a great team and the only way you can do that is by dominating at the end of the playoffs, not just through the regular season and the first two rounds of the Spring Dance.

The Ducks were not necessarily the most popular team at the hockey pool draft this year, as only 11 Anaheim players were taken in September, even a flyer was taken out on Dany Heatley at the time, even though he didn't finish the year in Anaheim or the NHL, for that matter.  By the end of the year, 15 players in Ducks jerseys finished the year with some sort of distinction from the pool, 14 being on active pool rosters and one of them being dropped.  No, it wasn't Heatley, as he finished as a dropped player for the Panthers.

As I had expected, Frederik Andersen was going to get first crack at being the Ducks number one goalie in 2015 and he certainly kept his momentum going in the year, enough so, that he took the top spot in pool scoring for the team.  Andersen won 35 games, added 3 shutouts and 3 assists for a 79-point season, a very modest season in the year of the goalie.  The Ducks only finished 3rd in the NHL standings and Andersen wasn't exactly the go to workhorse that some of his goalie counterparts were, so that would explain why his numbers were not as nearly as good as some.  Still, his big season, finishing 15th overall in scoring, helped our draft winners this season, coming from a 5th round pick.

In the regular season, the Anaheim forwards were nowhere near as impressive as they had been before or in the playoffs, as Ryan Getzlaf led the way, with 70 points in 77 games, while his partner in crime, Corey Perry, missed significant time this year and still came in 2nd among forwards with 55 points in 67 games.  Off-season acquisition, Ryan Kesler, was next in line, picking up 47 points in 81 games and then it shook down to Jakob Silfverberg, who had 39 points in 81 games.  Barely coming in as depth pool-worthy forwards, Pat Maroon and Matt Beleskey, who were just over the 30-point mark each.

Remarkably, the top six defensemen in the regular season were all pool-worthy in 2015, but not all of them had a spot on the roster, come playoff time.  Sami Vatanen was the leader of the pack with 37 points, but it was a pretty close race.  James Wisniewski, Cam Fowler and Hampus Lindholm all had 34 points, while Francois Beauchemin and Simon Despres had 23 points each.  All ranked in the top 92 in defensemen.  No one was heads or tails above anyone else, but they would all make good support players on your team.

Behind Andersen, it wasn't a great year for John Gibson, who was given a shot early on to challenge for the number one spot, but fell to the wayside and into the minors before too long.  Down the home stretch, however, the Ducks brought Gibson back to be the number two guy and to give their number one a break and he did that in spades, working his way back into the conversation of being pool worthy, finishing with 13 wins and 28 points, good enough for 39th among goalies.

2016 Pool Outlook

The Ducks have a good portion of their core coming back from the year previous, but they played a lot of hockey in 2015, which can drop a few point totals a bit, but this team appears to be buying into the overall team game, where no one really has to be that guy every night.  Sure, this team has a number of high priced stars on it and for the most part, they do what they're paid to do, but their numbers this year didn't scream 'must-have' in the pool.  I fully expect them to be a good team again, but given how much they played, numbers could be a lot closer to what we saw this past year again, maybe even a bit lower.

The Ducks haven't been in much of a rush to get their rookies into the lineup and push for that roster spot and it will take a pretty big effort or some pretty off-the-charts talent to get that spot.  If the Ducks have any spots for rookies, it will be up front, since defense is a paramount position and has been entrusted to the veterans, so if I was looking at Anaheim, I would look to Stefan Noesen, who played a game in 2015 or 2014 1st rounder, Nick Ritchie, to get the longest looks.

Free Agency and the Salary Cap

The early count for the Ducks isn't looking too bad, as they have 34 players already signed to deals and that comprehensive cap hit is only at $63.4 million, well below some of the projected numbers that have been floating around the news before the end of the playoffs.  You strip away 11 players to get to the 23-man roster mark, the cap space improves and then you start swapping AHL talent out for the free agent market and you get yourself a good team at a reasonable rate.

The unrestricted free agents for Anaheim are possibly the more interesting, as it will include defenseman Francois Beauchemin, who at 34, will get a very good deal for his experience.

As for key RFA's, Jakob Silfverberg needs a new deal, as does Matt Beleskey, but neither are really expected to break the bank, but they won't be too disappointed with the end result either.

Needs at the 2015 Entry Draft

The Ducks were all kinds of deep going into the 2015 season, so at the deadline, there was no need to get any deeper by trading away their 1st round pick and that is certainly a luxury for them.  With the Conference Finals loss, their pick improved from 29th, from the regular season standings, up to 27th, the first of the four finalists in the playoffs.  Looking at their 2014 1st round pick, Nick Ritchie, I think they try to find that same blend of size and skill in 2015, continuing to find that player that is hard to play against and a lot of signs point to Swift Current Broncos forward, Jake DeBrusk.  Not quite the biggest, but apparently, what he lacks in size, he makes up for in hockey smarts... and he still grinds.

What I Said Last Year, At This Time...

I would like to predict a 2015 Stanley Cup Championship for the Ducks, based on all the evidence provided, but I will offer up a Conference Finals match-up as my concrete prediction, with the Ducks being my favourite for a Cup next season. A full year for one of those two young goalies and a confident bunch in front of either one, should make for a big year for the Ducks. They are truly scary right now and they are poised to get even better, barring some brain damage in the team's management.

This just in!  Ducks management did not suffer any brain damage in off-season and regular season!  This team was good, but in the end, you could argue that the youth or inexperience of Frederik Andersen could have been the tipping point for this side to lose out in the Conference Finals, but this team did match-up against an exceptionally strong-willed Blackhawks team, which is tough to predict in May/June.  I would call that prediction a win.

For the 2016 season, given the standard set, it will be incredibly hard to match the 2015 season, but they do have a good deal of the pieces in place to do so.  Perry, Getzlaf, Kesler, Vatanen, Fowler and Andersen will make for a great combination again in 2016 and they'll all get pushes from the depth below them, but I am a true believer in depth to win everything.  Assuming the Ducks make good use of their remaining cap space, they should be back in the mix for a Conference Finals and if Andersen can raise his game even further, that will be how Anaheim succeeds and adds another trophy to their case.