The Anaheim Ducks are clearly a team on the rise, as they ended a lengthy playoff drought and upset the Edmonton Oilers. What needs to change for them next season?
Anaheim Ducks fans had to deal with some rough years lately.
Their team missed the playoffs for seven straight seasons, and when they previously made the 2018 post-season, the rival San Jose Sharks swept them in the first round.
So not every team or fan base will be satisfied with a second-round loss, but the Ducks should be thrilled with how this year went.
Since being hired in 2022, GM Pat Verbeek has slowly but surely engineered a full rebuild that brought in dynamic young players and accomplished veterans. At long last, Anaheim took a major competitive step – not only by being a playoff team but by beating the heavily favored Edmonton Oilers in the first round.
However, the parade of good news for Anaheim ended in the second round, when a clearly better Vegas Golden Knights team beat them in six games.
There's no question the Ducks are on the rise, but when they went up against a veteran-laden, Cup-winning squad, they showed there's still more rising to do before they win the second championship in franchise history.
What Went Wrong For The Ducks?
The Ducks averaged the fifth-most goals in the playoffs, but they also averaged the fifth-most goals against.
The Golden Knights beat the Ducks twice by scoring five goals or more, and the other two wins were by 3-1 and 3-2 scores.
Ultimately, the Golden Knights had a well-balanced attack that squeezed the life out of Anaheim at both ends of the ice. And for the most part, Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal could not consistently deliver above-average performances.
The Ducks did not lose specifically because of Dostal, but the 25-year-old will want to bounce back from the inconsistency he had this post-season. Dostal was pulled twice – once against Edmonton and once against Vegas – and his .870 save percentage and 3.54 goals-against average are a stark indication of his inconsistency.
In eight of 12 games, Dostal had an .892 save percentage or worse. Even if this was his first experience in the post-season, those numbers simply aren't good enough.
That said, the play in front of Dostal wasn't good enough, either. And for as good as first-year Ducks coach Joel Quenneville was this season, he couldn't get his players to score timely goals.
Although their loss to the Golden Knights showed they need more patience, the good outweighed the bad for Anaheim this year.
What's Next For The Ducks?
Amazingly, Verbeek still has a projected $40.5 million in salary cap space to potentially use this summer.
But a good deal of that cap space will be spent on the team's six RFAs, including Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier and Pavel Mintyukov. There are also six UFAs to deal with, including top defensemen John Carlson, Radko Gudas and Jacob Trouba.
Verbeek has a history of playing hardball with his RFAs. Just ask center Mason McTavish; he didn't sign his contract until Sept. 27 this season, and he accepted a deal that followed Verbeek's clear decision to cap any player's salary at $7 million. Only Trouba and Carlson had a salary higher than $7 million, and their contracts weren't signed by the Ducks.
So it'll be fascinating to see how big a pile of money Carlsson and Gauthier, in particular, are able to get out of Verbeek.
In any case, there's no reason Verbeek has to radically depart from his blueprint for success. Winning a Cup is a process, and Verbeek understands that progress isn't always linear. But with evolving high-end youngsters and experienced hands, including left winger Alex Killorn, right winger Troy Terry and center Mikael Granlund, the Ducks have a solid and exciting foundation to build upon.
The Ducks will only go as far as their young stars take them, but they made clear and impressive progress this season. Although their loss to the Golden Knights no doubt left a sour taste in the mouths of Anaheim's players, their new task is to build on this season, rise up the ranks of the Pacific and get beyond the second round at this time next year.
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