Ducks News: Insider Views Ducks' Defensive Boost as Necessity
How can Anaheim improve as the offseason goes on?
Ducks News: Insider Views Ducks' Defensive Boost as NecessityThe Anaheim Ducks have had a successful offseason so far. They started out by selecting center Leo Carlsson with their second overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and then proceeded to sign some nice veteran players at the start of free agency.
Both Radko Gudas and Alex Killorn are nice pieces to add to this young team, and they both should serve as good mentors for the players, but the team still needs more. They have a ton of cap space to work with, giving them much-needed flexibility. But the team is still lacking some things on the roster.
NHL writer Eric Stephens of The Athletic listed the Ducks' biggest need that hasn't been addressed yet. He mentioned that the team doesn't have a top defenseman and that they are lacking good options at the moment.
"The Ducks are still short when it comes to filling out their defense corps after the signings of Radko Gudas and Robert Hagg. While they’ve got a terrific prospect pool on the back end, general manager Pat Verbeek may not want to throw those players into the fire right away. Right now, Anaheim’s top four on defense are Cam Fowler, Jamie Drysdale and, in a role that’s more out of necessity, Gudas. The Ducks aren’t expected to win in 2023-24, so they’ve passed on other higher-cost veterans so as to not block young lefties like Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger or Jackson LaCombe."
Over the last few years, the Ducks have had some of the worst defenses across the NHL. It has seen them drop down in the standings, and it makes things very difficult in terms of winning games.
If they can address this, they may have a chance to surprise some people next season. Anaheim likely won't be a playoff team or anything, but if the team can get themselves out of the bottom dwellers, it would be seen as a win.
