Handedness on the Ducks Blueline
How the Ducks are adjusting to deploying a defensive core made up almost exclusively of left-shot defensemen
The Anaheim Ducks opening night roster held eight defensemen; four right-shot defensemen (Jamie Drysdale, Radko Gudas, Ilya Lyubushkin, and Tristan Luneau) and four left-shot defensemen (Cam Fowler, Pavel Mintyukov, Jackson LaCombe, and Urho Vaakanainen). Early in the season, the coaching staff seemed to prioritize deploying defensemen specifically on their strong side.
When Head Coach Greg Cronin was hired in the summer of 2023, he was encouraged to build a culture within the organization and an on-ice style that could be sustainable for long-term success for the team's young core.
The system implemented at the start of the season prioritized moving pucks out of the defensive zone and into the neutral zone as quickly and efficiently as possible. Oftentimes, defensemen were implored to look for stretch passes up the strong-side board, chip pucks of the glass or wall, or flip the puck high into the middle of the neutral zone to create a battle between a forward and an opposing defender on their heels.
Once an outlet pass was made on the breakout or a neutral zone battle was won, the forecheck was heavily prioritized as a means to generate offense. This style and the demand from the roster to execute it came with some growing pains.
"Frankly, for this group, getting Greg Cronin has been culture shock," Ducks General Manager Pat Verbeek stated at the team's annual "Ducks Migration" event. "They've been drinking water through a fire hose."
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With the implementation of the kind of on and off-ice structure, growing pains should have been expected, and with them, actual pains. Actual pains in the form of significant injuries to key pieces.
The Ducks have yet to ice an entirely healthy roster. When a key piece returns from injury, another seemingly takes his place on injured reserve. The blueline wasn't an exception. Pavel Mintyukov missed significant time due to a separated shoulder, Jamie Drysdale (before his trade to Philadelphia) missed all but ten games with a lower-body injury, and Radko Gudas has now missed the team's last five periods with an upper-body injury.
Those injuries compounded with the trade of Ilya Lyubushkin to the Toronto Maple Leafs before the trade deadline and mixed early results have thrown a wrench into the team's plan to play defensemen exclusively on their strong side of the ice.
Asking defensemen to play the same style on their off-hand side that they would on their strong side seemed a tall order. The stretch passes to the neutral zone were either weaker due to the pass coming off a backhand or took a split second longer due to defensemen having to pull pucks off the wall to their forehand.
Adjustments have seemingly been made on breakouts to mitigate the pitfalls of consistently deploying defensemen on their off-side. Defensemen are asked to support their parters with possession by presenting themselves as an option for a d-to-d regroup or reversal. Forwards are supporting lower and closer to the puck to minimize the distance of the first pass out of the zone and generate more offense off the rush than on forechecks.
These new adjustments have carried growing pains of their own. The Ducks have lost all five games they've played since the trade deadline by a combined score of 27-5 and several goals have come directly from failure to exit the defensive zone cleanly.
The team is adjusting to new faces in the locker room like Ben Meyers, Pavol Regenda, and William Lagesson. They also remain in a constant battle against injuries as in Friday's game vs the Winnipeg Jets, they were without the services of Mason McTavish (lower-body injury), Radko Gudas (upper-body injury), and Leo Carlsson (concussion).
While chemistry, adjustments, and injuries will likely remain an issue for the Ducks during the remainder of the 2023-24 season, it will be curious to monitor how the coaching staff deploys the defensive lineup and how they will be asked to play.