Anaheim Ducks 2015-16 Season Primer

First up in our team season primer series is the Anaheim Ducks.

2014-15 Record: 51-24-7, 109 points (1st Place in Pacific Division and Western Conference)
2014-15 Outcome: Lost in Western Conference Final to Chicago

Total Cap hit: $63,964,164
Total Salary: $64,985,000
Salary Cap Space: $7,435,836
Source: Generel Fanager

In: Mike Santorelli, C/RW (FA – Nas), Shane O’Brien, D (FA – FLA), Chris Stewart, RW/LW (FA – Min), Brian McGrattan, RW (FA – Cgy), Harry Zolnierczyk, LW (FA – NYI), Shawn Horcoff, C/LW (FA – Dal), Joe Piskula, D (FA – Nas), Chris Mueller, C (FA – NYR), Matt Hackett, G (FA – Buf), Kevin Bieksa, D (T – Van), Anton Khudobin, G (T – Car), Carl Hagelin, LW (T – NYR)

Out: Louis Leblanc, RW/C (FA – NYI), Antoine Laganiere, C (FA-Minors), Ryan Faragher, G (FA-Minors), Jason LaBarbera, G (FA – Phi), Sheldon Souray, D (Retired), Matt Beleskey, LW (FA – Bos), Francois BeaucheMin), D (FA – Col), James Wisniewski, D (T – Car), Emerson Etem, LW/RW (T – NYR), Kyle Palmieri, RW/LW (T – NJ)

The Anaheim Ducks are in a unique situation; we’d assume they want to win another Stanley Cup with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, but they aren’t in the tough financial bind that many of the league’s most powerful teams are. They’re still sitting nearly $7.5 million under the salary cap – unheard of for nearly every other top-tier team outside of the Nashville Predators – and have locked up two of their best young players for four years apiece (Jakob Silfverberg and Carl Hagelin) at under $8M total.

The Ducks will start to feel the strain of the salary cap as soon as next year, though. They’ll be tasked with finding reasonable deals for Jiri Sekac and Rickard Rakell – which shouldn’t hurt them too much, but will definitely be space lost – and the trio of Sami Vatanen, Hampus Lindholm, and Simon Despres will cost the team a giant chunk of change they currently aren’t dealing with. Add in that all three of the team’s goaltenders – Anton Khudobin, Frederik Andersen, and John Gibson – are all a bargain now (but two of the three probably won’t be next year) and this may be one of Anaheim’s last seasons to look so financially thrifty.

One thing that very much worked in Anaheim’s favor during their reasonably deep playoff run this past spring was their defensive deployment; the club rolled out three fairly even lines on the back end that left all six defensemen energized and tripped up teams across the league.

They’ve lost some of the veteran presence of last season – Ben Lovejoy was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Despres deal, James Wisniewski was traded to the Hurricanes after being acquired at the trade deadline, and Francois Beauchemin is now on the Colorado Avalanche. They’ve kept Clayton Stoner, though, and Cam Fowler has plenty of experience already – then, of course, they’ve added Kevin Bieksa to solidify the line for the next three seasons.

The rolling defensive corps is somewhat mirrored in the offensive lines, as well, although the close (and sometimes quite low) final scores in so many of Anaheim’s regular season games suggests that the club is still very defense-first.

Bruce Boudreau is a big fan of modified line matching – so Anaheim isn’t afraid to put a second or third line out against top competition to match styles rather than ice time. The addition of Chris Stewart, Mike Santorelli, and Shawn Horcoff as depth reinforcement only further suggests that this is a style of deployment the team will continue to embrace with gusto.

It sounds hard to believe, but goaltending may be the biggest question mark for Anaheim once again. Frederik Andersen is clearly a good netminder, but he’s always just a few saves short of looking completely put together – and it cost them dearly in the post-season. That may fade as his defensive corps ages and begins to develop a stronger relationship with their starter in net, but look for it to be a potential weak area again. Anton Khudobin, by all accounts, should be the backup – but it won’t be a season in Anaheim if John Gibson doesn’t get the recall to steal a few games somewhere in there.

Trending Up

Jakob Silfverberg (RW) –  Who can look at Jakob Silfverberg’s last year and not be excited to see what he’s capable of in a top-six role? It’s likely that the Swedish right winger, who served as one of the most lethal factors in a shut-down (yet high-scoring) third line for Anaheim last year, is only just getting started on the upswing of his career.

At 24, Silfverberg has made it clear that the perception of him as a supplemental piece in the Bobby Ryan trade should be wiped away immediately. He’s able to produce in nearly every area of the scorecard, from the advanced numbers to the easy-to-follow ones. He’s a strong possession player, an effective two-way winger (with flexibility in which side he’s able to play) and a physical body that provides plenty of power forward presence to go with his smart read of the game. He’s able to provide good coverage in all three zones, both with an away from the puck. Very few holes in Silfverberg’s game as it is, and he’s only expected to get better.

Hampus Lindholm (LD) –  This is Anaheim’s final year of getting Lindholm’s talent set for an entry-level deal, and it’s hard to imagine they’ll get him for anything less than $4M – likely going far above that – when it comes time to up his contract.

In 2013-2014 – his first full NHL season – the then-20 year old Swedish defenseman was good for 6 goals and 30 points in 78 regular season NHL games; last year, he managed to up that production even more (7G, 34P, 78GP) and he’s still only 21.

The Arizona Coyotes boast that blue liner Oliver Ekman-Larsson is a bargain, and he’s still got room to grow at 23. That’s what Anaheim has here with Lindholm, but they’ve still have one more year of an entry-level deal to work with and two years of maturity and development on hand over Ekman-Larsson. The sky’s the limit for this one – if Cam Fowler seems exciting, just imagine what Lindholm could be capable of. Add in his 10 points in 16 playoff games and impressive possession numbers (the 21 year old blue liner finished his 2014-2015 campaign with a 51.58 CF% at even strength to go with his quality scoring ability) and it’s clear that this is Anaheim’s blue liner to watch.

Trending Down

Ryan Kesler (C) – As much as the league loves to hate Ryan Kesler – and Anaheim Ducks fans love to watch him antagonize his way to the top of that list – it’s hard to deny that the power centre is now on the wrong side of 30. His possession numbers have been declining, his defensive impact is now undeniably middle six rather than top-tier, and his scoring certainly isn’t keeping up in a redeemable way.

Overall, Kesler is still a very good hockey player. He still has a high impact on the ice against some of the league’s toughest competition – Yahoo Puck Daddy’s Ryan Lambert did a study on Kesler’s efficacy against Jonathan Toews (can be found here), and that’s a resume topper all in itself – but for the money he’ll be paid this year (and certainly for the money he’ll be paid from the 2016 season on) there’s little about Kesler’s game that suggests he’s either maintaining his play or potentially getting any better with age.

This isn’t to say that Kesler is a bad player, but he also likely provides less value with each passing season. As he himself suggested in the 2015 playoffs, no human can withstand getting hit that many times without it having an impact.

Kevin Bieksa (RD) – Like with Kesler, having Bieksa trending down isn’t to say that Kevin Bieksa is now ‘bad’ – it’s, well, saying that he’s trending down. The 34 year old blue liner was nowhere near the player he once was during the 2014-2015 campaign with the Vancouver Canucks, and that’s likely going to be a repeat performance this year.

Don’t expect 10 goals or 44 points out of Bieksa this year; he’ll probably serve in a slightly more supplemental role than he’s used to, and he likely won’t see nearly as much time in all situations as he would have in Vancouver. Luckily for the Ducks, though, he’ll be able to thrive in that kind of role because they don’t need him to be the be-all, end-all defenseman that he would have been with the Canucks had he failed to leave the rival club. He’s also still got plenty of steam left in the tank, and can serve as a reliable veteran presence who’s still going to be able to patrol the blue line with a reasonable amount of competence.

Was a two year extension – set to kick in next year, nonetheless – necessarily Anaheim’s smartest deal of the summer? Of course not. Like the Kesler extension, it clearly has a diminishing return value to it. For veteran experience and reliable blue line presence, though, it’s a small price for Anaheim to pay. Just proceed with caution when approaching anything Bieksa-related, because what you see now is likely the best you’ll ever get again.

Trade Deadline Outlook:

The Anaheim Ducks are in a great position to be either buyers or sellers at the trade deadline, and it’s all going to depend on how the pieces they’ve acquired in the off-season end up fitting in with the club throughout the year.

It’s hard to picture the Ducks in a position where they’ll need to be sellers in the traditional lottery position, but the Ducks have one thing that many other clubs don’t — affordable contracts that expire next year at nearly every position, particularly on offense and in net. With John Gibson and Frederik Andersen both due for extensions next year — and both looking like bona fide NHL goalies down the line — the Ducks could easily offer one of the three netminders they currently employ as a trade deadline piece.

Anton Khudobin seems like the most logical netminder to send out, but Gibson could find himself the odd man out by spring if a tandem of Khudobin-Andersen seems to flourish. There’s also players like Mike Santorelli and Chris Stewart, both of whom are on loan-friendly one year deals that cost the Ducks very little (but could earn them quite a bit if a cap-strapped team is looking for help). They don’t look like they need much in the way of reinforcements, but that’s the beauty of having such a well stacked roster at all positions; if one player is injured come playoff time, they’ve got an extra that could fit nearly any team’s needs to offer up for a replacement, if they don’t pull the reinforcement from within the organization itself. There’s still cap space to spare, and it’s going to work in Anaheim’s favor come this year’s trade deadline.

Written by Catherine Silverman, who can be found on twitter @CataCarryOn

Potential line combinations, defensive pairings, and goalies.

Patrick Maroon – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry
Carl Hagelin – Ryan Kesler – Jakob Silfverberg
Andrew Cogliano – Rickard Rakell – Chris Stewart
Shawn Horcoff – Nate Thompson – Jiri Sekac
Mike Santorelli – Tim Jackman

Hampus Lindholm – Kevin Bieksa
Cam Fowler – Simon Despres
Clayton Stoner – Sami Vatanen
Shane O’Brien

Frederik Andersen
Anton Khudobin

Roster chart from Sports Forecaster.

Some top prospect lists heading into the season.

1. Nick Ritchie: Left Wing – 6′ 2″ / 225 lbs – Ritchie was traded mid-season from the Peterborough Petes to the powerhouse Sault St. Marie Greyhounds in an attempt to advance to the Memorial Cup. A conference final against Connor McDavid and the Erie Otters was as far as they could take it. Ritchie also helped the Canadian world junior team win a Gold Medal in Toronto. Ritchie is big and strong power forward with soft hands and a hard shot. He is an underrated playmaker as well, but is very well known for his tendency of throwing huge hits.

2. Shea Theodore: Defense – 6′ 2″ / 182 lbs – An elbow injury ended any hope of Theodore making the Ducks roster last training camp, but he will turn pro this season and has a good chance of earning a roster spot out of camp.

3. Jacob Larsson: Defense – 6′ 2″ / 191 lbs – Anaheim used their 2015 first round draft pick to strengthen their solid young defense with the big mobile Swedish D-man. At 6’2” 191 lbs he has NHL size already and projects as a top pairing defenseman.

4. Nic Kerdiles: Left Wing – 6′ 2″ / 200 lbs – Kerdiles made the jump from college to pro playing 51 games with Norfolk in the AHL producing a modest 26 points and a minus -10. More seasoning is required.

5. Stefan Noesen: Right Wing – 6′ 2″ / 205 lbs – Injuries have hurt his development and almost made him an afterthought, but he did manage to make his NHL debut playing in one game with the Ducks last season. Expect him to compete hard for a roster spot this fall, and if he can stay healthy, he should see some NHL time.

Expanded Top 10 Ducks prospects with videos and stats can be read here.

A look at the Anaheim Ducks drafting from 2010 to 2015

Anaheim Ducks 2014-15 players stats

A look at the Anaheim Ducks 2015-16 schedule