Off-Season/Pre-Season

I have been lobbying for the Ducks to make a move, especially with captain Ryan Getzlaf. However, over the last few days, while the Ducks were winning some games, I’ve had a change of heart. I no longer want the Ducks to make any major moves. Before I explain why, let me elaborate on the Ducks contract situation.

Now that pre-season is officially over for the Ducks, it is time to look at how the Ducks performed overall. Heres a list of the pros and cons of the Ducks this pre-season. Pros: -Jonas Hiler looks like he’s back to normal. The biggest concern this off-season was if Hiller truly was symptom free or not. His first game back was against Vancouver, where he stopped all 21 shots he faced and looked like he was back. Hiller’s biggest performance was their second game against Vancouver, when he backstopped the Ducks during a 6 0n 3 Vancouver rush. -The Ducks [...]

Ever wondered how much of a star Selanne is in Finland? Now you know. The Ducks arrived in Finland Sunday Morning and headed straight to the arena to work out some kinks and to try to get the team used to the time difference. They will face Selanne’s former Finnish team, Jokerit, on Tuesday and then play the Buffalo Sabres on the 7th for their first regular season game. This will be a huge benefit for the Ducks, seeing as they will have time to get used to everything, whereas the Sabres will most likely still be jet lagged. Following [...]

With training camp basically over, it is time to look at some projected lines. Keep in mind these lines can always change barring injuries or anything that may happen in the next few weeks. There are still two more roster cuts the Ducks need to make. Forwards: Ryan-Getzlaf-Perry Blake-Koivu-Selanne McMillan/Smith-Pelley -Cogliano-Gordon Beleskey-Maceneur-Parros Defense: Visnovsky-Lydman Beauchemin-Fowler Sbisa-Brookbank

So, the Ducks have finished all of their preseason games, right?……………Wrong. They technically have one more preseason game before the NHL Premiere game in Helsinki against Buffalo. They face Helsinki Jokerit  of SM-liiga in Helsinki on October 4th. I tend to look at that game as a showcase for all of the Finnish player’s on the team, Koivu, Lydman and Selanne, but mainly Selanne. However, it will be more interesting than some people may expect. There are a few former NHLers on Jokerit. Former Duck Jarkko Ruutu now plays for Jokerit, along with former NHLers Ossi Vananen, Jani Rita and [...]

The past few days the Ducks made two more roster cuts lowering their roster to 28 players. Assigned to Syracuse Crunch (AHL): Jean-Francois Jacques (LW) Iiro Tarkki (G) Bryan Rodney (D) Waivers: Patrick Maroon (LW) Jacques was suspended for the rest of pre-season as well as the first 5 regular season games. He left the bench of a legal line change for the sole purpose of getting into a fight.  Tarkki showed some solid goaltending, but it is pretty obvious who the top 3 goaltenders are. The Ducks also faced the Vancouver Canucks yesterday and won 3-2. 

The Ducks will be heading to Helsinki Finland on October 4th where they will take on the Finnish team Jokerit. Then on the 7th, the Ducks will face the Sabres for their first game of the 2011-2012 season. The first thing that comes to mind is the disaster in 2007 when they played two games against the Kings in London, and then played 3 games in for 4 nights (all of them were away games). They went 0-2-1 in those games and it led them to a horrible start of the season. This year should be different, seeing as they [...]

Ducks’ forward Jean-Francois Jacques has been suspended for the remainder of the preseason and for the first five games of the regular season today for leaving the bench on a legal line change for the purpose of starting a fight with Vancouver Canucks’ forward  Mike Duco during the their preseason matchup on the 24th. Here’s Shanny’s video explanation of the ruling. These videos are excellent, they help fans and anyone really realize what exactly the player did to cause the suspension. These videos, I think, are going to be very helpful.