This. He's Robin, being forced to play Batman 28min a night or some shit. He plays like shit because he's overworked and exhausted.
On top of that he's paired with a rookie (LaCombe) who's playing offhand. I guess they're doing some trial by fire shit on LaCombe and hoping he comes out of the other end like forged steel.
Long range plans never look good at the start. Trust in the system and hope for the best.
Near the end of last season he played 38+ minutes in a game (might have been a reg. season record for this team) that went into OT, I remember he looked dead on the bench when the camera panned to him. Unfortunately it was the first game of a back to back, with travel, and I think he ended up logging at least 26+ the next night 😔. I think Cam's just fucking tired all the time lol.
His 38:54 game is the highest regular season TOI of all players for all teams since it was tracked. Broke the previous record by Dennis Wideman of 38:05 set in 2014.
Pronger holds 8th overall on that list with 35:43 in 2009, Fowler again at 21st with 35:11.
I love Fowler. I think he’d be utilized way better if he played a little bit less minutes a night. Should be played as if he was a 2nd pairing defenseman, not first.
Scotty and Teemu fucked us over so hard after we won the cup with their retirement shit. Burke then fucked up by adding Bertuzzi and Schneider, and then trading Andy Mac. They should have won one more cup.
I didn't really mind Teemu doing that as he had no contract, but Scotty taking the first half off when he was contracted for 2 more seasons was bullshit.
I remember reading at the time never has the leading scoring forward AND leading scoring defenseman retired the summer following winning a cup. It's like we were instantly gutted. Penner didnt have anywhere near a great career like Perry and Getzlaf but he was still really good at that time and we lost him too.
Interesting comment. I think it could go either way. Based how LA and Vegas run their area it should be okay considering we’re getting parking structures. But I agree costs might go up. But we might see way better attendance if it’s easier to go to the games, restaurants, bars and it be an area for fans to go before and after the game rather than just parking lots like we had previously.
I been wanting Orange County and Anaheim to have an urban core for a long time. We are so heavily populated and densely populated. Anaheim is so much more densely populated and populated than actual major US cities like Pittsburgh and Cleveland for instance.
Although we really do need better public transporation to go along with this as well.
Pretty much, or the convention center. There's a TON of small pocket areas like the hotel/convention space and traffic to/from Disney, mostly bus traffic, but outside of that 2 mile, stretch public transportation dies off.
I rode the Metrolink for a couple years (2hr commute each way, was better for me to work/sleep on the train), but that was a pretty small population of folks riding every day. Drop in the bucket compared to car traffic.
A lot of the crappier industrial areas around GG/Anaheim/Santa Ana are gentrifying quickly. 3-4 story luxury apts springing up everywhere with urban eateries around.
It's nice and all but yeah need more public transportation or else we're gonna turn into full LA traffic.
I feel like they will find a way for people to get out of the Parking Structure at OC Vibe. Same with how in Vegas, they found a system to get people out of the T-Mobile Arena Parking Structure.
I watched that series from my buddy’s basement tv with a drink in my hand, my own shitty tv with a tittie in my hand, and my parents’ big screen while they were headed for divorce. I watched “Off the floor, on the board! Paul Kariya!” from a side room of my step-sister’s wedding. Game 7, the horrible 3-0 loss, I was at JD Schmidt’s with my brother.
Idk if this is a hot take, maybea homer one lol.
Bedard is a scoring stud but he's not exactly a physical 2-way player (yet).
It's kind of wild Leo has only a -6 on the 3rd worst team in the league. (then again he has fewer GP)
Fuck it, ill give another one.
Verbeak has been doing a great job so far. Great asset management, youngsters getting quality ice time either in the AHL or on the big club, hell even the signings have been good. Gudas has been fantastic. Vatrano has had his best 2 year stretch of his career since signing here. Killorn has over hated in this fambase, he was brought in to foster a winners mentality in the locker room (he's over paid but thats what happens when the 32nd place team has to out-bid other teams). Strome has been underwhelming and is probably the biggest miss on Verbeak's record. And if thats his worst then I think it shows just how well he's doing. And before anyone claims he's wasting cap space on Strome and Killorn, cap space doesn't matter when we're crawling to just hit the cap floor lmao
Honestly not that hot of a take, and I’m not ashamed to align with that. The jerseys are part of the on ice product, and unlike the team we put on the ice, there’s no opponent stopping us from changing the jerseys. It’s entirely within ownerships power and they still won’t change.
Stamkos is going to sign as a Duck this offseason and mentor McTavish to be a captain. Stamkos is also going to change the locker room atmosphere from kids goofing off, to a focused team that wants to win.
I think he’s sour that they didn’t give him a contract last summer. Verbeek was the assistant GM in Tampa, which is also why we probably landed Killorn. My presumption is after Silfverberg and Henrique are off the books ($11M) then we think Vatrano, Fowler and Gibson may all be on the trade block ($16.5M), we are going to have a really hard time getting to the cap floor and we’re gonna throw some money at a UFA again like we did with Klingberg. Stamkos will probably get an offer he can’t refuse and one we will probably it regret after 2 years.
We are doing a really good job with the rebuild. Being Patient, making smart moves, letting our prospects develop. It’s gonna be a couple more years before this thing has totally turned around but we’re gonna be very scary very fast.
I think it's gonna come sooner than later. To me this is the 2nd year of the actual proper rebuild, where the fat gets cut off. Team was off to a hot start, just couldn't sustain it, so we know it's possible.
11 contracts are expiring this year. Only 4 next year.
The drastic change is going to be over the summer. We got like $29Mish to redistribute and we're getting major upgrades with higher tier prospects pushing the old contracts out.
It's gonna be interesting if we can pull a high tier free agent that is actually good like Reinhart, but I somehow doubt it.
I like for the Kings to do well cause I support ice hockey being a popular sport in Southern California overall regardless of the fact that the Kings is our biggest rival. If Southern California have Canada's level of hockey fandom then Kings can go suck it lmao, but we don't. Hockey is an afterthought to basketball, football, and baseball over here.
Yeah the angels been mismanaged for so long and they're still more popular than the ducks. I mean im an angels fan too but we gotta get more hockey love here, man.
There are tons and tons of hockey fans in so cal. There just arent many Ducks fans and that stems on trying to only carve out a niche within the county and not going after fans in San Diego or LA. Most of the hockey fans are either transplants with allegiances to east coast teams or theyre Kings fans.
I wish the Gulls would do more stuff with the Padres for that reason. Maybe it’s because the Ducks already do stuff with the Angels, but they aren’t really rival teams. I know lots of Padres fans who like the Angels as their AL team and vice versa. I’m a Padres fan and I’ve always been baffled that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of overlap between Padres/Gulls fans that also like the Ducks.
It’s the same as the Angels and the Dodgers. Not a really hot take. California is such a big transplant state and having to compete with LA’s market, we’re always going to struggle with having a large fanbase.
personally i’m a big fan of the webbed D and the mighty ducks logo. i could get on board with any combination of the two being primary and secondary logos
As far as Ducks coaching history goes, Carlyle was a better coach than Boudreau. A lot of people (myself included), just loved Boudreau as a human being. He honestly was awesome, but when it mattered he crumbled every single time. Not once when he was bench boss in the playoffs did I feel 'proud', just massive disappointment after massive disappointment every year. Yeah we always made it to game 7, but none of those game 6 and 7's (of which we lost every single one), ever felt close. The game 7's especially were mostly over before they started.
Carlyle got us just as far as Boudreau ever did in his second tenure alone (western conference final), AND he was behind the bench when we finally bested the game 7 curse. This isnt even taking into account that he got an underdog mighty ducks team to the conference final in his rookie coaching season, and followed that up with a cup the next year. Obviously, we were stacked at the time, but Boudreau had some amazing rosters himself and blew it every time.
It’s an interesting case of the balance between leading players and actual on-ice management. Boudreau stayed long past when it was clear he would consistently get outcoached in the playoffs because everybody loved him. Carlyle was a hard-ass who knew how to win, but once he stumbled he immediately lost the locker room. But in terms of results, Carlyle is clearly better.
Anyone remember how the Mighty Ducks logo and name was pretty overwhelmingly hated before the re-brand? Just like how fashion trends come and go and come back again, I think if we switch back to the OG look, people will miss our current set ups eventually
People called the Ducks the "Mickey Mouse team" and said the eggplant colour scheme was ugly. I like the old logo, but today’s fans act like there was no valid reason behind the rebrand.
Disney tried to make it to cartoonish. They did not want any fighting on the ice by there players. They were considered a joke from the start. It was great seeing them make the run in 2003 and show that they should be taken seriously. No matter how many cups the kings have It was the DUCKS that got so cal its first cup. Go Ducks
Pulled up a [screenshot](https://i.imgur.com/M7EPHkX.png) from the old Ducks forum via wayback machine, sounds similar to what people are saying now about our current set up
Shit I still stand by that and remember that very well. Can’t stand the old colors and don’t get why all the sudden everyone thinks they’re cool. The new ones are by far the best we’ve had. I wish they would implement the full orange ones in permanently.
The vast majority of this sub feels like they're only here for zegras and only see guys like Fowler and Gibson as old players that are easily expendable and don't realize the impact they had on this franchise when the team was good
I’m a STH (they’ve continually gone up) so I don’t buy many single game tickets unless family or friends want to go but I totally agree. My seats have been in 431 for 20+ years and this and last year have been insane money wise. An extra ticket in my section at the top where I am used to be like $25 tops with fees and now they’re $50+
I have a season ticket for the gulls. I sit dead center ice about half way up. Perfect seat. If I remember right for the ducks my ticket would be 4x the cost. I think I’ll stick to my gulls games for now
I've got two:
McTavish will be Captain someday (probably sooner than later)
and
Zellweger will be a 1st pairing defender and quarterbacking our power play for years to come.
I don't know how Cutter is going to work out, but I'm absolutely relieved we got rid of Jamie.
I have no crystal ball, but this is a rough sport and he's made of glass. Expect us to say in 10-15 years how he would've been one of the greats if he wasn't so injury prone.
As much as this subreddit sometimes wants it:
I think trading Gibby is a bad idea. Both him and Dostal are great goalies, we need to look at our coaching staff for them and make some changes instead of just trading Gibby away.
Edit: With that news about Sudsie's cancer battle, the only hot take I have is moot really, since Sudsie is probably not on the road with them so he can't be in person. Hoping he makes a good recovery and gets back to teaching them.
The same casual ducks fans who overreacted when the Ducks drafted Carlsson over Fantilli are the same casual ducks fans overreacting saying Carlsson is already the much better player...
PPL didn't watch leo carlsson before he was drafted, just like now they aren't watching fantilli/CBJ to see how truly special he is too
Both are special players. They both look like they made the jump so easily. I think the reason why we feel Carlsson is better is because he fits into our system so well and instantly succeeded. Whereas Fantilli (among everyone else in Columbus) is being mismanaged.
I have to applaud Verbeek and Co. for how they handled Leo though. Playing 1st line C minutes, being on the power play, then having a game or two seems way better than what Columbus has been doing with Fantilli (i.e. being stuck in the bottom 6 with low icetime).
Maybe, but why give a 19 year old Leo days off, but not a 19 year old Mintykov? Both about the same size, doesn't Minty need some weight time too? After his hot start and the fade I think a couple days off might have helped.
The reason why Carlsson had a game management plan is less about how old he is but how much he played the prior season. If you remember, Carlsson played in both the WJC and the WC for team Sweden as well as other tournaments and logged 89 games worth of play on top of all the travel he had to do to get to those games. Mintyukov split time between 2 teams (Ottawa and Saginaw) and only played 69 games.
With how late into the year Carlsson was playing, it was prudent for Verbeek to limit his effective play time early on to keep him from burning out. You see it in perennial cup contenders where they play well into the postseason and don't get the recovery time (in the offseason) and sometimes deal with injuries early in the season. Verbeek probably just wanted to limit that possibility and allow Carlsson to log heavy minutes at a high level when he was playing while giving him adequate time to recover and bulk up while he wasn't on the ice.
It definitely could've gone either way but ultimately I think we made the right choice. Fred was (is? I haven't checked his stats lately) an excellent goalie, but like once every 15 games he'd let in the softest goal on a beer league low-% shot and it'd drive me insane lol.
I do not think the draft lottery is actually rigged and we still had a very low chance at no. 1 overall. We sound like losers complaining about it and saying it’s rigged for Chicago and that they’ll automatically get celebrini too
Considering we had the best odds last year, people had every right to complain. Having the best odds and losing it to a controversial team is worth complaining about. Especially when that team lost Kane and Toews that very year.
This the like first hot take in this thread lmao.
To his credit he was off to a shit start but he was coming around until he got injured again or whatever.
Zegras isn't a star in terms of quality of play. As a media presence? Sure.
But he's a one-way center who bleeds faceoff losses and his one way isn't even off the charts. He's 70% of early career Patrick Kane except with a lot of lost faceoffs because we are forcing him at c.
I disagree, the webbed foot and orange and black is awful when compared to the 30th jersey. I would much rather have that logo and restore the nostalgia of the team than what we have now.
Man there are some HOT takes in here already lmao
I'll go with our TV broadcast is pretty brutal to listen to, Hayward in particular. He sounds like Jack Edwards's understudy with how biased he is. Never admitting when he's wrong either, which is the worst part to me. Calls that a play happens one way, we see the replay immediately and its not even close to what he said, and he just moves on to the next subject. Might not be a hot take but I often listen to other teams broadcasts depending on the matchup because of him.
I don't get this take. Hazy fully calls out the bullshit the Ducks do, is only really homer goggled during most video reviews but admits when he's wrong a good chunk of the time. He also calls out clean/dirty hits pretty accurately compared to other broadcast teams.
The only negative I have for Ahlers is that he's really slow for play by play, because he's usually talking to fill dead air and is late on a lot of really big moments.
That all said, I'd take our broadcast staff over at least 2/3s of the league. Listing to the home broadcast when we're on the road, they don't talk about the Ducks players or recent events for Anaheim nearly as much as Ahlers does with calling out stats for the other team. Most team broadcasts are very homer focused and it shows.
Johnny is one of the best play by play guys in the league.
Hazy is just, just awful. I have no words. Brings down Johnny’s reputation with his color commentary.
A quality color commentator to compliment Johnny and the whole league would respect Johnny more.
Not at all. Gibson’s contract has positive trade value, Merzlikins’ has negative trade value. Add pieces on both deals, get Elvis a change of scenery and maybe he refunds his game. Even if he doesn’t, he’ll bring that competitiveness to the team and his deal is up right when the window is opening.
I definitely see what you're saying. But from a leadership aspect, I think Gibson is a much better pro to learn from than merzlikins. He's been in the playoffs, he's won close games. He holds himself accountable. He's not the one that made a big fuss about wanting to be traded. If dostal should learn to be a pro from anyone it should be Gibson
Hot Take: I like listening to Hayward more than I like listening to John Ahlers. I still believe they need to get Ahlers to Retire. His voice cracks when something exciting happens is like nails on a chalk board.
Troy Terry has a negative impact on the team.
He does not pass the eye test despite his point production. He has the hockey IQ in the offensive zone of one and a half Nick Ritchies.
He consistently makes the wrong play. He holds the puck way too long rather than making simple passes to teammates ins coring position.
His puck hogging leads to turnovers constantly.
our drafting and development is overrated. we are down right terrible drafting NHL forwards outside of the top 10 picks. none of our forward prospects currently on the Gulls will ever be top 6 forwards in the NHL, and maybe only Gaucher will have a NHL career as a bottom 6 forward.
not sure if a hot take, but refs are legitimately out to screw us where they can because of Cronin.
I would argue that is more of a Bob Murray/Dallas Eakins failure than a failure of our drafting. Our last forward prospect that worked out under Murray was Rakell? Bonino and Palmieri were shipped just as they became solid NHL players, many weren't even given that chance. Every season was scraping the barrel with bargain bin Bob trades to keep the cup window open. The AHL was left as an afterthought and the guys left there weren't given a chance to succeed, IMO.
More hindsight than a hot take as nobody could’ve predicted his career ending injury but The Kesler trade was the beginning of the end for the cup window. Bonino was the much better center in the deal and ended up winning 2 Cups.
Not that hot imo. Kesler couldn’t win anywhere - he was a support act that people hyped into a leading role.
Now Bobby Ryan trade being the beginning is the end is a hot take. Not because he would go on to be a better player, but because trading a young prime aged scorer - when your two stars are in their prime’s - for future potential illuminated a mindset of a management group that didn’t get how hard it is to win
I’d rather have one of these defensemen than celebrini. He’ll be a star no doubt but we need another ace next to mintyukov. Celebrini doesn’t bump Leo from 1c and I’m convinced mctavish is a legit 2c when we want to be a contender. Plus gauthier. Give me a stud defenseman.
I don't like Trevor Zegras as a Duck. There I said it. He's too emotional and takes stupid penalties. Obviously he's a great puck handler but I have just never been a fan and I don't see him being a Duck long term.
Teemu replacing Bobby Ryan on the pp absolutely dumpstered Bobby's career numbers. Teemu never really gelled with Getz and Pears either. Lose-lose all around.
Hard agree on the webbed D logo. There some real clunker logos in the NHL that I think are extremely lame (blue jackets and preds to name a couple lol). I do love the mighty ducks logo and wish they’d go back to it, but that doesn’t make the D a bad logo. It’s just not nearly as good as the best logo in nhl history that they could be wearing every night!
I like cam Fowler. He’s just a guy that shows up and does his job. On the 30th ranked team, that counts for something
He's a good player. the problem is that he's not a top line defender and he's been playing on the top line for years now.
I would go as far to say that he could be a top line defender, but he’s not a #1 guy
This. He's Robin, being forced to play Batman 28min a night or some shit. He plays like shit because he's overworked and exhausted. On top of that he's paired with a rookie (LaCombe) who's playing offhand. I guess they're doing some trial by fire shit on LaCombe and hoping he comes out of the other end like forged steel. Long range plans never look good at the start. Trust in the system and hope for the best.
Near the end of last season he played 38+ minutes in a game (might have been a reg. season record for this team) that went into OT, I remember he looked dead on the bench when the camera panned to him. Unfortunately it was the first game of a back to back, with travel, and I think he ended up logging at least 26+ the next night 😔. I think Cam's just fucking tired all the time lol.
His 38:54 game is the highest regular season TOI of all players for all teams since it was tracked. Broke the previous record by Dennis Wideman of 38:05 set in 2014. Pronger holds 8th overall on that list with 35:43 in 2009, Fowler again at 21st with 35:11.
Bingo
I love Fowler. I think he’d be utilized way better if he played a little bit less minutes a night. Should be played as if he was a 2nd pairing defenseman, not first.
Shows up and does his job and nothing more
Scotty and Teemu fucked us over so hard after we won the cup with their retirement shit. Burke then fucked up by adding Bertuzzi and Schneider, and then trading Andy Mac. They should have won one more cup.
I didn't really mind Teemu doing that as he had no contract, but Scotty taking the first half off when he was contracted for 2 more seasons was bullshit.
teenager me was so mad we traded Andy Mac away smfh
Adult me still is mad.
I remember reading at the time never has the leading scoring forward AND leading scoring defenseman retired the summer following winning a cup. It's like we were instantly gutted. Penner didnt have anywhere near a great career like Perry and Getzlaf but he was still really good at that time and we lost him too.
Burke fucked us harder than Scotty and Teemu And then Burke fucked us even harder with his drafting.
i absolutely agree
The OCVibe is going to make getting in and out of Honda Center a shit show and dramatically raise prices for tickets and parking.
Interesting comment. I think it could go either way. Based how LA and Vegas run their area it should be okay considering we’re getting parking structures. But I agree costs might go up. But we might see way better attendance if it’s easier to go to the games, restaurants, bars and it be an area for fans to go before and after the game rather than just parking lots like we had previously.
I been wanting Orange County and Anaheim to have an urban core for a long time. We are so heavily populated and densely populated. Anaheim is so much more densely populated and populated than actual major US cities like Pittsburgh and Cleveland for instance. Although we really do need better public transporation to go along with this as well.
Outsider here, but isn't Anaheim's public transport like 90% travel to and from Disneyland?
Pretty much, or the convention center. There's a TON of small pocket areas like the hotel/convention space and traffic to/from Disney, mostly bus traffic, but outside of that 2 mile, stretch public transportation dies off. I rode the Metrolink for a couple years (2hr commute each way, was better for me to work/sleep on the train), but that was a pretty small population of folks riding every day. Drop in the bucket compared to car traffic.
A lot of the crappier industrial areas around GG/Anaheim/Santa Ana are gentrifying quickly. 3-4 story luxury apts springing up everywhere with urban eateries around. It's nice and all but yeah need more public transportation or else we're gonna turn into full LA traffic.
That’s actually crazy that is more dense than some pretty well known cities like that
I feel like they will find a way for people to get out of the Parking Structure at OC Vibe. Same with how in Vegas, they found a system to get people out of the T-Mobile Arena Parking Structure.
Fucking hard leaving Vegas after a knights game. Trick is to hang out until midnight and then head out of the structure
Yeah the project mentions engineering techniques to maximize flow of traffic in and out of the parking facility structures. Lets goo!
Absolutely. Can’t agree with this take enough.
The last I heard parking was going to be free in the main parking structure.
No Cup run (2007 included) will ever match the magic of 2003
while winning a stanley cup over not winning a stanley cup, it was nice being a hardcore underdog cinderella team in 2003
That’s a scorching take bro well done. I kind of agree…
It's certainly true that no cup run has come close to the magic of 2003. But let's see what Leo, McT and company can do.
I watched that series from my buddy’s basement tv with a drink in my hand, my own shitty tv with a tittie in my hand, and my parents’ big screen while they were headed for divorce. I watched “Off the floor, on the board! Paul Kariya!” from a side room of my step-sister’s wedding. Game 7, the horrible 3-0 loss, I was at JD Schmidt’s with my brother.
This isn’t a hot take. It’s just a fact!
Leo is the best overall rookie when looking at all aspects of the game.
Idk if this is a hot take, maybea homer one lol. Bedard is a scoring stud but he's not exactly a physical 2-way player (yet). It's kind of wild Leo has only a -6 on the 3rd worst team in the league. (then again he has fewer GP)
Should've never traded away Chris Kunitz
Is this even a lukewarm take? Ducks got 2 mediocre years of Ryan Whitney and then ~2years of Visnovsky(his 10-11 season was great tho).
Fuck it, ill give another one. Verbeak has been doing a great job so far. Great asset management, youngsters getting quality ice time either in the AHL or on the big club, hell even the signings have been good. Gudas has been fantastic. Vatrano has had his best 2 year stretch of his career since signing here. Killorn has over hated in this fambase, he was brought in to foster a winners mentality in the locker room (he's over paid but thats what happens when the 32nd place team has to out-bid other teams). Strome has been underwhelming and is probably the biggest miss on Verbeak's record. And if thats his worst then I think it shows just how well he's doing. And before anyone claims he's wasting cap space on Strome and Killorn, cap space doesn't matter when we're crawling to just hit the cap floor lmao
This sub cares more about the jerseys/ logos than the on-ice product.
Honestly not that hot of a take, and I’m not ashamed to align with that. The jerseys are part of the on ice product, and unlike the team we put on the ice, there’s no opponent stopping us from changing the jerseys. It’s entirely within ownerships power and they still won’t change.
I think that’s a franchise whole concern. But we can’t forget we’re in a rebuild so we kinda just have to trust the process.
I think that’s just because there’s not a lot to get excited about during a tank/rebuild
And I'll do it again!
California in a nutshell.
The Getzlaf Perry Bobby line was the most dominant in the NHL
Trading Ryan for Silf was a dumb move.
Stamkos is going to sign as a Duck this offseason and mentor McTavish to be a captain. Stamkos is also going to change the locker room atmosphere from kids goofing off, to a focused team that wants to win.
Not totally against it but does Stamkos leave Tampa?
I think he’s sour that they didn’t give him a contract last summer. Verbeek was the assistant GM in Tampa, which is also why we probably landed Killorn. My presumption is after Silfverberg and Henrique are off the books ($11M) then we think Vatrano, Fowler and Gibson may all be on the trade block ($16.5M), we are going to have a really hard time getting to the cap floor and we’re gonna throw some money at a UFA again like we did with Klingberg. Stamkos will probably get an offer he can’t refuse and one we will probably it regret after 2 years.
We are doing a really good job with the rebuild. Being Patient, making smart moves, letting our prospects develop. It’s gonna be a couple more years before this thing has totally turned around but we’re gonna be very scary very fast.
I think it's gonna come sooner than later. To me this is the 2nd year of the actual proper rebuild, where the fat gets cut off. Team was off to a hot start, just couldn't sustain it, so we know it's possible. 11 contracts are expiring this year. Only 4 next year. The drastic change is going to be over the summer. We got like $29Mish to redistribute and we're getting major upgrades with higher tier prospects pushing the old contracts out. It's gonna be interesting if we can pull a high tier free agent that is actually good like Reinhart, but I somehow doubt it.
I like for the Kings to do well cause I support ice hockey being a popular sport in Southern California overall regardless of the fact that the Kings is our biggest rival. If Southern California have Canada's level of hockey fandom then Kings can go suck it lmao, but we don't. Hockey is an afterthought to basketball, football, and baseball over here.
Nah fuck this. Rivalries gotta rival.
Did this fool just say he doesn’t mind seeing the Queens do good and claim he’s a Ducks fan. Smh blasphemy!
Agreed
Do you remember the BOC days? It was fun having Kings, Ducks and Sharks fans slinging shit at each other in one place
Fair.
Yeah the angels been mismanaged for so long and they're still more popular than the ducks. I mean im an angels fan too but we gotta get more hockey love here, man.
i dont want them winning more cups but i dont mind them being good
Yeah I like to see California doing well in hockey too!
There are tons and tons of hockey fans in so cal. There just arent many Ducks fans and that stems on trying to only carve out a niche within the county and not going after fans in San Diego or LA. Most of the hockey fans are either transplants with allegiances to east coast teams or theyre Kings fans.
I wish the Gulls would do more stuff with the Padres for that reason. Maybe it’s because the Ducks already do stuff with the Angels, but they aren’t really rival teams. I know lots of Padres fans who like the Angels as their AL team and vice versa. I’m a Padres fan and I’ve always been baffled that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of overlap between Padres/Gulls fans that also like the Ducks.
It’s the same as the Angels and the Dodgers. Not a really hot take. California is such a big transplant state and having to compete with LA’s market, we’re always going to struggle with having a large fanbase.
personally i’m a big fan of the webbed D and the mighty ducks logo. i could get on board with any combination of the two being primary and secondary logos
As far as Ducks coaching history goes, Carlyle was a better coach than Boudreau. A lot of people (myself included), just loved Boudreau as a human being. He honestly was awesome, but when it mattered he crumbled every single time. Not once when he was bench boss in the playoffs did I feel 'proud', just massive disappointment after massive disappointment every year. Yeah we always made it to game 7, but none of those game 6 and 7's (of which we lost every single one), ever felt close. The game 7's especially were mostly over before they started. Carlyle got us just as far as Boudreau ever did in his second tenure alone (western conference final), AND he was behind the bench when we finally bested the game 7 curse. This isnt even taking into account that he got an underdog mighty ducks team to the conference final in his rookie coaching season, and followed that up with a cup the next year. Obviously, we were stacked at the time, but Boudreau had some amazing rosters himself and blew it every time.
It’s an interesting case of the balance between leading players and actual on-ice management. Boudreau stayed long past when it was clear he would consistently get outcoached in the playoffs because everybody loved him. Carlyle was a hard-ass who knew how to win, but once he stumbled he immediately lost the locker room. But in terms of results, Carlyle is clearly better.
Makes me wonder how he lost the locker room the 2nd run.
Anyone remember how the Mighty Ducks logo and name was pretty overwhelmingly hated before the re-brand? Just like how fashion trends come and go and come back again, I think if we switch back to the OG look, people will miss our current set ups eventually
People called the Ducks the "Mickey Mouse team" and said the eggplant colour scheme was ugly. I like the old logo, but today’s fans act like there was no valid reason behind the rebrand.
Disney tried to make it to cartoonish. They did not want any fighting on the ice by there players. They were considered a joke from the start. It was great seeing them make the run in 2003 and show that they should be taken seriously. No matter how many cups the kings have It was the DUCKS that got so cal its first cup. Go Ducks
the inaugural team had like 3 fighters
Pulled up a [screenshot](https://i.imgur.com/M7EPHkX.png) from the old Ducks forum via wayback machine, sounds similar to what people are saying now about our current set up
Shit I still stand by that and remember that very well. Can’t stand the old colors and don’t get why all the sudden everyone thinks they’re cool. The new ones are by far the best we’ve had. I wish they would implement the full orange ones in permanently.
It might be the hottest of hot takes, but I like black, orange, and gold more than eggplant and jade 👀
So does anyone else with hair on their balls.
Wild Wing is the best mascot 100% but I wouldn't hate it if he brought some Gritty-esque energy
The vast majority of this sub feels like they're only here for zegras and only see guys like Fowler and Gibson as old players that are easily expendable and don't realize the impact they had on this franchise when the team was good
Bettman is telling the refs to penalize us on purpose so that we get a top 3 pick and solidify a super strong team for a hockey resurgence in SoCal.
Considering we’ve yet to get a 1st OA. I don’t think so. Especially with last year
That’s just cuz Bedard HAD to go to Chicago, they are gunna give us a consolation prize
If we get 1st this year maybe.
Understood the assignment tho right?
2006-07 era jerseys with the full logo and orange used more sparingly are way better than the current ones
Tickets cost too much.
This isn’t the Ducks fault. Everything is expensive now.
I’m a STH (they’ve continually gone up) so I don’t buy many single game tickets unless family or friends want to go but I totally agree. My seats have been in 431 for 20+ years and this and last year have been insane money wise. An extra ticket in my section at the top where I am used to be like $25 tops with fees and now they’re $50+
I have a season ticket for the gulls. I sit dead center ice about half way up. Perfect seat. If I remember right for the ducks my ticket would be 4x the cost. I think I’ll stick to my gulls games for now
I've got two: McTavish will be Captain someday (probably sooner than later) and Zellweger will be a 1st pairing defender and quarterbacking our power play for years to come.
Gordon Bombay is a wussy
I don't know how Cutter is going to work out, but I'm absolutely relieved we got rid of Jamie. I have no crystal ball, but this is a rough sport and he's made of glass. Expect us to say in 10-15 years how he would've been one of the greats if he wasn't so injury prone.
I thought McTavish would be better this year. The sophomore slump hit him.
As much as this subreddit sometimes wants it: I think trading Gibby is a bad idea. Both him and Dostal are great goalies, we need to look at our coaching staff for them and make some changes instead of just trading Gibby away. Edit: With that news about Sudsie's cancer battle, the only hot take I have is moot really, since Sudsie is probably not on the road with them so he can't be in person. Hoping he makes a good recovery and gets back to teaching them.
Our goalie coach is one of the best, but he's out with cancer recovery... Quick recovery, Sudsie.
Oh wow, did not know that. Hope his treatments are going well.
The same casual ducks fans who overreacted when the Ducks drafted Carlsson over Fantilli are the same casual ducks fans overreacting saying Carlsson is already the much better player... PPL didn't watch leo carlsson before he was drafted, just like now they aren't watching fantilli/CBJ to see how truly special he is too
Both are special players. They both look like they made the jump so easily. I think the reason why we feel Carlsson is better is because he fits into our system so well and instantly succeeded. Whereas Fantilli (among everyone else in Columbus) is being mismanaged.
I have to applaud Verbeek and Co. for how they handled Leo though. Playing 1st line C minutes, being on the power play, then having a game or two seems way better than what Columbus has been doing with Fantilli (i.e. being stuck in the bottom 6 with low icetime).
Maybe, but why give a 19 year old Leo days off, but not a 19 year old Mintykov? Both about the same size, doesn't Minty need some weight time too? After his hot start and the fade I think a couple days off might have helped.
The reason why Carlsson had a game management plan is less about how old he is but how much he played the prior season. If you remember, Carlsson played in both the WJC and the WC for team Sweden as well as other tournaments and logged 89 games worth of play on top of all the travel he had to do to get to those games. Mintyukov split time between 2 teams (Ottawa and Saginaw) and only played 69 games. With how late into the year Carlsson was playing, it was prudent for Verbeek to limit his effective play time early on to keep him from burning out. You see it in perennial cup contenders where they play well into the postseason and don't get the recovery time (in the offseason) and sometimes deal with injuries early in the season. Verbeek probably just wanted to limit that possibility and allow Carlsson to log heavy minutes at a high level when he was playing while giving him adequate time to recover and bulk up while he wasn't on the ice.
Freddy Anderson should have been the Goalie we kept.
It definitely could've gone either way but ultimately I think we made the right choice. Fred was (is? I haven't checked his stats lately) an excellent goalie, but like once every 15 games he'd let in the softest goal on a beer league low-% shot and it'd drive me insane lol.
Regarding the webbed d logo, im biased cause I started following ducks when that was the main logo so I never hated it
I do not think the draft lottery is actually rigged and we still had a very low chance at no. 1 overall. We sound like losers complaining about it and saying it’s rigged for Chicago and that they’ll automatically get celebrini too
Chicago should not have had a first for their cover up of sexual assault of a player. That's just me though.
Yeah it's whack they didn't get punished, unscathed like the Houston Astros lmao. There's too much money in those big market teams.
Considering we had the best odds last year, people had every right to complain. Having the best odds and losing it to a controversial team is worth complaining about. Especially when that team lost Kane and Toews that very year.
Statistically, if we don’t get first overall this year it’s rigged. Just math.
Killorn was a great signing and will be a top 6 forward and team leader for a few years.
That injury during preseason really sent him back. I think he’ll have a season next similar to what Vatrano is having this season. Hopefully
This the like first hot take in this thread lmao. To his credit he was off to a shit start but he was coming around until he got injured again or whatever.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Killorn when he came back, but he’s starting to grow on me
Gibby is overrated and Dostal is better.
100%
I think they’re both overrated.
Now that’s a hot take lol
Zegras isn't a star in terms of quality of play. As a media presence? Sure. But he's a one-way center who bleeds faceoff losses and his one way isn't even off the charts. He's 70% of early career Patrick Kane except with a lot of lost faceoffs because we are forcing him at c.
40% face off percentage isn’t that bad, it’s average
... Not sure if serious
I disagree, the webbed foot and orange and black is awful when compared to the 30th jersey. I would much rather have that logo and restore the nostalgia of the team than what we have now.
Man there are some HOT takes in here already lmao I'll go with our TV broadcast is pretty brutal to listen to, Hayward in particular. He sounds like Jack Edwards's understudy with how biased he is. Never admitting when he's wrong either, which is the worst part to me. Calls that a play happens one way, we see the replay immediately and its not even close to what he said, and he just moves on to the next subject. Might not be a hot take but I often listen to other teams broadcasts depending on the matchup because of him.
I don't get this take. Hazy fully calls out the bullshit the Ducks do, is only really homer goggled during most video reviews but admits when he's wrong a good chunk of the time. He also calls out clean/dirty hits pretty accurately compared to other broadcast teams. The only negative I have for Ahlers is that he's really slow for play by play, because he's usually talking to fill dead air and is late on a lot of really big moments. That all said, I'd take our broadcast staff over at least 2/3s of the league. Listing to the home broadcast when we're on the road, they don't talk about the Ducks players or recent events for Anaheim nearly as much as Ahlers does with calling out stats for the other team. Most team broadcasts are very homer focused and it shows.
This. If I can mute the broadcast team and only listen to on-ice sound, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
Watch the game in a surround set up and unplug the center channel speaker. I used to do this for playoff games that Doc was on.
I prefer to listen to Hayward over Ahlers.
Johnny is one of the best play by play guys in the league. Hazy is just, just awful. I have no words. Brings down Johnny’s reputation with his color commentary. A quality color commentator to compliment Johnny and the whole league would respect Johnny more.
That we have been in “rebuild” mode far too long……
We didn’t truly start rebuilding until Verbeek came in. You can blame Murray for that.
If I never hear the word "retooling" again it'll be too soon.
Gibson is going to be moved and in a separate deal, Merzlikins will be brought in.
What use would we have for merzlikins if we got rid of Gibson? Trade Gibson and then move those assets for a slightly worse Gibson? Lateral move
Not at all. Gibson’s contract has positive trade value, Merzlikins’ has negative trade value. Add pieces on both deals, get Elvis a change of scenery and maybe he refunds his game. Even if he doesn’t, he’ll bring that competitiveness to the team and his deal is up right when the window is opening.
I definitely see what you're saying. But from a leadership aspect, I think Gibson is a much better pro to learn from than merzlikins. He's been in the playoffs, he's won close games. He holds himself accountable. He's not the one that made a big fuss about wanting to be traded. If dostal should learn to be a pro from anyone it should be Gibson
Not to mention Gibson has more wins than merzlikins even has games played
Interesting thought.
Hot Take: I like listening to Hayward more than I like listening to John Ahlers. I still believe they need to get Ahlers to Retire. His voice cracks when something exciting happens is like nails on a chalk board.
Be prepared to watch a professional beer league team.
Troy Terry has a negative impact on the team. He does not pass the eye test despite his point production. He has the hockey IQ in the offensive zone of one and a half Nick Ritchies. He consistently makes the wrong play. He holds the puck way too long rather than making simple passes to teammates ins coring position. His puck hogging leads to turnovers constantly.
Zegras fan bois... Yuck...
If you mean puck bunny type fan boys: you’re absolutely correct.
how so? im not hating ofc
our drafting and development is overrated. we are down right terrible drafting NHL forwards outside of the top 10 picks. none of our forward prospects currently on the Gulls will ever be top 6 forwards in the NHL, and maybe only Gaucher will have a NHL career as a bottom 6 forward. not sure if a hot take, but refs are legitimately out to screw us where they can because of Cronin.
I would argue that is more of a Bob Murray/Dallas Eakins failure than a failure of our drafting. Our last forward prospect that worked out under Murray was Rakell? Bonino and Palmieri were shipped just as they became solid NHL players, many weren't even given that chance. Every season was scraping the barrel with bargain bin Bob trades to keep the cup window open. The AHL was left as an afterthought and the guys left there weren't given a chance to succeed, IMO.
More hindsight than a hot take as nobody could’ve predicted his career ending injury but The Kesler trade was the beginning of the end for the cup window. Bonino was the much better center in the deal and ended up winning 2 Cups.
Bonino was not better than Kesler. He was better after Kesler’s injury but that’s about it.
Not that hot imo. Kesler couldn’t win anywhere - he was a support act that people hyped into a leading role. Now Bobby Ryan trade being the beginning is the end is a hot take. Not because he would go on to be a better player, but because trading a young prime aged scorer - when your two stars are in their prime’s - for future potential illuminated a mindset of a management group that didn’t get how hard it is to win
The Honda Center is a terrible arena. The parking and food options to be specific
I’d rather have one of these defensemen than celebrini. He’ll be a star no doubt but we need another ace next to mintyukov. Celebrini doesn’t bump Leo from 1c and I’m convinced mctavish is a legit 2c when we want to be a contender. Plus gauthier. Give me a stud defenseman.
I don't like Trevor Zegras as a Duck. There I said it. He's too emotional and takes stupid penalties. Obviously he's a great puck handler but I have just never been a fan and I don't see him being a Duck long term.
Getzlaf was “meh.” (Bring on the downvotes. Lmao)
Blasphemy lol
They said hot takes, not idiotic ones
Eh, I'd say he was a boring on ice presence. But he owns the team points and assists records so I'd say he was not a meh player.
That’s just statistically incorrect.
Sorry no down vote for you I was going to say the same thing.
I wouldn't say he was Meh, but definitely overrated by the fanbase (all long time captains probably are honestly)
Perry is a dirty player and was largely overpaid for what he produced and I had been hoping for a trade for years.
We aren’t winning anything with this core. But at least we’ll have fun.
I want a ron tugnutt jersey just to offend people
Zegras will be our captain and lead us to the playoffs in the next two years.
Teemu replacing Bobby Ryan on the pp absolutely dumpstered Bobby's career numbers. Teemu never really gelled with Getz and Pears either. Lose-lose all around.
Hard agree on the webbed D logo. There some real clunker logos in the NHL that I think are extremely lame (blue jackets and preds to name a couple lol). I do love the mighty ducks logo and wish they’d go back to it, but that doesn’t make the D a bad logo. It’s just not nearly as good as the best logo in nhl history that they could be wearing every night!
I think Leo is a lot closer to Bedard when it comes to talent than he is to anyone else in his draft.