Time For A Big Move?

Photo: USA Today/Gary Vasquez

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks were mentioned a couple of times(Thoughts 15 & 16) in Elliotte Friedman’ latest 31 Thoughts Article. The Ducks brought in Jeff Solomon and there could be some more changes.

Change In Assistant Coaching Staff

Friedman mentioned that the Ducks are one of several teams looking at making changes with their assistant coaches. General Manager Bob Murray discussed this in his recent press conference, stating they will be reevaluating the coaching staff(excluding Dallas Eakins). Mark Morrison could be at least one on the way out due to the power(less) play, which was the worst in NHL history (8.9 percent) since it became an official statistic in the late 1970’s.

Analytical Approach

Murray admitted that the team needs to do a better job of using analytics in the organization, which he feels new hire Jeff Solomon will be able to improve. “Jeff brings the analytic component to our organization that really needs to be upgraded and moved forward,” Murray said. “I just haven’t pushed hard enough to move it forward. This was a good time for us to do that.” He felt it was difficult to process the data and they are going “to spend on infrastructure to do what we need to do”.

Murray went on to talk about the Vegas expansion draft and how the Ducks lost Shea Theodore. He felt there were things that were learned afterward which needed to be changed. It sounds like if Murray had a better understanding of analytics and/or the draft process he may had done things differently back then. It appears the Ducks will be paying more attention to analytics going forward, which is a good thing that has been long overdue.

Time For A Big Trade?

Murray did confirm that the Ducks made a “serious pitch” for Pierre-Luc Dubois. According to Friedman, Drysdale and Zegras were not part of the offer. He thinks that the Ducks will “take a big swing” since they have some flexibility with their roster. He thinks it will be an “interesting summer” in Anaheim.

31 Thoughts Article

Jack Eichel was mentioned in Friedman’s article and he has been a hot topic of trade rumors recently. The Ducks will likely look into that situation in Buffalo, but can they make a big trade to land him? Or will the Ducks try to make some other big move this summer? Only time will tell, but something has to happen to get this team going in the right direction.

Full 31 Thoughts Article: What’s Next For Seth Jones?

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May 31st, 2021