Best. Preseason. Game. Ever. & My Opening Night Roster

Last night the Ducks beat Vancouver 3-2 and it was by far the most exciting preseason game in the history of preseason games, at least the ending was.  With 2:35 to go, Ducks up by one, Andrew Gordon took a hooking penalty.  Just over a minute later with Luongo pulled Nate Guenin takes a boarding penalty.  Six on Three for 1:32.  The Ducks withstand an onslaught, thanks to calm cool and collected Darth Hiller making what seemed like 8-10 saves.  Ducks win, crowd goes wild. 

I’ve never seen a preseason atmosphere like the one that emerged during that penalty kill.  If it was the regular season, and the building wasn’t two thirds empty it would have been electric and if it was the playoffs I would have passed out.

As for the rest of the game; Cam Fowler was spectacular, especially while carrying the puck.  Hiller was phenomenal against a pretty good Vancouver lineup that included the Sedins with Alex Burrows and their top four D-men in their first game since Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Final. 

Also I think Maxime Macenauer just played himself onto the team.  Randy Carlyle has made some positive comments about his play, and especially in this game he was doing everything out there.

Devante Smith-Pelly had a good game as well.  The best I’ve seen him play all training camp long.  However, he did have two instances where he took wild swings at Canucks while he was on the forecheck.  Not slashes just swinging his stick around like a dead cat, without contacting the guy. I have never seen anyone swing a dead cat but there is that expression, and I would imagine you’d hold it by the tail and spin around. 

Luca Sbisa seemed to have a rough time handling the puck but laid out a couple of guys.  The RPG line doesn’t have the rhythm down yet, but that isn’t too much of an issue in the preseason.  If they’re still playing like this when they get back to North America I’ll be worried. 

One last thing about the game, the Ducks seem to be embracing the Darth Hiller moniker, a nickname he received due to the fact that he wears an all black mask.  At one point when Hiller made a good save, the DJ played Darth Vader breathing noises followed by the Imperial March.  It was awesome.

Now to tie up a few loose ends from earlier in the week:  I had a post to publish on Tuesday about the most recent round of cuts and who would be next, but I only got through the goalies and forwards, so I saved it for Wednesday, but had to get up to early to blog.  Also Wednesday, the Ducks came out with a video of Randy Carlyle evaluating just about all of the fringe players that required me to rewrite the forwards section.  Now that post is basically obsolete as the final cuts will come down today and tomorrow before the Ducks head to Europe on Saturday with a 24 man active roster.  So I’ll boil it down to what I would have the starting lineup look like.

FORWARDS

Ryan – Getzlaf – Perry

Blake – Koivu – Selanne

McMillan – Cogliano – Gordon

Maroon – Macenauer – Parros

Beleskey (injured, cleared for contact), McGrattan (Scratch)

Notes:  Once Beleskey is ready to play he’ll take Maroon’s place and McGrattan will be sent to Syracuse.  Also if Jacques’ 5 game suspension ends before that, he takes McGrattan’s place in the press box.

DEFENSEMEN

Visnovsky – Guenin

Beauchemin – Fowler

Brookbank – Sbisa

Lydman (injured), Foster (injured), Smaby (Scratch)

Notes:  Lydman will take his normal place with Lubo on the top pair when he gets back, which would bump Guenin to scratch and Smaby to Syracuse, then when Foster is ready to go he’ll take the scratch position.

GOALIES

Hiller

Ellis

Deslaureiers (Scratch)

Notes:  Deslauriers will be sent to Syracuse as soon as they get back from Europe and barring injury — knock on wood — will only dress in the Jokerit game.

The injuries and suspension to Jacques threw me for a loop trying to get 24 guys, but I figure Lydman and Foster don’t count as active players, Beleskey does since he’s cleared for contact, and Jacques is definitely not going to Europe with the team since he’ll be suspended for three more games even after they get back.

Anyway, that’s my list and we’ll see what Randy Carlyle has to say about it on Saturday.

 

Weekend Recap; Ducks Win Two, Lose One, Make Cuts

 

It was a pleasant surprise to be able to see two of the three Ducks games this weekend, with the game in Vancouver televised on the NHL Network in the US and the Kings game being streamed live on the Kings website.  All preseason games should be streamed like the Kings did that game last night – overlaying the radio broadcast on top of the Jumbotron feed.  Of course it may have taken a bite out of the gate, had it been widely advertized, but still it was a nice gesture to the fans, by an organization, as hard as it is to admit, that is doing a lot of things right.

Also a pleasure was not being able to see the game at San Jose.  Even listening to that bloodbath was difficult.  It was a more veteran Sharks lineup than the one that hammered the Ducks in Anaheim on Wednesday, but the 5-1 final score wasn’t the problem.  The problem was that for the second game in a row Randy Carlyle dressed the RPG line and got nothing. 

Another problem, the shot total, 49-14.  Much like a preseason game, usually the shot total isn’t something you want to put too much stock into as it isn’t necessarily a reflection of quality.  However, when the disparity is that large something has to be said for it.  Listening to Steve Carroll and Dan Wood, you’d think the Ducks never left their own zone.  It’s hard to tell exactly how ugly the scene was just from the radio, but I think I know too much already.

Saturday’s game was a different story, as Carlyle dressed almost a complete lineup against a youthful Canucks roster. 

Ryan-Getzlaf-Perry

Blake-Koivu-Selanne

Gordon-Cogliano-Smith-Pelly

Jacques-Macenauer-Parros

Visnovsky-Sbisa

Fowler-Beauchamin

Brookbank-Smaby

Hiller

Carlyle stacked the lineup, saying that in the previous games he didn’t give the young guys a chance to gain any confidence by throwing them out there all alone with only one line of veterans per game (at the most).  Apparently it worked, because the Ducks beat on Vancouver all game long.  Jonas Hiller played two periods of shutout hockey; The Ducks true number one power play got some time together and cashed in for one goal.   

Cam Fowler’s game was most helped by the veteran laden lineup.  He had a goal and an assist and without having to worry about getting caught defensively he was able to play his game more freely, in my opinion. 

It was a good looking game, but again we can’t put too much stock into it as Vancouver’s only real veteran was Marco Sturm, who may or may not make their opening night roster.

Sunday morning brought six more cuts.  Sent back to Syracuse were Rick Schofield, Mark Bell, Mathieu Carle, Matt Kennedy, and Jake Newton, while Emerson Etem headed back to his Junior team, Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League.  The surprise of that group has to be Etem. 

Despite, as Carlyle said,  not having much help/confidence from veterans I thought Etem had several flashes of brilliance.  I’m not sure what sending him down without getting that chance to play with a more veteran lineup means.  We didn’t get to see how he performed at San Jose on Saturday, but if playing poorly in that game was the criteria for being cut, there are still a lot of guys on the roster. 

The reasoning could be that he just doesn’t have a slot to fill on the Ducks roster and therefore should be sent back to Juniors to play more minutes and more important minutes.  A player like Smith-Pelly has a shot at being a bottom six player for the Ducks because of his gritty power game.  On the other hand, Etem’s speedy style won’t necessarily be as much of a help in the NHL lineup, especially with Cogliano and possibly Andrew Gordon bringing the afterburners to the third line.

Quickly, the Kings game was very impressive, considering that it was almost the opposite of the Vancouver game in that the Kings dressed a full lineup for their final home preseason game and the Ducks naturally rested their top line guys who had all played the night before.

Andrew Gordon seems to be taking a real shot at making this lineup.  He had his third goal of the preseason Sunday and I have to say I like the combination of Gordon, Cogliano and Smith-Pelly.  The former two can back the opposition off with speed while Smith-Pelly does the dirty work in the corners and cleans up in front of the net.  We’ll still have to wait and see if Smith-Pelly is really ready for that, but Carlyle seems to be ready to give him the chance. 

The worst part of the Kings game was Andrei Loktionov’s goal.  Not only because it was against the Ducks, they were ahead 3-0 with 15 minutes to play in a preseason game.  Who cares?  Rather it was the creepy feeling I got reading his name in the box score as Lokomotiv.  It’s the same kind of creepy feeling I get whenever I check the time and it happens to be 9:11.  Even though there’s no real connection, the coincidence is a reminder of shocking tragedy. 

Anyway, it looks like more cuts will follow today as Kyle Palmieri tweeted that he’s on his way back to Syracuse this morning.  This could be a huge day for DSP if he gets one more shot to impress.

Roster Cut to 43 Before Three Game Weekend

 

First things first, I wrote a very short very newsy piece on Dustin Byfuglien’s legal troubles for Hockeytalk so go check that out if you’re interested.  And now on to the Ducks …

Yesterday the Ducks cut four players from their training camp roster.  Goalies Igor Bobkov and John Gibson, Center Joseph Cramarossa and Right Wing Rickard Rakell were all sent back to their junior teams, who coincidentally all happen to be in the OHL. 

One correction from a previous post; I assumed that since Bobkov is already 20 and had played in Syracuse last year that he was finished with his Junior eligibility.  Apparently that was not accurate, he only played two games with the Crunch last year and will start the 2011-12 season with the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario League.

No real surprises on the cuts.  Three of them were 2011 draft picks up for an experience and now that the OHL season has begun they can get into real game action and play a more significant role in more significant games.  The question becomes who are the next round of cuts?  Can the Etems and Smith-Pellys edge out the Bells and Guenins over the weekend and earn a legitimate shot at the starting lineup?  I’m skeptical, since Randy Carlyle loves him some veterans, but I’d like to see the younger guys get more of a look. 

Some other news going into this long weekend of hockey, evidently tomorrow’s game in Vancouver will be televised on the NHL Network.  This very well could be the first ever Ducks preseason game televised in the United States.  History will be made. 

Also according to Carlyle via Eric Stephens of the OC Register, Jonas Hiller, Dan Ellis and a third goalie will be on the trip with the Ducks and that some players will be in all three games back-to-back-to-back. 

Three games in three nights is pretty rough.  Carlyle explained that it’s essentially a test to replicate the grind of an NHL season.  While NHL teams don’t play three in three, there are back to backs with time zone changes and more travel than they’ll experience this weekend going up and down the west coast. 

Internet radio only tonight at San Jose; it can’t be any worse than Wednesday’s game.

It’s Only the Preseason: Ducks 1, Sharks 6

In just about every sense that was an ugly game.  The style of play was boring, the Sharks dominated the puck possession battle and the few chances that the Ducks had were blown.

It took the Ducks over 15 minutes to register a shot on goal and even that was a dribbler from outside the blue line which drew a Bronx cheer.  That did apparently spark them though as they put on a flurry of pressure and Andrew Gordon struck first late in the period. 

With the goal, Gordon was the one bright spot.  He put on a nasty dangle earlier in the first and I found myself noticing his number 41 more than just about any other Duck, but that’s about all I can say.  The game was so boring and dominated by the Sharks that it was hard to pick out one player over another.

 Almost everyone else was essentially invisible for the Ducks.  Nameless, faceless players floating around going through the motions, which for some reason included starting the game in a strict 1-2-2 neutral zone trap.

The goaltending was really bad and got worse as the game wore on.  Jeff Deslauriers started off ok, but completely muffed a clearing attempt along the glass that led to San Jose’s second goal.  That just so happened to come after the midway point in the game and he was pulled for Iiro Tarkki as is standard for a preseason game.  Tarkki had a rough go of it, giving up copious rebounds, four of which resulted in Sharks goals.  If it were up to the four goalies we’ve seen so far the Ducks would quite frankly be screwed, however we still haven’t even seen Dan Ellis so there shouldn’t be much to worry about, barring injury.

Interestingly the Sharks stuck with Thomas Greiss in net for the entire game, despite carrying eight goalies on the roster.  I guess Todd McLellan wasn’t interested in splitting 18 shots on goal among two goalies.

Unlike the previous game where Teemu and Saku were split up, the veterans all played together.  The RPG line was not particularly inspired however.  I would have thought that they’d dominate a very green Shark’s roster, but aside from a shift here or there they showed no signs of being one of, if not the best line in hockey.

On the other side of the spectrum, I was able to catch a little bit of the Penguins/Red Wings game online before leaving for the game and Evgeni Malkin showed that his knee is fine and he’s ready to carry the Pens in Sidney Crosby’s absence.  He looked like a man possessed, able to completely control of the game all by himself.  One shift he just owned the puck and danced around the Detroit zone like it was a kid’s game.  I realized then that it was just the preseason and Detroit probably didn’t dress much of a lineup, but the replay showed that it was Niklas Kronwall chasing Geno around like Wyle E. Coyote.

The good news from the Ducks game though is that there is nothing wrong with Bobby Ryan’s groin.  He was skating fine and if there was any hesitation about it he wouldn’t have been in the game anyway.  After all, it’s only the preseason.  Fifteen days until Helsinki.

Preseason Game One: Ducks 4, Coyotes 7

 

It wasn’t the best of games, but it was hockey.  Lots of Ducklings and Coyote pups on some awful ice led to some seriously sloppy hockey, even from the veterans.

It seemed the puck just wouldn’t settle down for anyone and there were a lot of shots and passes with little behind them as a result.  Even Lubomir Visnovsky seemed to have trouble corralling the puck on the power play a few times.  When he did get a hold of the puck for a point shot it looked like his shoulders had healed quite nicely since the playoffs.

One of the young standouts, in a positive sense, was 2009 first rounder Peter Holland with an assist, four shots and at least one memorable hit in 21:33 of ice time (including just over two minutes of power play and penalty kill each).  Randy Carlyle put him over in his post game press conference, Holland himself attributed his play to working on a line with Andrew Cogliano and Teemu Selanne.

Speaking of Teemu, there was a pretty funny moment early in the game involving the Finnish Flash.  The crowd noticed him come out for what was probably his second or third shift and as he chased a puck down the right wing boards into the Phoenix zone the noise level rose to greet him at the unofficial start of his 19th season.  Then a Coyote defender stepped in front of him and Teemu proceeded to hook, hold, clutch and grab the defenseman all the way from the blue line to the faceoff dot.  The excitement dissipated, everyone’s human.

Devante Smith-Pelly had a couple of nice forechecking shifts, including one that created a turnover deep in the Coyotes’ zone and led to the Ducks first goal of the game.  He also had a couple of big hits that seemed a bit late (no call on either); chalk it up to a rookie power forward getting a little over zealous in the first preseason game of the year.  Overall I liked what I saw from DSP, but I’m not going to start a petition to get him on the team or anything.  The expectations may have been a little bit too high coming into camp after he reportedly lit up the Memorial Cup in the spring.

Also forechecking like a machine was Brandon McMillan.  I really liked the jump in his step and the way that he was going to the net, though it didn’t show up on the stats sheet.

It was a relatively quiet game in terms of the fisticuffs for a preseason matchup.  Usually the fringe guys go out of their way to show that they’ll do anything for a spot on the team and drop the gloves.  This year with the Ducks it may just be a case that the prospects are not as inclined to pugilism.  There was one dust up where J.F. Jacques put a relatively decisive beat down on established tough guy Ryan Hollweg.  It won’t be enough to nock George Parros off the roster, but the brass in Syracuse should be impressed.

Emerson Etem and Kyle Palmieri each had decent enough games (0-1-1, -1 and 1-1-2, -1 respectively) and combined for a nice goal.  Etem carried the puck into the zone and delayed for a split second near the left wing dot before taking a shot/pass off the hard charging Palmieri’s stick and into the net.

A little bad news:  Igor Bobkov is not ready for prime time.  Luckily, we don’t need him to be.  I’d expect him to back up Jeff Deslauriers in Syracuse this year.  He looked a little frazzled, seemed to be out of position quite a bit and on several occasions clearly had no idea where the puck was after kicking out rebounds. 

Preseason Game Two goes tonight against the Sharks and likely a whole new group of guys to evaluate.

Training Camp & Preseason Game One

Training Camp is now in full swing and today is the next step toward real hockey, the Preseason Opener.

Saturday’s training camp at Honda Center was great, if only to see some guys who could actually skate, as opposed to the Rookie League players I’ve been seeing all summer.  As expected, the cavernous space of the arena took a little bit away from the ambience that has existed in the past at Anaheim Ice.  I’m pretty confident, however that the 1200 people that showed up would not have all fit into the practice rink and it gave everyone an opportunity to see both groups practice, since they were not split onto two ice surfaces at the same time. 

The first group was a little bit less exciting than the second.  It featured Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Dan Sexton, Dan Ellis, Jason Blake, Cam Fowler and 2010 draft pick/touted prospect Devante Smith-Pelly among many others.  Going in I was most excited to take a look at Smith-Pelly and Emerson Etem (Group B) as the two players most hyped coming off of last year’s junior season.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to see much from DSP, mostly (I think) due to the fact that he is all about the power game.  There were a few contact drills but they didn’t really last long enough for an untrained eye to get a good feel for what it would be like in a game situation.  Hopefully we’ll see him in tonight’s preseason opener and will be able to evaluate further.

What really stood out was speed and shooting ability.  Nicolas Deschamps (Second rounder, 2008 Draft) was the eye catcher in Group A, picking corners with wicked wristers all over the place.  There was also a point when some guy in an orange jersey made a nifty move at the blue line and roofed one only to reveal himself as Hart Trophy winner Corey Perry. 

The most exciting part of Group A’s session (and Group B’s for that matter) was the breakaway race where each player did crossovers in the defensive faceoff circles then one lap around the circle and raced for a puck at center ice and shot on the goalie at the other end.  Perry and Getzlaf went head to head each time and got everyone all riled up.  They seemed to be really competitive until one of them won the race to the puck and then the other would simply let him have his break away.  After the closest race, which Perry won there was some serious smack talk going on.  Seeing the way guys react toward each other outside of a game situation is one of the cool things about attending practice.

That drill also gave a practical perspective on San Jacinto, CA native Jake Newton (whose family happened to be sitting two rows in front of us).  He didn’t win all of his races, as is to be expected from a defenseman his size, but when he lost them he was one of the few players to take an angle and play some real defense against the puck carrier, always good to see.

Also, some breaking news from Group A:  Dan Sexton is super fast. 

Group B came out with a grand entrance.  One by one the big names came out of the dressing room.  First was George Parros who played up to the crowd and got the expected response, then came the moment we were waiting for, Teemu stepped onto the ice to a standing ovation followed by Jonas Hiller.  Some have said the Hiller ovation was even bigger, but I say Teemu got the prize. 

This group was a little bit faster paced and showed a little bit more desire, for lack of a better word, than the first.  Prospect-wise my eyes were focused on Emerson Etem.  The 2010 draft pick from Long Beach, CA is speedy and can get some serious bite on that wrist shot. 

The main thing that stood out about him was his skating style.  He almost looked like he was too fast for his own feet.  It kind of reminded me of Shaggy running away from some ghost or monster in a Scooby-Doo cartoon.  His chest is almost parallel to the ice and his legs are just whipping back and forth desperately flinging his body forward.  Needless to say it isn’t exactly a textbook stride, but it seems effective enough.

There was a scary moment when people started to realize that Teemu had left the ice in the middle of the session, but he came back just in time for the breakaway race drill and ended up winning a couple.  Not as many as one would expect from the “Finnish Flash”, but it is only training camp, we don’t want him using that knee up too soon.

I wasn’t at Sunday’s session or Monday’s scrimmage but Jen and Daniel over at Anaheim Calling covered them very well.  I may have taken a peek at the live video stream of the scrimmage yesterday but I couldn’t tell who anyone really was from the video quality.  I did see someone (who turned out to be Emerson Etem) rock a defenseman (apparently Sheldon Brookbank) at center ice take slash and go in for a goal which was pretty exciting.

Also, Bobby Ryan apparently strained his groin on Sunday and got day of rest yesterday.  It isn’t believed to be serious but it can’t help.  Luckily it’s still only training camp and there’s some more leeway for rest.  We’ll just have to hope it doesn’t turn into a bigger issue during the season that makes him miss time.

Now it’s on to some (slightly) more competitive hockey with the Preseason upon us tonight.  Phoenix is in town and according to Adam Brady Teemu, Saku and Lubo are scheduled to be in the lineup.  One step closer to real hockey.

U-G-L-Y

Yesterday’s word of the day was chemistry, but preseason or not losing 8-3 is a sign of trouble in the lab.  The preseason mantra of process over results doesn’t even cut it, particularly with so many regulars in the lineup. 

The only fringe players suited up last night were Maxime Macenauer, Josh Green, Danny Syvret and Cam Fowler.  Dan Sexton and Matt Beleskey may be in flux too, but everyone else who played is at least penciled in to the 23 man roster, if not a lock.

One could say things got slightly better as the game went on after giving up four goals and being outshot 23-7 in the first period, but that would be overly optimistic for a team that only mustered three shots on goal in the third period, despite the fact that two of those shots went in. 

One thing that can almost be blamed on the preseason is the fact that Curtis McElhinney was left in net for all 60 minutes.  Had Hiller come in after the first period or so he likely would have faced the same fate.   Eight goals against is never entirely the goalie’s fault, and last night was no exception.

In talking with Eric Stephens of the OC Register Saku Koivu chalked it up to relying on talent alone and not competing, while Randy Carlyle’s quotes read like a child that has no excuse for misbehaving.  I see where he is coming from though, there is very little to say about this game other than the fact that the Ducks were awful all over the ice.

It is good to see the bottom six pitch in, Sexton and Marchant (twice) were the goal scorers, but when George Parros is an offensive standout something is very wrong.

Obviously a lot changes from game to game in the preseason, but it’s starting to look like this is going to be one of those frustrating years when you’re never sure what Ducks team is going to show up:  the one that can go toe to toe with San Jose and come out on top or the one that gets demolished by the Kings in the first period and can never find their way back.

The Big C

After what they did in the 2009 playoffs and the acquisition of Saku Koivu, the start of last season was all about expectations and it turned out to be a huge disappointment. The start of this season is just about the exact opposite. 

Friday Anaheimducks.com had a Q & A with Bob Murray about the state of the team.  Here’s a little excerpt:

I’m definitely looking at chemistry. For whatever reason, chemistry was missing from that group last year. There were a lot of good players and there was no chemistry. We’re trying to put the pieces together here, so that there is some chemistry. Sometimes it’s not the better player that creates the chemistry. It’s maybe somebody with a little less who is willing to do things that are team things and everybody jumps on board with him.

Those are the things that you ponder forever. There were too many good players in that dressing room last year to not have chemistry. But there wasn’t any. You move on. We’ll try to make sure that doesn’t happen this year.

He did admit that in the future the Ducks would have to acquire a new star defenseman in the mold of a Scott Niedermayer or Chris Pronger, but that doesn’t seem to be happening this year so for now the theme is … Chemistry.

Ducks Nuggets from the Weekend

Bob Murray wants the Ducks to get back to the physically imposing style they played in 2007. If Friday night’s game against San Jose is any indication, they’re on the right track. Six fighting majors, four roughing minors, an instigator, a ten minute misconduct and a game misconduct, now that’s preseason hockey.

It wasn’t just a Slap Shot remake though, the Ducks came away with a 5-4 win over the Sharks including a hat trick by Corey Perry. Unfortuntately there aren’t even any online highlights of what sounds like an incredible game.

Saturday’s game in Vancouver, however was tape delayed at 1am on the NHL Network which almost made up for the lack of any type of video of the Sharks game. Against the Canucks the Ducks dug a pretty deep hole going down 4-0 and were only able to get one back in the third period due to a stellar performance from Roberto Luongo.

Cam Fowler got his first rest of the preseason, sitting out the San Jose game, but was right back at it on Saturday logging over 25 minutes of ice time inclding 6:24 with the man advantage. He and Lubo Visnovski manned the points on the first powerplay unit for the most part, despite all of the talk of Bobby Ryan patroling the blueline.

Dan Sexton continues to impress with his speed, work ethic and surprisingly big hits. He’s starting to become Chris Kunitz revisited. He’s played every game so far this preseason and seems to be building some chemistry with Saku Koivu and Jason Blake.

The line combinations are starting to shape up for the Ducks, with Matt Beleskey getting a good look with Perry and Getzlaf, and a small, speedy Montreal Canadiens-esque line of Sexton, Koivu and Blake but it is still hard to tell what the future will hold for the Bobby Ryan centered second line.

Teemu Selanne will obviously be on Bobby’s right, but since his only game of the preseason was Saturday at Vancouver it’s hard to say what that line will look like in terms of chemistry.

During the Vancouver game the play by play announcer relayed Randy Carlyle’s quip that the reason Teemu has been sitting for every game up to that point was his birth certificate, and iterestingly enough, Craig Simpson insinuated that Teemu might be scratched during the regular season for rest days, which I have a hard time believing.

It’s not like he’s only playing Chris Chelios type minutes. Taking a second line right wing in and out of the lineup is a pretty big deal and it would probably hurt Bobby Ryan’s effectivity pretty substantially.

Meanwhile the fourth line is completely up in the air as the Ducks are still carrying 18 forwards after Sunday evening’s cuts.

Cuts, The Bobby Shuffle Continues and The Samuelis Speak

The Ducks made their first round of cuts yesterday, sending eight players to the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL and four back to their respective Junior teams. 

All but three (Nick Bonino, Rob Bordson and Joe Dipenta) of the cut players are 20 or younger.  So all this first cut really tells you is that the team is whittling down the prospects to a workable group of established veterans and guys who have a chance, if an outside chance to make the team.  The roster currently stands at 37 and will need to be cut to 22 or 23 by opening night.