Ducks Stunningly Bad in First Two Losses

Then why would Carlisle and Burke have Travis Moen skating with Anaheim's two All Star forwards, Perry and Getzlaff, other than to achieve his apparent goal of rolling four lines of checking forwards and trying to win every game 1-0?

(Or perhaps his true goal is to secretly trade away Ryan to Toronto for nothing in advance of his arrival as the Leafs GM next year...but that's another story.  I mean, who in SoCal would care if Bobby Ryan was traded to Toronto?  Bobby who?)

It boggles the mind and is painful to watch Perry and Getzlaff take off on a rush with Moen 4-5 steps behind them.

Moen is a hard working, tough, blue collar forward. He does not belong on the top scoring line of a team that is just one year removed from a championship and has appeared in the Western Conference Finals in 2 of the last 3 years. He absolutely belongs on the Ducks' roster, just not as a first line scoring forward.

Last night, the Ducks trailed 3-0 to Phoenix before premier checker Rob Niedermeyer left the game with a leg injury.  This forced the Ducks to move Moen back to the checking line and Kunitz up to the first line. Speedy Ryan Carter was then slotted into the second line. The result? The Ducks outscored the Coyotes 2-1 the rest of the way, with Carter scoring one of the Ducks' two goals. Carter appears to be a very good offensive player and, in my humble opinion,  should be playing in the first or second line until Burke can figure out a way to get Ryan back up from Iowa.

The idea of putting Travis Moen on the first line is ludicrous. I do not understand this move one bit.

Anyway, its still early, of course. Ken Klee and Steve Montador appear to be decent defensemen.  Its time to admit Kent Huskins is there just because he is cheap. The guy is a liability on D and has got to go. Giguere can count on at least one turnover leading to a breakaway by the opposition when Huskins is on the ice. (Followed by a holding or hooking penalty to compensate, of course.)

Make the moves necessary to get Ryan back, Mr. Burke. Maybe the Samuelis arent giving you the free reign you once had due to their legal troubles. But losing doesn't put fans in the seats, especially in Southern California.  You are already 0-2 in the division with the Kings, Oilers, Sharks, Leafs, Habs, and Sens coming up.  An 0-6 start is not out of the question.

On the other hand, slotting Carter and Ryan somewhere in the top two lines will result in  higher than 1.5 GPG average and create some exciting hockey for the SoCal fans already distracted by the sun, surf, babes, mountains, Chargers, Lakers, Las Vegas, and so on..

Ill be at the Oiler game Wednesday night. Maybe Burke and Lowe will lace up and get into a scrape at center ice.

Now, *that* would sell some tickets!

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