Difficult Start For Anaheim

The NHL season has started and teams have played between two and six games so far. The actual standing of the teams is roughly what bleachers were predicting. Teams like the Red Wings, Rangers, Canadiens, Sharks, Penguins, Oilers and the Capitals are at the top. All these predictions are fairly accurate, except for one team which is not there at the moment: the Anaheim Ducks.

After four games, the 2007 Stanley Cup champions have not won one yet. The Ducks known for their reliable defensive and goaltender stability, has so far the highest record of goals against in the league, GA 17. With defense men like Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer and Jean-Sébastien Giguère in front of the net, one could argue that the Ducks defense is not flying at all.

Considering that Anaheim has hardly lost or changed any of its feathers during the summer, and has pretty much kept the same team that finished with over a 100 points in last two seasons, fans are starting to worry about what will happen this year. And they are right to do so.

The season is still very young, that's true, but four consecutive defeats is quite a bad start. On the positive side, the Ducks out passed their opponents in terms of shots in three games out of the four but have scored only eight times.

The Ducks' next game is at home against the San Jose Sharks, a team that has beaten them once already. Let's hope the guys will flap their wings and preen themselves from the oil spill against Edmonton, otherwise the flight will be difficult or simply not happen again.

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