Have the Ducks Supplanted the Blackhawks as 'Other' Team to Beat in the West?

Don’t look now, Chicago Blackhawks, there’s another heavyweight looking to take your spot as the "other" team to beat in the Western Conference.

The Anaheim Ducks this week became the first NHL franchise to hit 10 victories on the season, heading into Thursday night’s action as the top team in the league standings—six points ahead of the Blackhawks with one more game played.

Like the Blackhawks, who added Brad Richards via free agency in the offseason, the Ducks made an effort to improve their depth at the center position—a trend made popular by the Los Angeles Kings' blueprint, which has led to two Stanley Cup championships in three seasons.

Bringing in Ryan Kesler through a trade with the Vancouver Canucks in June, the Ducks believed they had the missing piece after losing in seven games to the Kings in the second round of the playoffs last spring.

Head coach Bruce Boudreau was ecstatic upon hearing about the acquisition, gushing to NHL.com:

"

It gives you strength down the middle. I've never coached a team in the NHL that's had a second-line center that you're going to have with Ryan Kesler. It's a great, and it gets you excited. ... In the last couple of years, we thought we were a threat. This makes us a bona fide threat to become an elite team.

"

It’s still relatively early in the season, but the Ducks are putting up more than just wins. They’re putting up underlying numbers that rival those of the Blackhawks.

The Ducks have six players with at least three goals. The Blackhawks have five. The Ducks have four players with at least nine points. The Hawks have three.

	Goals/game	GA/G	5-on-5 GF/GA ratio	Power play	Penalty kill	Shots against/game
Anaheim	2.64	1.93	1.18	18.9%	83%	28.4
Chicago	2.46	1.77	1.19	18.9%	92.7%	27.5

Both teams rely heavily on their top players. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane pace the Blackhawks with 28 percent of their goals. Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf make up 38 percent of the Ducks' goal scoring so far.

The key to their ultimate success, however, is how the players behind them on the depth chart perform. The Kings got major contributions from all over the lineup in their run to a second Stanley Cup in three years last spring, from Jason Williams and Marian Gaborik to Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli.

The Ducks experienced life without its top two stars this week when Perry and Getzlaf came down with the flu just before game time on Wednesday night, a 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Islanders that saw the Ducks climb back from a two-goal deficit to force the extra time and earn a point. Third-string goaltender Jason LaBarbara was also in net because of injuries to the league’s best early-season netminder in Frederik Andersen and backup John Gibson.

They survived the test, even though they didn’t ace it.

Kesler can play against the other teams’ top players to either give Getzlaf some rest or, like Wednesday, take his place in his absence. Kesler offers a one-two punch at center that the Blackhawks have been searching for. Although Andrew Shaw has fared well on a line with Kane and Brandon Saad, he doesn’t offer the same presence Kesler does. Or the Kings’ Anze Kopitar-Jeff Carter combo.

	GP	G	A	Pts	TOI/GP	FO%
Anaheim
Getzlaf	13	3	11	14	20:22	58.0
Kesler	14	3	6	9	19:56	55.0
Chicago
Toews	13	5	5	10	20:34	58.6
Shaw	13	3	2	5	17:20	46.3

The center position was something the Blackhawks tried to address with a low-risk signing this summer, bringing veteran Brad Richards in after his contract was bought out by the New York Rangers. The 34-year-old’s best days are behind him, but the Hawks were hoping he might be the answer on the second line. Instead, Shaw has played just well enough to avoid giving up that cushy spot to Kane’s left.

Where both teams hope the difference is made from the offseason moves is in the playoffs. That’s where the Ducks—regular-season studliness aside—may finally prove they're ready to take over for the Blackhawks as the other team to beat in the Western Conference.

Although the Blackhawks boast the best Corsi-for percentage of any team in the league, according to Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com, the Ducks have all the elements needed to improve their own possession game or make up for the lack of it to usurp Chicago as the leading contender to the Kings. Their goaltending has been phenomenal, with sophomore Frederik Andersen boasting a .941 save percentage and 1.60 goals-against average.

The defensive group has become a strength as well, with Cam Fowler and Sami Vatanen providing the same sort of offense the Blackhawks get from Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. Keith and Seabrook have combined for four goals and 13 points. Fowler and Vatanen have produced four goals and 17 points.

The others on the blue line—Francois Beauchemin, Hampus Lindholm, Clayton Stoner and Ben Lovejoy—are spreading out the minutes and playing defensively responsible hockey. That bottom four owns a combined plus-13 rating, and none of them average fewer than 17 minutes a night.

These two teams have never met in the playoffs, but after two straight Pacific Division titles and a second-round appearance last year, the Ducks look ready to prove they can give the Blackhawks a real test if their first meeting comes this spring.