Ducks Stunningly Bad in First Two Losses

OK, I admit it. I may have been wrong.

I have been a strong proponent of the Anaheim Ducks during the offseason. I believed they were going to come out of the gate smoking and challenge the Wings, Stars, and Sharks for Western Conference superiority, and they still might.

I believed Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermeyer were coming back, and they did.  I believed Bobby Ryan was the key to this year's success, and still do. I believed the goaltenders were top notch, and they still may be.  I believed that the defensemen were the best in the NHL and, other than Kent Huskins, they are. I had a great deal of confidence in the talent level of this team, including the forwards when no-one else was giving them much respect. All they had to do was get their forward lines settled in the preseason, which they did, and they were off to the races.

I realize it has only been two games BUT:

1. The Ducks GAA is 4.0. Their GPG is 1.5.

2. George Parros, their enforcer,  is also their leading goal scorer (Tied with RNiedemeyer and Ryan Carter)

3. Giguere is not making timely saves. Jonas Hiller rides the bench.

4. Perry looks distracted and pissed off that he and Getzlaff have to skate with Travis Moen, one of Burke's many checking line forwards.

5. "Superstar" Ryan Getzlaff has generated 3 SOG in two games, none in Game 1 against the Sharks.

6. Chris Pronger took two monster one timers last night against Phoenix and the only players crashing the net for the rebound were 5 guys wearing dogs on their shirts. (On one occassion, Center Ryan Getzlaff was set up BEHIND Pronger, his own defensemen, and the other three Ducks werent even in the picture.)

7. Owners Henry and Susan Samueli are boiling in a bizzare stew of accusations involving lots of money, secret sex dungeons, ecstacy, cocaine, and Vegas strippers. (OK, so the news out of Anaheim isn't ALL bad.)

Being completely dominated by division rivals San Jose and Phoenix is not good.

Losing the first two games is one thing. Not being competitive is another. The Ducks looked terrible in their first two games and Im not sure what the solution is. But Ill try to walk through what Ive seen so far.

First, cap issues have caused the Ducks to send Bobby Ryan down to Iowa. This is key. Without Ryan, the Ducks are right back to where they were at the end of last season; juggling lines and trying to make incompatible players gel with each other.

Before the season started, I thought the Ducks' first line would be comprised of Bobby Ryan, Getzlaff, and Perry.  The second line would be Selanne-Morrisson-Kunitz, and the heart of the defense would be the checking line of Moen-Pahlsson-RNiedermeyer. Fourth line would be some combination of Marchant, Parros, May, Sutherby, and Ryan Carter.

Without Bobby Ryan on the roster, who dropped 23 pounds in the off season and looked GREAT in the preseason, the Ducks have been forced to put Travis Moen on the first line with Getzlaff-Perry and move Marchant up to the checking line. This is not working. Could you imagine Travis Moen skating with Henrik Zetterburg and Pavel Datysuk in Detroit?  Or with Evengi Malkin and Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh?  Or Cheechoo and Thornton in San Jose?  No way. No how. Not gonna happen. Ever.

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!