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John Gibson is on an Island

October 26, 2018, 9:55 AM ET [12 Comments]
Bobby Kittleberger
Anaheim Ducks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Game to game, the problems with the Anaheim Ducks gameplan is increasingly consistent. They give up a ton of shots and spend a noticeably small amount of time in the opposing team’s offensive zone.

The Ducks are startlingly last in the league in the following two categories:

Shots for per game: 24 (31st in the NHL)
Shots against per game: 38.2 (31st in the NHL)


As I’ve been pointing out, this is overworking John Gibson. To this point in the season, Gibson has faced an astonishing 335 shots. The second-most shots faced by a goaltender is 263 against Henrik Lundqvist.

For a team that has been stubbornly drafting defensemen in early rounds for years, these numbers are difficult to comprehend. I think Ducks fans - and the Anaheim front office - need to consider the possibility that their core group of defenders in, Fowler, Lindholm, Manson and Montour, is - at best - a very average group.

I hate to say that, because I like a lot of things about their collective game, and I do think that Anaheim’s problem is more systematic than it is roster-related.

But the fact is, these are the guys on the ice most of the time for the Ducks. And the numbers they’re piling up make it hard to imagine how they’ve won any games at all, much less managed to be hovering around the .500 mark.

It’s still true that Gibson and the infusion of youth into Anaheim’s lineup have been a bright spot this year.

Yet, this type of play is not sustainable. Gibson, who I believe is already frustrated with the team in front of him, is going to get tired and his morale will take a hit, if it hasn’t already. When he’s getting scored on by Roman Polak, after Luke Schenn essentially skates out of the way giving him a clean lane to the crease, it’s going to have a lasting impact.

Anaheim is playing like a bottom-five team right now.

Some good luck and fantastic goaltending has kept them afloat in a weirdly bad Pacific division, but if you do an even moderately deep statistical analysis, this is a Jack Hughes team.
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