Steve Palumbo: Ducks playing well despite power play woes

Coming out of the Pacific, with elite goaltending and some decent players, I think they have a good chance to punch their ticket for the dance.

This team has a bunch of good players but no real game breakers like Perry and Getzlaf were in their younger years. I wouldn't the Ducks to score all that much this year

I expect GM BM to work some of his magic and pick up a player with some of that LTIR cash and a prospect to help with the heavy lifting.

What's key is the getting the ROW's now, instead of those shootout pts that don't help tie breakers.

And meshing tons of young kids together with DE and new system bound to have some issues ... but they are getting looks and not caved in with SA night after night.. instead of JG or RM having to make 6 or 7 ridiculous saves every night they may have to make 1 or maybe 2 hard saves.

Being able to swap kids in on a B2B and get the W is also a fresh change.

The D for the most part has been better than I thought. Cam has been excellent and Guhle very good .. along with DelZotto and Holzer on the 3rd pair with Larsson being more than capable.

Look at all the kids that played last night. Ritchie / Larsson / Comtois / Kase / Terry all under 24 .. add to that Jones / Steel / Lundestrom who besides SS have all played up in the lineup and important minutes.

It's gonna take awhile to mesh all these together .... Bottom line I'd rather be having trouble scoring goals than trouble keeping them out. That's for Damn sure.

There's a lot of good young talent on the Ducks now!

Agree with Dozer, the offense looks a little out of sync. New system for some and new linemates for just about everyone. Hopefully they'll figure it out sooner rather than later. The penalty disparity wasn't a problem until they got to Pittsburgh, where every team has a problem. It is what it is, Crosby can slash a guys finger almost completely off and they won't call it.
It's way too early to talk playoffs with this team, all I know is they are fun to watch again!

They do not look like a playoff team right now. But I watched Eakins' teams up close for four years down here in San Diego. His teams tended to build pretty well throughout the season. And he had a revolving door roster. I'm waiting to see what he does with this team with hope.

Even if playoffs aren’t in the cards this year, the development of the kids already mentioned will be a win for this team.

Another big goal should be health for Gibson and Kase.

I do think rolling four lines relatively evenly will help keeping everyone healthy though.

Even if playoffs aren’t in the cards this year, the development of the kids already mentioned will be a win for this team.

Another big goal should be health for Gibson and Kase.

I do think rolling four lines relatively evenly will help keeping everyone healthy though.
- hdd23

forgot to mention that... Lines all at about 15 min... a night.. That's key.

I feel better about them this year as opposed to last when they allowed 40+ shots per night and still were winning early in the season. I don’t think they’ll make the playoffs though. Still happy if they’re competitive and in most games even if they lose.