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Busy week for Ducks GM Bob Murray, sure, but it's been a busy couple of months.
Since the start of December, Anaheim has completed a whopping eight trades of varying importance, as Murray scrambled first to pull his team out of a rut and then rejigger a good chunk of the bottom six.
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In
Daniel Sprong
(a nice gamble on a faltering young talent)
Adam Cracknell (a good AHL forward and injury insurance but that's about it)
Trevor Murphy (same as Cracknell but barely even injury insurance)
Devin Shore (middle-six NHL forward who doesn't move the needle possession-wise)
Justin Kloos (high-scoring AHL forward with one game of NHL experience at 25)
Michael Del Zotto
(low-end NHL defensive help)
Derek Grant
(fourth-line guy the Ducks let walk in the summer)
Out
Andrew Cogliano
(middle-six forward who doesn't score much anymore but pushes possession)
Pontus Aberg
(the Ducks' second-leading goalscorer???)
Luke Schenn (washed defenseman)
Joe Blandisi (AHL scorer)
Marcus Pettersson
(promising 22-year-old NHL defender)
Prospects of little consequence, a seventh-round pick, and future considerations
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Some smart trades in there, for sure, and on the balance the team got younger and maybe a smidge better. You can't say he hasn't tried to tinker, but he certainly hasn't tinkered to the extent that he's going to help his team pull out of the skid it's been on for weeks. Ahead of Thursday night's game in Minnesota, the Ducks were 0-8-4 in their last 12, getting outscored 20-43. They ended the losing streak with a 3-0 victory over the Wild.
Those are ugly numbers and for better are worse whatever's going to happen next seems to be entirely on the group in the room. Murray has said he won't fire Randy Carlyle midseason, though a 12-game losing streak certainly tries anyone's patience. And while there are plenty of injuries for the club, this team isn't "a Patrick Eaves , Corey Perry , Jakob Silfverberg , Ryan Kesler , and Ryan Miller away" from doing anything but vaguely competing for a playoff spot. Especially after getting just four points from the last 12.
All indications, by the way, are that Murray would prefer to retain Silfverberg beyond this season, and he'll likely be due a raise. So even if he were inclined to just start rebuilding the club now and tank the season, that's a valuable asset he won't be able to get rid of. Silfverberg, by the way, is 28 and would probably like a long-term deal.
The problem for Murray, then, is that if he won't swap Silfverberg for long-term help, what can he do with this roster? Ryan Getzlaf , Perry, and Kesler all have no-move clauses even if teams were inclined to take on those long-term, expensive deals. Which they wouldn't be. Adam Henrique 's new contract — running through 2024, when he'll be 33, at a $5.825-million AAV — doesn't even kick in until next season. Would any team who's not on Cam Fowler 's limited no-trade list want his $6.5-million AAV through 2026, when he'll be 34?
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Anyone else the team has under contract right now is either someone you wouldn't want to trade because they're fairly young, good, and nice values ( Rickard Rakell , Ondrej Kase , Hampus Lindholm , Josh Manson , John Gibson and probably a few I'm forgetting). So, the question becomes: Why make changes to improve the bottom of the roster at all? What does it get you?
The Anaheim Ducks are a ways away from contention. (AP Photo/Greg Beacham)
While Kloos was getting in his first practice with Anaheim, they sat two points out of a wild card spot, sure, but with two teams between them and it. And maybe the thinking was that this losing streak was an aberration, rather than the result of 40-plus games of getting badly outshot and needing an MVP-type performance from a goalie — and inexplicably slow starts from the two best on-paper teams in that division — to get them even into the playoff conversation.
At what point do you acknowledge that this organization needs to make bigger changes than tidying up around the edges? I think everyone on earth (probably including Murray) has come to the understanding that Carlyle isn't the right choice for coach long term and with San Diego shredding the AHL right now, maybe Dallas Eakins is.
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Eakins got a bum deal in Edmonton and his record with the Gulls (138-82-20, a .617 win percentage) has been very good over three and a half seasons and would have probably had a better track record getting guys into the NHL if there weren't so many high-priced vets on the big club. With all these moves and injuries, they got a chance to call up Troy Terry, who's crushing the American league with 37 points in 32 games as a rookie. Max Jones got the call too.
But again, because of all the aged, broken-down, high-priced forwards whose best days are behind them but big paydays are very much not, it's going to take a more creative approach from Murray to get this team back to a better point. One where Gibson's sterling performances will be an actual credit in an actual MVP race, not a Sisyphean what-could-have-been.
And I don't know how he does it. He's painted himself into a corner with all the contracts he gave out in recent years; many were understandable but risky, some were outright bad on the day they were signed.
But all brought him to this unfortunate point, no better off than when Boudreau got canned. Except, I guess, they won that one Game 7. Mission accomplished.
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Ryan Lambert is a Yahoo Sports hockey columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.
All stats via Corsica unless otherwise noted.
