Anaheim Ducks’ Surprises and Areas for Improvement at 30-Game Mark – The Hockey Writers Anaheim Ducks Latest News, Analysis & More

Ahead of tonight’s contest against the ever-dangerous Colorado Avalanche, let’s continue our 30-game check-in on the Anaheim Ducks. In this edition, we’ll begin with the season’s biggest surprises and conclude with some players and areas in need of improvement. 

The Ducks currently sit seventh in the Pacific Division at 12-14-4 with four games in hand on the Seattle Kraken, who sit sixth at 15-17-2. 

Surprise Win: 3-2 Thriller Over Winnipeg Jets (Dec. 18)

Call it recency bias, but the Ducks’ latest win over the Central Division-leading Winnipeg Jets is their biggest surprise win of the campaign so far. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in thinking that the Ducks, who scored just 70 goals going into the game, were likely going to struggle keeping up with a team that had scored 117. So, how surprising was it that after two periods, the Ducks had limited the Jets to eightt shots on goal and were in the game? Quite so, I must say. 

What’s more is that the Ducks played beautifully for the majority of the game. Forwards threw shot after shot on net and were hard on the Jets defenseman when they didn’t have the puck. Ducks defensemen were physical with Jets forwards and limited them significantly, which was a huge pregame factor. That they fell behind in the third period despite their quality play was typical of the Ducks, and normally they are incapable of overcoming the one or two mistakes that often make a difference in a game. That wasn’t the case on Wednesday, thanks to some heroics by Jackson LaCombe, Radko Gudas, and the Troy Terry-Ryan Strome-Frank Vatrano line, including the go-ahead marker by Terry with 25 seconds left. 

Related: Anaheim Ducks’ Best Players at 30-Game Mark

While head coach Greg Cronin thought that the Ducks’ performance against the Los Angeles Kings on Nov. 29 was their best game, no one can argue that this game wasn’t among their best, and most surprising, performances in a win. Can they repeat it tonight against an equally challenging opponent in the Avalanche?

Here are some honorable mentions for best/surprise win: 6-4 win over Detroit Red Wings (Nov. 15) and 3-2 win over Dallas Stars (Nov. 18).

Surprise Personnel Move: Jacob Trouba Acquisition

Before the season, you could probably count on one hand the number of people who could truthfully say they expected to see Jacob Trouba in a Ducks uniform at some point this season. In fact, that number is probably zero. But general manager Pat Verbeek and his management team jumped on an opportunity to make a deal happen with the transaction-happy New York Rangers and scooped up Trouba without having to part with a young NHL player or prospect. Time will tell whether this is the impactful transaction Verbeek had in mind for this team, but for now, it’s certainly the most surprising move of the campaign in Anaheim. 

Trouba is a physical defenseman who is not shy about throwing his weight around. His style is not unlike that of Radko Gudas, which gives the Ducks’ blue line a blended makeup of physical, defense-first defenseman and forward-thinking, mobile defenseman. Trouba is not here to provide offense, but rather that physicality, leadership, and veteran presence many young Ducks can learn from. He has now played in five contests for the Ducks, collecting zero points but skating 20-plus minutes on three occasions. 

The Offense Would Benefit from: Mason McTavish Producing More

The Ducks could be in a much better spot if a number of players were producing more. But if Mason McTavish took the step forward he was reasonably expected to take in 2024-25, then the Ducks would be a far more dangerous team. He is just 21, so he is by no means a disappointment. He scored just his third goal of the season in his 23rd game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was a huge goal that got the offense going in that game. However, he is on pace for 33 points, which would be a career low. 

The Ducks are starving for a player to step up and center a line that will provide reliable scoring behind the Terry-Ryan Strome-Vatrano line. With Trevor Zegras down until February, McTavish has to be that player. He has all the tools – size, skill, competitiveness – to be a dominant young player in this league. Before the season, a few of us at The Hockey Writers predicted McTavish would take the next step in his development and join the elite class of third year players like Owen Power and Wyatt Johnston. While he has yet to do that, he remains a breakout candidate, and there is plenty of time for him to find a groove and become a legitimate threat on offense. The best stretch of his young career came early in 2023-24, when he was a point-per-game player during the first quarter of the season.

Ducks Will Win More Games if: Their Power Play Improves

This can be said of any team, but for one whose man-advantage units have sat near the bottom of the NHL for the last few seasons, it’s especially true. This season, the Ducks have converted 15.1% of their power-play chances and sit 28th in the league. They failed to convert their first 20 opportunities to begin the season so getting their conversion rate to 15% is noteworthy, but it’s still insufficient. Their power play doesn’t consistently create opportunities, put pressure on the shorthanded units of their opposition, or generate the momentum Cronin constantly states is an ancillary benefit of a power play. 

An improved power play is reachable. They have the diversified skill set and the personnel to run schemes that are different, unpredictable, and dangerous. An extra conversion here or there can and likely will be the difference between the Ducks finding the third or fourth goal they often need to win games. 

Ducks Progression Must Continue

The Ducks need to take advantage of the momentum they’ve created for themselves and finish the calendar year off strong.  With six games in 11 days, including two sets of back-to-backs, it won’t be easy, but if they can duplicate the effort they put forth against the Jets on Wednesday, then they’ll have chances to win these games. It all continues against the Avalanche tonight. Puck drop is 7 p.m. PST at Honda Center.