2020-2021 Crash The Pond Predictions

You can find your normal season prediction anywhere, so at Crash The Pond we wanted to add a bit more pizzaz to it. We wanted to put it out there not only how the Ducks would finish, but who would be the team MVP, who will be the breakout player of the season, who will be the dud of the season, and what each staff members hottest take was. Also now is a great time to announce that we have brought on Eric Stites, Tony Leo, Daniel Kleinberg, and Michael Fukuda to write game recap articles and forced all of them to partake in this! Check it out below for all staff members’ predictions!

MVP for the Ducks

Jake: I think this is pretty easy, but it will be John Gibson. He is the best player on the Ducks and will have a strong bounce back season. If the Ducks make some noise in the west division, it will be on the back of a stellar John Gibson season.

Eric: I’ll go out on a limb here and say that Rickard Rakell has the bounce back season of a lifetime and ends up generating a ton of offense for the Ducks this season. Whether that means he is dealt at the trade deadline due to peak value or not remains to be seen, but I’ll label him as the main reason that the Ducks are in the playoff hunt this season, with the obvious exception of John Gibson, as Jake already noted.

Tony: Going with the simple answer and saying John Gibson. He had a mortal season last year, but I expect him to bounce back to “Goalie-Jesus” form with the extended time off and an improved blue line in front of him. Gibby reverting back to peak form still may not be enough to get these Ducks into the playoffs, but you can bet that they will have zero chance if he is not back to his best ways.

Felix: Troy Terry! No, of course not (maybe?). The best bet is John Gibson. He has been the team MVP for two of the last three seasons, and I don’t see that changing here. The lack of skater candidates also helps the process of elimination here, always a great sign!

Michael: John Gibson. Send tweet. The Ducks will go as far as Gibson can take them and for a team stuck between “competitive” (read: mediocrity) and a rebuild, that's not a good thing.

CJ: Everyone is saying John Gibson, which is probably right. That’s why I’m coming in with the hot-take dark horse candidate and go with Hampus Lindholm. I think we see a Norris-level season this year with enough offense for him to be up there with the very best.

Daniel: Well, well, well, how the turntables. Could this be the year Ryan Getzlaf gets a real line mate lights up the scoreboard like his normal self? Chances are slim he sees that kind of skill around him, but a guy can dream. Regardless, Getzlaf is primed for a successful season after a long offseason.

Breakout Player of the Season

Jake: I am going to go with Trevor Zegras. Zegras will definitely be the popular pick for this category, but for good reason. Zegras is the most highly skilled prospect the Ducks have had in years and is coming off of historic WJC performance.

Eric: Troy Terry. Because America needs a hero and Troy can deliver.

Tony: I really do not have a numbers or eye test reason to be picking who I am going to pick. I am strictly going with my gut and the fact that for some weird reason I find myself rooting for this guy more than the other prospects. My breakout player for the Ducks is going to be Sam Steel. He is currently slotted into the 3rd line center role and I expect him to take a big step forward in both areas of the ice. My prediction is that he will end up at 30+ points (would say 40+ points in a normal season).

Felix: Troy Terry will be Anaheim’s breakout player. I may or may not have written an entire article about him during the painfully long off-season. He checks every box for a potential breakout season: suffered some bad puck luck last year, has decent shot volume, and skates/creates with the puck very well. Dallas Eakins doesn’t have Terry on the power play yet, but even despite that, I see him establishing himself as a legitimate NHLer this season.

Michael: Troy Terry. His smooth skating and overall awareness on the ice sets him apart on this team (low bar). A lot of this will depend on if he has linemates who can score, which remains a mystery.

CJ: I’m not entirely confident he will be put into the best position to exceed, but if he is, I’m going to say that this year will be Sonny Milano’s breakout. 20+ goals with loads of style incoming!

Daniel: Kevin Shattenkirk. He may not be new to the NHL, but he’s Anaheim’s new shiny toy. The Ducks have long needed any kind of threat on the powerplay, and I’m a sucker for a right-handed defenseman. It’s a low bar for me.

Dud of the Season

Jake: This will not be shocking for everyone that has followed me on podcasts, Twitter, and on here, but I am going with Derek Grant. The “Elite 1C” brought very little on-ice value to the Ducks last season at 5v5 but did put up a solid amount of goals. If the goals go away, like I expect them to, all you are left with is a negative player at 5v5 that is solid on the PK.

Eric: I hate myself so much for saying this and I really hope I’m wrong, but I think this year signals the beginning of the decline for Ryan Getzlaf. I think he struggles to produce at the levels he has his entire career and Sam Steel starts to get more looks on the top line, with people on the always level-headed Twitter calling for Zegras to be the top-line center immediately.

Tony: We all hope that these dud takes do not come to fruition. We want the Ducks to win and we want the players we love to perform well while winning. That said, I have to pick a dud or they will take away my salary for this upcoming season, so I am going to pick Sonny Milano. This isn’t the most scorching take as he barely played for the Ducks last season, however, he was solid to good in that limited time and showed some real flashes of what made him the 16th overall pick in the 2014 draft. He showed us Ducks fans just enough to make us too excited for what he could be. Throw in the fact that the competition for LW is loaded with Ducks homegrown talent (Jones, Comtois, Zegras, etc.) and coaches/GM’s favorites (Delo), I just feel he will get lost in the shuffle and then get traded for a 4th round pick at the deadline.

Felix: Jake staying on brand with his Grant hate, I see. The funny thing is that Grant is now on the first power-play unit. If that holds, he’ll probably get the production needed to rule him out of the “dud” category. I guess I have to pick someone, so I will go with Jacob Larsson. It doesn’t bring me joy to pick him, as he’s a young player who should presumably be on the upswing in his career. His play to date has just been so abysmal though, that I’m just not sure he can make a big enough leap in one year to take him out of “dud” territory. Would be happy to be wrong, of course.

Michael: Sam Steel. Expectations are high for a fanbase that's still split on the young forward. He'll likely bounce between center and wing for most of the season and won't develop a good rhythm. I hope I'm very wrong about this.

CJ: I’m going to say Kodie Curran. He had a wonderful year in the SHL last season, but I’m not entirely convinced his game is going to translate well to the NHL. Especially as a 30+ player. It’s not going to affect the Ducks too much given his likely limited role, but I still can’t see him having success.

Daniel: Adam Henrique isn’t a 1c. Sure he’s better than most other players on the roster, but Eakins will be using him more often than not. He’ll end up pretty average and have a few highlight plays. If the team wants to get back into the playoffs they’ll need to find another center to rely on.

Hottest Take

Jake: My hottest take for the season is that the Ducks defense will be one of the best in the league at generating goals. I am not sure how hot this is, but the top 4 for the Ducks on D is surprisingly very very good.

Eric: Lukas Dostal dazzles in the AHL in San Diego and we will be watching John Gibson’s final season with the Ducks before he is dealt in a trade.

Tony: Josh Manson is finally traded at the deadline. The league (and the Ducks and me) love them some Josh Manson. He had a down year by his standards (still was pretty good) and I think Cam Fowler is going elevate his game and make him reach peak value again.

Felix: Would saying Sam Steel becomes an NHL-caliber third-line center count as a hot take? I suppose it would after how difficult of a year he had last season. He probably finds another gear this season, despite the lack of evidence suggesting he will, and the Ducks have a respectable third line. Thought long and hard about picking “things completely unravel for the team by the trade deadline” for this category, but I went with something positive instead. Go me!

Michael: Hold my beer. The Ducks powerplay and penalty kill will both be top-15 in the league.

CJ: My scorched-earth take is that Jacob Larsson takes a step forward and becomes a reliable defenseman who drives play effectively. Yes, this is possible. What? Stop looking at me like that.

Daniel: Jonas Hiller comes out of retirement to be the Ducks goalie style coach. Gibson will instantly win the Vezina.

Standings Prediction

Jake: The Ducks will be in the hunt for a spot throughout most of the season, but will ultimately fall just short and finish 5th in the west. They will show promise that can hopefully be built upon, but in the long run, it may have been better for them to be bad again this season and get a high pick.

Eric: The Ducks will be in the hunt for the 3rd spot in the West Division but will ultimately fall short to St Louis in the regular season and settle for 4th. They will then proceed to get swept out of the first round in hilarious fashion by the Colorado Avalanche because while the Ducks might be improved, Nathan MacKinnon isn’t interested in minor improvements.

Tony: I think the Ducks will come out the gate slow and never catch up. I see them finishing 6th in the West and picking in the Top 15 for the 3rd year in a row. I do feel that they will have a much improved second half of the season. Just enough improvement for Dallas Eakins to keep his job.

Felix: As much as there may be a reason to believe that the Ducks sneak into the playoffs, I’m just not hitching myself to that wagon right now. That path has betrayed me in the very recent past. They finish a respectable fifth, and the organizational status quo gets maintained for at least another year. Rejoice!

Michael: The Ducks won't make the playoffs. The only thing they'll be competing for is a higher seed in the 2021 NHL Draft.

CJ: Even though I believe there’s a chance the Ducks make the playoffs, I just haven’t seen any sort of meaningful improvement that will launch them from one of the worst NHL teams to one of the best over one offseason. I’ve got them finishing sixth in the west and hoping for a lottery win. #BlowinForOwen

Daniel: Anaheim will be better than the Kings and Sharks which will give fans a reason to smile in a condensed season. Besides that, the team won’t have much success. They will finish out of the playoffs and third to last in the division.