5 Takeaways: The Kids are Alright
The Ducks welcomed the Arizona Coyotes to the Honda Center for the first time this season. This was also the first time the two teams would meet since the Ducks blew two 3-0 leads in Arizona.
This matchup would bring with it some big headlines for the Ducks because Jamie Drysdale would make his NHL debut and both him and Zegras excelled throughout the matchup.
Jamie Drysdale Belongs in The NHL
Jamie Drysdale would make his somewhat surprising NHL debut in the first game of the series, and he was very impressive. Not only did he show his flair in the offensive zone and his creativity on the PP that garnered the high marks going into last years draft, but he also showed strong positional awareness and defensive ability in his own zone when defending against the Coyotes.
The following shift in particular stands out as one that shows what he can do in his own zone.
Early on in the shift, Drysdale is able to receive the pass in his feet while under pressure, and calmly make the move around the Coyotes forechecker and then uses the net as a screen to escape the pressure. He then is able to turn up the ice and make a nice stretch pass to Zegras to lead the rush. The pass was not perfect, but that entire sequence shows how calm he is under pressure in the D zone.
The other stand-out part of the shift is the closing sequence. Chychrun enters the zone for the Coyotes and attacks Drysdale 1 on 1. Drysdale is able to shut down the attack and the rush with his great gap control and solid stick and allows Hutton to step in and knock the puck away. Then Drysdale all in one motion is able to corral the puck and head up ice before chipping the puck off the boards to make a change. Yes, Jakob Chychrun is a defenseman and not a forward, but this was still impressive to see at the end of a shift for an 18-year-old.
On top of all of this eye test level data, the underlying numbers back up how impressive Drysdale was. Per evolving-hockey Drysdale so far has a 63.73% GF%, 51.82 CF%, and a 60.92 xGF%. He was by far the best Ducks defenseman over the course of the series both from an eye test level and a statistical perspective.
Congratulations to Drysdale also for scoring his first NHL goal in his first game.
Trevor Zegras Makes His Impact
I am going to stick with some positives here and give Trevor Zegras his props. Zegras finally saw a puck go in the back of the net for him after a few games of getting very close. The goal, which you can check out below, comes off a really nice zone entry and pass from Terry. Once the puck gets to Zegras, the magic really happens and Zegras pulls a really nice toe drag around Adin Hill and then instead of going to his background, he holds onto the puck on his forehand to keep the puck at a better angle, and deftly deposits the puck into the back of the net. This was a very high-skill play that should get Ducks fans excited for the future.
Zegras also played a pivotal role in setting up the only goal in the second game, by sending a fantastic little back hand feed to Troy Terry, who then set up Adam Henrique for the goal. Side note, fantastic defensive play by Troy Terry to start the rush that led to the goal. As noted in the tweet, that is how you can be good defensively even if you are an undersized guy. That type of defensive play is more valuable than any hit in the corner.
Zegras and Drysdale Revamp the Power Play
Zegras and Drysdale play on the power play would not result in a goal for the Ducks during the series, but it was easy to see how much of a difference their creativity in the offensive zone made. It felt like at times we were watching two musicians feeding off of each other to create a wonderful and brand new song. That type of creativity has been missing on the Ducks PP for a long time and it brought a tear to my eye to see it. Check out two of their best PP shifts below:
Jani Hakanpaa Regresses
Hakanpaa has been a feel good story for the Ducks this season, with him getting more games in the NHL this season than he has the rest of his career, and for the most part he has been serviceable. The player card below from Jfresh Hockey’s patreon shows that he has been very good defensively on the whole for the season but does nothing for the Ducks offensively.
The issue for the Ducks in this series is Hakanpaa was not good defensively. He had the worst xGA/60 out of all Ducks defenseman in this series at 2.7, while also being on the ice for 4 goals against at 5v5. If the Ducks are going to continue playing Hakanpaa, he has to regain the solid defensive zone play. If that play was simply a flash in the pan, then it is time to start moving Hakanpaa down in the lineup or out of the lineup once Manson returns.
Ryan Miller Is Not Good Anymore
With John Gibson being placed on injured reserve this week, Ryan Miller found himself in a starting role for both games and the early returns from Miller were not great. While you cannot really fault him for some of the goals in both games, he did allow some bad goals, like the one in the second game that came on an unscreened shot from the point. On the whole, Miller allowed 5 goals on 39 shots over the 4 periods he played in. The expected goal total for the Coyotes over this period was 3.64, so Miller was below expected.
This brings up the larger point, which is that Ryan Miller has not been good enough this year. Actually, per save% above expected he is the worst in the league per Top Down Hockey’s model. Visualization by Jfresh Hockey.
It is time that the Ducks start to figure out what they have in Anthony Stolarz. It is pretty clear that Ryan Miller is not a viable back up option any more, so the Ducks should at least give Stolarz a run of games in the near future to see if he can be that for them next season.
All stats per naturalstattrick unless noted otherwise.