Ducks Links: TV Broadcast Rankings, Joe Thornton almost a Duck, Manson's Office Love

This will be a recurring weekly segment highlighting articles from other blogs on both the Ducks and the NHL as a whole.

DUCKS NEWS:

• Per an interview with SN650 “Starting Lineup” and transcribed by the Score, Brian Burke was close to acquiring Joe Thornton back in 2005-2006. He actually said the deal the Ducks offered to Boston was better than the San Jose deal, but the deal between the Bruins and Sharks was essentially agreed to at that time.

  The Ducks would have given up a meaningful player, a first round pick, and a couple of kids. Crazy to think that the 06-07 team could have had Jumbo Joe.

• Jonathan Willis at the Athletic polled fans from all teams about their local broadcasts, in addition to other teams, and then used that data to create a ranking of all NHL broadcast crews.

  The Ducks ranked 27th in the league, with the local fan base being significantly more favorable to the Prime Ticket crew than the rest of the league’s fans (Paywalled for Athletic Subscribers).

• Eric Stephens at the Athletic reviewed what could have happened for the Ducks down the stretch had the season not been put on hold. The most interesting thought is Zegras potentially making his Ducks debut down the stretch (Paywalled for Athletic Subscribers).

• CJ Woodling for Anaheim Calling highlighted how the hockey community is lending a helping hand to their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ducks held a drive-thru food bank this past weekend at Honda Center to help out the families in need.

• Kyle Shohara had an interview with Josh Manson for the Ducks website. Manson revealed that he has been watching a fair amount of the Office during the NHL’s pause. Shohara made sure to ask Manson which players on the Ducks were like characters from the office. My personal favorite is the Ryan Miller is most like Ryan and Toby. Also don’t worry, it appears as if Manson has a solid workout regimen in place with an Assault Bike and weights. If you have never used an assault bike, trust me it is difficult.

• Emily Kaplan at ESPN highlighted a feel good story for all 31 teams. The Ducks story was Cam Fowler, which is the correct pick. Fowler has had a great season, as Felix and I have talked about on many podcasts. He helped to elevate any teammate that was on the ice with him.

• Jordan German from Pucks of a Feather showed how the Ducks have embraced Esports to try and help Ducks fans get through the pause in the season. The Ducks have been streaming NHL20 content on their Twitch channel and showing competitive games from their Esports team. It is good to see the Ducks embracing a new medium to connect with fans in this weird time.

• The NHL had a Zoom call with some significant players from Pacific Division teams. One of those players was Ryan Getzlaf. Getzlaf has been put to work during the pause, and has been building a chicken coop for the chicken that are on the way to the Getzlaf household.

AROUND THE LEAGUE:

• On the NHL’s website, plenty of classic games have been added for fans to watch during the stoppage. The NHL has called this portion of the website the pause binge.

• Dom Luszczyszyn of the Athletic used his model to break down how the rest of the season could have played out. The Ducks would have finished 6th from last, so their odds for 1st overall would have gotten worse. The most intriguing playoff matchup that could have happened is the battle of Pennsylvania. Just picture the content that Gritty could have given us. That is a true robbery (Paywalled for Athletic Subscribers).

• Elliotte Friedman’s must read 31 thoughts was published yesterday. Friedman highlights stories from around the league and shines a light on high school and college seniors that will not be able to finish out their final year,

• Andrew Berkshire of Sportsnet answers a fan question on the correlation of hitting and defensive zone turnovers. The results of the study are fascinating to me. An important takeaway from the article is the information on hits. It turns out there is a huge disparity between a hit as tracked by the NHL and a hit that actually separates a player from the puck. This is not necessarily shocking, but emphasizes the issues with the way hits are tracked by the NHL.

• Greg Wyshynski of ESPN did an interview with Gritty, where Gritty made sure to give people tips on how to stay safe and clean in the current Pandemic. Girtty is the hero we all need. Also he is watching Tiger King, which I highly recommend checking out.

• Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski recapped the players Zoom conference calls.

• Down Goes Brown, aka Sean McIndoe, of the Athletic ranked all of the hat tricks from the past season. Spoiler there is a Ducks on the list, and the location will probably make you mad. But if you are a long time fan, seeing that Bobby Ryan hat trick near the end of the article will hit you in the feels, and you will forget ever being mad.

Hope you enjoyed the first installment of Ducks Links. Feel free to discuss any of these articles in a comment below!