5 Takeaways: The Trade Deadline Approaches
The Anaheim Ducks rebounded from a tough series against the Arizona Coyotes over the weekend that saw the Ducks lose both games, with them losing the second one in OT, thanks to a very solid performance and win against the San Jose Sharks. The Ducks were able to score 5 goals against the Sharks, with only one of those being on an empty net, all while having good 5v5 metrics. The following are five takeaways from that trio of games.
Volkov Debuts and Immediately Contributes
Alexander Volkov’s first game as a Duck was last Friday against the Coyotes, and he found himself on a line with Max Comtois and Isac Lundestrom. This line would be kept together for essentially the entirety of the three-game set, which is a great idea from Eakins. This allowed Volkov to have some consistency while learning a new system instead of throwing him into the fire.
Volkov immediately found himself having some glorious goal-scoring opportunities. He ended up not finding the back of the net on his first chance but did not make the same mistake on the second chance. Both of these plays can be found below.
As you can see from the two plays, Volkov got himself into good scoring positions in the middle of the ice and made himself open to receive the pass. That is a very good quality to have on a team, but what impressed me the most from Volkov in his first few games was his forechecking.
Volkov does not appear to be the fleetest of foot when you watch him skate, but he does a very good job of taking the correct angle towards the puck carrier to make up for that lack of footspeed. This path allows him to get on the defender quickly and potentially cause a turnover.
Now that we have gone over some of the positives, the negatives are his on-ice metrics were fairly poor in the Arizona series. He was at 34% xGF% in the first game and 20.42% xGF% in the second game, but this did rebound against the Sharks, with him posting a 55.65% xGF%. I am willing to chalk up the poor series against the Coyotes to him being in a new environment, but it is something to keep an eye on moving forward.
Zegras Shines in Final Game
As you probably know by now Trevor Zegras has been sent to the San DiegoGulls to start his transition to playing Center at the pro level. As our own Felix Sicard put it in his great article about the move, this is not necessarily a bad decision. Go check out his article though for a more in depth conversation about this decision. Here we will be talking about Zegras last NHL series as a winger, hopefully.
Zegras was fantastic over this two-game stretch, posting a 53.35% xGF% in the first game against the Coyotes and a 64.2% xGF% in the second game of that series. In the first game of the series, he took 6 shots on goal, 7 shot attempts, but the only minor critique is these shots were from the outside primarily, with him posting a 0.29 ixG. In the second game, he did not shoot the puck as much, only 1 shot on goal and 4 shot attempts, but when he did it was from dangerous spots on the ice, posting a 0.26 ixG for that game. Additionally, he had two primary assists in the second game.
A play I want to highlight is his primary assist on the Carrick goal. This play shows a really underrated aspect of Zegras’ game, which is his ability on the forecheck. The no-look backhand pass right to Carrick’s tape is going to get the headlines because it’s a fantastic play and highlights the high-end skill that Zegras has.
That play does not happen though without his read on the forecheck. He sees that the Coyotes defender does not have a great angle to make a play up the boards, and will most likely rim it below the goal line. He decides to try and jump into the spot where he thinks the pass will go instead of putting the body into the Coyotes player. As a result, the puck ends up on his stick, and once the puck is there special things happen. The standard play there is to make the hit, but Zegras makes the high IQ play instead and it pays off with a goal.
A final note on Zegras is that I have been trying to dive into some more micro stats as this season has gone along, and I want to end this takeaway by highlighting how good offensively Zegras has been in the games that Corey Sznajder has tracked (Go support Corey’s patreon!). He is 3rd in shots/60 at 11.62, 5th in shot assists/60, 3rd in primary contributions/60, and 2nd in total contributions/60. Basically he has been very good at driving offense.
David Backes Should Play More
David Backes has become a bit of an afterthought for the Ducks. He was acquired as a bad money deal to increase the return in the Ondrej Kase trade, but he is not a bad player and one could even argue he could have really helped the Ducks this season. Prior to this three-game set, Backes only had gotten into 10 games for the Ducks but was called upon in the second game against the Coyotes along with the game against the Sharks due to the laundry list of injuries the Ducks have accumulated.
In both games, Backes provided something that the Ducks have sorely missed on the fourth line for most of the season, a player that does not get caved in. Against the Coyotes, Backes posted a 57.63 xGF%, and against the Sharks, Backes posted a 66.47 xGF%. This is a stark contrast to the season-long numbers that other fourth-liners like Grant and Deslauriers have posted (39.82 xGF% and 40.89 xGF%). One has to wonder how different the season could have been if the Ducks had identified Backes as a more viable option on the fourth line and not signed Grant in the offseason as a result.
He would not have saved the season, but he could have helped prevent it from spiraling down the toilet. Then again tankathon is looking pretty nice right now!
Hopefully, the Ducks do right by Backes and look to move him to a contender that would want to add a veteran on an expiring deal. He deserves a chance to get one last run at a Cup, especially with how the Ducks organization has treated him in what might be his final season.
Josh Manson Trade Rumors Intensify
As I broke down last week, the Ducks should be looking to move Josh Manson at this deadline. Well, Pierre Lebrun had the following quote on the TSN Insider Trading Segment about Josh Manson.:
It's going to have to be a high price. The Anaheim Ducks over the years have really not wanted to take calls on Josh Manson. They really like the guy, they still do. But he has a year and a half left on his deal and frankly, where the Ducks are in the standings and where they're going with the youth movement, they are listening.
They've had a few calls on Manson but teams are going to have to step up. We're talking top prospect and a first-round pick to get your hands on Manson, whose rugged game certainly is accentuated during the playoffs.
Teams that are believed to have shown interest over the last few weeks are Winnipeg and Carolina, but again, they're going to have to pay a price to get him out of Anaheim.
This set the Ducks Twitterverse ablaze and rightfully so. Manson is a big trade piece and could net a fairly hefty return as I broke down. The team that would make the most sense to me in regards to trading for Manson is the Winnipeg Jets. They are a team that has needed help on the blueline for two seasons now and are currently sitting in a playoff position primarily due to having the best goalie in the league. Acquiring Manson would bolster their blue line depth and certainly help limit the amount and quality of chances that Hellebuyck is facing on most nights. The expansion draft does not appear to be an issue for them on the blueline either, or at forward actually.
If I were Bob Murray I would be trying my best to get Ville Heinola and a pick for Manson. With Heinola the Ducks are getting a potential top-four LHD that could form a dynamic duo on the back end with Drysdale. But the real deal I would be trying if I was Bob Murray would be to see if I could somehow get Cole Perfetti along with a pick for both Manson and Rakell. The Jets announced that they would be without Blake Wheeler indefinitely, so they will be looking for help at forward in addition to on the back end. The Ducks could fill both of those holes, and in return, the Ducks get a dynamic forward talent to pair with Trevor Zegras moving forward.
*All statistics per Evolving-Hockey unless noted otherwise