The Anaheim Ducks Are Different This Year, But Are They Good Enough?

The Anaheim Ducks' recent Canadian road trip was symbolic of a topsy-turvy season that has the club, a perennial contender, once again fighting for the lead in the Pacific Division.

The Ducks looked dominant at times but were largely listless for long stretches over five games against non-playoff contending teams. The team, which has relied on its imposing defensive structure to get through low-scoring games, didn't maintain its usual composure. Last Thursday's 6-5 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who occupy last place in the NHL standings, was especially stinging.

The Ducks went down 4-1 in the second period to an energetic Toronto squad. They were outworked and couldn't match the speed of the young Leafs. They looked, in short, like the team that started the season 1-7-2, and invited questions about their aging core—forwards Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, and Ryan Getzlaf are all on the wrong side of 30.

With an overtime point that night, Anaheim clinched a playoff spot, but there was little evidence of celebration in their locker room post-game. Getzlaf, the team's captain, sat alone in a barren room.

"We didn't play a good hockey game tonight," he said.

Getzlaf recently opened up on the Ducks' poor start. "There was a lot of things that went into the start of the season that were a little bit complicated," he told Hockey Central at Noon. "Coming out of training camp we had a weird feeling about the team. I don't know if we used training camp effectively to bring our group together."

"There were some new ideas," forward Shawn Horcoff told VICE after the loss to the Leafs. The 37-year-old Ducks newcomer said that there was a sense of uncertainty to start the season. "It sounded like we were trying some new things. It just took us some time to find the game that we needed to play to be successful," he continued, adding that the Ducks' inability to find cohesive line combinations was another factor in their slow start.

For all the questions about the Ducks' core early in the season, however, Horcoff, the oldest player on the roster, believes that age might have been what steered the team in the right direction.

"I've been around for a long time," he said, minutes after what was his 1000th NHL game. "I'm an experienced guy and I just try to bring a calming voice. A lot of times you just have to stick with it. We went through some really tough times, mentally, but that helps you as a team to grow. Hopefully we can look back on that towards the end of the year and into the playoffs and use that as motivation."

For a time, even the playoffs looked doubtful. Head coach Bruce Boudreau's job was in question, and there was pressure on Ducks GM Bob Murray to shake up the roster. He might have even come close.

"I've never been one to be overly patient, as most people know," Murray recently told Sportsnet. "It's something I've tried to get better at over the last few years."

"I think you get older," he continued. "I think I spend more time now looking at how—instead of just reacting as a player would. Instead of just reacting, I started studying what other GMs have done in the past with situations like that. And you go back and you look at the really good guys and kind of wonder what they would do."

So Ducks management took things slowly, finally making their first trade of the season in late January, bringing in David Perron and Adam Clendening from Pittsburgh for Carl Hagelin.

"You need to be patient. It's a long season," says Horcoff.

Things started to turn for the Ducks in December and January. Through those two months, the Ducks went 13-7-2. Perhaps most impressive was that in those 13 wins, the Ducks allowed more than two goals just twice. Though Boudreau's teams have been known to play a freewheeling offensive style, with Getzlaf and Perry not having their normally strong offensive seasons they honed in on a defense-heavy system. Keeping games tight and then building off each win, they were able to equal and then briefly surpass the Kings for the lead the Pacific Division.

"Once we started focusing more on defense and playing more of an aggressive style, a physical style, things started to turn our way," Horcoff said.

Horcoff ultimately remains optimistic about the Ducks playoff chances, but now, after allowing three or more goals in three of games of the road trip, the flaws in that defense-first approach are exposed.

If the Ducks allow their poor play on the Canadian road trip to continue and they stumble in the playoffs, they may decide that the window has shut on this iteration of the club. Murray could choose to move forward without Boudreau or perhaps even Getzlaf.

"A lot of veterans on our team have been to the wars and that," Boudreau said after the Leafs game. "The important thing is the playoffs. Yeah, you want to get up for every game and we're hoping they're getting up for every game. But malaise is a good word. We're going through a funk is another word."

They are running out of time to figure things out. The playoffs are around the corner, and with a likely first-round matchup against the San Jose Sharks, who are third in the NHL in goals for per game, the Ducks may soon be pining for the matchups they faced in March against meek Canadian teams.