Always Mighty

26 Years Old • Male

Reviewing the Ducks 1st 10 games of the season

I thought it would be fun to break the Ducks season up into 10 game increments, and every 10 games make a post about how the team was doing. I'd look at stats over the course of the past 10 games and compare them to the entire season and see how the team was doing. The season being only 10 games old, this 1st entry will obviously have both of those parts be one and the same. But I'm hoping that as the season progresses this will be a cool way to see how well the Ducks are playing in short stretches vs the overall season. I know that the Ducks will suffer through some rough patches, every team does, and if they have only 2 or 3 wins in a 10 game stretch, hopefully I can use this data to show that all is not doom and gloom. Or maybe it will be. Who knows, I'll find out as the season goes along.

I'll start by taking a look at individual stats, then I'll move onto team stats, and then I'll discuss who I feel has played the best at every position, and the worst, as well as the biggest surprises on the team. For individual stats, I'll list the top 3 players in every major offensive category, as well as the player who is last on the team. I'll list both Hiller's and Fasth's numbers to compare, but for now I'll leave off Andersen, he played great in the 2 periods of action that he's seen, but it's only been 2 periods, simply not enough to discuss right now. If his roll increases because of trade or injury, then I'll bring him in, but for now, I'll focus the goaltending discussion on the 2 primary goalies for this team.

The leading goal scorer for the Ducks is (to the surprise of no one) Corey Perry with 5 goals. There is a 3 way tie for 2nd with 4 goals, Mathieu Perreault, Jakob Silfverberg, and Nick Bonino. Several players have yet to score a goal, including the entirety of the defense.
The leading assist man for the Ducks is Ryan Getzlaf with 6, Mathieu Perreault with 5, and Corey Perry with 4. The only player without an assist this season is Matt Beleskey, limited to only 2 games this season because of injury.
The leading point getter on the Ducks is a 3 way tie between Corey Perry, Mathieu Perreault, and Ryan Getzlaf, all with 9 points. Matt Beleskey is the only player without a point this season.
The +/- leader on the Ducks is also a 3 way tie between Dustin Penner, Francois Beauchemin, and Hampus Lindholm, all with a +8 rating. Cam Fowler has the worst rating on the team with a -3 rating.
The only 3 powerplay goals scored by the team this season are from Corey Perry, Nick Bonino, and Teemu Selanne. Everyone else has 0.
Emerson Etem has the teams only shorthanded goal this year.
Ryan Getzlaf has 2 game winning goals this season, Perry, Pereault, Selanne, and Etem have the others.
Perreault has the only overtime goal for the Ducks this season.
Corey Perry has taken 36 shots on goal, followed by Silfverberg with 32, and Perreault with 24. Mark Fistric (3 games played) and Devante Smith-Pelly (1 game played) have yet to record a shot on goal this season.
Cam Fowler has averaged the most ice time this season with 23:19 minutes a game, Beauchemin is 2nd with 22:10 minutes a game, and Getzlaf is 3rd with 20:03 minutes a game. Smith-Pelly averages the lowest ice time with 9:03 minutes in the 1 game that he has played in.
In terms of faceoffs, Perreault leads all centers winning 59.7% of the draws that he has taken this season. Bonino is 2nd with a 52.2% winning percentage, Getzlaf is next with a 49.1% winning percentage, and Koivu is last among centers with a 47.6% winning percentage.
Jonas Hiller has played in 7 games with a 4-2 record. He has seen 190 shots and stopped all but 17 for save percentage of .911 and a goals against average of 2.64 and has 1 shutout. Viktor Fasth has played in 3 games with a 2-1 record. He has seen 81 shots and allowed 10 goals for a save percentage of .877 and a goals against average of 3.33.

In 10 games, the Ducks earned 14 points with 7 wins and 3 losses for .700 record. They are averaging 3.2 goals for per game, 2.7 goals against per game, a powerplay of 7.7%, a penalty kill of 75.7%, and a faceoff percentage of 51.0%. Their longest winning streak was 7 games (Oct. 5th-Oct. 20th) and their longest losing streak was 2 games (Oct. 22nd-Oct. 24th). The team had one shutout, and no team shut the Ducks out.

I believe that the best forward for the Ducks, through the 1st 10 games of the season, has been newly acquired center Mathieu Perreault. He competes at both ends of the ice, wins faceoffs, and is leading this team offensively. When the Ducks picked him up before the season started I didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't this. He has been the Ducks most consistent forward and I'm loving it. He has immediately clicked with Selanne and Silfverberg, and those 3 have made a very dangerous line, though they have been broken up a bit in the last couple of games (which I haven't been able to watch much of).

The worst forward has been Kyle Palmieri, and it really hurts to type that. I loved how this kid competed last season, and he's made some great plays this season (see his goal), but overall, he has not been noticeable. He has 1 goal on the season, and while it was an amazing effort and shot that made it happen, he needs more than 1 goal through a 10 game stretch. I know that he's still young and learning, but he's been the biggest disappointment to me so far this season. Hopefully being scratched for a game will help send the message that he needs to be better.

The biggest surprise at forward has been Dustin Penner. When the Ducks signed him in the off season, I wasn't expecting much from him. I was hoping that he'd rekindle some magic with Getzlaf and Perry, but I wasn't expecting it. And while the magic isn't what it once was, he has played well. In 6 games (it would be more but he is out with a concussion) he has 4 points and a +8 rating. If he can keep up that kind of production when he gets back into the lineup I will be very happy with him.

The best defenseman on the team has been Bryan Allen, which is a really weird thing for me to type. I thought he had a bad year last season, but so far this year, he has been the Ducks all around best dman. Between Beauchemin recovering from injury and the cast of kids on the blue line (Fowler is 22 and is older than 2 of his fellow defenseman), someone needed to step in stabilize this blueline, and that is exactly what Allen has done. He's been primarily paired with Vatanen and I have been very happy with their play. That being said, after the next 10 games, I'm hoping that Allen will have relinquished this spot to someone else on the team. He's been a solid defender, but he should not be the best one on the team.

The worst defender through 10 games is a bit of a toss up. Of the 3 losses, I've only seen 1 full game, and bits of the other 2. In the 7 wins, for the most, the defense played very well. So, based upon what I have seen, I have to say either Francois Beauchemin or Cam Fowler has been the worst. Frankie is still recovering from his surgery and is clearly not 100%. He has gotten better through the season, but he was just terrible in the 1st couple games. Fowler is playing well, but he is just not playing physical enough and his defensive game still needs work, and he has yet to score this season. What it comes down to is that Fowler hasn't been bad, but the Ducks need more from him if they want to continue to be a successful team.

The biggest surprise on defense is a toss up between Sami Vatanen and Hampus Lindholm. At times, both rookies have looked like rookies, and there's nothing wrong with that. They should look like rookies. They should make mistakes. They should make bad pinches, bad clears and bad passes. And yet, almost every time one of them makes a mistake, they hustle to get back into the play and make up for their mistake. These 2 have been a fresh of air on the blueline. Both have looked great, and while neither has broken through offensively, both have broken into this league in a big way.

And that is the Ducks through the 1st 10 games of the season. After game 20 I'll do this again, and I'll compare games 11-20 to the entire season.