Anaheim Ducks celebrate a goal against the Winnipeg Jets during third period NHL Game 4 playoff action in Winnipeg on Wednesday, April 22, 2015.The Canadian Press
Perhaps no team was as active near or at the NHL trading deadline than the Anaheim Ducks, on the grounds that their window of opportunity to win a Stanley Cup may never be greater than it is this year.
But on the eve of their second-round series against the Calgary Flames, it looks as if four of the Ducks' five additions – defencemen James Wisniewski and Korbinian Holzer, forwards Jiri Sekac and Tomas Fleischmann – would all be healthy scratches for Thursday night's game. Only Simon Despres, picked up from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the trade for Ben Lovejoy, was scheduled to be in the lineup for the Ducks.
Of the four scratches, only Fleischmann played in the last round against the Winnipeg Jets, but with checking centre Nate Thompson set to return after recovering from injury, he will be the odd man out.
"It speaks to our depth," said Ducks' coach Bruce Boudreau following Thursday's morning skate, "and if things don't go right, we've got guys we can put in. Jiri Sekac has played great for us as well. Nate being a natural centre, a penalty killer and a face-off guy, has been a vital guy for our team. He played every (regular-season) game.
The role of riding shotgun on the Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry line looks as if it's falling to Patrick Maroon, which means there will be three heavyweight forwards on a single line, a challenge for the skilled, but small Calgary defence corps.
Boudreau has crafted a second line featuring Ryan Kesler, the ex-Canuck, playing between Jakob Silfverberg, the ex-Sen, and Matt Beleskey. The Ducks are big, deep and strong and Kesler, brought in for this moment in the off-season trade with Vancouver, was pivotal in Anaheim's opening round sweep of the Winipeg Jets.
Silfverberg and Kesler are second and third on the team in playoff scoring with six and five points, just behind Perry.
With Kesler in the lineup, "now you have two big centreman who've been through everything, from world championships to Stanley Cup finals," said Boudreau. "That pushes everybody to be better. It pushed Ryan – it pushed both Ryans. As far as (Kesler's) impact in the first round, it was evident. That secondary scoring that all teams want was there – because he was playing at the top of his game."
The Ducks have a decided size and weight advantage over the Flames, but Boudreau wasn't prepared to write off Calgary's willingness to engage in a battle. Defenceman Deryk Engelland played for Boudreau in the minors, and Boudreau also singled out Brandon Bollig and Micheal Ferland as two players who can play a physical game. Combined, the trio had 89 penalty minutes in a volatile opening round victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
"Just because they're small doesn't mean they don't hit," said Boudreau. "In playoffs, everybody plays bigger than they are. I don't think it's a mismatch at all. I think it's going to be a physical series. I think they'll come out at us and do what they do. When they're fore-checking, they're physical all the time. At the same time, we don't want to change our DNA either. We want to be a big, physical tough-to-contain team – and we've got the size where that's potentially possible if we play the game right."
The Ducks are coming off an eight-day layoff, after sweeping the Jets, so the old rest-versus-rust debate was a discussion point again prior to puck drop. According to Getzlaf, the Ducks did a "great job ramping things in practice – and when you get out there for the first five minutes, you'll have to get involved right away."
As for the perception that the Ducks are the heavy favourite in the series because they finished 12 points ahead of the Flames in the regular season, Getzlaf shrugged the question off as "media mind games.
"I said the same thing last series. This isn't about playing games in the media - or who's the favourites. We're all here. We're all in the playoffs. There are eight great teams in our conference that deserve to be here."