Preseason Preview: Anaheim Ducks

Well, August has been boring aside from the whole Coyotes saga going on, so I wanna take a diversion and dissect the teams going into the season. I only hope time permits me to do all 30 teams before the start of the season.

First off, the Anaheim Ducks

Team M.O.: They're the "villains" of the league (out of all the teams doing the black look, these guys do it the best) and like every good villain, they're damn good at what they do: Agitating and fighting the opposition and having the competitive ability to back it up. If these guys skated for your hometown team, however, you'd be in love with them. They're a far cry from being that Disney team they used to be, but thank God for that!

Last Season: These guys didn't get off to the best start last season and at one point, weren't looking to make the playoffs. However, with the acquisition of Ryan Whitney, the return of Francois Beauchemin, and the promotion of Bobby Ryan from the minors, these guys got the 8th seed going into the playoffs. From there, they eliminated the Presidents Trophy-winning San Jose Sharks before losing the Detroit Red Wings to seven games in the Conference Semi-Finals.

Offense: These guys have a very solid offense corp that only serious injuries could decimate. I mean, you would naturally think of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Bobby Ryan as the first line given their youth and talent, but who are the next guys on the depth chart? Saku Koivu, Joffery Lupul, and Teemu Selanne. If there's a better second line in the league, I'd like to see it. From there the bottom-six forwards seem to feature guys who are playing the defensive-minded role like Todd Marchant, though I could see Andrew Ebbett breaking into the top lines if he keeps his play from last season up. Yeah, they're missing Sammy Pahlsson and Travis Moen now, but when the team got better as a result of sending them off... well, maybe they're better off letting their young forwards go out and let their hunger make the team more competitive.

Oh, and who could forget the 'stache?

Make fun of him all you want, but the guy's emerged into a defensively responsible enforcer who scores some long-range goals from time to time. A guy who graduated Princeton is one of the best fighters in the league. Amazing.

Defense: Now, these guys aren't as deep defensively as they have been in season's past, but that doesn't mean they're slouches by any means. Far from it. Scott Niedermeyer returns as one of the best all-time defensemen that feature some young yet serviceable players capable of holding the blue line. Ryan Whitney and James Wisnewski should do well with their first full year in the Ducks organization while Nick Boynton should be a better fit as a Duck than he has for the past two organizations he was part of (being the Florida Panthers and the Phoenix Coyotes.) There stands to be some competition for the bottom pairings, with Sheldon Brookbank, Brett Festerling, Brendan Mikkelson, Luca Sbisa, and Steve McCarthy vying for the last three spots. The competition should be good and healthy, but if only one or two of those guys pan out, expect a signing, waiver wire pickup, or at least an invitee to their training camp.

Goaltending: Now, the Anaheim Ducks were in an excellent position to take Justin Pogge off of the Toronto Maple Leafs hands because their goaltending depth is great at the moment. J.S. Giguere is a proven starter who seems to have on or off seasons while Jonas Hiller is emerging to be, at the very least, a solid Number 1A goaltender who could become a bona fide starter. The real challenge here is being able to get these guys to play in a platoon together. If they can pull that off, excellent.

Expectations: The thing about the Ducks is that while they look excellent on paper, injury trouble and the maturation process of their young stars can create roadblocks that can last a season. Nevertheless, they've toned down the aggression from a few years back without sacrificing either their skill or collective toughness. If Randy Carlye can keep it together and the team as a whole can remain healthy, these guys shouldn't have a problem securing a playoff spot. Going deep into the playoffs depends on whether they can keep their maturity in tact long enough to stay out of penalty trouble.