Posts Tagged ‘peter holland.’

Ducks at trade deadline eve

Posted: 04/02/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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Update @ 2:37pm PT: (((DOH))) GM Bob Murray has acquired a guy our Ducks have sought for a couple of years now. I don’t quite understand why. Phoenix Coyotes have sent us Matthew Lombardi in exchange for a full of himself kid who wasn’t welcome in the room by name of Brandon McMillan.
In Lombardi we get damaged goods due to concussions. He can motor and  PK, even show a flash of brilliance now and then but his days as a bonafide top six forward are behind him.

Update @ 11:50am PT: Looks like we won’t get our second line center. I’m okay with that.

Jeez, does Katie Carrera remind you of Lucy shouting at Charlie Brown or what?

Update @10:25am PT: Via Twitter
Katie Carrera

Katie Carrera, Washington Post beat writer.

@kcarrera

Ribeiro: “I don’t really see myself move or sign today. We’ll just get focused for the game tomorrow.”

Update @8:35am PT: Anaheim Ducks have signed Boston College’ stat machine Steve Whitney. The diminutive forward is the current Walter Brown Trophy given annually to the best New England based college player. Whit is expected to be heading straight to the Norfolk Admirals to begin his professional hockey career.

Update 8:18amPT: With Ribeiro looking like he’ll stay in Washington, look for attention to move toward the Red Wings Valteri Filppula. Not much chance of the Wings and Ducks doing a deal though.

Update 8:00am PT: Via RDS Renaud Levoi Twitter

Mike Ribeiro is ready to accept a 4 year extension instead of a 5 year. It will be interesting to see what will be Capitals respond. (sic)

Update @7:57am PT: All quiet with less than 4.5 hours to go to the trade deadline. If recent deadline day trade patterns continue, expect a big name or two to move about mid-morning with a flurry of trades for depth players in the final hour.
Various media reports indicate the Caps may keep Mike Ribeiro for the stretch run and risk losing him via UFA this summer. Ribeiro turned down a 3 year extension as he is reportedly looking for a 5 year term.

A couple/few weeks back this blog posited that our Ducks were looking for a second line center at the deadline approached. The notion was later picked up by Pierre Lebrun TSN/ESPN, Lyle “Gossip Girl” Richardson at THN and Eric Stephens OCR.

This blog looked at the leading pending UFA candidates, commonly called ‘rentals’ as it it’s assumed second line center will be earned by Bones or Peter Holland next season. Difficult to say if we would have acquired David Steckel had Nick Bonino not gone down with a lower body injury.

That’s the conventional wisdom as they say.

Derek Roy, one of the players said to interest GM Bob Murray, was traded from Dallas to Vancouver earlier today. That leaves top guns Mike Ribiero and Patrik Elias still available.

A couple of weeks ago Darren Dreger Tweeted that our Ducks had a chat with the Flyers about Sean Couturier. Could be Bob Murray is looking 2-5 years down the road as well.

Couturier is currently experiencing the sophomore slump. Not exactly the kind of guy you bring in to replace a promising rookie.

If you’re going to chat with Philly about Courturier because you’re looking for a second line center, you may as well be chatting with Ottawa about Kyle Turris or Tampa Bay about Cory Conacher. No such rumor has surfaced. So I figure Dreger’s Tweet an outlier. Maybe it was more like the Flyer feeling out our Ducks about what it might take to acquire Bobby Ryan. Hopefully it will be more than Sean Couturier.

There are others rumored available. Andy MacDonald and Matt Cullen, both former Ducks but it isn’t likely St. Louis or Minnesota would trade with a potential playoff opponent.

Detroit had let it be known Filip Filppula is available but that was before the injuries to Zetterburg, Helm, Bertuzzi and Samuelsson.
Red Wings are shopping for a forward help now.

Mike Ribeiro competes and brings a gritty quality to his game. He’s ideal if we can get him without giving up a roster player or one of our D prospects.

We could do something whacked like take on Vincent Lecavalier’s salary then buy him out this summer. Another guy that maybe falls into this category is Flames Mike Cammalleri.

For my money it’s Ribeiro, Elias or stay home.

It’s a tough break for rookie Peter Holland if we do upgrade. If we had an 82 game schedule I genuinely believe Holland would’ve proved himself and maybe formed a successful Kid Line with Etem and Palmieri. Our Cup team had one in Getzlaf-Penner-Perry.

Then again, if we do nothing Holland has 12 more regular season games to get his offense going. The rest of his game is decent. Sometimes the best trades turn out to be the ones you don’t make. The absolute worst thing that happens is that Peter Holland gets the playoff ride and experience of his life. That too will pay big dividends maybe as soon as next season.

The day after six games in eleven days

Posted: 02/17/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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Viktor Fasth is earning converts with every game. Every goalie competes with the guy at the other end of the rink. Last night Fasth was one shootout save better than Pekka Rinne, arguably the best goalie in the world right now.

Fasth is a perfect 8-0, 1.78 GAA and a SP of .933. Good enough to share the league in wins with Montreal’s Carey Price. Good enough for a league 7th best GAA among goalies who have played 4 or more games. His SP is 8th best among goalies who have played 4 or more games.

Obviously he’s become a solid Top Ten goalie in the NHL from the get go. He brings intangibles such as a calm composure and patience. Among the first things all goaltenders are taught is to wait for the shooter to make the first move. This gives him preemptive save ability. He pressures the shooter to go first.

I’ve noticed of late opposing teams are starting to go upstairs consistently on him. This is also true of all great goalies of this generation. It also plays into our Ducks NHL 7th best shot blocking record. It’s much easier for a player to block a high shot than a lower shot.

Last night was all about Fasth and the no-quit effort of the team in front of him.

Notes: Matt Beleskey has been giving Ryan Getzlaf a mid-slot passing target of late and it is paying off. Let’s hope The Twins have finally found a winger. Right now the job is Matty’s to lose, though Gabby is quick with the hook…Peter Holland is looking closer and closer to making the squad as a top six forward. He didn’t look out of place during two games with Ryan and Selanne….Ducks have 9 players with 4 or more goals 13 games into the season. More to come…

 

Ducks make interesting roster moves

Posted: 01/27/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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Peter Holland and Jordan Hendry have been sent to Norfolk. Emerson Etem and Sami Vatanen have been called up.

The timing is interesting. My first reaction was that Ducks were giving Holland and Hendry some games to stay sharp. Good theory, bad timing. Admirals don’t play until the weekend. Ducks play three games in four nights commencing Friday. Tomorrow Ducks visit the Shark Tank for a tilt with San Jose.

Chances are very good that Vatanen will see his first regular season NHL action this weekend. Gabby has been complimentary about the Finn. Vatanen will also get some time with new assistant coach Scott Niedermayer. This move makes sense.

Hendry looked sharp filling in for Cam Fowler in the season opener at Vancouver. Holland is unable to unseat Rickard Rakell as the Ducks 4th line center. Big Pete looks to be having far too much respect for the NHL. He looks a tad tentative out there.

Hendry is a decent hockey player who may not have much future in Anaheim. He would probably be a top six D-man in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia and a handful of other teams.

The big surprise is Emerson Etem who hasn’t exactly set the world on fire in Norfolk. Etem, who is making the jump from Junior to Professional has 12 goals and 2 assists in 40 AHL games. Double EE did score twice and picked up an assist in the Admirals 5-0 over Bridgeport on Saturday.

Patrick Maroon, Dan Sexton and Luca Caputi will be worth watching this coming weekend to see how they respond to Double EE’s call-up.

Pregame: Vancouver at Anaheim

Posted: 01/25/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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Vancouver followed up getting blown out in their home opener with a SO loss to the Oilers and SO win over Calgary. The Nucks second line is decimated while anchor Ryan Kesler is out indefinitely and winger David Booth will be nursing a pulled groin for the next four to six weeks.
With those injuries impacting the Canucks secondary scoring the D has stepped as Alexander Edler (2) and Dan Hamhuis (1) have three of Vancouver’s seven goals. Zack Kassian, acquired from Buffalo last season for Cody Hodgson, has two.

In the first three games of the season the issue in Vancouver isn’t secondary scoring. Daniel Sedin has one goal while brother Henrik and Alex Burrows have yet to score. The strategy to beating the Nucks remains the same. Stop the Sedins.

While Coach Boudreau tell us fans he likes to roll four lines the thing he doesn’t say is how he uses the D to match up against the opposition’s best forwards. Every coach, from house league Mites to the NHL, matches D against opposition forwards. Gabby has two ways of matching up from the D. The pair of Beauchemin/Lydman or Bryan Allen.
On the other bench, Vigneault will be trying to get the Sedins over the boards against Sbisa/Souray. Forget rolling the lines, this is the real cat and mouse game between the respective brain trusts.

Look for Beauchemin/Lydman to take the assignment, along with the KCW line, at least to start against the Sedin Line.

The tendency between these two teams is lots of scoring. In eight of the last games against Vancouver Ducks have scored 4 or more goals. A caution to bettors, past performance is no guaranty of future results, and Cory Schneider is particularly motivated to the shut down our Ducks after giving up 5 goals last weekend.

The teams won’t play the rubber game until April 25.

The other roster intrigue will be who centers Selanne and Ryan, Bonino or Rakell.

Per AnaheimDucks.com it would appear that Bones is getting the start with Rakell a healthy scratch. Holland will center Matt Beleskey and Devante Smith-Pelly. Lest Bonino get too comfortable Coach had this to say about Peter Holland:

“We’d love to see what his compete level is. I’d like to see a solid game from him. And if someone in the top-three centers goes out, he’s a guy that can easily replace them with his offensive ability.”

Ryan Getzlaf was excused from the morning skate. Rakell took the Captain’s spot in the line drills.

Ducks second and fourth line roster spots are fluid.  A decision will need to be made on Rakell fairly quickly. The young Swede is up with our Ducks for five games before a decision must be made on whether to keep him or return him to Junior.

Ducks face key questions as camp nears

Posted: 01/06/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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Jeez, it feels great to be blogging about hockey questions again. So let’s just step out and do it.

Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu are UFA’s at the end of this shortened season. The Twins and The Finn Twins if you will. The parties were prohibited from negotiating during the lockout. There could well be a gentleman’s agreement in place, but Bob Murray thought he had just such an agreement with Justin Schultz. The challenge for Bob Murray is, if either of The Twins remained unsigned at the trade deadline does he move one or both or risk losing one or both for nothing?

The Twins are still close but no longer joined at the hip. Both have settled into long-term relationships. Getz is married and a Dad. Pears is seriously committed. While they won’t be negotiating as a pair you can bet they’ll discuss their own respective future with each other.

Were it just left among our Ducks, Perry, Getzlaf and their respective agents and other advisers this would not be much of a concern.Count twenty-nine other teams, led by Brian Burke to have offers ready should either or both Perry and Getzlaf be UFA in less than six months.

Via tsn.ca:

The rumor mill will be churning, especially if the Ducks feel like they won’t be able to re-sign Perry and/or Getzlaf.

No doubt the Gossip Girls will be gabby bandwidth burners.

As for Teemu, I expect this to be his last but you never know. Certainly there’s a finality to having competed in 20 NHL seasons. A shortened, injury free and successful season may convince Flash to come back as well.

There are scenarios that could keep Saku Koivu a Duck beyond this year. Much depends on what Teemu does, if Getz and Pears stay or go and whether or not Nick Bonino and Peter Holland move past him on the depth chart.

Toni Lydman is also UFA but a decision on him will wait until we get a look at Hampus Lindholm as an injury call-up.

One certainty is our Ducks $15M in cap space will make roster moves easily facilitated.

Ducks A-Z: Peter Holland

Posted: 07/26/2012 by bc in Uncategorized
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Not much in Eric Stephens’ narrative is new to followers of this blog. Ice does a great job drawing out Holland in this interview. Holland will get a chance to show that he’s capable of stepping into the #2 center slot alongside Bobby Ryan. Could make for an interesting twosome as Ryan is our Ducks most recent Calder Trophy finalist. Currently, Peter Holland could be the best guy available to help Ryan over the 40 goal challenge and approach point a game stats. last season was the first time in Ryan’s brief career that didn’t talk about him making the guys around him better. Fact was, he didn’t. If we can build another near point-a-game line around Ryan, it will go along way toward lifting our Ducks into the playoffs. IF Holland isn’t ready to go alongside Ryan out of camp, he’ll start the season in Norfolk.

The B-6

Posted: 11/12/2011 by bc in Uncategorized
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With a stick tap  to Ducks blogger Jeff Shibley, we look at a suddenly very young bottom six group of Ducks forwards. The plan to go entirely with freshmen and sophomores resulted from injuries to Jason Blake and George Parros. Bob Murray did say the plan was to give the kids a chance this season. As I recall Bargain Bob said something about like “seeing what we’ve got” before making any moves. The fast approaching twenty game mark is usually when GM’s have pretty much seen what they have. (more…)

Ducks pursing Kyle Turris?

Posted: 10/02/2011 by bc in Uncategorized
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Gossip Girl Eklund the not so anonymous hockey blogger, his real name is reported to be Dwayne Klessel, is musing that our Ducks are among seven teams allegedly “involved” in the Coyotes unsigned RFA Kyle Turris. I’ve no idea what this gossip girl means by “involved” but it certainly excites the 12 year olds out there.

Consider that Kyle Turris is a highly regarded prospect who projects to be a #1, 1A or solid #2 center. Frankly, if the Ducks or each of the other 28 NHL teams weren’t “involved” in at least monitoring the Turris situation they’d be negligent. Now think about it. Bob Murray has spoken about thinking and planning one, two and more years ahead. Knowing that Saku Koivu is slowing down and might retire after this season you can bet your lucky charms that Bob Murray has a #2 center on his radar.

Are our Ducks “involved” with the ‘Yotes and/or Kyle Turris? I don’t know what a gossip girl means by “involved” and yeah, our Ducks are interested in finding Koivu’s replacement. That person might be Andrew Cogliano, Peter Holland or somebody not currently with our Ducks, like Kyle Turris. Just like B-Mu would probably be “involved” if say Darren Helm, Ryan Johansen or any other highly touted young prospect were said to be available.

Anytime you hear a highly touted young center is available go ahead and assume our Ducks are interested. B-Mu will be interested until somebody has established himself as Saku’s replacement.

Mid-camp player ratings

Posted: 09/25/2011 by bc in Uncategorized
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Five days can be a lifetime for an athlete. It was only that short time ago on September 20 that this blog rated the rookies and prospects. Four jobs remain among the forwards. Defense is pretty much set with everyone moving up a until Toni Lydman and Kurtis Foster return from injury. Sheldon Brookbank and maybe Matt Smaby are the immediate beneficiaries. Syracuse Crunch will likely pickup an excellent AHL level D-man when Lydman or Foster return.

At forward, Andrew Gordon continues to provide secondary scoring jumps to the head of the class. Actually it’s kind of surprising Washington let this guy get away. Do they know something we don’t? Gordon has hovered around a point per game in 4 seasons in the AHL. That success has translated at the NHL level as yet. While Gordon isn’t likely to blossom into a top six forward, he looks like a very good top 9 so long as his scoring continues. (more…)

The Depth Chart & Competition for TOI

Posted: 07/25/2011 by bc in Uncategorized
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Conventional wisdom, as gathered from the most popular Ducks websites and message boards is suggesting our Ducks are strong down the middle with competition between newbie Andrew Cogliano and veteran Saku Koivu maybe competing for the 2nd line spot. As George Gershwin penned, “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”

While he scored 16 goals and 32 points, the guy most likely to be bumped out of his top six spot is LW Jason Blake. It’s Blake who’s the weakest link on the top two lines. Unlike recent previous seasons Bob Murray has created significant competition on the wings. (more…)