Drafting, Dealing, Signing

Published on TheDucksBlog.com on July 4, 2009

With the draft and July 1 out of the way, we can almost look back and evaluate how GM Bob Murray did. I like Bob Murray’s move a lot. I was very afraid that when Burke left we would fall apart one trade at a time, but this is not the case.

I still see some holes in the organization, but I expect those to be filled in good time. Let’s take a look at some of the movements so far.

The Draft: I’m not talking about the players traded because we will get to that. We selected 2 in the first round and another five in day two of the draft. We won’t see the immediate effects of the draft take place because the Ducks players tend to stay in development a little longer than other teams bring up their drafted players. Example, Jack Johnson, Anze Kopitar and Sidney Crosby all drafted the same year as Bobby Ryan. Bobby Ryan has developed wonderfully because of the patience he and Brian Burke went through to spend time raising fitness, skill and maturity in the minors as well as other leagues. I don’t think we will see an immediate effect on the franchise, but I like who we drafted and the positions they play.

The Pronger trade: While we will miss Pronger on the blue line very much, I don’t think we will miss the reputation that goes along with him. While sending Prongs out to Philly, we received fan favorite Joffrey Lupul as well as Luca Sbisa and a couple of 1st round draft picks, one for this year and one for next. Lupul was great for the franchise and its been so bittersweet to watch him play for other teams and not do as well as he did with the Ducks. My most fond memory of Lupul was the Playoff game in Colorado in 2005 when the score was Avalanche 3- Lupul 4. He will bring some secondary scoring that we need badly. I can’t say much about Sbisa because I don’t know too much about him. Lupul likes him and he was a first round pick, so I am good. Pronger has done so well for us as fans and as a team (Stanley Cup anyone?) so I know he will be missed.

Selanne and Scott Niedermayer: Aren’t we glad to have these two back for sure. And before the season started, even by the draft! So with those two under contract, we will have the veteran leadership and skill needed to prepare our other teammates for following seasons.

Projected Lines:

Offense

Getzlaf - Ryan - Perry

Lupul - Selanne - (to sign)/Christensen

Ebbett - Carter - Christensen/ Nokelainen

Parros - Brown - (to sign)/Bodie

Defense

S. Niedermayer - Brookbank

Whitney -Wisniewski

Sbisa - Festerling.

Goalies

1A Hiller

1B Giguere

I think the other good thing about the Pronger trade was that it doesn’t force us to trade Giguere away right away. Apparently he has given Murray a short list of teams of he wouldn’t mind being traded too. I suggest we hold on to him until at least pre season. We let him come into training camp, compete for the spot and if Hiller does fine we can get more for him, but I think that having those two in net dramatically increase our changes for winning a cup again.