Game 40: Ducks vs Stars

Where? American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Where? 8.00 PM EST / 5.00 PM PDT / 02.00 AM CET

Game 39: Ducks vs Wild

Where? Honda Center, Anaheim, California
Where? 10.00 PM EST / 7.00 PM PDT / 4.00 AM CET

Ducks prospects shines in WJHC's

Anaheim has seven prospects in this years Junior World Championchips...

...Luca Sbisa has 0 points in 1 game thus far for Switzerland. However, that was against team USA.

...Jake Gardiner has 0 points for the U.S. in two games (Slovakia and Switzerland) where Kyle Palmieri has picked up a couple of assists, one per game.

...Goalie Igor Bobkov saved 14 of 16 shots against Austria a couple of days ago when Russia won 6-2.

...Brandon McMillan had 1 goal and 1 assist when Canada won over Latvia with 16-0 two days ago.

Most impressive has Radoslav Illo (a 5th round pick in 2009) and Sami Vatanen (a 4th round pick in 2009) been. Center Radoslav Illo picked up a couple of assists in a loss agains USA two days ago and had 1 goal and 1 assist in Slovakias win over Latvia yesterday.

Defenseman Sami Vatanen had a couple of goals in Finlands win over Czech Republic yesterday. Vatanen looks like a steal in the 4th round thus far. Those were some great goals, take a look:

Game 38: Ducks vs Sharks

Where? HP Pavillion, San Jose, California
Where? 10.00 PM EST / 7.00 PM PDT / 4.00 AM CET

Game 37: Ducks vs Coyotes

Where? Jobing Arena, Phoenix, Arizona
Where? 09.00 PM EST / 06.00 PM PDT / 03.00 AM CET

Game 36: Ducks vs Avalanche

Where? Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
Where? 04.00 PM EST / 01.00 PM PDT / 10.00 PM CET

Game 35: Ducks vs Coyotes

Where? Honda Center, Anaheim, California
Where? 04.00 PM EST / 01.00 PM PDT / 10.00 PM CET

Joffrey Lupul underwent successful surgery

Joffrey Lupul has underwent a successful back surgery and will have to recover 6-8 weeks. It’s unlikely he’ll be ready before the Olympic break. Obviously, this is a tough setback for the Ducks at a point where they’re missing Teemu Selanne as well while trying to clinch a play off spot. Anaheim can only hope rookie Dan Sexton continues providing some offense.

Game 34: Ducks vs Sharks

Where? HP Pavillion, San Jose, California
Where? 10.30 PM EST / 7.30 PM PDT / 04.30 AM CET

Game 33: Ducks vs Canucks

Where? General Motors Place, Vancouver, British Columbia
Where? 10.00 PM EST / 7.00 PM PDT / 04.00 AM CET

Much going on with me, not so much with the Ducks

I've been very busy this week and will continue being so. The reason? I recieved an offer to become a Ducks blogger at hockeyindependet.com, a oppurtunity I can't pass on.

Today I wrote my first post on there:
http://hockeyindependent.com/blog/?p=7750

I don't know what will happen to this blog now. But I'm going away from my "at least one post per day" policy. But I'll keep posting up pre game information for the time being. Christmas break is coming soon, so I should be able to write some here as well.

As for the Ducks, not much going on except for Joffrey Lupul's and Mike Brown's injuries. You can read about that in the post I linked to.

Game 32: Ducks vs Blue Jackets

Where? Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Where? 7.00 PM EST / 4.00 PM PDT / 01.00 AM CET

Game 31: Ducks vs Red Wings

Where? Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Where? 7.30 PM EST / 4.30 PM PDT / 01.00 AM CET

Sexton does it simple but the right way

I’m currently ill so I wasn't gonna write much. But gotta mention Dan Sexton. I was impressed with him already in preseason and I think he could be a top six winger on this team for years to come. His two goals against Dallas the other night was huge. However, he’s small and quite bad defensively at this point in his career. His two goals might tell you he was better than he actually was.

Not to take credit away from him, because he certainly did well considering it was only his 3rd career NHL game. But my point is, the thing he did so well is actually very simple - he would shoot the puck. How often don't we get to hear the same answer in any intermission interview? “We have to get some more pucks on net”. Well Dan Sexton did just that last night, he was willing to shoot the puck from any position. Which when he didn’t score himself, more often than not created rebound chances for his linemates. He had impressively 9 shots on Marty Turco the other night, a new Ducks rookie single-game record.

Game 30: Ducks vs Stars

Where? Honda Center, Anaheim, California
Where? 10.00 PM EST / 7.00 PM PDT / 04.00 AM CET

It's time to rebuild...

...at least in my opinion. I know it's long before deadline, but I don't see this team suddenly molding into a contender this year. Here would be my plan, with all teams' cap situations considered...

Game 29: Ducks vs Senators

Where? Scotiabank Place, Ottawa, Ontario
When? 08.00 PM EST / 5.00 PM PDT / 02.00 AM CET

Lupul red-hot in comeback, Sexton recalled

Not much going on right now obviously, the Ducks will play the Ottawa Senators tomorrow tonight. Joffrey Lupul made a strong comeback against the Wild, scoring two goals. He’s going to be important to this organization when Teemu Selanne retires. Dan Sexton made his first NHL game yesterday, he was called up from the AHL to replace Selanne. He had a strong preseason, I think he could turn out the best undrafted player of this club since Kunitz, Penner and McDonald. As I said, not much going on today. This team needs to rebuild, that’s what’s going on.

Again don't forget to check out my new blog. I really like the idea of it. http://nhltransfers.blogspot.com/

Game 28: Ducks vs Wild

Where? Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota
When? 08.00 PM EST / 5.00 PM PDT / 02.00 AM CET

Teemu Selanne out with a broken hand

Anaheim has had a tough year thus far and after the loss against Dallas the team find themselves last in the Western Conference. It doesn’t look too good for the future this season either, as Teemu Selanne broke his left hand in the game.

Game 27: Ducks vs Stars

Where? American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX
When? 08.30 PM EST / 5.30 PM PDT / 02.30 AM CET

A closer look on Chipchura + new NHL transfer blog

I saw Chipchura's game by game log on NHL.com and it looks like he may have been better this year than he’s stats will tell you. While he is –10 this season and has 0 points in 19 games, I noticed that he was  –3 in his first game of the season and –2 in his last one. So basically, he’s only –5 the other 17 games. Which, quite frankly, isn’t bad at all since he has no points and considering where you’ll find Montreal in the standings.

Some comments from Kyle Chipchura…

Rangers claims Christensen off waivers + Mikkelson sent down

Best of luck to Erik Christensen with his new team, the New York Rangers. I always liked him because he seems like a good guy off the ice. I always wish good people success and he has some offensive tools. He just didn’t fit into this group hockey wise. Hopefully he can put his game together with the Rangers.

Also, the Ducks assigned Brendan Mikkelson to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL today. Meanwhile, they recalled defenseman Brett Festerling from the same team. This move I don't understand. I was all for giving Festerling an oppurtunity, but at the cost of Eminger or Brookbank, not Mikkelson.

Ducks add Kyle Chipchura to bottom six

The 23 year old center Kyle Chipchura was acquired by Anaheim this morning in a trade that will send a fourth round pick in 2011 to Montreal. He was a first round pick in 2004 but isn’t as promising as he was a few years ago. But still, he’s likely to be in this league for a long time in a more defensive role. Ok pick up in my opinion considering the Ducks didn't have to give up that much.

So long Artyukhin?

Last night’s loss against the Los Angeles Kings was tough…

…It was at home ice.

…Against the cross town rival

…And an unfortunate late goal settled the score, giving the division rival 2 points while the Ducks gained 0.

You’ve seen the headline, but I wasn’t going to rip on him for this loss. But really, what does the big Russian provide? He was brought in to bring size and toughness, not minor penalties in the offensive zone.

Game 26: Ducks vs Kings

Where? Honda Center, Anaheim, CA
When? 10.30 PM EST / 7.30 PM PDT / 04.30 AM CET

Christensen on waivers, again...

It was reported by TSN's Bob MacKenzie on twitter this morning. It’s the second time this season Erik Christensen is on waivers. Obviously, no team claimed him last time. He's currently with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL, where he has a couple of goals in five games. While the chances might seem small he will get claimed this time around either, you never know. We’re now longer into the season, team’s are starting to give up on some of their experiments and there are some long time injuries around the league. More to come on this later…