Season Preview: The Pacific Division

Anaheim Ducks
Last Season: 30-12-6 (2nd in Western Conference; First in Pacific Division – Lost in the first round)

Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

The Ducks this year will be a very different team, most notably due to the fact that star forward Bobby Ryan is no longer on the team, due to salary cap issues. They shipped him over to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Jakob Silfverberg, and a few prospects. Silfverberg will start the season on injured reserve, but he plans on be on a line with Teemu Selanne, who made a splash of his own, by announcing via YouTube, his retirement.

Questions will be once again asked about the goalie tandem, as Jonas Hiller and Viktor Fasth are expected to split duty once again. Hiller, an expected Free Agent at the end of the year, may be on the trading block during the course of the season due to Fasth’s strong play, and the team slowly last year leaning towards him.

Player to Watch: Teemu Selanne
In what is expected to be the final season for the Finnish Flash, Selanne should go out on top for the Ducks, with another strong 70-80 point season. He’s a very strong leader, and very good at teaching the young kids a strong two way game. Expect his last season to be nothing different as he plans on leading them to hopefully another Stanley Cup.

Now that would be a way to go out on top.

Projected Lines
Corey Perry – Ryan Getzlaf – Matthieu Perreault
Jakob Silfverberg – Saku Koivu – Teemu Selanne
Emerson Etem – Andrew Cogliano – Dustin Penner
Matt Beleskey – Daniel Winnik – Kyle Palmieri

Francois Beauchemin – Cam Fowler
Bryan Allen – Ben Lovejoy
Sami Vatanen – Mark Fistric

Jonas Hiller – Viktor Fasth

Games vs. Rangers
Thursday Oct. 10 @Anaheim
Monday Nov. 4 @New York