Friedman: Ducks "think that their success was a little bit of a mirage"

Elliotte Friedman was on Calgary’s Sportsnet 960 on Thursday afternoon.

On the Anaheim Ducks’ reworking of their defensive group:

“It’s interesting. They really like what they did. And it’s pretty clear – and I didn’t really realize it until I spoke to them – they think that their success was a little bit of a mirage. That they felt that Gibson and to a much greater degree Andersen were absolutely saving them and they didn’t think they were very good.

“They felt very strongly that they could handle themselves against the heavier teams. The Kings, they felt okay with. The Blues, they felt okay with. But the really good-skating teams – the Blackhawks and some of the Eastern teams that saw them recently like Tampa – they thought they were just terrible against them. They couldn’t get the puck and they had nothing they could do.

“So that’s kind of why you saw them remake some of the things you do.

“Wisniewski was a little bit of a different one. They felt they didn’t have a shot from the blueline, so that’s why they went out and got him.

“The interesting one to me is Despres. That’s a deal I look at and I think they were caught a bit by surprise. Jim Rutherford called them, I guess, the night before the deadline and said they were interested in making that move.

“Bob Murray was apparently going to draft Despres in 2009. He had the 37th pick overall. The 7th pick of the second round. He was going to take Despres there and the Penguins, who just won the Stanley Cup, took him seven picks earlier. So they’ve always liked him. And that’s the deal I look at and say, ‘Wow, I’m surprised Pittsburgh would want to do that.’

“Nothing against Lovejoy, but Despres is younger and I think he’s just potentially a better player.”

Source: Sportsnet 960/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

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