The Anaheim Ducks did the right things in free agency.
After racking up five straight 40-plus win seasons in the mid-2010s, the Anaheim Ducks haven’t been all that mighty over the past few seasons.
… I’ll see myself out.
In the season and a half since Randy Carlyle‘s firing, the Ducks have been a rudderless team without a clear championship path – trapped at the bottom of the Pacific conference. They’ve maintained a below-average winning percentage, been scored on roughly 20 percent more often than they score, didn’t have a single player with a +/- of over eight, and at an average age of 27.2, are far from a young, rebuilding squad a fanbase can grow with.
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Outside of a handful of quality players – Adam Henrique, Jakob Silfverberg, Carter Rowney, and captain Ryan Getzlaf come to mind – the Ducks aren’t what you would call a team loaded with top-flight talent or one with a particularly good track record of winning when it counts.
Which is why the Anaheim Ducks’ offseason addition of Kevin Shattenkirk is such an underrated-ly good signing: He knows how to win.
I know, crazy, right? Who’d have ever thought adding a proven winner to a team stuck in a rut could be just what the doctor ordered to bring some championship pedigree to an average squad? Gosh, maybe teams should try this more often.
Measuring in at 6-foot, 206 pounds, Shattenkirk is a 31-year-old defenseman from New Rochelle, New York. He played his college hockey at Boston University, was drafted 14th overall in the 2007 NHL Draft, and, most recently, won the Stanley Cup on a one-year, $1.75 million deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Though things haven’t always gone smoothly for Shattenkirk, as he’s been traded twice and was bought out of his contract by the New York Rangers in July of 2019, he’s remained a reliable top-four defender and is generally considered an excellent leader and locker room guy by his peers.
At 31-years-old, Shattenkirk has suddenly become the Ducks’ defensive elder statesman and their third-oldest player overall behind only David Backes and Getzlaf. While it’s anyone’s guess as to where Shattenkirk will ultimately play whenever the season starts back up – many assume it’ll be on the right side of the second line next to Cam Fowler – Rotowire expects the free agent addition to receive more looks on the Ducks’ power play after being stuck behind Victor Hedman in Tampa Bay.
Even if Shattenkirk is unable to maintain his otherworldly +/- of 22 (over 1,323 minutes on ice), he should still serve as a noticeable upgrade over recently traded defenseman Erik Gudbranson, who finished out the 2019-20 season with a +/- of 0.
In the NHL, very few teams are able to remain good forever. Players come, players get older, and players leave, but the really talented teams are able to remain competitive by constantly reinventing themselves on the fly with choice upgrades at positions of need. For this specific iteration of the Anaheim Ducks, adding a reigning NHL champion with impeccable leadership credentials on a three-year, $11.7 million contract should help to push the team one step closer to contention – which ultimately is the goal for any team in any sport.