Thursday, September 1, 2011

All Roof, No Foundation

Today begins the 2011-12 NHL Season Preview, and as a theme, all the previews will have some horror movie clip attached with each preview, in addition to the standard previews.

The story of the 2010-11 Anaheim Ducks can best be described as having the firepower up front, but nothing to back it up.  With 99 points in the regular season, the Ducks were exposed by a more balanced Nashville team in the first round.  Anaheim's scoring is spearheaded by Rocket Richard and Hart Trophy winner Corey Perry.  He always put up decent numbers, but last year saw him realize his full potential, and he will look to build on that.  Anaheim's Cup aspirations took a hit when Jonas Hiller went down with vertigo.  His loss exposed an Anaheim blue line that was mostly in the minus category of the +/- statistic.  Great goaltending tends to cover up a lot of weaknesses, and Hiller is definitely an upgrade over Ray Emery, who filled in admirably.  Cam Fowler made the team out of training camp last year, and managed to put up good numbers as a rookie, but like most of his blue line mates, he had an alarming +/- number well below the line.  He will be counted on to take a bigger role with the team.

Preditcion: 7th in the West

Movie: Don't Torture a Duckling:


Though the only thing that ties the two together is the "Duckling" in the movie title and the team name, the potential for the Anaheim team to be great could match the underrated 1972 Lucio Fulci film.




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