Tough calls looming on Perry, Getzlaf
In these days of the cookie-cutter NHL — with generic rinks, referees with no names and a style of play that starts at the fastest the game’s ever been and gets faster from there — it was a nice change of pace to see something different, an actual contrast in approaches to the game.
Monday night, it was the speed-laden Maple Leafs and the Anaheim Ducks, an old-school team that still has remnants of the old “heavy” hockey that used to be a dominant and successful style for many NHL clubs. The Ducks still feature the signature duo of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, two players never known for their wheels but for their size, brawn and smarts.
On a given night, Getzlaf can still be shifty and creative, and Perry can cause havoc around the enemy net and put up points. That night was Monday night at the ACC, particularly in the second period when Perry set up three goals, Getzlaf scored once and assisted on another, and for 20 minutes they again looked like one of the most dangerous tandems in hockey.
But the league, as it usually does, insisted on a minimum of three periods to be played and the Ducks still lost, 7-4, their third straight on Canadian soil after defeats to awful Ottawa and mediocre Montreal last week. Anaheim currently sits outside the Western Conference playoff picture after being a final-four squad last spring, and it’s hard not to wonder if they’re falling behind the prevailing wave of speed and more speed in the ever-evolving NHL.
“We’ve got to be ticked off after the last three games,” muttered Getzlaf afterwards.
“Our defensive hockey has been abysmal. We have to commit to a defensive game, win a couple of games 2-1.”
Against a Leaf team that has almost completely discarded size and brawn for speed and skill, the Ducks just couldn’t keep up, and goalie Ryan Miller certainly couldn’t.
“They’re used to playing that highflying game,” said Getzlaf. “That’s their game. They get behind you.”
In that second period, and then early in the third when Perry got a fourth assist on a second goal by Rickard Rakell, it almost seemed like the Getzlaf/Perry combo was turning back the clock — back to 2010-11, maybe, when Perry was the NHL’s most valuable player and Getzlaf was a better than point-pergame centre.
“That line dominated us,” said Leafs head coach Mike Babcock. “We were hoping to get more offence instead of playing right.”
But time stops for no man who isn’t named Roger Federer or Tom Brady. Big men like Getzlaf and Perry who can overwhelm opponents from the dots down just aren’t as fashionable, or productive. Instead, this is a league where a speed merchant like Kasperi Kapanen can displace an experienced banger like Matt Martin. Kapanen set up Auston Matthews for his second of the night in the third, getting behind the Anaheim defence as Getzlaf suggested, which means Martin won’t be coming in for the Finn any time soon.
For Perry, it was his most productive game of the season. He used his rump to box out Leaf defenders on two Anaheim goals, fanned on an easy scoring chance to get an assist on a third when Rakell chipped it in, and then made a three-foot pass to Rakell for the fourth helper, a cheesy one with Rakell scoring from an impossible angle on Curtis McElhinney.
Oh yes, we missed that part where McElhinney came in for starter Frederik Andersen. Perry was responsible for that, too. Anderson left late in the second after being booted in the head by former London Knights star after he took the puck hard to the Leaf net, a lost art in today’s NHL. Perry, of course, would never intentionally run over a goalie, so it was all an unfortunate accident, of course. But helpful to the Anaheim cause.
At the end of a night with 11 goals and 84 shots between the clubs, heavy hockey had done lots of damage but speed had won the game, as it almost always does these days.
So Anaheim’s got some serious thinking to do. Can the Ducks go forward with Getzlaf and Perry dictating a certain style that seems at times plodding in today’s NHL? Or do they have to think about moving one or both and moving toward a different type of game?
Both are 32 years old. For 12 seasons now, including this one, they’ve been among the Ducks’ top players, a remarkable run that produced a Stanley Cup triumph. Getzlaf carries an $8.25-million (U.S.) cap hit, Perry’s is $8.65 million. With the cap going up, neither of those are exorbitant contracts, but both are still among the 15 highest in the NHL.
If you were ever going to move those contracts and get value for them, some time between now and this coming summer would be the ideal time. It’s unlikely, to say the least, that the Ducks would try to do anything before this winter’s trade deadline. But if they don’t make the playoffs, or don’t get past the first round, the option of moving one or both has to be on the table.
Getzlaf has the slightly smaller contract and the most value. He’s also a centre and the captain. Being asked about Getzlaf on Monday morning brought a quick smile to the face of Babcock, who has coached the big centre at major international events.
“He’s a good man,” said Babcock. “He’s competitive in the big games. He has elite hockey sense.”
Replacing that would be difficult, unless you believe recently acquired Adam Henrique could be a No. 1 centre. Perry is more replaceable than Getzlaf, but wouldn’t fetch as much in a deal. He’s got only nine goals in 43 games.
Anaheim’s got to figure this out. You wouldn’t want to break up this profitable partnership before you have to. But in today’s NHL, the game is dictating how teams must change, not the other way around. Damien Cox’s column appears Tuesdays and Saturdays.