Ducks stress the need for speed
They made a point in the off-season to get faster, knowing it is essential to Cup goal.
Carl Hagelin has been with the Ducks for only a few weeks, but he can envision the identity of his new team when he looks around the dressing room.
There is speed on almost every line, starting with himself beside captain Ryan Getzlaf. Andrew Cogliano and Jiri Sekac are quick left wings on two other lines and veteran Shawn Horcoff centers the fourth line.
Hagelin, Cogliano and Horcoff have each won the NHL’s fastest skater competition.
“I don’t know if we’re going to be the fastest team out there, but we should be a team that is able to go every single night,” Hagelin said.
“We’re going to bring it every night, and it starts with the guys being ready to use their feet when it comes down to it. It’s a speed game nowadays.”
That’s why Ducks Gen-
eral Manager Bob Murray made it a point to get faster in the off-season after a third straight Game 7 loss at home, to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference final. Speed is expected to be a big part of the Ducks’ style in their goal for a Stanley Cup, which starts Saturday with their season opener at San Jose.
Chicago is one of the best skating teams in the NHL, and it was revealing that this summer Murray said, “we have to move along with the times and we got a guy who can really skate,” when talking about acquiring Hagelin in a trade.
The Swedish left wing’s speed was evident in flashes of two preseason games, when he wheeled around defenders near the circles to create scoring chances.
It’s not that the Ducks were a slow-poke team before, but the addition of Hagelin and others gives them another element.
“We want to play fast all the time, but adding those legs that can move that much quicker is going to help,” Getzlaf said.
Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau knows there will be times when the Ducks are playing the second game of a back-to-back sequence against a rested opposition. That’s when players such as Hagelin will come into play, particularly in the third period.
Boudreau said it extends beyond Hagelin. Sekac has young legs, which was partly why Boudreau opted to use him in the conference final. Ryan Kesler, Jakob Silfverberg, Rickard Rakell and Mike Santorelli are also regarded as strong skaters.
“We’ve got some guys that can fly,” Boudreau said. “These guys are all really good skaters. Sekac. Rakell. We’re hoping there’s no downturn where we’ve got tired legs. Ever.”
The increase in speed can help on defense too, because the Ducks can use Hagelin and Cogliano as the two forwards on their penaltykilling unit. All it takes is one turnover at the blue line for either to generate a short-handed chance.
Cogliano thinks of speed in a different way, though.
“Getting the puck up the ice,” Cogliano said. “Getting the puck out of your end. I think that’s a big part of the game. You see all the good teams that go far in the playoffs are the ones that move the puck really fast and just move the puck at a higher level and a higher pace.”
Horcoff, 37, shares that philosophy, but he also nearly laughed when asked about his 2008 fastest skater title.
“That was a long time ago for me,” he said.
Horcoff actually wasn’t a great skater as a kid but worked on it with coaches through college and into his professional career. He signed with the Ducks after he served as captain of the Edmonton Oilers and more recently played for the Dallas Stars.
Like Hagelin, Horcoff can visualize the up-tempo pace his new teammates are capable of executing.
“Speed and skill throughout our lineup is going be pretty prevalent,” Horcoff said. “It’s such a fast game now that you need everybody to be able to skate. You can’t just get away with a couple of lines. You need all four lines going. It’s such a fast game that it takes so much energy to play it. You have to find depth.”
Horcoff’s skating has served him long enough to earn a chance at the Cup with the Ducks, who have all the pieces for another long spring. But Boudreau laid down a speed bump when it came to the talk surrounding his team.
Most major outlets have predicted a Cup for the Ducks. Wayne Gretzky this week told the NHL Network that the Ducks are “a team to reckon with.”
“If we’re good enough to make the playoffs, anything can happen,” Boudreau said. “But we’ve gotten a lot of accolades for doing nothing right now. We haven’t won a game. We haven’t done anything. . . . We’ve got to worry about ourselves on the ice, and everything else will take care of itself.”