Anaheim’s Defense is the West’s best kept secret

With Cam Fowler out for the foreseeable future, the Anaheim Ducks’ defense has lost a lynchpin in their franchise. Lucky for them, underestimation is a comfortable companion.

There’s 3:07 left in the third. Predators versus Ducks. The score is even at 1 point each.

This is a game that fans dream of: give and takes of possession and power, pure exhilaration, periods that encourage biting nails down to the quick.

So when tragedy strikes, it’s a nuclear blow.

The injury is one that has audiences at home gasping with open mouths. It’s a graphic, blood on the ice, ‘silence in the stadium’ type of hit. Breath is held.

Finally, Cam Fowler moves, a glove attempting to hide his face. Only seconds before, Fowler had been routinely blocking a shot. In a freak trajectory, the puck hit Fowler’s stick and ricocheted under the visor of his helmet to strike his face point blank.

For perspective? A hockey slapshot can range in speed from roughly 75 mph to over 100 mph.

It came as no surprise that Fowler was put on injured reserve the next day, with Anaheim announcing that he had suffered multiple fractures to his cheekbone, orbital socket, and upper jaw bone. Just like that, The Ducks D-core dwindled.

And yet, it seemed that hope remained within Ducks fans. Just the same as when Josh Manson was injured earlier this year.

Perhaps it’s because they know something we don’t.

The life of a true fan involves knowing every detail of a team. Becoming near obsessed with the growth and development of their players. And beyond all… keeping the faith.

For Ducks fans, they watch the blue line every week and hold tight to the clandestine truth– the Ducks’ defense is the West’s best-kept secret.

They’re discreetly talented, not flashy like the Golden Knights or high profile like the Sharks. They flow well together, and it seems that any combination of players leads to results. So even with the absence of Fowler, they will be able to recover. That being said, recoveries are still rocky and they often require painful trials. Case and Point: the Ducks’ 5-0 loss to the Golden Knights two days after Fowler’s injury.

But take stock– look at the blue line leaders of this young team. Hampus Lindholm plays like a whisper. Delicate. Precise. Cutting. Josh Manson is a tour de force, a hurricane ripping through dense population, seeking the most efficient way to devastate. There is also Brandon Montour, a one-man war room… destructively strategic and deliberate.

They are flanked by a rotating roster of young talent so diverse in their skills that they look like veterans. While the potential of players like Marcus Pettersson and Jacob Larsson has not yet been reflected by points, their comfortability grows with each period.

Keeping the faith may be difficult with the radically inconsistent start that this team has turned out. But the problem is not on the blue line. Need proof? While the Ducks may be ranked 31st on the power play, they’re first in the league when it comes to shorthanded defense.

Next: NHL Power Rankings: 30 Best D of All-Time

So keep the faith. The puck has to go by defenders to get a goal… something that’s simple to forget when caught up in the ever-growing IR roster of this franchise.  And every team should fear going up against this core.

Now more than ever these players need the support of die hard’s and lifelong’s. So buckle up Ducks fans, nothing is over yet.