So last week, I wanted to open the discussion about envisioning this team's "post-8" future.  Though premature, some interesting thoughts came out of the forth and back in the comments.  What became obvious after reviewing the post was that regardless of what direction the Ducks embark upon it begins and end with Teemu's version of "The Decision."

On the other hand, the Ducks have seemingly made all the offseason moves that they had planned to make regarding their defense earlier on this offseason; the most notable transaction of course being the swapping of big boys Andy Sutton and Kurtis Foster with the Edmonton Oilers.  Aside from that, Bob Murray brought experienced minor leaguers Bryan Rodney, Mathieu Carle and Matt Smaby to help bolster a struggling Syracuse Crunch squad while also continuing the retooling of the organization's defensive depth charts (You might have forgot to say good bye and good luck to former prospects Brett Festerling, Brendan Mikkelson, Mark Mitera, Dany Syvret).

In addition, with many of the rearguards returning, team chemistry looks to bode well in comparison to the previous two seasons, which saw quite a bit of turn over year to year.  Plus, the Ducks did boast one of the most effective tandems in the league last season as well as one of the most dynamic young defenseman in the game.  Couple that with rising and veteran physical presence and you have a defense that projects to be able to compete at a higher level then has been the case in the previous two seasons (or so we here hope!).

So that leads us again to look at what cards we would be playing with if we were Bob or Randy informally seeing how our deck stacks up against other teams'.  This time, of course, with the focus being the formulation of our hypothetical "Plan D," as in D-fense...

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"Yes, there’s a Plan B. We’d have to do some things that I don’t want to discuss right now... but we’d have to look at building the team a different way...  That time is going to come. Of course, we talk about it."

Surely, many of you have read these recent comments by Ducks' GM Bob Murray regarding the prospects of a 2011-2012 Anaheim Ducks Team without future Hall of Famer, Teemu Selanne, and surely, just as many of you have feared to wonder too much about such prospects as we all wait optimistic about the chances of seeing the Finnish Flash's return to the Pond.  However, with the anxiety of anticipation in full swing, I thought it might be fun to formulate our own "Plan B."  But since Murray already made claim to that name, I figured our plan would most obviously be named "Plan C."

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Read this at your own delight or dismay!  Went unpublish for a reason, but I decided to post it due to sheer Ducks Hockey Off-Season Boredom.  Thought a changeup from the acquisition talks and such to focus on the hockey was needed...

In hindsight, our Ducks Team overachieved mightily for a season that many (not so many here) saw as a rebuilding year in Anaheim.  Why, with the departure of future hall member, Scott Niedermayer, it seemed as though the Ducks had a tall task in order of piecing together a defensive unit that could compete at the highest level for a full NHL season last July.  Starting the season the way the Ducks did, with 3 blowout loses, it looked as though our boys were destined to live out the season that many "experts" had penned for them.

However, somewhere between the offseason and "on-the-fly" retooling of their backend players, the Ducks formed a rearguard that met the challenge of competing with the world's best offenses and ultimately found themselves in the mix of one of the exciting playoff runs the Western Conference has ever experienced.  Obviously, the fairy tale ending was crushed by a pesky Predator team riding Pekka Rinne, but nevertheless our Ducks Defenders came together to make a season out of one experts had us throwing away.

The question I had was why were the Ducks able to surprise some by shoving their way into the playoffs without the services of early-season Vezina hopeful Jonas Hiller?  Surely, names like Lubomir Visnovsky and Toni Lydman should come first in this discussion as the 2 cemented their roles at the top of Anaheim's blueline corp, and of course, where would the Ducks have been this season without the amazing contributions of Paul Mara, Andreas Lilija, Dan Ellis and Ray Emery (all acquisitions made on-the-fly).  And while all these factors were the bigger picture, many of us here at AC will admit that it was easy to forget all of these when #s 4 and 5 stepped on the ice.  These two raw talents seemed to grab our collective attentions throughout the season and I often found myself expecting magic from them.  Thus, I wanted to focus on the amazing development of our two young guns, Cam Fowler and Luca Sbisa, in a full op-ed post to keep me going until the upcoming season or at least until we all hear from Teemu.

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via cdn.bleacherreport.net

There have been few constants during this season of Ducks' Hockey especially when talking about personnel.  A few months removed from Lupul goal counters, the lamentations of a lost Beauchemin and Brendan Mikkelsson (remember?!), we nervously watch our Ducks in the midst of one of the more ominous playoff matchups in recent memory (many here called this the matchup that tasted like fear).  And though most paid critics had written off the Ducks before the offseason had even started, here we are on the precipice of Game 2 of the Quarterfinals as the 4th seed in arguably the strongest conference, the strongest division and tightest overall playoff race ever.

The Ducks galavanted off with the 4th seed riding one of the strongest individual performances ever by a Duck in the storyline of the last month and 2 weeks; Mr. Corey "Motherf**kin" Perry aka Clutch and his personal campaign for the Hart.  However, lurking quietly under the feel-good stories of "The Ageless One-der" and "Emer-genc-y Backup Plan Homerun," was a not-so-feel-good-actually-houston-we-may-have-a-problem story of a team without a third line!  Let me explain...

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via www.hockeyhermit.com

Just got to thinking about the idea of splitting up Getzlaf and Perry.  I mean they're not conjoined or anything and they are both supremely talented, so much so, that anchoring their own lines doesn't sound like such a bad idea when I say it aloud.

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First off, new to the blog and just wanted to say really enjoy the coverage you guys and gals provide on my favorite sports team (a big angels and lakers fan as well, but they're not hockey).

Just wanted to chime in and role play as Bob Murray for my first fanpost.  Hopefully, it has some insight that might spark some dialog...

The Biz is "Wiz," or more specifically, James Wisniewski and the debate as I have read it the past few weeks is as follows...  Is he worth signing for the raise he will most likely recieve this offseason as a restricted free agent?

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