Ducks season has been over for some time now, and there are a few things they need to do to make sure they don't repeat what occurred this season.
Anaheim To-Do List
Re-sign all needed players
Cut any unneeded players
Draft
Free agency
Prep for the future
Players that need to be re-signed-
Saku Koivu has been resigned, and with him on the team next year hopefully Teemu Selanne will follow. Teemu lead the team in points, he has to be signed, even if he was 100 years old.
Francois Beauchemin and Rod Pelley both need to be resigned. Pelley can put in more minutes and his contract is cheap. Beauchemin is a solid defender and the Ducks need that.
I'm all for Sheldon Brookbank and Niklas Hagman getting resigned as well. Both were good coming off the bench for Anaheim in filing minutes and contributing. They will get more ice time and know the team, and with Bruce Boudreau signed on for two more years, they need players that know the system and his style of coaching.
Saku Koivu has been resigned, and with him on the team next year hopefully Teemu Selanne will follow. Teemu lead the team in points, he has to be signed, even if he was 100 years old.
Francois Beauchemin and Rod Pelley both need to be resigned. Pelley can put in more minutes and his contract is cheap. Beauchemin is a solid defender and the Ducks need that.
I'm all for Sheldon Brookbank and Niklas Hagman getting resigned as well. Both were good coming off the bench for Anaheim in filing minutes and contributing. They will get more ice time and know the team, and with Bruce Boudreau signed on for two more years, they need players that know the system and his style of coaching.
Players needing to be cut-
Dan Ellis must be cut. He's injury prone and unreliable. He wasn't good enough when Anaheim was suffering during the first half of the season, and he wasn't good enough last season when it was him and Ray Emery (who I think the Blackhawks got for a steal at 600,000 in the off-season). He's taking up 1.5 million that I think could be used elsewhere, and with the signing of a new backup to Hiller, Ellis is out of here (at least he should be.
George Parros can go, though I won't mind seeing him stay. His contract is cheap, he's tough...but he missed almost half the season with injuries. Parros is a toss-up.
Players I don't know what to do with
The only question mark I have is Jason Blake. He was injured a good portion of the year, his contract is 3 million dollars, he's 38 years old. Despite that, he's an experienced left wingman for the Ducks. If you cut him, the young guys need to step up to cover what he brings (that's you Hagman and Beleskey). If you resign him, a restructured contract is in order.
Explore Free Agency and the Draft
The Ducks have around 19 million in cap space to use to sign guys on their team, as well as explore free agency. What they do in the draft will determine how aggressive they are. With the sixth pick in the draft, they must draft defense. Cam Fowler was a steal and has paid off in a big way. Adding another defender to compliment the speed and ability Fowler has is ideal. A powerful defender who can score would work like a ying and yang combination in the Ducks zone. With the cap room after resigning everyone they need to resign, they may still have something around 10 million to spend on free agents. At least do some looking
Plan for the future
The Ducks will have an estimate 45.7 million in cap room (http://capgeek.com/charts.php?Team=6). Getzlaf and Perry will need resigning, as will Visnovsky, all needed players for the success of the Ducks. Teemu and Koivu and Blake will most all likely retire. Factoring all things in, along with resigning all the players that need to be signed this year, the Ducks could make several moves in the off-season of 2014, but the time is now as well.
Plan for what will happen next year, plan this off-season, and give it your all this season. Why not send the veteran players out winners?
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