Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher
ANA - Their stars are aging but they do have some youngsters bridging the gap. Hard to write off any team with a goaltender as good as Gibson in a league where goaltending is the single most important position.
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In part because of their aging core, they have dealt with a ton of injuries and games missed.
Last year their top five scorers were Rakell, Getzlaf, Perry, Silfverberg and Kase.
Rakell is the only one who has played all games. Getzlaf has missed 6. Perry has missed the entire season so far. Silfverberg has missed 5 and Kase had missed most of the season having played only 6 games so far.
Kesler has missed games since coming back and missing much of last season. Eaves might just be done at this point. Ritchie was suppose to get an opportunity playing on the top line this year, but instead he's been routinely injured.
Similarly, Lindholm, Fowler, Montour and Manson were their top 4 defenseman.
Lindholm and Fowler are currently out. Manson has missed 5 games.
The team deserves every bit of bad luck they've received, but this team isn't all that different than the one that broke 100 points last year. If Perry comes back healthy, as does everyone else, they should bounce back some. Especially with Gibbons playing as he has.
Still have Getzlaf, Perry and Kesler at 24M for the next three years ha.