Mighty Ducks no more, why does Anaheim suck this year?

We’re about one quarter through the National Hockey League's 2022-2023 and somebody has to say it — the Anaheim Ducks suck. 

The Ducks’ December 1st game against the Dallas Stars was a perfect example of all the problems that are plaguing a talented team trying its best to shake off its perpetually on-again losing streak. 

With John Klinberg still out from injury, the Ducks’ lineup wasn’t anything special but it revealed that coach Dallas Eakins is really struggling to develop cohesive play with so many important players missing from the roster. 

Sam Carrick has been out since May, still recovering from his torn labrum surgery, but it seems as if the whole team has been rotating out on injury. 

Jamie Drysdale’s shoulder injury is expected to keep him out of play until at least March, while Max Comtois and Isac Lundestrom are both expected to be out until mid-December. 

But Anaheim's injured roster is honestly the least of their problems when you look at how the team is performing on the power play. 

Anaheim’s power play has been struggling all season but their issues were really on display against the Stars. The Ducks put four shots on the net over the course of two minutes and it was only really Mason McTavish’s snipe off the pipe that really had a chance. 

Coming out of the game's first 4 on 5 Dallas’ Jason Robertson banked a shot off Ducks defender Urhu Vaakanainen to score the game's first goal, which really was a chance of opportunity created by Anaheim’s bad defense setup. 

The Ducks’ defense has been suffering all season but it's a problem Eakins seems unable to address. 

Back in September, Eakins mentioned that he had “ no interest in defending,” during a post-game press conference but maybe it's time he reevaluated that sentiment. 

“Defending to me is just holding and holding and holding,” Eakins continued, “We’ve got to go check and be strong on that. And it’s something that we did OK at during exhibition. I think we do an excellent job of it in practice.”

It's all well and good to perform well defensively in practice Eakins, but if you want your team to succeed this season you’re going to need them playing better than Bobby Orr at the peak of his dominance…

After the opening goal, things just went downhill for Anaheim in this season’s characteristically unique fashion. 

The Ducks were generating chances but they couldn’t get set up in the zone or put the puck into the back of the net. 

After the Stars killed their second penalty they kicked their play into high gear and the Ducks just fell apart. 

Colin Miller drew a tripping penalty, Robertson picked a post off with assistance from Miro Heiskanen for his second goal of the night, and the second period ended Anaheim's failure to capitalize on another power play. 

The third period was a mess of offensive opportunities for Dallas, who literally dominated their opponents, crushing any hope that the Ducks could equalize the game. 

So there you have your answer, the Ducks suck because their defense sucks, their top players are injured, and their coach just doesn’t understand the finer points of managing a winning hockey team…