The Ducks had to experience the indignity of being swept out of the playoffs by San Jose while being outscored 16-4 before they could accept the reality of what drives today’s NHL. Belatedly and maybe more than a little reluctantly, they’ve realized they can’t waddle while everyone else is flying.
“We kind of got into a rut of how we were going to play and we fell behind in some of the changes that were going on around the league and how teams were thinking about the game,” general manager Bob Murray said. “I would say we want to be much more aggressive — aggressive not physically, but aggressive skating all over the ice on the puck, on everything.