Last week our Sunday opinion piece, written by Greg Johnson, focused on the decline of Francois Beauchemin. In the ensuing week, the Ducks announced that their other very veteran defenseman Kevin Bieksa would miss significant time. Hand surgery will keep Bieksa out of the lineup for 2-5 weeks. At first, I thought Bieksa’s absence might be an addition by subtraction. Upon further review, that was a bit short sided.
I was getting comfortable with coach Randy Carlyle alternating Bieksa and Beauchemin alongside rookie Marcus Pettersson on the third defense pairing. Bieksa’s absence, however, will force Beauchemin into an everyday situation.