Colorado Avalanche vs Anaheim Ducks Could Get Nasty

The Colorado Avalanche face their Western Conference rival Anaheim Ducks three times this season — all in January. The games could get nasty.

When the Colorado Avalanche face the Anaheim Ducks, it’s always interesting. Now, “interesting” once meant Patrick Roy pushing down the stanchion to get at Bruce Boudreau on opening night. Or “interesting” can mean the two teams scoring nine goals in the second period — six by the Ducks — as happened in March of 2014.

The Ducks were who the Colorado Avalanche were supposed to be — big, skilled, gritty and fast. Anaheim has a lethal one-two punch in Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. They’re backed up by a defense that’s big and a little mean.

The one area in which the Avalanche always held the advantage was goal tending. Anaheim had trouble in that position and was going through a revolving door of net minders. They seem to have that settled, though.

Changes Anaheim Made in the Offseason

The Anaheim Ducks had a busy offseason. First of all, they fired coach Bruce Boudreau after a first-round playoff exit. He’s now the head coach of the Minnesota Wild. Randy Carlyle is the Ducks’ new head coach.

Anaheim also let some players walk in free agency. Some of the key players are the following:

David Perron, left wing
Chris Stewart, right wing
Mike Santorelli, center
Brandon Pirri, center
Anton Khudobin, goalie
Jamie McGinn, left wing

The last is of especial interest to Avalanche fans, of course, because he was part of the Ryan O’Reilly trade. He got traded to the Ducks at deadline, but they didn’t keep him on. Anyway, he landed in Phoenix, so he still has sunny days ahead of him (both literally and metaphorically).

Here are some of the notable additions:

Jared Boll, right wing
Mason Raymond, left wing
Antoine Vermette, center
Jonathan Bernier, goalie
Nate Guenin, defenseman

Stop laughing — I added that last one because of his Avalanche connection. Yes, it’s most likely that he’ll spend the majority of the season in the AHL.

I find it interesting that the Ducks didn’t add any other defense and focused mainly on forwards. But they do seem to have their goalie situation figured out with youngster John Gibson and veteran Jonathan Bernier.

Fun fact: The Colorado Avalanche and Anaheim Ducks essentially shared Chris Wagner last season. Colorado picked him up on waivers then put him back on waivers — just for the Ducks to snap him up again.

More from Pacific Divison Previews:

How the Colorado Avalanche Stack Up Against the Anaheim Ducks

More from Mile High Sticking

Like I said, the Ducks were who the Avalanche were looking to be. Colorado still added some size with Joe Colburne and Patrick Wiercioch. However, from top to bottom, Colorado is a lot greener than Anaheim — and I obviously am not talking about foliage. The Avalanche are a perpetually young team.

Last season I had the Anaheim Ducks going all the way and winning the Stanley Cup. (Thanks for blowing my bracket, Anaheim.) They didn’t radically change the makeup of their team, so they still look to be contenders.

I think both teams, with their new coaches, are going to start out strong. I think Anaheim has the depth to keep going strong. The Ducks were the Pacific Division champions last season — I could see them winning the whole Conference next season.

Next: Avs Fans Can Expect Uptempo Team

I don’t see Colorado contending that strongly. However, Colorado went 2-1-0 against Anaheim last season. They could match up well against the Ducks specifically.

What’s odd is that all three of the games the Avalanche play against the Ducks are in January:

January 12, 2017: Ducks at Avalanche
January 19, 2017: Avalanche at Ducks
January 31, 2017: Avalanche at Ducks

Considering how hard to two teams go against each other, those can be some bloody battles made all the fiercer by facing each other over and over.

Should be an interesting January, Avs Nation.

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