Storylines: Anaheim Ducks Offseason

Well, the Ducks have failed to qualify for the post-season this year, and now it's time to look ahead at the team that will be playing come september. There are so many different factors that will go into what changes will be made this offseason that it will take several blogs just to preview it all. Here is my outline, and intro to the offseason preview, and what to look out for.

Empty roster spots.
The free agents we have leave 6 key holes in the roster. We could either resign or replace those players with new FA's or prospects. All of our UFA's add up to 20 million dollars in cap room.

Bobby Ryan
Ryan has been a key force on Anaheim's roster and re-signing him his at the top of Bob Murray's to-do list guaranteed, and many subsequent moves revolve around whether or not he is signed.

Old Timers, Retiring?
Scott Niedermayer, Teemu Selanne, and Saku Koivu are all UFA's this postseason. The 3 of them combine for about 11 million in salary but play huge roles on the team.

New Money coming in
The NHL salary cap will be raised by 900k next season plus this was the final year of the Todd Bertuzzi contract buyout.

The Lupul/Blake issue
Lupul and Blake both combine for 8.25 million dollars in salary cap pay. Yet the two only produced 30 points altogether. If Bobby Ryan is resigned, the Ducks will have up to 13 million dollars tied up in 3 left wingers. One or both (lots of salary freed)needs to be traded.

The Draft
The Ducks hold 2 1st round picks in this year's draft. One of which is guaranteed to be top 15 overall. Either way neither of the picks will be lower than 20th overall. Murray can either trade up and draft well. Or use the picks as trade bait since this years pool is weak as it is.

Youngsters
What role will the rookies play and will they crack the lineup? Sexton, Bodie, and Beleskey are all mainstays in the lineup and Sbisa is guaranteed a spot. But what about Gardiner, Clark, Mikkelson, Bonino, Newton, and Holland? Could they crack the lineup come Game 1?

New Coach?
Murray said he wanted to keep Carlyle at the reins, and obviously missing the playoffs one year is no reason to fire a coach. But, the success of the 06-07 season has not even been close to being duplicated and each year we see a record worse than the last. There is always one first step to every turnaround success story in the league today, a new coach.

There is plenty to watch out for this offseason, so make sure you stay tuned.

P.S all of the topics I covered will have their own blog.