Hope and excitement are high three games into the NHL season, and every team thinks it has a chance to win the Stanley Cup. There is hope even for the rebranded Anaheim Ducks, whose most recent playoff victory occurred less than four months after Barack Obama’s departure from the White House.
Defenseman Cam Fowler, one of two Ducks players who were on that 2017 playoff club, stated, “You have to have that mentality, that this is a playoff team.” “I’d be shocked if anyone in here didn’t think we could accomplish that.”
But even 32-year-old Fowler admits that mindset, along with the Ducks’ new bright-orange clothes and redesigned emblem, won’t be enough to turn around the team’s fortunes after six consecutive losing seasons (the Ducks call a large portion of that time frame “rebuilding years”). It will also require some victories.
He remarked, “There’s only so much you can say or do.” “You must demonstrate it throughout the season. Even though things haven’t gone [our] way in the past several years, that doesn’t mean this year has to be any different.
The team’s devoted supporters were evident on Wednesday, when Honda Center was packed with 17,245 people for the home opener. And they were satisfied after defeating Utah 5–4 in overtime, which gave them two victories in their opening three games for the first time since 2021.
That club ended seventh in the Pacific Division, which had eight teams, after losing six straight games. A group of youthful, gifted, but ultimately untested players will decide if this season is like that one or if it is the Ducks’ first attempt at a postseason run. Thus, at best, the optimism and hope should be welcomed with caution.
