It appears that the Ducks two best young players, Ryan Getzlaf & Corey Perry, have a problem with giving a consistent effort. A couple of recent examples are the Oilers game before the break and the Olympics themselves. Going into the Oilers game Ryan Getzlaf was eager to prove that his ankle was healthy enough for him to still be effective and that he should not be taken off of Team Canada. So he DOMINATED the Oilers and racked up two goals and two assists in a blowout win for the Ducks. Speaking of Olympics, Corey Perry was determined to make Team Canada and played great to start the season. He was named to the team on December 31st, 2009. Let's take a look at some stats based on that date:
Perry (before being named to Team Canada)
16 goals
25 assists
41 points
40 games
Projected out over a season that's 33 goals, 51 assists for 86 points.
Perry (since being named to Team Canada)
6 goals
13 assists
19 points
23 games
Projected out over a season that's 21 goals, 46 assists for 67 points.
Perry has definitely cooled off since the motivation to make Team Canada was removed. Is that a coincedence? Maybe. But I don't think it is. I think it's another example of how these two players need something to motivate them or else they will simply not give their best effort on a regular basis.
It's not just with the Ducks, either. In the Olympics both Perry & Getzlaf started slow. Mike Babcock had to have a talk with them after the first couple of games and after that we saw them become dominant players for Team Canada. (
LINK) Then they come back to Anaheim and lay an egg as they combined for no goals, one assist, -2 and one hit (they were also 8-for-22 in the faceoff circle for a whopping 36% success rate) against the Avalanche last night.
This has been an issue with both of them for years now and I, for one, am getting sick of it. When they play hard they are dominant and almost impossible to stop as we have seen in the past. When they don't play hard, though, they suck up 20+ minutes a night with no results...as we've seen in the past. I know it's possible for a player to play hard at least 90% of the time because I've seen Alexander Ovechkin do it for years now. Dan Sexton is currently doing it for the Ducks as well. If Getzlaf & Perry simply had the drive of a guy like Sexton think how good they would be. I'm not asking for them to play balls to the wall hockey every single night but at least 90% of the time. They are being paid millions and they should be held to that standard, in my opinion.
We entered this season thinking that the line of Ryan/Getzlaf/Perry would be one of, if not the, best lines in all of hockey and that has not been the case...at all. Why? Some may blame head coach Randy Carlyle but I have to believe that Carlyle is doing all he can to get those guys to play their best every single game. To me the responsibility lies with them and them alone. They have to want to play hard because if they decide to give less than their best effort nothing any coach, player or fan can say will change that.
Maybe I'm expecting too much out of them. Maybe I'm not being fair and I've overevaluated them. I don't think so, though. I want to see Getzlaf and Perry live up to their potential and play like we all know they can play for an entire season instead of just a few games here and there. They have what it takes to be among the truly elite players in this league and yet they are closer to guys like Tomas Plekanec and Mike Green in production this season than they are to guys like Crosby, Thornton, Sedin or Kane. That's not acceptable to me. Getzlaf dominated Joe Thornton in the playoffs last season but Joe is on his way to his third 100 point season while Getzlaf is on pace for 87 points. It's not a huge difference but it's the difference between being a consistent star player and being a very good player. Getzlaf and Perry have the physical talent to be consistent star players and I hope they can get the mental attitude to realize that potential.
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