There is no better time to find out what the Anaheim Ducks have in Rickard Rakell than right now.
Really that was the case before a game was even played in 2017-2018, but it's even more prevalent now that the Ducks will be without franchise center Ryan Getzlaf for the foreseeable future.
Ducks general manager Bob Murray announced Tuesday that Getzlaf will miss up to two months after undergoing surgery to repair a fracture in his cheek.
An absent Getzlaf isn't really a new concept for the Ducks this season — the 32-year-old has already missed eight of Anaheim’s 14 games.