I’m going to admit something to you: this piece was originally going to be a breakdown of why the Ducks shutdown line wasn’t shutting people down anymore and how they have become a defensive liability on the ice.
But life happened and I got a little lazy and just put it off. Apparently, Ryan Kesler, Andrew Cogliano, and Jakob Silfverberg got wind of my intentions and decided they wanted to change the narrative. And it looks like they’re succeeding.
Anyone who has watched the Ducks since Kesler’s return has noticed that the shutdown line wasn’t really, you know, shutting players down.