The Anaheim Ducks can’t seem to stay out of the headlines lately. Much of the buzz has come off the ice, but that doesn’t mean that the product on the ice is boring, by any means.
Ducks Name Teats Club President
The Ducks have been moving parts around inside the higher echelons of their organization and the moving didn’t stop on Friday, Feb. 11 when the team announced that Aaron Teats was named club president.
Teats had previously served as president of business operations. He is currently an alternate governor for the Ducks and also currently oversees the construction of ocV!be Sports and Entertainment, the $3 million, 95-acre mixed-use and live entertainment district which will surround Honda Center. ocV!be is expected to be completed in 2024.
Related: Anaheim Ducks Need an All-Star Game Soon
Teats is in his 27th year with the Ducks and spent the early years of his tenure as a producer and director of the team’s broadcasting department. He won an Emmy for producer in best live sports coverage category for his work during the Ducks’ Stanley Cup run during the 2002-03 season. He also spent time as the organization’s director of broadcasting and chief marketing officer.
Milano Returns to the Lineup
Sonny Milano made his first appearance in almost a month after spending time on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. His insertion into Friday’s lineup against the Seattle Kraken reunited him with Trevor Zegras and Rickard Rakell, a line that has been one of the Ducks’ most consistent since the trio were brought together.
The Zegras line had a rough night defensively, as they were on the ice for two of the Kraken’s four goals. Though it wasn’t the return that Milano hoped for, his return to the lineup means that the Ducks now have another offensive weapon at their dispense.
EA Bringing “The Zegras” to NHL?
We’ve seen the EA Sports franchise bring the lacrosse goal to their NHL video game series in NHL 21. Could Zegras’ “Dishigan” be coming to NHL 23? It’s a possibility, writes ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. He sat down with Sean Ramjagsingh–who produces the NHL series for EA–who explained that discussions are already underway about adding the move to next year’s game.
Fans around the world have been trying to pull off their own wonky versions of Zegras’ lacrosse-style pass in NHL 22, some to no avail. The addition of specific controls to pull off such a move like that of the lacrosse goal (after Andrei Svechnikov pulled it off twice in the same season) would surely make it easier for players to replicate their own version of the “Dishigan.”
The only roadblock, it seems, would be the move itself. Is this something that can be replicated again? Though it’s only been just about two months since Zegras and Milano combined for the stunning play against the Buffalo Sabres, there’s been nary an attempt from any other player to pull this off again.
Milano did try his own self-pass last month against the Philadelphia Flyers and also attempted the same move during the 2019-20 season while with the Columbus Blue Jackets, but we haven’t seen a move similar to the one between Zegras and Milano since Pavel Datsyuk tried about 13 years ago (though I should note that Phil Kessel did, in fact, flip the puck over the net for an assist in 2017).
Related: Ducks Prospects: Zellweger, Colangelo & More
Many have found it difficult to pull off the lacrosse goal in the NHL video game series. That makes sense. It’s a difficult move, whether in real life or virtual. Is the addition of the “Dishigan” something that EA needs to incorporate into NHL 23 and beyond?
The Ducks will be raring to go tomorrow night in Alberta, after faltering late in the third period against the Kraken. The Ducks’ matchup against the Calgary Flames is the first of three on their week-long Canadian road trip before a return home next Tuesday.
