Ducks and Blackhawks play game with draft implications

DUCKS

The Ducks’ John Klingberg, center, has started to find his offensive game, just in time for Friday’s trade deadline. MATT SLOCUM — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Lisa Dillman

ldillman@scng.com

Essentially, there should be three categories for the Ducks’ 22 remaining games.

Home games: 15.

Road games: seven.

Bedard-related contests: six.

At this point, it looks as if there are six teams in the Connor Bedard Derby, as in the race to finish at the bottom of the NHL standings and secure the best odds to win the league’s draft lottery and the chance at selecting a generational talent.

On Sunday, there were seven points separating six teams, No. 27 (Vancouver) and No. 32 (Columbus). Montreal could easily be a seventh team, but the Canadiens have 54 points, three ahead of the Canucks and 10 ahead of the Blue Jackets.

That’s a lot of ground — even allowing for a historic swoon — to make up as teams approach the final quarter of the season.

The Ducks, having secured five of a possible eight points on their just-completed, four-game trip, are 31st, one point ahead of the Blue Jackets and two behind the Chicago Blackhawks. The Ducks have three games remaining against the Canucks, one against the Blue Jackets, one against the Arizona Coyotes and one against the Blackhawks.

Chicago is worth highlighting because it happens to be the Ducks’ next opponent, tonight at Honda Center, and the second-to-last game before the league’s trade deadline on Friday.

The Ducks play Montreal on Friday night, and it will be fascinating to see who isn’t (and who is) in the lineup, starting with pending unrestricted free agent John Klingberg. Of note, the defenseman’s offensive game has ticked up as the deadline approaches, with eight points (two goals, six assists) in his past eight games.

Milestones

Cam Fowler’s second-period assist on Troy Terry’s goal in the Ducks’ 3-2 win at Carolina on Saturday night happened to be Fowler’s 400th career point (90 goals, 310 assists) in 871 games. Not only did he become the first defenseman in team history (all points with the Ducks) to hit that mark, he was also the first D-man from the 2010 draft to reach 400.

The player right behind Fowler on that list of 2010 luminaries is Klingberg with 397 points in 601 games. Fowler was taken 12th in 2010, while Klingberg was selected by the Dallas Stars in the fifth round, 131st overall.

Also worth noting is that Fowler has played the third-most games of the 2010 draft class, trailing the Buffalo Sabres’ Jeff Skinner (907), who was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes, and the Stars’ Tyler Seguin (884), selected by the Boston Bruins.