2016-17 Player Review: Patrick Eaves

The Ducks were relatively quiet in the hours leading up to the NHL trade deadline last March 1, making it easy to forget that a week prior they had made an acquisition that would prove to be monumental.

The trade with the Dallas Stars to acquire right wing Patrick Eaves became arguably the best move made by any team in the days leading up to the deadline. Yes, the Ducks gave up a conditional 2017 second round draft pick to the Stars that would turn into a first round pick when Anaheim advanced to the Western Conference Final. But in Eaves they brought in a bona fide scoring threat and a tremendous veteran presence in the locker room - not to mention one of the league's (it not the world's) most prolific beards.
The then 32-year-old Eaves already had a career-high 21 goals and was tied for fourth in the NHL with 11 power play goals at the time of the deal. He would reel off 11 more in just 20 games with Anaheim, including two in seven playoff games. That scoring output, not to mention a likeable personality and that substantial beard, made Eaves an almost-instant fan favorite in Anaheim. In fact, he was one of the central figures in the team's promotional materials for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a rarity for a player who has only been with a team for a month and a half.

Unfortunately, the Ducks lost Eaves to an ankle injury for the remainder of the postseason after Game 3 of the Second Round vs. Edmonton, when he got tangled with an Oilers player and ended up in a boot and on crutches for several days afterward.
He did start skating again soon before the Ducks were eliminated by the Predators in Game 6 of the conference final, and it was the absence of Eaves (not to mention Ducks winger Rickard Rakell) that was noticeable in that early exit. Without those two, Anaheim scored a total of four goals in their final two losses to the Preds.
"When you lose players, it's part of life in the playoffs," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said in the midst of that Nashville series. "We lost a pretty good player in Patrick Eaves. You guys seem to forget about that. He was one of our top goal-scorers, maybe one of our best players since the [NHL] Trade Deadline. Reignited our offense."
The Ducks recognized that in mid-June, about a week before Eaves officially became a free agent. Though there was speculation his breakout season would make him difficult for Anaheim to afford, he and the Ducks agreed to a three-year contract extension that keeps him in Orange County through the 2019-20 season.
"I spoke to my agent, and told him this is where I wanted to be," Eaves said during a conference call with reporters after the deal was signed. "My agent knew Anaheim meant something to me. I wanted to be a part of everything they were doing. Today it all came to a head. I'm so excited to be there and be a part of things. That's all I wanted."
It was during that call that reporters were reminded of Eaves congenial nature, and his neighbors back in Dallas showed how much they enjoyed him after news of the signing got out.

Whether Eaves, who turned 33 on May 1, can rekindle the magic of his 32-goal season remains to be seen, but he didn't take long to develop a chemistry with center Ryan Getzlaf that looks promising for the future. And he quickly jelled with a tightknit Ducks group soon after coming to Anaheim, something he said contributed to his decision to re-sign.
"Bob Murray] has a great blueprint there and he has a veteran group of guys and great young guys," Eaves said. "Being in that locker room is something special and I noticed that on day 1. That was a big deal for me."
Eaves' offseason has included full recovery from the ankle injury, not to mention a third straight victory in the
[charity table tennis tournament called Smashfest IV
-- probably due to the training for the event he depicted on his Twitter account: