The Anaheim Ducks finished second in the ultra-competitive Pacific Division a season ago, tied with Phoenix and a point better than Los Angeles. They were returning essentially the same lineup, a lineup that featured the league MVP (Corey Perry), three other star forwards (Ryan Getzlaf, Bobby Ryan and Teemu Selanne), a deep defense with a high profile sophomore (Cam Fowler), and an All-Star in net (Jonas Hiller). Big things were expected of this group. But they stunk. Bad. Really bad. So bad, their coach was fired December 1 when they were 7-13-4. So bad that even that didn’t help, as they went 3-8-2 in Bruce Boudreau’s first month behind the bench (after being fired by Washington). Perry was good, but not great, dipping from 50-48-98 to 37-23-60 and a minus-7. Getzlaf had a career-low 11 goals, and his 57 points were his lowest since he was a rookie; he was also minus-11, the first time in his career he was a minus player. His leadership was questioned throughout the season. Their leading point-getter was a fossil, albeit a fossil still playing at a high level (the 41-year-old Selanne had 66 points). The promising Fowler was minus-28. A year after leading all defensemen in scoring with 68 points, Lubomir Visnovsky registered merely 27. Hiller was anything but an All-Star early, winning only two of 12 starts in November with a .895 save percentage. But look at those names again and you say to yourself: “There is no way they are that bad next year”, a statement that is very likely to be true. It is doubtful they need a full overhaul, just some help in particular areas. First on offense, where the team got virtually nothing outside of Selanne, Perry, and Ryan (31 goals). You have to believe Perry will fit roughly between this year and his MVP year, while Getzlaf is capable of being much better than he was this year, and Ryan is good for 30+ goals in his sleep. Selanne could retire or come back, but either way, this team needs better second-line players, and more production from the third-line. They were 24th in shots per game, 23rd in goals per game, 23rd in 5-on-5 goal differential, and 21st on the power play. Their secondary players did not contribute, and that needs to be addressed in the offseason. Perhaps players from the UFA pool like Alexander Semin, Ryan Smyth, Olli Jokinen, Dustin Penner, and Brad Boyes can be looked at with some of the $16M coming off of their books. The other number that jumps out is their faceoff success, or utter lack thereof; their 47.4% rate was 28th out of 30 teams. They had only one player with more than 65 attempts that won more than 50%, Saku Koivu (52.4%). Getzlaf took the most draws on the team, but only won 47.2% of them. Jokinen (46.5%) doesn’t help them here, but perhaps they can trade for a guy like Manny Malhotra (58.5%) if he becomes available. Heck, even Scott Gomez (49.6% and likely to be bought out) is an upgrade over their current roster. Paul Gaustad is another good fit (57.3%). Tweaking little things like depth up front and the faceoff success, along with their stars regaining their form, should see Anaheim back in playoff contention next year. Nick is RealGM’s NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email nick.obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan