ANAHEIM — Max Comtois couldn’t crack the Ducks’ lineup for their game Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils at Honda Center. His ongoing struggles on the ice left him the odd-man out for the second time in 11 games this season, a direct result of his lack of a goal or an assist to start 2021-22.
“The kid’s in a rut,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said.
But there is more to Comtois’ struggles than a lack of scoring, after he led the Ducks with 16 goals and 33 assists during the pandemic-altered 2020-21 season. The other parts of his game have suffered, too. His minus-8 defensive rating was the worst among all of the Ducks’ forwards.
Comtois played only eight shifts covering 7:46 of ice time during the Ducks’ victory Sunday over the Montreal Canadiens, and he was benched for all of the third period. He wasn’t credited with a shot on goal despite playing 5:18 while the Ducks were on power plays.
“A lot of it is that goal just hasn’t gone in,” Eakins said. “He’s had some unbelievable, glorious chances. I think that’s weighing heavily on him. The thing we’re not going to do as an organization is let you play just to score a goal and suddenly you’re playing a good game.
“There’s other parts of his game that are suffering.”
Eakins said he’s spoken with the 22-year-old left wing.
“He knows where we stand and we know where he stands,” Eakins said. “He’s going to work his way out of it. He’s committed to it. We are. This kid, he could easily be our No. 1 or No. 2 left winger for a very long time. We still have a great belief in that. We’re not down on the player.”
Eakins referred to Comtois’ scoring slump as “a little valley” on his career path and cautioned against reading anything more into his benching. However, under other circumstances, the Ducks might have sent Comtois to their AHL team in San Diego to regain his confidence.
“There’s a process for a player going through this,” Eakins said. “They’re going to fight back. They’re going to stick with the same habits because they believe in them. But he understands that he needs a little bit of change, and we’re all in on this kid. I’ve loved him since day one. He’s got all the skill set we need.”
NUCLEAR DETERRENT
Eakins shuffled his line combinations for Tuesday’s game against New Jersey, in part because he had to with several injured or ill players out of the lineup, but also because he’s been concerned with some of the hits rookie center Trevor Zegras has absorbed recently, especially Sunday.
So, Eakins slotted enforcer Nicolas Deslauriers onto left wing to form a new line with Zegras and right wing Sonny Milano for Tuesday’s game. Eakins said the addition of the 6-foot-1, 220-pound Deslauriers would “certainly make someone think twice about taking a shot at those kids.”
Montreal’s Cedric Paquette crossed a line when he thumped Zegras into the glass Sunday, causing a head wound that required stitches. Paquette was given a boarding major and a game misconduct and then suspended two games by the NHL for his check in the back.