For those that have missed this segment, this is a weekly series on Anaheim Calling to take a look at how various players on the team have fared. I will arbitrarily rank a random topic along on a scale of 1 to 5 stars and place different Ducks within the categories based on their performance over the past week. My reasoning for the rating of the Ducks will be based on stats results, and probably some of my bias. My reasoning for the rating of the random topic will be completely biased #dealwithit. I will elaborate more on some players than others. I expect everyone to probably disagree with me on both topics and all of my takes will be outed. If there is something you would like me to rank please feel free to leave it in the comments. On to the fun!

The games included in the ratings for this week are Nov 19th against the Panthers, Nov 20th against the Sharks, Nov 22nd against the Golden Knights, and Nov 24th against the Jets.

With Thanksgiving being this past Thursday, I wanted to build on my #brand of amazing food takes. This week I turn my attention to Thanksgiving food and plan to offend everyone. Like past weeks these rankings are 100% correct and no one can tell me other wise.

5 Stars: Mashed Potatoes/Yams with Maple Glaze/Mac and Cheese

Mmmmmmm. Mashed potatoes. They are a must have on Thanksgiving and are always delicious. I wanted to include a few of the other carbs also because these sides are what make Thanksgiving awesome.

John Gibson – John Gibson, yet again, had a great week. He stopped 128 of 137 shots over the week for a 0.934 sv% (last week he had a .936 sv% for reference) and he accumulated a 3.6 GSAA through the week. Like I said last week, this means if an average Goalie was in net instead of Gibson, the Ducks would have allowed 3.6 more goals against. That is kind of insane when you realize the team gave up 9 goals over the three games Gibson played. He had very little help this week, and was the only reason the Ducks beat the Panthers and were even close to Vegas. Gibson can go ahead and eat a plateful of these amazing 5-star sides for his 5-star performance.

Hampus Lindholm - I was not expecting to give anyone besides Gibson 5 stars due to the poor team performance during the week, but looking at the stats, Lindholm definitely had a 5 star performance. During a week filled with awful play, Lindholm was above 50% in CF% and was at 60.35% xGF% all while leading the team in TOI. If you want to nitpick, he had 8 giveaways, but that is a slightly subjective stat and does not outweigh the fact that he was above 60% in xGF% when only three players on the team were above 50%.

Josh Manson - He had a similar week to Lindholm, as expected, in CF% and xGF% and on top of that he had 2 breakaway goals and almost 2-3 more breakaway goals. That is definitely the top pairing on the team and helping to keep them afloat.

4 Stars: Turkey

The Thanksgiving staple. You cannot have a Thanksgiving meal without having turkey and oh man it is great. You can either go for the white meat if you want the slightly healthier option or go all out and get the more delicious dark meat. The only reason why Turkey is not 5 stars is because it can be screwed up. If the meat is too dry it can ruin the meal.

Corey Perry - Shot metrics wise, Perry was not that great this week (40% CF% and 48.21% xGF%) but his point production cannot be ignored. Perry put up a goal, 2 primary assists, and a secondary assist for 4 total points in 4 games. On top of that he was second on the team in shot attempts and individual xG. If someone who is actually good in their own zone and has some skill is allowed to center Perry and Rakell, that line could go off. #PerryisStillGood #TakeGrantofftheFirstLine

Rickard Rakell - I could copy exactly what I said for Perry if I wanted to and just insert Rakells stats and name and it would be correct. Eh why not lets do that: Shot metrics wise, Rakell was not that great this week (36% CF% and 41% xGF%) but his point production cannot be ignored. Rakell put up 2 goal and a secondary assist for 3 total points in 4 games. On top of that he was first on the team in shot attempts and individual xG. If someone who is actually good in their own zone and has some skill is allowed to center Perry and Rakell, that line could go off. #RakellisStillGood #TakeGrantofftheFirstLine. Ok the Rakell is still good bit probably won’t need to take off like the Perry one.

Andrew Cogliano - Cogliano gets a 4 star rating simply due to his shot metrics relative to the rest of the team. He was the only forward with an xGF% above 50% and essentially at 50% in CF%. He did not produce any points, but should be praised for his ability to drive play to the other teams end when no other forward could.

Brandon Montour - Montour was below 40% in CF% and was at 43% xGF%, but he also produced a goal, a primary assist, and a secondary assist. I would love to see his shot metrics come up in the following weeks, but his production cannot be ignored when evaluating him this week. He played a major part in both Ducks wins and scored one of the shootout goals against the Sharks.

3 Stars: Pumpkin Pie

I am a huge pumpkin pie fan, but , and its a big but, I have to be in the right mood for it. If I am not in that mood it is completely average and deserving of a 3 star rating.

Jakob Silfverberg - Silfverberg had a similar week to Cogliano but was slightly worse in both stats. He also took a pretty bad penalty that lead to the game tying goal against in San Jose. On a positive note he was third on the team in individual shot attempts. Silfverberg did not produce any points this week. He had a performance on par with pumpkin pie.

Nick Ritchie-Antoine Vermette-Kevin Roy - This line was pretty average this week for the team. They were below 50% in all of the main metrics, but did create some solid chances for the team. As a founding member of the Kevin Roy fan club, his play has been impressive relative to what I expected from him. This line will need to pick it up though or else they could drop down next week.

2 Stars: Stuffing

I almost put stuffing at 1 star because it really isn’t that great, but then I had some today and realized its bad, but not the worst thing available at Thanksgiving. I expect this will anger a lot of people, but whatevs. Stuffing is way overrated.

Cam Fowler - Fowler came back into the lineup this week, and as a pretty big Fowler fan it pains me to say he was not good. He was below 40% in both xGF% and CF%, which shows that he was trapped in his own end a bunch and gave up a lot of shots against. I would love to see the D pairs shifted to try and utilize him better.

Francois Beauchemin - Beauchemin had a really bad game against the Panthers, but made up for it with a pretty solid one against the Jets. If Beauchemin is used as the 6th or 7th D man moving forward, I am completely fine with that.

Derek Grant - Grant, as could be expected if you read Perry and Rakell’s summary, was pretty bad in shot metrics (38% CF% and 48% xGF%). On top of that he only had 1 point this week and it was a goal on the PP. It was a pretty nice tip and is what kept him from a 1 star rating. Grant was not able to poach even a secondary assist off of Perry and Rakell this week and I believe he is the big reason that line has been on the negative side of shot metrics. He is pretty poor in his own end and cannot break the puck out of the zone. #TakeGrantOffTheTopLine

Sami Vatanen - Sami had a pretty poor week shot metrics wise, but he did produce a fair amount of individual shot attempts in all situations. I struggled with whether to give Vatanen 2 or 1 stars, but it was his individual shot production that kept him from being as bad as cranberry sauce. Like with Fowler I think the D pairs can be adjusted to better utilize Vatanen.

1 Star: Cranberry Sauce

I don’t feel like I need to elaborate on this that much. The cranberry sauce used at Thanksgiving is usually a jello like substance that looks and tastes gross. If you need the cranberry sauce for you to enjoy thanksgiving turkey then something is either wrong with you or your turkey.

Chris Wagner - I am not quite sure how, but his shot metrics are significantly worse than his linemates this week. He was below 40% in both CF% and xGF%, which is no bueno when you lead all centers in TOI (Please come back Kesler and Getzlaf!).

Kevin Bieksa - Bieksa retains his position as 1 star for the third straight week. The only positive thing I can really say is Bieksa wasn’t on the ice for a goal against, but was one of the worst Ducks shot metrics wise. He was last on the team in CF% at 26.9% and third worst in xGF% at 18.09% (he was only above Liambas and Shaw in xGF%). To add on, the one game he did not play is the only game the Ducks allowed less than 40 SOG. There is not enough evidence to say that it is simply due to taking Bieksa out of the lineup, but it is interesting. Unlike Beauchemin, I want Bieksa to never touch the ice again for this team. Bieksa was as bad as cranberry sauce.

Mike Liambas - Even though Liambas did stuff on the ice I guess, this 1 star ranking is due to the fact that the Ducks are employing him even though he should not be allowed on a professional rink. I had zero clue about his history until I read the Hockey News article about him. If you have not read it, please check it out. He has, over his non pro career, sent a 16 year old kid to the ICU with a predatory hit resulting in him getting suspended for essentially the rest of the OHL season, ruptured an opponents spleen with a dirty hit resulting in a 5 game suspension in the International Hockey League, and sucker punched and drove an opponent into the ice in Canadian University Hockey resulting in a 4 game suspension along with a review that led to him leaving school and going to the ECHL. I am all for giving a guy a second chance if he has messed up, but this is now Liambas’ 4th chance and he in no way has earned it. Please get him off the team!

Dennis Rasmussen - Rasmussen had an alright week in terms of CF% at 41.67% but the quality of chances against is what brings him down to a 1 star performance. His xGF% was 20.23% which is pretty bad.

Logan Shaw - Shaw appears again in the 1 star rating for the second straight week. He was really really really bad this week if you look at shot quality. He had an xGF% of 8.24%. Yes you read that right, 8.24. When Shaw was on the ice the Ducks were expected to score 0.21 goals and allow 2.34 goals. Having that bad of an expected goals against is kind of impressive seeing as he only played 23 minutes at ES through the week.

Unranked (My cut off to be ranked is having played in over half the games that week for skaters and started half the games for Goalies):

Korbinian Holzer (1 Game Played) and Reto Berra (1 Game Played)

*All stats are from Corsica unless stated otherwise.