So how did we get here, and how it did come to this?

The Ducks were supposed to take us on this journey, a long road that would require some patience at times through the starts and stops in the process but would ultimately find something silver and shiny to lift and pass around at the end of it.

Thing is, we were on board and locked in our seats. Blind fans and unbiased observers with the same thought in mind. Well, many of us at least. And now we see that the trip is so far off the rails that finding the way back to the road appears hopeless.

Instead of a championship season, the Ducks are headed for a lost season. A three-day Christmas holiday break is serving as a diversion from the grim sight of watching a one-time Stanley Cup contender fail miserably in most, if not all aspects over the last three months.

Last place. In the Pacific Division. In the Western Conference. Another loss or two and it will be the entire National Hockey League.

Unfathomable. Inexcusable.

There are a lot of people whose hands are dirty in this mess. And while Coach Bruce Boudreau has his share of blame for the Ducks’ massive underachievement and though he might ultimately pay for it, he is hardly the only one.

In a response to questions from the Register, Ducks general manager Bob Murray took his own slice of the blame pie.

“Obviously as the manager and being in charge of the management group, at this moment you would have to say the results have been greatly disappointing, at least so far,” Murray said. “We take responsibility for that as a management group.”

Murray is on one heck of a cold streak. The many moves made since last spring’s trade deadline have ranged from having no effect to being bad enough to break up a good thing he had built.

Kevin Bieksa hasn’t come close to replacing Francois Beauchemin on defense. Carl Hagelin and Jiri Sekac were supposed to be upgrades from Emerson Etem and Devante Smith-Pelly on the wing. Hagelin and Chris Stewart were supposed to offset the loss of Matt Beleskey.

Only Stewart and Shawn Horcoff have given the Ducks some sort of value, but they weren’t purported to be difference makers. Mike Santorelli is who he is, a depth guy to plug in here and there.

It only gets worse when some of the calls Murray made to retool a roster that had gotten to Game 7 of the Western Conference finals – whether made out of desire or necessary reaction – have blown up in his face.

Even though he was exposed by Cup champion Chicago, Beauchemin hasn’t nosedived in Colorado. He’s flourishing with the young Avalanche. An additional third year on a contract extension that might have helped keep the locker room bedrock, effectively went to Bieksa, who from many accounts was fading in Vancouver.

Kyle Palmieri just scored his 14th goal for New Jersey, a number that would lead the current Ducks. Maybe he was sacrificed so his potential money would go to more important pieces like Hampus Lindholm or Sami Vatanen, but both have yet to be extended.

Beleskey isn’t tearing it up in Boston but he’s on the Bruins’ top line. His career-high 22 goals in 2014-15 might be his high-water mark and maybe not worth giving him some sort of no-movement clause. Maybe a five-year commitment the Bruins would make didn’t make sense.

But his $3.8 million average price tag didn’t come close to what was rumored and you knew the rugged winger and Game 5 hero against the Blackhawks could play with either Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry or Ryan Kesler and Jakob Silfverberg.

Just one Murray deal has gone in his favor, but even the steal of Simon Despres from Pittsburgh for Ben Lovejoy isn’t paying off now with Despres out since the fourth game and still dealing with concussion symptoms.

There might have been exasperation at the slow-paced development of Palmieri, Etem and Smith-Pelly, but these were homegrown parts of their ascent to a three-time division champion. So was Beleskey. And Beauchemin was part of their woodwork.

Every team gets tweaked in the summer. Even the champions. Murray attempted a small reconstruction to drive the Ducks up to the final step. Now it is a mix of players who still look as if they’re getting used to each other. Did that many changes need to be made?

“The greatest fear when so many people have changed is the chemistry of the group on and off the ice,” Murray said. “So far there is no cohesion – we do not seem to be thinking and competing on the same page.”

This isn’t letting the players off the hook. None of the big-money, long-term guys (Getzlaf, Perry, Kesler, Hagelin, Silfverberg) are doing what they’ve done before, what we’ve come to expect. All but Perry have massively underachieved.

Asked if he’s confident the summer moves made will ultimately work, Murray shared his disappointment – and sharp criticism – in those who were already around.

“Let’s be clear on one thing, putting all the blame on the incoming players would be totally unfair,” the GM said. “We had far too many returning players who decided training for this season was optional, thus a poor start.

“After succeeding during the past few regular seasons, suddenly we are underachieving and having to handle adversity, and some are not physically prepared to work through the challenge.”

Ouch.

It has to pain Murray to watch his leader Getzlaf sitting on one empty-net goal. And with that much money tied up in that many unproductive players, it makes for making any sort of major trade much more difficult.

Affordable goalie Frederik Andersen is the Ducks’ likely best trade chip as John Gibson appears to be the man in net going forward. Vatanen is attractive as well, even though he isn’t the problem. But moving Cam Fowler as he enters his peak years for a scorer isn’t the answer.

The dutiful Andrew Cogliano ($3 million annual average value) could garner interest. Clayton Stoner ($3.25 million) and Patrick Maroon ($2 million) won’t, not with two years left on their deals. So Murray is kind of stuck, which will test his creativity in an inactive market.

“There’s only a few times a year you can make significant changes to your team – the draft/free agency time period and the trade deadline,” Murray told the Register. “There’s been only one trade this year for a reason.

“In saying that, at this point I don’t think any player could be surprised or shocked if he were to be traded.”

Boudreau has made his mistakes in working in the newcomers and the inability to shake his players out of a team-wide offensive slump doesn’t look good on him. An open book as a person, he can’t hide his frustration or exasperation.

But he’ll still be in charge this weekend, the make-or-break upcoming trip to western Canada and perhaps beyond. If so, then he’s got to get all the disparate pieces to fit and fast.

Kesler said it takes 25 games for new players to be comfortable with an established core and learn its tendencies. Game 34 is Sunday.

“I went through it the year before so I know exactly what they’re going through,” Kesler said. “It’s a process. There’s nowhere but up. … We got no excuses now. All the guys are comfortable. We got a good team. We just got to go out there and prove it.”

Can they? Who knew we’d ever be asking that question?

Contact the writer: estephens@ocregister.com