Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

It’s often unfair to look at player’s goal stats alone when his team is struggling, especially if that player is still generating assists.

That’s probably a fair assessment of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry so far in 2016-17, but the Ducks’ captain admits that he’s not finding the net often enough after Anaheim’s 3-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.

“We have to score goals, and that falls on Perry and me,” Getzlaf said. “We have to score. That’s what we’re paid to do.”

Indeed, for a budget team like the Ducks, seeing a duo raking in $16.875 million in cap space while only scoring five goals has to be maddening.

Again … it’s a pretty incomplete picture when you consider Getzlaf’s 15 assists (for 16 points in 18 games) and Perry’s respectable totals (four goals and 12 assists for 16 points in 21 games), yet you also understand the logic.

The percentages say that things are bound to swing for them, and it’s a decent sign that they’re at least generating some offense.

Bad luck vs. the aging process

Perry’s shooting percentage is at 6.1 (compared to a 13.4 career mark) while Getzlaf is even less fortunate with a 2.9 shooting percentage (career: 11.8). Both power forwards should expect their “puck luck” to rebound.

That said, it makes sense that they’re frustrated. It also makes sense if some Ducks fans might be a little worried about the future.

Both players are 31, and while some scorers can defy the odds, others tend to really fall off around that age.

That’s not to say that they won’t rebound at all, but what if it’s not enough? Can Randy Carlyle rally the rest of a still-quite-talented roster around that dynamic duo if it is indeed on the decline?

At least Getzlaf and Perry aren’t running from their issues.