The Ducks were the other team to fall out of the first round after seven games, losing to the Nashville Predators.

The Ducks promptly fired their coach, Bruce Boudreau, who failed to win another Game 7 for the fourth year in a row. Boudreau is a case that proves regular season success, even a ton of it, does not translate to playoff success. The last President’s Cup winners to make it to the Finals were the 2012-2013 Blackhawks in the lockout-shortened season.

The Ducks have the roster to be successful. Not much changed from their roster that challenged the Hawks to go to the Finals a year ago, and their core remains in place. The problem is, that core has faced a drop off in talent.

The Ducks expect to be contenders next year, let’s see how they can get there.

1. Hire A Head Coach

This one is simple, just find the right head coach and hire him. Don’t be the last team left looking, because right now it’s just Anaheim and Calgary. A good coach would love to go work in Anaheim, because much of their work has been done for them. The core has won a Cup. The core is in place. They have solid goaltending. All a head coach needs to do is figure out a way to win Game 7s and they’re golden. And yet nobody has signed on for Anaheim. Perhaps its GM Bob Murray being picky. He has good reason to, Boudreau brought the team phenomenal success, just not in the postseason. Replacing him will be hard.

But the Ducks absolutely need a coach and need one soon before all the viable candidates have dried up and Bob Murray is left sitting across the table from… Randy Carlyle. I wanna like you Ducks. Don’t hire Carlyle. Don’t collapse in the playoffs.

2. Free Agency

The Ducks have a good portion of their offense in free agency, including Rickard Rakell, Brandon Pirri, Chris Stewart, David Perron, and Jamie McGinn. At least a few of these players need to be re-signed, especially first liner Perron and second line center Rakell. Both are relatively young, especially when compared to the triumvirate of Perry, Kesler, and Getzlaf. Pirri, Steward, and McGinn are more depth that anything, but depth is especially important in the playoffs, and the Ducks want to contend.

Especially if the Ducks want to follow the Penguins currently-winning model, they should focus on speed. These five players can help with that.

The Ducks are also facing free agency problems at goaltender and defense, with Frederik Anderson, Sami Vatanen, and Hampus Lindholm. The two defensemen made up the Ducks first pairing, and it will be especially important to bring them back, especially with defense being proven to be important in this year’s Western playoffs. Anderson was the Ducks starting netminder for much of the season, and led the Ducks to the WCF last year. He’s an important re-addition, even though he may be lost to expansion, if only because the Ducks don’t have a stellar prospect in the system.

3. Getting Faster

The Penguins’ style of play, with their depth being more skill over grind, more speed than hits, will most likely be league-wide soon. The Ducks need to change up their depth to echo this trend, because it will only help them get better if four lines can score, and with (hopefully) two talented goaltenders returning, the Ducks should focus on building a competitive offense that can beat any defense and get past any netminder, with four capable lines. Part of this fix would be allowing 37 year old Shawn Horcoff to leave, and replacing him with Nick Ritchie, a talented wing waiting in the AHL.

Ritchie and the two wings on the fourth line last year for the Ducks are not centers, so allowing Brandon Pirri to re-sign and play fourth line center would also help, and give Ritchie someone to grow off of.

Obviously part of the Ducks’ problem in Game 7s is allowing the other team to outscore them. Building a more capable, and deeper, offense would help alleviate that.

4. Clayton Stoner

The Ducks have six better defensemen than Stoner. At 3.25 mil, his contract is not that of a seventh defenseman, and with an internal cap and the actual cap not growing that much, Stoner needs to be shipped out.

Unfortunately, most teams have six better defensemen than Stoner, and those who don’t may not be willing to take on a 2 year 3.25 mil contract for an at best bottom pairing defenseman.

However, there are teams like Edmonton in need of depth on defense, who perhaps have money to spend and would like someone like Clayton Stoner in the immediate time. Finding a partner like this and trading Stoner for a low price would not only help the Ducks alleviate their cap space, freeing it up for someone like Vatanen or Lindholm, but would allow the other team a better defense as well.

The Ducks are aiming to be contenders next year. Revamping their offense and finding a new system may be the two tricks that get the Ducks there.