Bobby Ryan was close to being a Maple Leaf… or a Ranger… or a Flyer… or pretty much anything but a Duck. Well, at least that’s what it looked like for a couple of days before Anaheim fired head coach Randy Carlyle less than an hour after a 4-1 win over Montreal.

Yes, Bobby Ryan was reportedly available. Bobby Ryan, the 24-year-old power forward drafted right after Sidney Crosby. A player who has scored back-to-back-to-back 30-goal seasons.

But Ryan has struggled this season, with only 12 points in 24 games, a pace which would be a severe drop-off from last year’s 71-point campaign. Ryan’s struggles, combined with the team’s awful performance set off the perfect storm.

The Ducks lost 18 of 20, sat second last in the entire league and were beginning to get desperate. The Ducks’ thinking was that if they could ship out Ryan they could patch a lot of holes on the roster – a top-4 defenceman, a top-6 forward and a high pick/prospect at minimum. The rumour mill was going crazy, pretty much linking every team in the league to Ryan, because seriously, who wouldn’t want this guy.

The mere thought of trading Bobby Ryan was an idea born from desperation – the type of thought that arises during an almost interminable losing streak. It was as if the Ducks were drunk with losing. Not happy go-lucky drunk where everything is fun, but a depressive, end-of-the-world, nothing is right type of drunk.

But the rumours seem on hold now with Bruce Boudreau taking over behind the bench. If the Ducks start winning Ryan isn’t going anywhere. And the fact that Boudreau is the fastest coach to 200 wins and is taking over another talented roster, my bet is that the Ducks do indeed start winning.

But just the possibility of Ryan’s availability really emphasizes the fact that no one in the league is truly untouchable, it simply takes the right combination of factors. The old cliché is true: if Wayne Gretzky can be traded, anyone can.

Honestly, I have been really proud of this MSpaint-job I did sometime last year and I've had no idea when I could actually write a Cliff Fletcher post to use it on. To solve that problem I thought it was about time we start appreciating the wonder that was Cliff Fletcher's second time around in Toronto. He did sign Jeff Finger, which is always good for a few laughs, but that's no reason to consider his Toronto redux anything other than a complete success.

This week's post over at The Good Point can certainly be inspired by the summer heat wave currently assaulting my air conditioning-less apartment. Have you ever wondered which NHLers played inline hockey (also known as roller hockey) during the summer? Or have you ever wondered if your street hockey days made you destined for the NHL? (hint: they didn't, but inline hockey can still benefit your ice hockey game). Check out my article on inline hockey to find out.

The piece also has quotes from Chris Wills, a member of Canada's IIHF World Inline Hockey Championship team in 2008 and 2009. I primarily asked about the differences between inline and ice hockey and what sort of benefits playing inline can have for your ice hockey game.

One quote I liked but didn't make the article, so I'll fit it in here. When describing some of the differences between an inline puck and a normal rubber ice hockey puck, Wills says "the [inline] puck tends to dance in the air quite a bit more and is capable of having the bottom drop out of it more frequently, handcuffing the goalie." Sounds like the knuckle puck is real.

One of the most confusing teams in the league is the Anaheim Ducks (or is it the Los Angeles Ducks of Anaheim?). Trading Chris Pronger in the summer certainly weakened their team, but not to the point where they should be languishing near the bottom of the league. The only teams worse are the Leafs and Hurricanes. That isn’t right for a team that has Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Bobby Ryan. Despite their abysmal start, the Ducks could be in a position to ensure their future success is secure. With the right moves this is a team that can quickly turn itself into a Western Conference powerhouse.