Getzlaf said that he wants to remain one of the essential pieces to lead the Ducks back to respectability as Murray turns one eye toward next season.

“I want to be part of it more than anything,” he said. ”In junior, I played for the same team my whole career and I kind of imagined the same things when I came here and still do. I don’t want to put Murph in a situation where he has to do something like that.

“The guys in here don’t want to do that either. Murph showed a lot of faith in us. Unfortunately he had to fire Randy [Carlyle] and I think that we need to start rewarding him for that. I take that on my shoulders as well. I’ve got to be better. I’ve got to produce.”

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It isn’t just the lack of numbers either as there are many games where Getzlaf hasn’t had any kind of impact. It has led to the question: What’s wrong with him?

“People are asking me and I’ve been asking myself,” he said. ”It’s one of those things where if I had a straight out answer, I’d give it to you and I would change it. It’s kind of a culmination of different things with the way the season started.

“It was weird. Coming into came and everything, I was in great shape. Felt great. Everything was healthy. Feeling good.”

And then with a smile, Getzlaf said, “Maybe that’s the problem. … I’m just working to get my feet going and work hard.”

Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau doesn’t believe he has seen the best out of his top players but was also emphatic in saying that they aren’t going through the motions or being “cavalier” about their losing ways.

“If there’s anything I know and if we’re talking specifically about Corey, Ryan and Bobby, it’s that they really care,” Boudreau said. ”I can see it on their faces. They compete and they want to do it. I can see that it wears on them when they’re not having success.

“You can all talk about them not caring or not doing this or that but nobody’s harder on them than themselves. Because they’ve never been in this situation where they haven’t been having success.”