Happy New Year! 2021 can't possibly be worse than 2020, am I right? (Ahh! Don't jinx us.) The NHL had traditionally held their Winter Classic outdoor game on 1/1, but even though this year's game has been cancelled The Collector's All-Time Teams series will proceed as scheduled. All this month we'll look at the best players in the history of each NHL franchise, starting with the Anaheim Ducks:
Anaheim entered the NHL as an expansion team in 1993. The Mighty Ducks lost to New Jersey in the 2003 Stanley Cup final. Four years later, the (no longer "mighty") Ducks defeated Ottawa to win the Cup.
Left Wing - Paul Kariya
Anaheim's first-ever draft pick is third in Ducks history with 300 goals and fourth with 669 points. The Hall of Famer captained the Mighty Ducks to the 2003 Western Conference title and ended his career with a point-a-game ratio of exactly 1 (989 points, 989 games.)
Center - Ryan Getzlaf
Longest-tenured Duck has played more games than any player in franchise history. His 691 assists are also tops in Anaheim annals. The Ducks' current captain is 35 points shy of 1,000 for his career. He was a finalist for the Hart trophy (league MVP) in 2013-14.
Right Wing - Teemu Selanne
Hall of Famer holds NHL record for goals and points in a rookie season. "The Finnish Flash" is 12th in NHL history with 684 career goals, including a franchise-leading 457 for Anaheim. He currently holds the Ducks' record for career points with 988, though Getzlaf is set to pass him this season.
2nd Line
Center - Steve Rucchin Successor to Paul Kariya as Anaheim's captain, Rucchin is fifth on the Ducks' career lists in games played, goals, power play goals, shooting percentage, assists, and points. His 23 game-winning goals are good for sixth in team history.
Right Wing - Corey Perry The NHL's MVP and goal leader in 2010-11, Perry places in the Ducks' top three in nearly every offensive category and leads all Ducks in career penalty minutes. A Stanley Cup champion in 2007 and a Stanley Cup finalist with the Dallas Stars in 2020, Perry signed with the Montreal Canadiens earlier this week.
3rd Line
Center - Andrew Cogliano Longtime iron man didn't miss a game until his 11th NHL season. Ranks ninth in Anaheim annals in games played, goals, and even-strength goals. His +61 rating is fifth-best in Ducks history.
Right Wing - Rickard Rakell Ducks' leading scorer in 2017-18 ranks seventh in team history with 129 goals. His 25 game-winners (including a league-leading 10 in 2016-17) are the franchise's fifth-highest total.
4th Line
Left Wing - Matt Cullen
Well-traveled center began his 21-year career in Orange County then suited up for seven other teams, winning a Stanley Cup in Carolina and two in Pittsburgh. Primarily a center, he'll have to line up on the left side for this All-Time Team.
Center - Samuel Pahlsson One of Anaheim's top defensive forwards, Sami was a Selke finalist in 2006-07 and led the league in playoff plus/minus. He ranks tenth in team history with 527 games played and only two Ducks have scored more short-handed goals.
Right Wing - Joe Sacco
An original Mighty Duck, Sacco is tied for 14th in team history with 49 even-strength goals. Petr Sykora's scoring production as a Duck was nearly identical, but he doesn't qualify as he only played three seasons in Anaheim.
Two of the Ducks' top ten scorers are on other All-Time teams, which limits Anaheim's options. Leclerc, Marty McInnis, and Matt Beleskey are interchangeable and underwhelming. Parros is the Ducks' top enforcer. Forward depth will be a challenge for most of the Bettman-era franchises.
Defense Pair 1
Fowler is sixth in Ducks' history with 234 assists and 301 points. His 679 games played for the franchise are fourth all-time. Lindholm ranks second in Defensive Point Shares, a stat which I will use to assess the abilities of stay-at-home blueliners. His 143 assists are the 11th-highest total in team history.
As I mentioned in the introductory post, players can only represent one All-Time Team. This costs the Ducks two top-pair defensemen - Hall of Famers Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger (who didn't qualify for Anaheim).
Defense Pair 2
Francois Beauchemin
- Ruslan Salei
Beauchemin is eighth on the Ducks' all-time games played list and first in Defensive Point Shares (DPS). Salei is two games ahead of him for seventh place, and ranks just behind Lindholm for third in DPS. He was one of 26 players who perished in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash in 2011.
Defense Pair 3
Tverdovsky, the 2nd overall pick in the 1994 draft, ranks in the Ducks' top 20 in assists and points. I've paired him with Vishnevski here - not because they are both Russian but because Vitaly was a much more defensive-minded defenseman. I have to admit a lack of ability to judge the intricacies of blueline production, so I'm leaning heavily on games played, blocked shots, and DPS for non-scorers like him.
Spare - Bobby Dollas
I was expecting to select Sami Vatanen or Josh Manson here, until Bobby Dollas jumped out at me. An original Mighty Duck, Dollas led the first-year expansion team with a +20 rating in 1993-94. He played more games in Anaheim and posted a higher plus/minus rating than Vatanen and potted more goals than Manson despite the current Duck's 80-game advantage.
Goalies
Starter - Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Backup - Guy Hebert
"Jiggy" was the backbone of Anaheim's run to the Stanley Cup final in 2003. The Conn Smythe trophy winner leads all Ducks goalies in games played, wins, and shutouts. His actual goals against average and era-adjusted GAA are both lowest among netminders who played four or more seasons with the team. At first glance Hebert's averages look less impressive than those of current starter John Gibson
- until you consider the extra shots Hebert faced on an over-matched expansion team in the high-scoring 1990s.
Head Coach: Randy Carlyle* Captain: Ryan Getzlaf
Carlyle coached the Ducks for ten seasons including their Cup run in 2007. He was behind the bench for twice as many games and seasons as Bruce Boudreau - who coached the team in between Carlyle's two stints with the club.
*also named to an All-Time Team as a player
I hope you'll join us tomorrow for our next All-Time Team, the Arizona Coyotes.
Thanks for reading!
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From what I know of/remember in terms of the Ducks I'd say these choices seem spot on! Then again I'm giving you bonus points for including ex-Wolverine Andrew Cogliano on your team!
ReplyDeleteThey were originally named after a Disney movie. Ha.
ReplyDeletePaul Kariya was very exciting player.
ReplyDeleteThe Ducks are my 2nd favorite hockey team and you nailed this all time team. That 1st Line is incredible for a team with less than 30 years in the league.
ReplyDeleteBefore Kariya made Ducks history he was the best collegiate hockey player in the country, an absolute sensation. That's when I covered college hockey and there was no one better.
ReplyDeleteIt took the Ducks way longer to lose that dumb "Mighty" than it should have. I always knew they'd shed it eventually. I didn't think it would take that long. I thought it was so stupid when they were an expansion team that I named my fantasy baseball team after them.
Pahlsson is the only one not yet represented in my collection. The Ducks are my least favorite team, and Corey Perry my least favorite player, in the league. I still watch them, I will watch any games I possibly can.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I dislike the Ducks... I really enjoyed watching Kariya and Selanne. I met both of these guys at a Ducks Casino Night and Kariya was one of the nicest guys there.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of setting these All-Time Teams up by forward lines and defense pairs. Kariya and Selanne were fun to watch, for sure. Glad to see Matt Cullen make the team, too. Always thought he was a little underrated.
ReplyDeleteRead this yesterday but couldn't comment at the time, what a fantastic start to the series. I agree with others, that first line is formidable. Sort of thin on defense though after three decades in existence, no?
ReplyDeleteI worked at the Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center) when it first opened in 1993 through 1998--fun times! I still have a set of cards that the Mighty Ducks gave away to fans at a game. Disney owned the Mighty Ducks back then and ran the place in the same manner as Disneyland which was pretty good imho. I also happened to once pass by Teemu Selanne in the hallway at the Pond back in the 90's.
ReplyDeleteScott Neidermayer. Gotta be in the mix somewhere for these guys.
ReplyDeleteHe's on the Devils. One team per player.
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