Anaheim Ducks: Difference between revisions

Anaheim Ducks
File:AnaheimDucksNHL.PNG
Conference	Western
Division	Pacific
Founded	1993
History	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 1993 - 2006 Anaheim Ducks 2006 - present
Home arena	Honda Center
City	Anaheim, California
Team colors	Black, Gold, Orange and White
Media	FSN Prime Ticket FSN West KDOC KLAA
Owner(s)	Henry Samueli and Susan Samueli
General manager	Brian Burke
Head coach	Randy Carlyle
Captain	Scott Niedermayer
Minor league affiliates	Portland Pirates (AHL) Augusta Lynx (ECHL)
Stanley Cups	none
Conference championships	2002-03, 2006-07
Division championships	2006-07

The Anaheim Ducks (formerly known as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and previously often referred to as the Anaheim Mighty Ducks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. They play in the National Hockey League (NHL). The club announced the name change January 26, 2006, and formally changed its name five months later on June 22. ^[1]

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File:Anaheim Mighty Ducks.gif

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were founded in 1993 by The Walt Disney Company. The team's original name was chosen from the Disney movie The Mighty Ducks, based on a group of misfit teens who turn their losing youth hockey team into a winner. Disney subsequently made an animated series called Mighty Ducks, featuring a fictional Mighty Ducks of Anaheim team that consisted of anthropomorphized ducks.

The team was the first tenant of Arrowhead Pond (now the Honda Center), a brand-new arena in Anaheim located a short distance east of Disneyland and across the street from Angel Stadium. The arena was completed the same year the team was founded.

With their first-ever draft pick, the Mighty Ducks selected Paul Kariya fourth overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. Kariya would quickly become a fan favorite and the cornerstone of the young Mighty Ducks franchise. As team captain he would guide them to within a game of Stanley Cup glory in 2003.

On February 7, 1996, a major trade was made between the Mighty Ducks and the Winnipeg Jets. The Ducks sent Chad Kilger, Oleg Tverdovsky, and a third-round pick to the Jets in return for Marc Chouinard, a fourth-round draft pick, and, most notably, star right winger Teemu Selänne. Selänne's arrival helped the Ducks make the playoffs for the first time. On a line with Steve Rucchin and Kariya, his chemistry with the latter made them one of the highest-scoring tandems in the league.

After missing the playoffs in their first three seasons, the Mighty Ducks finished 1996-97 fourth in the Western Conference, earning home-ice advantage for a first-round playoff series with the Phoenix Coyotes. After winning the series in the full seven games, Anaheim was swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. The Ducks returned to the playoffs in 1998-99, but once again lost in four to the Red Wings, this time in the Western Quarterfinals.

After a three-year playoff hiatus, Anaheim qualified for the 2003 Stanley Cup Playoffs. For their third straight postseason, the Mighty Ducks met the defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings. This time, however, Anaheim shocked the hockey world when they swept Detroit, with Rucchin's series-clincher on Curtis Joseph coming in overtime of Game 4. The Ducks would then defeat the #1-seeded Dallas Stars in six games in the Conference Semifinals and make quick work of the upstart Minnesota Wild (only allowing one goal) in the Western Conference Final.

The 2003 Stanley Cup finals was a battle between two elite goaltenders. Quite possibly the most remembered moment of the series, Game 6 saw Paul Kariya on the wrong side of a fierce body check from New Jersey captain Scott Stevens. Kariya was knocked out and sent to the dressing room. But eleven minutes later, Kariya returned from the dressing room and scored to help the Ducks tie the series at three games apiece. Anaheim could not complete their Cinderella run, though, as they lost a hard-fought Stanley Cup Final in seven games to the New Jersey Devils.

For his fine play during the postseason, Ducks goaltender Jean-Sébastien Giguère won the Conn Smythe Trophy as Most Valuable Player of the playoffs. He is only the fifth goaltender in NHL history to have won the trophy while playing for the team that lost.

After losing Paul Kariya to the Colorado Avalanche (he joined Selänne, who also signed with Colorado after two seasons with the Sharks) via free agency shortly after the season ended, the Ducks signed superstar Sergei Fedorov from Detroit and Vaclav Prospal. Still, 2004 was a major disappointment for the Ducks as they missed the playoffs completely, and suffered low attendance figures despite their magical playoff run of the previous year.

During the summer of 2004, as the NHL and the NHL Players Association's labor dispute was headed towards a long lockout, Disney tried to sell the team but received a low offer of $40-million US, less than the franchise's original price.

In 2005, Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli of Irvine, California and his wife, Susan, bought the Mighty Ducks from The Walt Disney Company for a reported $75 million (USD). The Samuelis have pledged to keep the team in Anaheim, much as Arturo Moreno did when he purchased the Anaheim Angels from Disney. Brian Burke, former Vancouver Canucks General Manager and President, was appointed GM and Executive Vice-President of the Mighty Ducks on June 20, 2005.

On August 1, 2005, former James Norris Memorial Trophy-winning defenceman Randy Carlyle was hired as the seventh coach in team history. Burke was familiar with Carlyle's coaching ability, as he had coached the Manitoba Moose from 1996-2001 (International Hockey League) and 2004-05 (American Hockey League). The Moose had become the Canucks' farm club in 2001. Carlyle replaced Mike Babcock, who left the Ducks to coach the Red Wings.

Also in 2005, the Mighty Ducks brought back fan favorite Teemu Selänne, who had been a star player for the team from 1996-2001. Selänne played the previous NHL season with the Avalanche. Burke made his first big splash as the team's general manager when he signed defenceman Scott Niedermayer, the 2004 Norris Trophy winner and older brother of Ducks centerman Rob, to a four-year contract, from New Jersey.

2006 saw the Ducks trade away big-name players with big contracts such as Petr Sykora and Sergei Fedorov in favor of the younger players such as Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Chris Kunitz, and Joffrey Lupul. The Ducks had a hard start to season, but the plan was ultimately successful; the Ducks became one of the best teams in the league and ended up the sixth seed in the West. The Ducks then beat the heavily favored Calgary Flames in seven games and Colorado Avalanche in a sweep on a run through the playoffs, only to be stopped in the conference finals by the Edmonton Oilers, who had swept the Ducks in the regular season. The team banked on its youth again, seeing Lupul, Getzlaf, Kunitz, and Ilya Bryzgalov turn in stellar performances. In fact, Bryzgalov took over the starting job from Giguere during game 5 of the Calgary series and broke Giguere's 2003 record for consecutive shutout time.

On January 26, 2006, the team announced, effective with the 2006-07 season, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim would change their name to the Anaheim Ducks. This included logo and team color changes which were unveiled at a special ceremony five months later. Many Ducks fans successfully petitioned the Samuelis to keep Wildwing as the current mascot because of the team's recent success and as a link to the past. Along with the new name, their home ice (the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim) was renamed the Honda Center as Arrowhead Water's naming rights had expired.

On July 3, the Ducks traded young sniper Lupul, defenceman prospect Ladislav Smid, a 2007 first-round draft pick, a second-round choice in 2008, and a conditional first-round selection to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for star defenceman Chris Pronger, who had publicly requested a trade from the Oilers ten days earlier citing personal reasons, with many speculating that his wife was unhappy living in Edmonton.

On November 9, 2006, the Ducks defeated the Vancouver Canucks 6-0 at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia to improve their season record to 12-0-4. The win set an NHL open era record by remaining undefeated in regulation for the first 16 games of the season, eclipsing the previous mark set by the 1983-84 Edmonton Oilers. They were subsequently shut out by the Flames the following game, 3-0, ending their streak.

On December 12, 2006 the Ducks defeated the Florida Panthers on the road 5-4. They broke a franchise record for their sixth road win in a row. They also improved their record that night to 24-3-6 54 Points. No team having played 33 games had reached 54 points since the 1979 Philadelphia Flyers.

On December 13, 2006 the Ducks beat the Atlanta Thrashers to improve their road record to 12-1-2. The 26 points set the NHL mark for the most points on the road through 15 games. The previous record-holders, 1951-52 Detroit Red Wings had 25 points (10-0-5).

On January 16, 2007 the Ducks played in their franchise's 1000th regular season game.[1]

On March 11, 2007 the Ducks recorded their franchise's 1000th point with a 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks, which improved their franchise all-time record to 423-444-155, 1001 points.[2]

On April 7, 2007, the Ducks won their first Pacific Division title in franchise history, when the Vancouver Canucks defeated the second-place San Jose Sharks at HP Pavilion in the Sharks' final game of the season. Anaheim also played their last game of the 2006-07 NHL season that day against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Anaheim won the game 4-3, finishing off the season with a total of 110 points, setting a new franchise record for season points.

They started the playoffs as the number two seed in the Western Conference playing the Minnesota Wild, winning the series 4-1. Next up was the Vancouver Canucks, whom they also defeated 4-1. They faced the Detroit Red Wings and won the series 4-2 in the Western Conference Finals. A win on May 22nd at home put the Ducks in the Stanley Cup final once again. They will be facing off against the Ottawa Senators.

• To see past scores from the 2006-07 season, click here.

The Ducks' logo features a webbed foot forming a "D" followed by the other letters in the word "Ducks" in upper-case letters. The text itself is gold (which sometimes may appear as bronze as well) with orange and black accents (forming a three dimensional appearance). The entire logo is in turn outlined by white. The city of Anaheim's name appears in smaller upper-case print, above the team name. The Ducks are the only current team in the NHL besides the New York Rangers to feature their team name spelled out in a scripted form on the front of their jersey rather than a logo. This does not include alternate jerseys or throwback jerseys worn by other teams.

The old logo of the Ducks prior to the name change featured an old-style goaltender mask, shaped to form the appearance of a duck bill. Behind the mask are two intersecting hockey sticks, a black circle and a triangle (the color of the triangle is either green or gray, depending on how the logo is used).

File:MightyDucksJerseys.png

The Ducks have officially worn two unique regular jerseys and three unique third jerseys in their franchise history:

The original jerseys of the Ducks (then the Mighty Ducks) used jade, eggplant, white and gray as primary colors for both the home and away jerseys. The team's dark jerseys were dominantly eggplant in color with diagonal gray and white stripes; the jersey is jade below the stripes, which appear on the arms and waist. The white jerseys were similar, except that the eggplant is replaced mainly with white. On the shoulders of both jerseys are patches featuring a forward-facing version of the main logo's "duck mask," surrounded by a circle reading "Mighty Ducks of Anaheim."

File:Anaheimducksjerseys.png

About a year after the team was purchased from the Walt Disney Company by the Samuelis, the team underwent a name change (dropping the "Mighty") and received new jerseys as well. The new jersey is similar to the team's most recent third jersey prior to the name change; it features the word "Ducks" on the front, with diagonal gold, white, black and orange stripes down the arms and waist. The orange pays a nod to Orange County.

File:MightyDucksThirdJersey1.png

File:MightyDucksThirdJerseys2.png

File:MightyDucksThirdJersey3.png

The third jerseys of the Mighty Ducks were created in 1996, 1998, and 2004. The 1996 jersey was jade with eggplant and white stripes on the collar and on the end of the sleeves. The logo was of team mascot Wildwing wearing a Mighty Ducks jersey while breaking through a sheet of ice. The jersey was short-lived; because of much criticism, it was retired at the end of the year.

The 1998 third jersey came with a rare fourth jersey partner. The third was a jade-colored jersey with silver and eggplant stripes at the shoulders outlined in thin yellow, and a silver stripe at the bottom. It had the Mighty Ducks logo in the center of the chest. The fourth jersey was much like it. It was white with jade, eggplant, and silver stripes at the shoulders of the jersey, but no bottom stripe. These jerseys saw action until the end of 1999-2000, when they stopped playing with their third jerseys, and used only the fourth. At the end of 2000-01, the fourth was also retired.

The 2004 third jersey was black with purple and gray stripes at the waist and on the sleeves. It had the alternate script logo of the present Mighty Ducks and old-style laces at the neck, as well as a shoulder patch displaying an interlocking "MD" (for "Mighty Ducks"). The popularity of this jersey amongst fans was so great it replaced the eggplant and jade jersey, serving as the home jersey for the last half of the 2005-06 season and playoffs. It was dropped following the season as the team went to a modified name, new uniforms, and color scheme.

File:AnaheimDucks.jpg

The official mascot for the Anaheim Ducks is an anthropomorphized duck by the name of Wild Wing. He has been the team's mascot since its inaugural season, and his name was chosen through fan voting. He wears a Ducks jersey with the number 93 on the back, obviously referring to the year the Ducks became an NHL team. He regularly descends from the rafters of the arena when making his in-game entrances.^[2]

His physical appearance is similar to the duck mask in the original Mighty Ducks logo. A bronze statue of Wild Wing is also located outside the team's arena, Honda Center.^[3]

During the same time in which the team announced a name change as well as change in jersey designs, there was an attempt by the team's owners to change or replace the mascot, Wild Wing, but was halted after a highly successful petition by fans.

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Ducks. For the full season-by-season history, see Anaheim Ducks seasons.

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Records as of February 6, 2007. ^[4]

Season	GP	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs
2001-02	82	29	42	8	3	69	175	198	1254	5th, Pacific	Did not qualify
2002-03	82	40	27	9	6	95	203	193	954	2nd, Pacific	Lost in Finals, 3-4 (Devils)
2003-04	82	29	35	10	8	76	184	213	1131	4th, Pacific	Did not qualify
2004-05	Season cancelled due to 2004-05 NHL Lockout
2005-06 1	82	43	27	—	12	98	254	229	1462	3rd, Pacific	Lost in Conference Finals, 1-4 (Oilers)
2006-07	82	48	20	—	14	110	258	208		1st, Pacific	In progress (see 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks season)

¹ As of the 2005-06 NHL season, all games will have a winner; the OTL column includes SOL (Shootout losses).

As of May 17th, 2007. [3]

Goaltenders
#		Player	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
30		Ilya Bryzgalov	L	2000	Tolyatti, U.S.S.R.
35		Jean-Sebastien Giguere	L	2000	Montreal, Quebec

Defensemen
#		Player	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
5		Richard Jackman	R	2007	Toronto, Ontario
21		Sean O'Donnell	L	2006	Ottawa, Ontario
23		François Beauchemin	L	2005	Sorel, Quebec
25		Chris Pronger - A	L	2006	Dryden, Ontario
27		Scott Niedermayer - C	L	2005	Edmonton, Alberta
33		Joe DiPenta	R	2005	Barrie, Ontario
40		Kent Huskins	R	2006	Almonte, Ontario

Forwards
#		Player	Position	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
8		Teemu Selanne	RW	R	2005	Helsinki, Finland
3		Anthony Sutherland	RW	R	2007	Port Coquitlam, Canada
10		Corey Perry	RW	R	2003	Peterborough, Ontario
14		Chris Kunitz	LW	L	2005	Regina, Saskatchewan
15		Ryan Getzlaf	C	R	2003	Regina, Saskatchewan
16		George Parros	RW	R	2006	Washington, Pennsylvania
17		Dustin Penner	LW	L	2004	Winkler, Manitoba
18		Drew Miller	RW	L	2006	East Lansing, Michigan
19		Andy McDonald	C	L	2000	Strathroy, Ontario
22		Todd Marchant	C	L	2005	Buffalo, New York
24		Brad May	LW	L	2007	Toronto, Ontario
26		Samuel Pahlsson	LW	L	2000	Ånge, Sweden
32		Travis Moen	LW	L	2005	Stewart Valley, Saskatchewan
38		Ryan Shannon	C	R	2005	Darien, Connecticut
44		Rob Niedermayer - A	C	L	2003	Cassiar, British Columbia
45		Shawn Thornton	RW	R	2006	Oshawa, Ontario
47		Tim Brent	C	R	2004	Cambridge, Ontario

• To see the Ducks' player pages click here.

Hall of Famers: The Ducks have had one Hall of Famer in franchise history. Left-winger Jari Kurri played for the Ducks during the 1996-97 season, and was inducted in 2001.

Retired Numbers: The Ducks do not have any retired numbers of any of its own players. However, Wayne Gretzky's number 99 was retired league-wide on February 6, 2000.

• Troy Loney, 1993-94
• Randy Ladouceur, 1994-96
• Paul Kariya, 1996-2003
• Teemu Selanne, 1998 (interim)
• Steve Rucchin, 2003-05 ^[5]
• Scott Niedermayer, 2005- present

• Ron Wilson, 1993–97
• Pierre Page, 1997–98
• Craig Hartsburg, 1998–2000
• Guy Charron, 2000-01
• Bryan Murray, 2001–02
• Mike Babcock, 2002–05
• Randy Carlyle, 2005– present

• 1993: Paul Kariya (4th overall)
• 1994: Oleg Tverdovsky (2nd overall)
• 1995: Chad Kilger (4th overall)
• 1996: Ruslan Salei (9th overall)
• 1997: Michael Holmqvist (18th overall)
• 1998: Vitaly Vishnevski (5th overall)
• 1999: None
• 2000: Alexei Smirnov (12th overall)
• 2001: Stanislav Chistov (5th overall)
• 2002: Joffrey Lupul (7th overall)
• 2003: Ryan Getzlaf (19th overall) & Corey Perry (28th overall)
• 2004: Ladislav Smid (9th overall)
• 2005: Bobby Ryan (2nd overall)
• 2006: Mark Mitera (19th overall)

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; * = current Ducks player

Updated at completion of 2006-2007 season

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	P/G
Paul Kariya	LW	606	300	369	669	1.10
Teemu Selänne*	RW	549	309	349	658	1.20
Steve Rucchin	C	616	153	279	432	.70
Andy McDonald*	C	326	96	179	271	.65
Matt Cullen	C	427	65	135	200	.47
Oleg Tverdovsky	D	324	45	125	170	.53
Marty McInnis	LW	272	57	88	145	.53
Scott Niedermayer*	D	161	24	108	132	.82
Mike Leclerc	LW	291	54	78	132	.45
Petr Sykora	RW	197	64	67	131	.67

• Most Goals in a season: Teemu Selänne, 52 (1997-98)
• Most Assists in a season: Paul Kariya, 62 (1998-99)
• Most Points in a season: Teemu Selänne, 109 (1996-97)
• Most Penalty Minutes in a season: Todd Ewen, 285 (1995-96)
• Most Points in a season, defenceman: Scott Niedermayer, 69 (2006-07)
• Most Points in a season, rookie: Dustin Penner, 45 (2006-07)
• Most Wins in a season: Jean-Sebastien Giguere, 36 (2006-07)
• Most Shutouts in a season: Jean-Sebastien Giguere, 8 (2002-03)

• List of Anaheim Ducks players
• Head Coaches of the Anaheim Ducks
• List of NHL players
• List of NHL seasons

• Official website of the Anaheim Ducks