Anaheim Ducks

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Anaheim Ducks
File:AnaheimDucksNHL.PNG
ConferenceWestern
DivisionPacific
Founded1993
HistoryMighty Ducks of Anaheim
1993 - 2006
Anaheim Ducks
2006 – Present
Home arenaArrowhead Pond
1993 - 2006
Honda Center
2006 - Present
CityAnaheim, California
Team colorsBlack, Gold, Orange and White
MediaFSN Prime Ticket
FSN West

KDOC
KLAA
Owner(s)United States Henry & Susan Samueli
General managerUnited States Brian Burke
Head coachCanada Randy Carlyle
CaptainCanada Scott Niedermayer
Minor league affiliatesPortland Pirates (AHL)
Augusta Lynx (ECHL)
Stanley Cups2006-07
Conference championships2002-03, 2006-07
Division championships2006-07

The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California, USA. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Ducks are the current Stanely Cup champions, after defeating the Ottawa Senators in 5 games this past post-season. Since their inception, the Ducks have played their home games at Honda Center (which has had other names, however).

The club was founded in 1993 by The Walt Disney Company as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, a name based on their film The Mighty Ducks. Disney sold the franchise in 2005 to Henry and Susan Samueli, who changed the name of the team to Anaheim Ducks prior to the 2006-07 season. In their 14 year existence, the Ducks have made the playoffs five times, winning two Western Conference Championships (2003 and 2007) and one Stanley Cup (2007).

Franchise history

File:MightyDucksOfAnaheim.png
Mighty Ducks primary logo (1993–2006). The logo was subsequently used in the Disney movie D2: The Mighty Ducks. Disney design elements appear in this logo, such as team mascot Wildwing's goalie mask.

1993-2004: The Disney Era

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 kids who turn their losing youth hockey team into a winning team. Disney subsequently made an animated series called Mighty Ducks, featuring a fictional Mighty Ducks of Anaheim team that consisted of anthropomorphized ducks led by the mighty duck Wildwing. The team was the first tenant of Arrowhead Pond (now Honda Center), a brand-new arena in Anaheim located a short distance east of Disneyland and across the Orange Freeway 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 bring them within a game of Stanley Cup glory in 2003.

On February 7, 1996, the Mighty Ducks made a blockbuster deal with 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 Selanne. Selanne'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. The Coyotes initially took a series 3-2 lead, but the Ducks won the last two including Game 7 at home to win their inaugural playoff series. However, Anaheim was swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings in the second round. Even though Detroit officially swept the Ducks, every game was close in the series. Three games went into overtime, including one that went into double overtime, and one that went into triple overtime. After a disappointing 1997-98 season, The Ducks returned to the playoffs in 1998-99, but once again lost in four to the Red Wings in a more convincing manner than in 1997 ending with a 3-0 loss on home ice, this time in the Western Quarterfinals.

After a three-year playoff hiatus, Anaheim qualified for the 2003 Stanley Cup Playoffs. For the third straight postseason in which they participated, the Mighty Ducks met the defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings. Many hockey fans were expecting another easy win for Detroit. 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 to earn their first-ever Western Conference championship and berth in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The 2003 Stanley Cup Finals against the New Jersey Devils was a battle between two elite goaltenders, Martin Brodeur for New Jersey and Jean Sebastien Giguere for Anaheim. 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 Devils. For his fine play during the postseason, Ducks goaltender Jean Sebastien Giguere won the Conn Smythe Trophy as Most Valuable Player of the playoffs. He became only the fifth player, and fourth goaltender, in NHL history to have won the trophy as a member of the losing team.

After losing Paul Kariya to the Colorado Avalanche (he joined Selanne, who also signed with Colorado after two seasons with the San Jose Sharks) via free agency shortly after the season ended, the Ducks signed superstar Sergei Fedorov from Detroit and Vaclav Prospal. Still, 2003-04 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.

2004-Present: The Samueli Era

Mighty Ducks alternate logo (2004–06).

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 Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Randy Carlyle was hired as the seventh coach in team history. Burke was familiar with Carlyle's coaching ability, as the latter had coached the Manitoba Moose from 1996–2001 (International Hockey League) and 2004–05 (American Hockey League); the Moose had been the Canucks' farm club since 2001. Carlyle replaced Mike Babcock, who left the Ducks to coach the Red Wings. Also during that summer, the Mighty Ducks brought back former star and fan favorite Teemu Selanne, and made their first big free-agency splash under Burke when he signed defenseman Scott Niedermayer, the 2004 Norris Trophy winner and older brother of Ducks forward Rob, to a four-year contract, from New Jersey.

2005-06 saw the Ducks trade away big-name players with big contracts such as Petr Sykora and Sergei Fedorov in favor of younger players such as Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Chris Kunitz, and Joffrey Lupul. The Ducks had a rough start to season, but the plan was ultimately successful; the Ducks became one of the best teams in the league down the stretch 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 in five games, who had swept the Ducks in the regular season series. 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 shutout streak.

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 Honda Center as Arrowhead Water's naming rights had expired.

2006-07 Season: Lord Stanley arrives in Anaheim

On July 3, the Ducks traded young sniper Lupul, defenseman prospect Ladislav Smid, a 2007 first-round draft pick, a second-round choice in 2008, and a conditional first-round selection in 2008 to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for star defenseman 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.

Tapped by some publications as a favorite to win the Cup, the Ducks started the 2006–07 season on fire. 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, 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 and 54 points. No team having played 33 games had reached 54 points since the 1979 Philadelphia Flyers. The next night, 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], and on March 11, 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, 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—the first 100-point season in franchise history. This was good enough for the fourth-best record in the league (behind Buffalo, Detroit and Nashville). Although they had three fewer wins than the Predators, the Ducks were seeded second in the Western Conference playoffs by virtue of their division title.

In the first round, the Ducks faced the Minnesota Wild, winning the series 4 games to 1. Next up was the Vancouver Canucks, whom they also defeated 4 games to 1. They faced the Red Wings in the Western Conference Finals, winning 4 games to 2. A 4-3 win on May 22 at Honda Center gave the Ducks their second Western Conference title, and placed them in the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time. This time, they faced off against the Ottawa Senators, and on June 6, the Ducks defeated the Senators 6-2 at Honda Center to claim their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. The Ducks became the first California team, and the first west coast team since the 1925 Victoria Cougars to win the Stanley Cup.

The playoffs came with much controveresy, though, with a Ducks player being suspended from play in three of the four rounds. Chris Pronger was suspended for one game twice; once against the Detroit Red Wings for checking Tomas Holmstrom high, and then once more for elbowing Dean McAmmond of the Ottawa Senators in the Final. Brad May was suspended for two games in the series against the Minnesota Wild for punching and knocking out Kim Johnsson without reason. The Ducks were criticized by many for their rough style and for taking unnecessary penalties.

Team colors and mascot

Logos

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).

Jerseys

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

Original Mighty Ducks Jerseys

File:MightyDucksJerseys.png
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim jerseys: 1993-2006.

The original jerseys of the Ducks (then the Mighty Ducks) used jade, aubergine (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."

Ducks Jerseys After 2006

File:Anaheimducksjerseys.png
Anaheim Ducks jerseys: 2007-present.

About a year after the team was purchased from the Walt Disney Company by the Samuelis, Brian Burke initiated a name change dropping the "Mighty", after consultation with the fans showed that the typical fan had a willingness to update the "Mighty Ducks" name and jersey and also a desire to keep part of the traditions of the franchise. Burke sought inspiration for the jersey from the United States Military Academy[citation needed], ending up with diagonal gold, white, black and orange stripes down the arms and waist with the word "Ducks" on the front. The new jersey is similar to the team's most recent third jersey prior to the name change. The orange pays tribute to Orange County[1], where Anaheim is located.

The Ducks are not the first team from Southern California to win a title in the same year as a major uniform change. The Anaheim Angels won the 2002 World Series the same year that they changed to their current red-and-white uniforms.

Third jerseys

Third Jersey
1995-96
Third Jerseys
1997-2000, dark
1997-2001, white
Third Jersey
2003-2006
File:MightyDucksThirdJersey1.png File:MightyDucksThirdJerseys2.png File:MightyDucksThirdJersey3.png

The third jerseys of the Mighty Ducks were created in 1995, 1997, and 2003. The 1995 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 1997 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 2003 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.

Mascot

File:AnaheimDucks.jpg
A statue of Wild Wing, the mascot of the Ducks.

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] In one such descent the rigging that lowered Wild Wing from the rafters malfunctioned leaving the mascot trapped fifty feet above the ice for several minutes. Another well known blunder occurred in October 1995 when Wild Wing, attempting to jump through a "wall of fire", accidentally tripped causing the mascot to land on the fire and set his costume on ablaze.[3]

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.[4]

The mascot's name was also used for the leader of the Ducks, Wildwing Flashblade, in Disney's Mighty Ducks cartoon series.

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.

Season-by-season record

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.[5]

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 Stanley Cup Champions, 4-1 (Senators)
1 As of the 2005-06 NHL season, all games will have a winner; the OTL column includes SOL (Shootout losses).

Current roster

As of July 1, 2007. [3]

Goaltenders
# Player Catches Acquired Place of Birth
30 Russia Ilya Bryzgalov L 2000 Tolyatti, U.S.S.R.
35 Canada Jean-Sebastien Giguere L 2000 Montreal, Quebec
Defensemen
# Player Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
18 United States Ian Moran R 2006 Cleveland, Ohio-->
11 United States Mathieu Schneider L 2007 New York, New York
21 Canada Sean O'Donnell L 2006 Ottawa, Ontario
23 Canada Francois Beauchemin L 2005 Sorel, Quebec
25 Canada Chris ProngerA L 2006 Dryden, Ontario
27 Canada Scott NiedermayerC L 2005 Edmonton, Alberta
33 Canada Joe DiPenta R 2005 Barrie, Ontario
34 Canada Aaron Rome L 2006 Nesbitt, Manitoba
40 Canada Kent Huskins R 2006 Almonte, Ontario
-- Canada Shane Hnidy R 2007 Neepawa, Manitoba
Forwards
# Player Position Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
4 Canada Todd Bertuzzi RW L 2007 Sudbury, Ontario
8 Finland Teemu Selanne RW R 2005 Helsinki, Finland
10 Canada Corey Perry RW R 2003 Peterborough, Ontario
14 Canada Chris Kunitz LW L 2005 Regina, Saskatchewan
15 Canada Ryan Getzlaf C R 2003 Regina, Saskatchewan
16 United States George Parros RW R 2006 Washington, Pennsylvania
18 United States Drew Miller RW L 2006 Dover, New Jersey
19 Canada Andy McDonald C L 2000 Strathroy, Ontario
22 United States Todd Marchant C L 2005 Buffalo, New York
24 Canada Brad May LW L 2007 Toronto, Ontario
26 Sweden Samuel Pahlsson LW L 2000 Ånge, Sweden
32 Canada Travis Moen LW L 2005 Swift Current, Saskatchewan
44 Canada Rob NiedermayerA C L 2003 Cassiar, British Columbia
52 United States Ryan Carter C L 2007 White Bear Lake, Minnesota

Team and player honors

Jean-Sebastien Giguere, winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2003.

NHL awards and trophies


Honored Members

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.

Leaders

Scott Niedermayer, the current captain of the Anaheim Ducks and winner of the 2007 Conn Smythe Trophy.

Team captains

Coaches

First-round draft picks

Franchise scoring leaders

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 Selanne* RW 556 313 353 666 1.20
Steve Rucchin C 616 153 279 432 .70
Andy McDonald* C 358 88 155 243 .68
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 28 104 132 .82
Mike Leclerc LW 291 54 78 132 .45
Petr Sykora RW 197 64 67 131 .67

Franchise individual records

References

See also

External links

Preceded by Stanley Cup Champions
2006-07
Succeeded by
Incumbent