2010-2011 National Hockey League (NHL) Regular and Postseason Assessment: Anaheim Ducks
The 2010-2011 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season is conclusive proof that Anaheim Ducks are on the right track and are getting better and better with every passing moment, until recently that is.
Will the subtraction of one of hockey’s greatest players, Teemu Selanne, from their line-up make a major adverse impact, or will it allow Anaheim to search for even better talent?
After Anaheim’s fifth straight playoff appearance after a great regular season, fans could have easily named the franchise as one of the greatest in the league, and having won the Stanley Cup recently in the 2007 finals makes them even more worthy.
One aspect worth thinking about is that all those years were with Selanne, who is now still indecisive about whether his career has come to an end or still has something left.
Setting the date for September to announce his stay or retirement from the game of hockey after 18 years in the NHL has everyone around the hockey world on the edge of their seats.
Due to having an orthopaedic surgery on his left knee during the month of June, Selanne is in turmoil on whether he should retire or not, and quite frankly looking at his past season performance, which was without a doubt his best in the past four seasons,
one can intelligently guess that the 41-year-old still has a lot of game in him remaining.
Last season, Selanne recorded 80 points (31 goals, 49 assists) in 73 games.
It is easily noticeable that Anaheim not only consists of great players like Teemu Selanne, but a number of others which make their first line one straightforwardly, one of the best in the league, if not the best.
A line-up including players like Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and the NHL’s top goal scorer, Bobby Ryan, makes Anaheim one of the most sought after teams hands down.
That is not all, Ducks also consist of some of the league’s highest ranking defenders like, Lubomir Visnovsky and Cam Fowler along with Jonas Hiller as their goalie.
The 2010-2011 regular started off pretty rough for the Western Conference franchise as it gaced three straight loses away by Detroit Red Wings in a 4-0 shutout followed by a 4-1 loss to Nashville Predators and even worse, 5-1 defeat by St. Louis Blues.
The situation eventually lightened up and went in favour of Anaheim near the half of the season when Ducks won 8 of 11 games in January and a gradual increase in ranking up until April as the season concluded to finish off standing at number four tied with
Nashville Predators and Phoenix Coyotes with 99 points.
Anaheim entered the 2011 NHL Playoffs ahead of Nashville by winning the tie-breaker by having more regulation plus overtime wins (43-38).
Unfortunately for Ducks, they were defeated by Nashville in a quick six-game series which was tied, 2-2, after the first four contests, but Predators emerged successful by winning the decisive game-five and six.
Whether or not Teemu Selanne decides to stay or not with Anaheim, a team which he has termed as the only one he will return to if he does at all, Ducks still remain one of the most capable to stand on their own feet.
This move might also be good for them in the end, as the younger players will have the chance to standout and perform, instead of being in the legends shadow all the time.
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