2011 National Hockey League (NHL) offseason assessment: Anaheim Ducks
Other than Anaheim Ducks legendary player, Teemu Selanne, saying that he will decide whether to decide or stay in September, which has all the eyes from around the hockey world on the Californian team, Ducks remained busy throughout the offseason and made
those small and big changes that were really needed, either now or would be eventually.
Already having discussed Selanne’s situation in Anaheim Ducks 2010-2011 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season assessment, it would not suffice to discuss it even further. Focusing on the other changes Ducks made to their line-up in terms of either
adding or removing players, it will certainly be interesting to see what kind of team Anaheim has become over the offseason after their fifth straight postseason appearance.
Even if Selanne retires, Coach Randy Carlyle has already expressed himself as having a backup plan so the team does not suffer an immediate setback.
"The one thing that Teemu has always expressed is that he wanted to be able to play tennis, play golf and to be active after his playing days", said Carlyle, who already has considered a backup plan if Selanne retires. "If he feels as if his body is telling
him to stop playing, he will stop playing".
Talking about Anaheim making the playoffs for five times in a row, there is a major reason for that and Ducks certainly realised that they have to keep him behind the benches if they wish to keep going the way they are.
Anaheim re-signed their head coach, Randy Carlyle, to a three-year contract extension during the offseason, the reason being that Carlyle has been able to work miracles for a franchise that at one point was struggling. Since his six seasons being behind
Ducks bench, the team has reached the playoffs five times including winning its first Stanley Cup in 2007, which is probably the best reason of all.
General Manager, Bob Murray, was all praise for Carlyle after re-signing him.
"He has proven that he's a good coach", said Anaheim GM Bob Murray. "We're always competitive, no matter what kind of team we have".
Along with retaining Randy Carlyle in the coaching staff, Anaheim also made a number of additions including Andrew Cogliano, Jean-Francois Jacques, Kurtis Foster, Matt Smaby and Jeff Deslauriers. Other than the additions, Ducks lost Todd Marchant, Andreas
Lilja, Ray Emery and Jarkko Ruutu.
The most important amongst all additions is probably centre player, Andrew Cogliano, a former 25th overall pick during the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by Edmonton Oilers, who was acquired in exchange for a future draft pick in 2012.
Cogliano signed to a three-year contract with Anaheim over the offseason and is a player with true potential, which he has not been able to find with Edmonton so far. Both Cogliano and Ducks hope that a change in teams might help in giving him that much
needed boost.
Kurtis Foster, a veteran defenseman, who was also acquired from Oilers for Andy Sutton, is also very capable of adding valuable defence to any team and Ducks hope on using him for exactly that.
Anaheim lost their veteran goalie, Ray Emery, by not signing him after he became a free agent on July 1, even though he showed high hopes of improvement when he made a comeback during the last games of the regular season immediately after recovering from
a potential career ending hip injury.
Anaheim Ducks, even without a number of players who left this offseason and who are planning to leave, is still very powerful as a team. Having players like Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Bobby Ryan and Jonas Hiller are positive points that are more than enough
in any situation.
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