Anaheim Ducks trying to recover from poor season
The National Hockey League’s Pacific Division was full of success stories last season. Unfortunately, the division’s most recent Stanley Cup winners the Anaheim Ducks were anything but that.
The Ducks have been one of the Pacific’s strongest teams in recent years. In 2002-03 they made it all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals before losing to the New Jersey Devils. They then won the Cup just four years later in 2007 and also managed to upset the San Jose Sharks last season in one of the most exciting play-off series in 2008-09. This year, it all came crashing down.
The Ducks finished last season with a paltry 89 points, while teams like the Los Angeles Kings and the Phoenix Coyotes were experiencing serious resurgences in strength. This led to the Ducks not making the play-offs for the first time since the 2003-04 season, when they were still known as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
This means that the 11th place finishing Ducks have some serious work cut out for them in order to bring the franchise back to the strong performances it showed itself capable of just a few seasons ago.
One of the main issues Anaheim has had to deal with this off-season is the departure of franchise player Scott Niedermayer. The veteran had already contemplated retirement following the Ducks’ 2007 Stanley Cup victory but returned to play another two seasons for Anaheim. He decided to hang up his skates after the Ducks’ collapse, and will be sorely missed as a defenceman and power play scorer.
Veteran forward Teemu Selanne is also considering retiring and his departure would impact the Ducks’ scoring even further.
The Ducks will also be without checking forward Mike Brown and defencemen Steve Eminger and James Wisniewski, who are now on other rosters after some off-season trades. Eminger and Wisniewski both went to New York, though Eminger will be on the Rangers and Wisniewski will be on the Islanders. Brown, who had a career-high six goals last season, was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Although there have been some departures, Anaheim has been serious about its signings. On the opening day of free agency they filled up the blank spots on defence by signing former Buffalo Sabres blue-liner Toni Lydman to a three-year deal.
The Ducks also managed to draft Windsor Spitfires defenseman Cam Fowler with their No. 12 pick in this year’s Entry Draft, even though he was expected to be off the board much earlier. They also added forwards Emerson Etem and Devante Smith-Pelly with later picks in the draft.
Anaheim also gained a few players through its trading. In exchange for Eminger, the Ducks got Aaron Voros and minor-leaguer Ryan Hillier. Voros is a strong checking forward who has shown occasional scoring ability during his stints with the Rangers and Minnesota Wild.
Additionally Anaheim has managed to maintain stability as well, which should bode well for success. They have resigned veteran centre Saku Koivu, who had an impressive 52 points last season. Also Joffrey Lupul should be back for a full season after playing only 23 games last year due to back surgery.
Goaltender Jonas Hiller won the starting position last year, and will now be looking to prove himself worthy of keeping it. The safety of not competing for the job should allow him to perform better.
All in all, the Ducks have made the right moves when it comes to regaining ground in the Pacific Division. Unfortunately, other teams in the division have been no less savvy and the road back to success for Anaheim looks as tough as ever.
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