Anaheim Ducks

The Anaheim Ducks are a professional men's 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 Stanley 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 (formerly Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim).

The club was founded in 1993 by The Walt Disney Company as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, a name based on the 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

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 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. 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 1998-99 NHL season saw the Ducks once again contending for the playoffs. Late in the season, the Ducks had the chance to face the Phoenix Coyotes, a team they played well against that season, in the first round due to Phoenix holding fourth seed and the Ducks holding fifth. But a late season cold streak dropped the Ducks to sixth seed and had face the third seed Red Wings, whom they did not play well against. Once again, the Ducks lost in four to the Red Wings, this time 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 post-season in which they participated, the Mighty Ducks met the defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings. This time, however, Anaheim shocked the hockey world as they swept Detroit in the series 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, which was noted for Game 1 being the fourth longest game in NHL history, with the Ducks winning in the fifth overtime period thanks to Petr Sykora. In the Conference Finals, the Ducks would make quick work of the upstart Minnesota Wild (only allowing one goal the entire series) 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. It was also noted for two brothers, Rob Niedermayer for the Ducks, and his older brother Scott Niedermayer for the Devils, competing for the same prize. 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 post-season, 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

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.

The 2005-06 season 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. In an interesting playoff where the bottom 4 seeds knocked off the top 4 seeds, The Ducks 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 Anaheim Mighty Ducks 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: The Stanley Cup arrives in Anaheim
On July 3, 2006, 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.[citation needed]

Picked by some publications as a favorite to win the Cup[1], 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 , 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. 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 Western Conference quarter finals, the Ducks once again met the Minnesota Wild and defeated them 4 games to 1. Next up was the Vancouver Canucks, the Northwest Division champions, 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 controversy, though. The Ducks had players suspended in three of the four rounds, starting with Brad May's suspension for two games in the series against the Minnesota Wild when he punched and knocked out Kim Johnsson without reason. 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 Finals.

After winning the Stanley Cup, two star players, defenseman Scott Niedermayer and right winger Teemu Selanne were pondering retirement. Burke was active in the Free Agent market signing two veteran players in high scoring defenseman Mathieu Schneider and gritty forward Todd Bertuzzi to 2 year contracts to replace Niedermayer and Selanne if they were to retire. Later on, Oilers GM Kevin Lowe signed Dustin Penner to an offer sheet that would pay him 4.25 million a year over the next five. Burke called out Lowe, saying 'it was a classless move made by a desperate GM trying to save his job.'[citation needed] He did not match the offer. In return, the Ducks have gotten the Oiler's 1st, 2nd and 3rd round draft picks. Later that summer he signed backup defenseman Joe DiPenta to a one year contract along with re-signing the gritty team leader Brad May.

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