About Me
When founded in 1993, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were owned 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 teens who turn their losing youth hockey team into a winner. Disney subsequently made an animated series called The Mighty Ducks, featuring a fictional Mighty Ducks of Anaheim team that consisted of anthropomorphized ducks. Disney had wanted to cross-merchandise the team even further by having every player have a "Mighty" preceding his surname on the back of the uniform (i.e. "Mighty Kariya"), but this idea was swiftly met with major negative reaction. [citation needed]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 guide them to within a game of Stanley Cup glory in 2003.On February 7, 1996, a major trade was made between the Mighty Ducks and 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 Teemu Selänne. The addition of "The Finnish Flash" 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 deadliest duos in the league during their seasons together in Anaheim.After missing the playoffs in their first three seasons, the Mighty Ducks finished 1996-97 fourth in the West, earning home-ice advantage for a first-round playoff series with the Phoenix Coyotes. After winning the series in the full seven games, Anaheim was swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. The Ducks returned to the playoffs in 1998-99, but once again lost in four to the Red Wings, this time in the Western Quarterfinals.After a three-year playoff hiatus, Anaheim qualified for the 2003 Stanley Cup Playoffs. For their third straight postseason, the Mighty Ducks met the defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings. Anaheim shocked the hockey world when they swept Detroit, with Rucchin's series-clincher coming in overtime of game four. The Ducks would then defeat the #1-seeded Dallas Stars in six games and make quick work of the Minnesota Wild in the Western Conference Final. Anaheim could not complete their Cinderella run, though, as they fell in seven games to the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup Final. For his heroics, Ducks goaltender Jean-Sébastien Giguère won the Conn Smythe Trophy as Most Valuable Player of the playoffs.After losing Kariya to the Colorado Avalanche via free agency shortly after the season ended, the Ducks signed superstar Sergei Fedorov from Detroit. Still, Anaheim would end up missing the 2004 playoffs, and suffered low attendance figures despite their magical playoff run of the previous year.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.
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A statue of Wildwing, the mascot of the Ducks.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 Los Angeles 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 James Norris Memorial Trophy-winning defenseman Randy Carlyle was hired as the seventh coach in team history. Burke was familiar with Carlyle's coaching ability, as he had coached the Manitoba Moose from 1996-2001 (International Hockey League) and 2004-05 (American Hockey League). The Moose had become the Canucks' farm club in 2001. Carlyle replaced Mike Babcock, who left the Ducks to coach the Red Wings.Also in 2005, the Mighty Ducks brought back fan favorite Teemu Selänne, who had been a star player for the team from 1996-2001. Selänne played the previous NHL season with the Avalanche. Burke made his first big splash as the team's general manager when he signed defenseman Scott Niedermayer, the 2003-04 Norris Trophy winner and older brother of Ducks centerman Rob, to a four-year contract, from New Jersey.2006 saw the Ducks beat the Calgary Flames and Colorado on a run through the playoffs, only being stopped in the West finals by the Edmonton Oilers, who'd swept the Ducks in the regular season. The team banked on its youth, seeing Joffrey Lupul, Ryan Getzlaf, Chris Kunitz and Ilya Bryzgalov turn in stellar performances.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 the Honda Center as Arrowhead Water's naming rights had expired.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 to Edmonton 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 tiny Edmonton and wanted to move to the L.A. area.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 1984 Edmonton Oilers. They were subsequently shutout by the Calgary Flames the following game, 3-0, ending their streak.
