By Joseph Durie
The once ‘Mighty’ Ducks of Anaheim have gone from champions to pretenders in under three years. Is it time to completely rebuild Ducks from the inside out?
Having won the Stanley Cup in 2007, they made a first round exit from the playoff in 2008, before upsetting President Trophy winning San Jose Sharks and then pushing the defending champion Detroit Red Wings to seven games last year.
However this season the Ducks sit at the bottom of the Western Conference and things went from bad to worse this week with star forward Teemu Selanne suffering a fracture in his hand blocking a shot. Selanne is expected to be out 4-6 weeks.
Many experts picked Anaheim to be one of the top teams in the west, having traded Chris Pronger for secondary scoring in the form of Joffery Lupul and signing Selanne's long-time friend Saku Koivu.
Lupul has been solid – although he has been injured for the part of the season, but Koivu has been a major disappointment with only 3 goals this season.
It has been the hole created on the blueline by the departure of Pronger that has the Ducks barley treading water and it is clear changes have to be made.
The first and most obvious move for GM Bob Murray to make is to ask J.S. Giguere to waive his no-trade-clause, call up ex boss Brian Burke in Toronto and send Giguere and his $6.5 million salary for this season and next to the Leafs to help solidify their goaltender situation.
The Ducks could take back Vesa Toskala – who is in the final year of his deal, meaning there would be plenty of space to resign Jonas Hiller - who will command a raise from his $1.3 million he is earning this year.
Towards the trade deadline Scott Niedermayer will command a huge interest around the league could bring back something of a package of a first round pick, a top prospect and solid roster player.
Vancouver (Niedermayer’s home town) could be a good fit to give Niedermayer a chance to win his fifth Stanley Cup.
Selanne and Koivu could be the perfect package to send to a playoff bound team looking to hugely increase their cup chances. Pittsburgh could be a perfect landing space. Jordan Staal coming back to California would work well for both teams. With Koivu providing leadership down the middle behind superstars Crosby and Malkin, and Selanne playing on Crosby’s wing could stack the odds in the Penguins favour to be the first team to be repeat champs since Detroit in 1998.
Or perhaps Emilio Estevez and Joshua Jackson could make these Ducks “Mighty” once again.
The game of the week involved the Montreal Canadiens celebrating their centennial against long-time foe the Boston Bruins.
Montreal seemed inspired by the presence on many of the franchise’s greatest players including Patrick Roy, Guy Lafleur, Jean Beliveau and Ken Dryden.
Montreal jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second period on the back of a hat-trick from Mike Cammalleri to delight the home town fans on a very special night in Montreal.
Carey Price stopped all but one of the 38 shots he faced as he continues to grow in confidence in the Canadiens net.
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