Franchise Best: Anaheim Ducks 2006-07 Season

[LastWordArmy]

The Franchise Best Series comes to you to dive into the all-time best single season for every organization. This, of course, includes post-season results. Join us for a look back at some of the most memorable moments in each franchise’s history. Here is the Anaheim Ducks best season.

Franchise Best: Anaheim Ducks 2006-07 Season - Last Word on Hockey

Click to read more...

 

[branmuffin17]

Ahhh, the good ol' days.

 

[crowi]

Good read. I only wish Perry had any "magic" left in him at this point.

 

[Paul4587]

That season was f***ing awesome.

 

[Fighter]

That team didn't lack a single piece! Two Hall of Famers in the defense (and Beauch and a respectable O'Donnell to complete them), the Kids line was blooming well, our first line was excellent with Selanne scoring and good ole Andy Mac (he'll never get the respect he deserves) to feed him. But best of all, was our shutdown line: Sami God, Moen and Rob Nieds. Oh and Jiggy and Bryz anchoring our crease.
IMO one of the best teams ever in the NHL.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

That team didn't lack a single piece! Two Hall of Famers in the defense (and Beauch and a respectable O'Donnell to complete them), the Kids line was blooming well, our first line was excellent with Selanne scoring and good ole Andy Mac (he'll never get the respect he deserves) to feed him. But best of all, was our shutdown line: Sami God, Moen and Rob Nieds. Oh and Jiggy and Bryz anchoring our crease.
IMO one of the best teams ever in the NHL.

What makes the top line of 06-07 unique is that Andy Mac was undersized as a top line center, especially considering that era was still the "physical goon" era of NHL. In todays game where speed n skill is more prefered over giants who skate slow, Sam Steel isn't really that undersized when you look at how short Any Mac was.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

How many more cups could they have won if Burke didn't panic & sign Bertuzzi & Schneider ?
When Niedermayer & Selanne eventually came back the next season they had to make room cause of Bertuzzi & Schneider so they had to move Andy Mac & let Bryz go.

If they didn't sign either of Betuzzi or Schneider for 07-08 the roster in 2008-09 could look like:
Penner/Getzlaf/Perry
Ryan/MacDonald/Selanne
Kunitz/Pahlsson/Niedermayer
Moen/Marchant/Miller

Niedermayer/Beauchemin
Pronger/O'Donnell
Huskins/Montador

Hiller/Jiggy
Even if they had to move salary they could move Kunitz & can put Moen back on the 3rd line.

How many suspensions would the 06-07 team have gotten in todays NHL ? I suspect quite ALOT.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

What makes the top line of 06-07 unique is that Andy Mac was undersized as a top line center, especially considering that era was still the "physical goon" era of NHL. In todays game where speed n skill is more prefered over giants who skate slow, Sam Steel isn't really that undersized when you look at how short Any Mac was.

This is really not true. The first two years post-lockout are probably the two highest scoring years of this era and around that time is when the game truly actually changed, not recently as some people like to think for some reason.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

This is really not true. The first two years post-lockout are probably the two highest scoring years of this era and around that time is when the game truly actually changed, not recently as some people like to think for some reason.

It was much more physical back then than it is now, as well as all teams had enforcers etc, some had multiple enforcers. The Ducks had alot of guys who could play the role of enforcer that liked to fight: Parros, Moen, May etc.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

It was much more physical back then than it is now, as well as all teams had enforcers etc, some had multiple enforcers. The Ducks had alot of guys who could play the role of enforcer that liked to fight: Parros, Moen, May etc.

I wouldn't go that far. There was certainly some different philosophies then, especially the enforcer stuff and definitely about defensemen, but those first two years was the real skill infusion to the game. Andy Mac wasn't really an anomaly like Marty St.Louis and Theo Fleury were, he was one of many at the time.

We also aren't the best team to judge that era off of, that team valued physicality and toughness more than even teams from the dead puck era. That team was the exception, not the rule, and that's probably why it worked so well.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

How many more cups could they have won if Burke didn't panic & sign Bertuzzi & Schneider ?
When Niedermayer & Selanne eventually came back the next season they had to make room cause of Bertuzzi & Schneider so they had to move Andy Mac & let Bryz go.

If they didn't sign either of Betuzzi or Schneider for 07-08 the roster in 2008-09 could look like:
Penner/Getzlaf/Perry
Ryan/MacDonald/Selanne
Kunitz/Pahlsson/Niedermayer
Moen/Marchant/Miller

Niedermayer/Beauchemin
Pronger/O'Donnell
Huskins/Montador

Hiller/Jiggy
Even if they had to move salary they could move Kunitz & can put Moen back on the 3rd line.

How many suspensions would the 06-07 team have gotten in todays NHL ? I suspect quite ALOT.

Its crazy because 07 perry/getzlaf/penner were essentially all rookies/young not near their prime yet... that team coulda been good for a few years.

 

[AngelDuck]

Its crazy because 07 perry/getzlaf/penner were essentially all rookies/young not near their prime yet... that team coulda been good for a few years.

I'd actually say Getzlaf was getting pretty close to moving into his prime by the playoffs that year. He put up 80+ points the following year. He definitely wasn't quite in his prime yet, but he was already clearly going to be a 1C in a matter of months

Agreed about Perry though. He was still 4 years away from his peak.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

Yeah if Niedermayer and Selanne come back day 1 and Kevin Lowe doesn't completely alter the scale of 2nd contracts(although was probably inevitable and I'm ultimately glad it happened, but yeah the timing sucked ass) that could've been something real interesting for this team. Might've signed Schneider anyway and easily afforded it.

 

[Terry Yake]

trading andymac for weight is what really set the team back

no true 1C to center selanne and kunitz really messed up a great line

 

[Elvs]

trading andymac for weight is what really set the team back

no true 1C to center selanne and kunitz really messed up a great line

My favourite line ever.

 

[AngelDuck]

Man, McDonald was so great. I’m hoping Steel becomes something close to that

 

[LuGBuG]

Average season at best I was hoping for 82-0 16-0.... bunch of chokers

 

[Anaheim4ever]

trading andymac for weight is what really set the team back

no true 1C to center selanne and kunitz really messed up a great line

Big time. On St. Louis McDonald was still putting up very good numbers per game even though he kept getting hurt he was producing when he played.

 

[Fighter]

I miss AndyMac, it's true that we never recovered from his loss. That trade took out our best set up man, something we lacked in the following years.
I still remember that I realized we'd won the Stanley Cup only when in game 5 he scored the first goal for us: that was THE moment in which I said to myself "Holy f***, we're gonna win the Cup for real!".