Franchise history: #1 forward

[Elvs]

As we're waiting for hockey to return, I'm making a longer series of polls. The rules are simple. Vote for the best player in franchise history. How you determine who the best player is (peak, longevity, importance, PR value etc) is entirely up to you.

This series, if I stay on schedule, will take 36 days to conclude. Every day there will be a forwards poll. Every second day there will be a forwards/defensemen poll, and every sixth day there will be a forwards/defenseman/goaltender poll.

In total, we'll be ranking the 36 best forwads, the 18 best defensemen and the 6 best goaltenders in franchise history. Because those are the numbers needed to fill three full line ups.

When you're voting, just vote for the best player available and don't mind the lineups, as the top three forwards won't nessecarely all be on the first line etc. The lineups are just there for fun, and I'll move players around based on what lines I think makes sense.


Team A

X - X - X
X - X - X
X - X - X
X - X - X

X - X
X - X
X - X

X
X

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Team B

X - X - X
X - X - X
X - X - X
X - X - X

X - X
X - X
X - X

X
X

------------------------

Team C

X - X - X
X - X - X
X - X - X
X - X - X

X - X
X - X
X - X

X
X

Click to read more...

 

[Elvs]

Oh, and I should mention the criteria for players to be included in the rankings. Skaters must have played at least 120 games in a Ducks jersey. For goalies it's 50 games.

Here's everyone who meets that criteria (in order by games played):

Forwards:
1. Ryan Getzlaf (1053)
2. Corey Perry (988)
3. Teemu Selanne (966)
4. Steve Rucchin (616)
5. Paul Kariya (606)
6. Andrew Cogliano (584)
7. Samuel Pahlsson (527)
8. Jakob Silfverberg (510)
9. Rickard Rakell (447)
10. Matt Cullen (427)
11. Todd Marchant (421)
12. Andy McDonald (391)
13. Rob Niedermayer (382)
14. Robby Ryan (378)
15. George Parros (356)
16. Ryan Kesler (346)
17. Joe Sacco (333)
18. Saku Koivu (332)
19. Matt Beleskey (329)
20. Chris Kunitz (313)
21. Mike Leclerc (291)
22. Nick Ritchie (287)
23. Marty McInnis (272)
24. Travis Moen (261)
25. Garry Valk (246)
26. Ted Drury (232)
27. Stu Grimson (231)
28. Adam Henrique (210)
29. Dan Bylsma (209)
30. Joffrey Lupul (205)
31. Patrick Maroon (204)
32. Kyle Palmieri (198)
33. Ondrej Kase (198)
34. Petr Sykora (197)
35. Jeff Nielsen (191)
36. Nick Bonino (189)
37. Shaun Van Allen (174)
38. Bob Corkum (168)
39. Nate Thompson (159)
40. Marc Chouinard (159)
41. Todd Ewen (153)
42. Peter Douris (151)
43. Antti Aalto (151)
44. Dustin Penner (150)
45. Patrik Carnback (148)
46. Jason Krog (147)
47. Jason Blake (147)
48. Derek Grant (146)
49. Patric Kjellberg (141)
50. Tony Hrkac (140)
51. Ryan Carter (138)
52. German Titov (137)
53. Antoine Vermette (136)
54. Stanislav Chistov (136)
55. Tomas Sandstrom (135)
56. Chris Wagner (133)
57. Warren Rychel (133)
58. Carter Rowney (133)
59. Devante Smith-Pelly (129)
60. Ladislav Kohn (128)
61. Daniel Winnik (124)

Defensemen:
1. Cam Fowler (679)
2. Ruslan Salei (594)
3. Francois Beauchemin (592)
4. Hampus Lindholm (503)
5. Vitaly Vishnevsky (416)
6. Josh Manson (385)
7. Scott Niedermayer (371)
8. Jason Marshall (370)
9. Oleg Tverdovsky (324)
10. Pavel Trnka (322)
11. Niclas Havelid (310)
12. Bobby Dollas (305)
13. Sami Vatanen (280)
14. Keith Carney (271)
15. Dave Karpa (245)
16. Fredrik Olausson (244)
17. Luca Sbisa (227)
18. Chris Pronger (220)
19. Sheldon Brookbank (215)
20. Kevin Bieksa (211)
21. Randy Ladouceur (188)
22. Toni Lydman (187)
23. Sean O'Donnell (182)
24. Joe DiPenta (171)
25. Brandon Montour (169)
26. Jason York (168)
27. Lubomir Visnovsky (165)
28. Ben Lovejoy (150)
29. Kevin Haller (149)
30. Korbinian Holzer (145)
31. Kent Huskins (142)
32. Pascal Trepanier (139)
33. Kurt Sauer (135)
34. Clayton Stoner (133)
35. Dmitri Mironov (128)

Goaltenders:
1. Jean-Sebastien Giguere (446)
2. Guy Hebert (441)
3. Jonas Hiller (326)
4. John Gibson (287)
5. Frederik Andersen (125)
6. Mikhail Shtalenkov (122)
7. Ilya Bryzgalov (77)
8. Ryan Miller (71)
9. Martin Gerber (54)
10. Dominic Roussel (51)

 

[Kalv]

I admit I wasn't following the Ducks when Kariya was here. My decision was Getz (longevity) and Teemu (just his presence and skill). Went with Teemu this time, and I have #2 and #3 pretty much laid out for me.

Thank you @Elvs for doing this.

 

[Frosted Tips]

This is awesome, thanks for doing this! Went obvious fanboy with this, but I don't think it's wrong to vote Teemu here.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Went with Kariya. I get why people would choose Selanne though

 

[Leonardo87]

I admit I wasn't following the Ducks when Kariya was here. My decision was Getz (longevity) and Teemu (just his presence and skill). Went with Teemu this time, and I have #2 and #3 pretty much laid out for me.

Thank you @Elvs for doing this.

Yeah same here. Regrettably, I started to follow the Ducks about a few years after they won the cup. About 10 years ago? Was able to see some competitive Ducks hockey at least and Getz (Yes, I was here during the balding process, lol) and Perry still in their primes. So I went with Getz based on my time-line.

 

[cheesymc]

Tough to pick...

Kariya was our first franchise star and he was just so dominant at the time when size was important since the league allowed more over the top physicality. He brought us to relevance and got many folks into hockey.

Selanne is definitely the most loved player, but isn’t at Kariya or Getzlafs level historically as he was never a captain.

Getzlaf will get the nod statistically, but I had to vote for Kariya. He overcame a lot more. He was a top 3 player in the league at one time.

 

[mightyquack]

Wasn't really a big hockey person before 2003 (pretty sure the 03 finals were one of the first broadcast on pay TV here) so Getzlaf to me is what Kariya/Teemu are to people who followed the Ducks from the beginning, so I went with Getz.

Don't think there is a wrong choice between Teemu/Getz/Kariya though.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

I can see arguments for three guys here - Kariya, Selanne and Getzlaf. I went back and forth quite a bit but ultimately went with Kariya. Not only was he the team's first star, but also in my opinion the most elite when it comes to judging each of them at their best during their time with this team. PK at his peak was in the conversation for best player in the world at that time.

 

[lwvs84]

It has to between Selanne and Kariya for me for importance to the franchise. Getzlaf came in when there were stars and this was a legitimate franchise already. Kariya and Selanne were part of what gave this franchise that legitimacy. I'm a little bias so I'll go with Selanne on it, just because he's the guy that brought a ton of fans to the franchise with how he dealt with them. He was the first truly available and personable star the Mighty Ducks had. Honestly though, there is no wrong answer between those top 3 forwards.

 

[McDonald19]

Kariya carried a team of grinders and castoffs. One of the most dynamic wingers I’ve ever seen play. If only his career wasn’t derailed by Suter.

An argument could be made for Selanne since he was the best pure scorer in franchise history and also helped make the organization relevant.

Getzlaf as the only big franchise center in Ducks’ history deserves consideration too.

 

[Kalv]

Wasn't really a big hockey person before 2003 (pretty sure the 03 finals were one of the first broadcast on pay TV here) so Getzlaf to me is what Kariya/Teemu are to people who followed the Ducks from the beginning, so I went with Getz.

Don't think there is a wrong choice between Teemu/Getz/Kariya though.

Same timeline for me (with a silent period from 03-08). Agreed with the trio. I respect all of those picks.

 

[bsu]

Kariya without him I don't think the ducks have a lot less fans tbh. Without him I'm probably kings fan my dad only took me to the games when I was young to watch him.

 

[AngelDuck]

I love Paul but he’s the clear 3rd best in my book. He never won a cup with us unfortunately. Selanne’s second stint with the ducks really put him in a different tier to the franchise then Kariya to me. You go look at the numbers Teemu put up in 2005-2006, 2006-2007, and 2010-2011...it’s really impressive in hindsight

I voted for Teemu but Getz is right there with him

I don’t believe we are picking based on who was most important to the franchise, are we? This is about our best forward in franchise history. If it is about most important to franchise prosperity then I see an argument for Pk

the most interesting poll will be our 5th best forward. I’m curious to see what people think. 1-4 is pretty obvious. Is it Bobby Ryan? Rucchin? Pahlsson? That should be interesting

 

[Duck Off]

My top 3 will be:
Teemu
Getzlaf
Kariya

 

[bsu]

I love Paul but he’s the clear 3rd best in my book. He never won a cup with us unfortunately. Selanne’s second stint with the ducks really put him in a different tier to the franchise then Kariya to me. You go look at the numbers Teemu put up in 2005-2006, 2006-2007, and 2010-2011...it’s really impressive in hindsight

I voted for Teemu but Getz is right there with him

I don’t believe we are picking based on who was most important to the franchise, are we? This is about our best forward in franchise history. If it is about most important to franchise prosperity then I see an argument for Pk

the most interesting poll will be our 5th best forward. I’m curious to see what people think. 1-4 is pretty obvious. Is it Bobby Ryan? Rucchin? Pahlsson? That should be interesting

Kariya was a better player than both Selanne and Getzlaf but obviously didn't have the longevity.

 

[Kalv]

My top 3 will be:
Teemu
Getzlaf
Kariya

Samesies. And that's no knock on Kariya at all. That trio is amazing.

 

[Paul4587]

If you want pure offense it’s Teemu or Paul. Edge to Teemu because of longevity and he ended up winning here.

In terms of all around play it’s Getzlaf. His ability to carry inferior line mates and drive play at both ends of the ice is far superior to the other two. His Hart voting record here trumps Kariya and Selanne and his playoff production is also far superior to the other two. Longevity wise only Teemu is better also. Surprisingly enough production wise he’s not far behind the other two in terms of league rankings in individual seasons although he is clearly slightly behind.

 

[Elvs]

Updated the second post with all the eligible players. Now it shows their amount of games played, as well as links to their EP profiles.

 

[ohcomeonref]

Went with Kariya. I get why people would choose Selanne though

It was a tough choice for me between Kariya and Selanne. Kariya put the Ducks on the map and was absolutely electric on the ice but I went with Teemu because he was instrumental in getting us a cup.

 

[Paul4587]

For reference here are the league award top 10 finishes and top 10 offensive finishes while in Anaheim for Teemu, Paul and Getzlaf:

Selanne
Top 10 points finishes:
2 2 5 7 8 8

Top 10 goal finishes:
1 1 2 3 10

Top 10 assist finishes:
4 7 9 9 10

Top 10 Hart finishes:
3 5 5 9

Getzlaf:
Top 10 points finishes:
2 6 10

Top 10 goal finishes:
None

Top 10 assist finishes:
3 3 4 5 7 7 8

Top 10 Hart finishes:
2 6 7

Top 10 Selke finishes
10

Kariya:
Top 10 points finishes:
3 3 4 7

Top 10 goal finishes:
4 7 9

Top 10 assist finishes:
3 8

Top 10 Hart finishes:
2 8 9

To me that shows this is clearly a two horse race between Getzy and Teemu. Getzlaf has the better Hart voting record and far superior two way game. Teemu is clearly ahead offensively. Kariya does have the second place Hart finish so for peak season arguably wins out depending on how you value Getzlaf in 13-14 but overall he doesn’t have the accolades the other two do in Anaheim.

 

[DigiDuck]

My earliest hockey memory is Kariya's wicked wrister passed Khabibulin in 97 after the alley oop pass from Teemu. It's so close between Paul and Teemu. Even in terms of talent nothing much separated them, but went with PK, simply because without him even being here in the first place, they don't make the trade for Teemu, and Anaheim never becomes his happy place. He obviously didn't have anywhere near the longevity or impact on the franchise that Selanne and Getz have, but considering what he had to endure in that era (thank you Suter and Stevens), it's incredible he was even as successful as he was.

 

[JabbaJabba]

Teemu. Still a fan favourite for a lot of people and he's the best forward in Ducks' history IMO.