Best-Worst Trades in Ducks History: In the Middle and Pending

This is the first part of my Best-Worst Trades in Anaheim Ducks/Mighty Ducks of Anaheim history series. This post will mention the few trades that I think are in the middle of good and bad and also any trades that I think are pending.

In the Middle:

Jan. 31, 2010 – Acquired LW Jason Blake and G Vesa Toskala from Toronto in exchange for G J.S. Giguere.

I was and still am a huge fan of Jean-Sebastian Giguere. When he was traded, I was pretty upset and frustrated. Which also led me to have some contempt for Jonas Hiller at first, but of course, he grew on me. The loss of the best goalie in the franchises history normally would create some negative buzz. So, at first I was going to say that this was a very bad trade. The fact that Vesa Toskala was involved and was sent the Ducks way doesn’t help. He was a total bust and never even saw the ice in his time with the Ducks. They then shipped him to Calgary at the trade deadline for goalie Curtis McElhinney. However, the other piece of that trade makes this more interesting. Blake has 60 career points in 147 games over 3 seasons. But, with Blake in the lineup, the Ducks record is much better than with him out of the lineup. We saw more proof of that this season when Blake was injured early on in the season, that’s when the Ducks really started to struggle. When he came back, it was right around the time that the Ducks turned it around and got back into the playoff race. So, this is an interesting trade that I’m in the middle, but I’m still leading towards bad trade since the Ducks traded away the best goalie in the franchises history.

Nov. 13, 2006 – Acquired RW George Parros and the option to exchange third-round selections with Colorado in the 2007 Entry Draft from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a second-round draft pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft (W T.J. Galiardi, previously acquired from Atlanta for Vitaly Vishnevski)

Here’s another interesting trade. Obviously, it’s probably pretty popular among many fans because of how much George Moustache, I mean, George Parros is beloved in Anaheim. We all know of his great contributions off of the ice, one of the best NHLers at charity work in my opinion. He has also become one of the biggest heavyweights in the league. Not many fighters want to have to

deal with big George. The second-round pick that the Ducks sent to Colorado was used on winger T.J. Galiardi, a young winger who has only had about two full seasons in the NHL so far and is only 24. With a team that could have a semi-large overhaul this offseason, having youth in Galiardi would be nice. He’s a young forward who has room for improvement and currently is part of a San Jose Sharks team that also the potential for some overhauling. Galiardi has the potential to be a second-line forward at best. Right now however, he is a pretty good option for a third-line forward. Right now, I’m leaning towards good trade, partly because along with many Ducks fans, I am a huge Parros fan.

Pending:

June 26, 2009 – Acquired RW Joffrey Lupul, D Luca Sbisa, a first-round selection in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, a first-round selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft (RW Emerson Etem), and a conditional third-round selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft from Philadelphia in exchange for D Chris Pronger.

Here’s another trade that traded away a huge part of the Stanley Cup winning Ducks team back in 2007. Defenseman Chris Pronger has been incredible where ever he has played. Anaheim was nothing different. His presence on the blue line is almost unmatchable. In return, the Ducks received former Duck Joffrey Lupul for his second stint with the club and young defenseman Luca Sbisa, along with two first round picks and a conditional pick. Lupul’s second stint with the club was not as successful as his first stint. He suffered an injury that limited his 2009-10 season to only 23 games. He missed the last 59 games of that season and the first 28 games of the next season after he suffered from a blood infection after back surgery. He was traded during 2010-11 season. His first stint saw him explode onto the scene, especially during the playoffs with 11 points in 16 games, which included 9 goals. Injuries have hurt him but this past season saw him reach his potential, until however, he got hurt once again.

Sbisa is coming off of his first full season in the NHL, so it is a bit early to judge, but I think he will become a top-four defenseman on any team in this league, no doubt. He made a step forward this year, but when the whole team plays so poorly for a large portion of a season, there’s not much stepping forward being done. One of the two picks acquired by the Ducks was a first-rounder in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, which was traded away in deal with Columbus. The other first round pick was in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, which became the 29^th overall pick. The Ducks used that pick on a player that right now might be the most anticipated player the Ducks have had since they drafted Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. Emerson Etem is currently the top prospect in the Ducks organization. He is coming off of an absolutely astonishing season with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL and partook in his first professional hockey experience with a short stint with the Syracuse Crunch at the end of the season. I’ve spent too much time talking about Etem since I’ve joined Ducks Daily Blog. Not that that’s a bad thing. Through all of my research for this series, I could not find anywhere what became of that conditional pick. So, I guess I will just continue without factoring that in. Overall, yeah this trade involved giving away one of the team’s best players that helped them win a championship. However, the final grade for this trade will depend upon how well Etem will perform with the Ducks. If he can live up to the hype, than, to me, this trade will be even. If Etem does not live up to the hype, then, to me, this was a bad trade. Even with the current injury crisis facing Pronger right now. I just feel like it will not work out evenly.

Remember, this is all my own opinion. You can create your own opinion based off of mine or what ever. I’d love to start some debate over this, after all, thats what I love about being a sports fan, debates. I’ll probably start the next post either tomorrow or the day after, but that will definitely not be posted until next week as I am going away this weekend. Until then, let the debate begin!

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