Best-Worst Trades in Ducks History: The Good

This is the third and final part of my series of the best and worst trades in Mighty Ducks of Anaheim/Anaheim Ducks history. This final part saves the best for last. Finally, the list of the best trades in Ducks history.

July 3, 2006 – Acquired D Chris Pronger from Edmonton in exchange for RW Joffrey Lupul, D Ladislav Smid, Anaheim’s first-round pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft (D Nick Ross), Anaheim’s second-round choice in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft (D Travis Hamonic) and a conditional draft pick.

This trade may seem one-sided because of how many players were sent for just one player, but if you take a look at who the players are, it’s more favored for the Ducks in my opinion in the very end. Chris Pronger has been one of the best defenseman in the entire world for the past 20 years. Where ever he has gone, he has won. His time may have been relatively short here in Anaheim, three seasons with a suspension here and there, but they remain some of the most successful seasonsin Ducks history. In Chris Pronger’s three seasons in Anaheim, the Ducks registered 110, 102 and 91 points in a season, which are the 1st, 2nd and 4th highest point total in a single season in Ducks history, respectively. Overall, he played 220 regular season games with the Ducks while registering a total of 36 goals and 114 assists for 150 points. In the playoffs, Pronger recorded 7 goals and 23 assists for 30 points in 37 playoff games with the team. His leadership and swagger on and off the ice were invaluable to the franchise and he was one of the most important players in the Ducks lone championship in 2007.

In return for Pronger, the Edmonton Oilers received forward Joffrey Lupul, defenseman Ladislav Smid, a first-round pick in 2007, a second-round pick in 2008 and a conditional pick. This was the end of Joffrey Lupul’s first stint with the Ducks as he would comeback as a part of a trade that would send Pronger to Philadelphia. Lupul has had a few good seasons since this trade but he has suffered from numerous injuries that have prevented him from playing a lot of his career. Smid is coming off of his first actual good season in the NHL and it was his sixth. He just now has become a reliable solid defenseman. He was among the league leaders in blocked shots. The first-round pick in 2007 was eventually traded to the Phoenix Coyotes and was used on defenseman Nick Ross, who it’s fair to say, is a nobody. He has never dressed for an NHL game and has been shuffling between the AHL and the ECHL. The second-round pick in 2008 was eventually traded to the New York Islanders and was used on defenseman Travis Hamonic, who right now is probably the second-best defenseman for the Islanders behind Mark Streit, but may be their best overall defenseman as he has been the only defenseman on the team to finish positive in plus/minus the past two seasons. The conditional pick remained with the Oilers, which became the 22nd overall pick of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. It became a first-rounder with the Ducks reaching and winning the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007. Eberle has emerged as possibly the best young scorer in the league. In the end, however, I’d still say this is a good trade for the Ducks because they got Chris Pronger who was an alternate captain for their only championship, that automatically makes it a good trade in my book.

Mar. 11, 2003 – Acquired C Rob Niedermayer from the Calgary Flames in exchange for G J.F. Damphousse and D Mike Commodore.

Rob Niedermayer might be the best third/fourth line center in all of Ducks history. Every game, he was sent out to stop the

other team’s top line, which he was successful at for much of the time. He wasn’t a big scorer, but he did have some pretty big goals in big moments. He spend a little bit more than 5 seasons with the Ducks franchise, but in that time he became a fan favorite for his over and over solid play. He was part of the only two teams in Ducks history to reach the Finals He lost the first one to the New Jersey Devils and his brother Scott Niedermayer. Then he won in 2007 with Scott. One of the best defensive forwards in the franchises history.

The Flames received goalie J.F. Damphousse and defenseman Mike Commodore. Damphousse never suited up for the Ducks and in fact only appeared in six NHL games with the New Jersey Devils, the team who drafted him in 1997. He spent most of his career in the AHL and is now long retired. The Ducks acquired Mike Commodore from the New Jersey Devils very early in his career and also never suited up for the Ducks. He spent the one season with the franchise with the AHL’s Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. Commodore has been a bit of a journeyman throughout his career but he has had his moments in his career, including two trips to the Stanley Cup Finals, one with the Calgary Flames in 2003-2004, they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and one with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2005-2006, they won over Chris Pronger and the Edmonton Oilers. I think this trade is pretty clear who it favored, and its the Ducks.

June 10, 2000 – Acquired G Jean-Sebastien Giguere from the Calgary Flames in exchange for a second round draft pick in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft (Matt Pettinger).

This is arguably my favorite among these “good” trades. The Ducks acquired a young Jean-Sebastien Giguere from the Calgary Flames. At this point Giguere was joining his third NHL team and had not yet had a shot to get consistent playing time. He made his Ducks debut in the 2000-2001 season and the love affair began with Giguere and the Ducks fan base. Over the next nine seasons, Giguere would place a strangle hold over the title of best goalie in Ducks history. He holds basically every single goaltending record in the franchises history. He led them to both of the franchises Finals appearances. Once in 2002-2003 where absolutely nothing could get by him. His playoff performance in the 2003 playoffs earned him the Conn Smythe Trophy even though his Ducks were defeated in 7 games by the Devils. Not a very common occurrence, so it was very special and well earned. Once again in 2007, Giguere put up some good numbers in the playoffs despite missing some of the playoff games earlier on in the playoffs. I really don’t need to say much about Giguere. I’ve made my feelings clear about Giggy, he’s one of my favorite Ducks of all time and one of my favorite goalies of all time.

The Ducks sent a second-round pick in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft to the Calgary Flames, which they traded to the Washington Capitals who used it on forward Matt Pettinger. Pettinger evolved into a dependable bottom-line forward who would bring a lot of energy and good defense. However, he was only able to stay in the NHL consistently early on in his career. Lately, he has struggled to stay in the NHL as he has basically split time in the NHL and the AHL over the past few seasons. Now, Pettinger is playing in Europe, more specifically, Kolner Haie in the German Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). This trade is by far in the Ducks favor.

Feb. 7, 1996 – Acquired RW Teemu Selanne, the rights to C Marc Chouinard, and a fourth round pick in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft from the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for C Chad Kilger, D Oleg Tverdovsky, and a third round pick in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft.

Do I need to continue?????? Teemu is a Ducks legend. No more needs to be said about him. Marc Chouinard spent three seasons with the Ducks as a fourth-line forward and on the penalty kill. The fourth-round pick the Ducks acquired was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs shortly afterwards.

The Jets received Chad Kilger, who was only with Anaheim for that season where they traded him away. The Ducks had picked him fourth overall, and he would eventually not reach potential. Oleg Tverdovsky on the other hand, was very successful with the Ducks. He has a very good offensive defenseman in his career here. However, much of his success came in his second stint with the club in the early 2000’s. Then he racked up point totals of 51, 53 and 32 in 1999-00, 2000-01 and 2001-02 respectively. I couldn’t find what happened with the third-round pick that the Ducks sent to the Jets. It’s obvious, this trade clearly favors the Ducks.

Honorable Mentions:

Feb. 3, 2009 – Acquired D Sheldon Brookbank from New Jersey in exchange for C David McIntyre.
June 19, 2001 – Acquired D Keith Carney from the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for a second round pick in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.
Nov. 18, 2000 – Acquired C Samuel Pahlsson from the Boston Bruins in exchange for RW Andrei Nazarov and D Patrick Traverse.
June 26, 1999 – Acquired D Oleg Tverdovsky from the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for C Travis Green and Anaheim’s first round pick (15th overall) in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft (C Scott Kelman).
Aug. 29, 1994 – Acquired D Jason Marshall from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for D Bill Houlder.
Mar. 3, 2010 – Acquired D Lubomir Visnovsky from Edmonton in exchange for D Ryan Whitney and a sixth-round selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft (D Brandon Davidson)

Thus ends my series of the best and worst trades in Ducks franchise history. I really enjoyed this because I love going back to the years of the Mighty Ducks and the jade and aubergine days. I loved those old uniforms and colors and it brings back a lot of fun memories. I hope you guys enjoyed this series because I certainly did.

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