Anaheim Ducks 25th Anniversary: Best player to wear jersey numbers 1-5

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Anaheim, CA: Defensemen Bobby Dollas of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks skates down the ice during a game against the Philadelphia Flyers at Arrowhead Pond on October 16, 1996. /

2018 is the 25th anniversary of the Anaheim Ducks first NHL season. We honor 25 years of excellence by counting down the best Anaheim Ducks player to wear each jersey number. Today we cover numbers 1-5.

It is mind-boggling that the Anaheim Ducks are celebrating their silver anniversary. For some fans, it may seem like it was only yesterday when the Ducks took the ice at the Pond for the first time.

Others may not have followed the Ducks as long. No matter how far you go back as a Ducks fan, we can all reminisce about the past. Today we finish our stroll down memory lane by honoring the best Ducks to wear jersey’s numbers 1-5. Lower numbers are almost always assigned to defensemen, and of course, only goalies wear number one. Today’s group may not be as flashy as the previous one, but the players profiled today were/are important members of the franchise.

Anaheim, CA: Calgary Flames vs Mighty Ducks of Anaheim at the Pond. (left) Vitaly Vishnevski (5) of the Ducks and Rob Niedermayer (44) of the Flames (right) collide after going for the puck during their game at the Pond in Anaheim. (Photo by Robert Lachman/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) /

5 – Vitaly Vishnevski (2001-2006)

The 1998 first round pick of the Mighty Ducks (15th overall), Vitaly Vishnevski, cut an impressive figure on the ice at 6 feet, 2 inches, and 215 pounds. In doing some research for this piece, adjectives such as nasty, hard-hitting, and tough were tossed around when describing him. Once he made it to the NHL, Vishnevsky gave opposing forwards fits.

Indeed, when Alex Ovechkin was interviewed by the O.C. Register last spring, one of his favorite moments playing against Anaheim, was him leveling Vishnevski with a hit. Younger Anaheim Ducks fans can think of him as a slightly smaller Josh Manson. If a player had a different color jersey on and had the puck (sometimes without it) they were fair game for a bone-jarring check.

You might have missed it, but Vitaly Vishnevski officially retired from hockey last week. He has been playing in the KHL since leaving North America in 2008. The last time Ducks fans heard from him was as a training camp invitee back in the summer of 2015.

He was not a big scoring threat during his playing days, putting up 11 goals, and 37 assists in 465 games with Anaheim, he left his impression in other ways. Logging 403 penalty minutes in six seasons, that impression was most often black and blue marks on his opponents.

ANAHEIM, CA: Cam Fowler #4 and Derek Grant #38 of the Anaheim Ducks celebrate a goal in the third period against the Edmonton Oilers on February 25, 2018. (Photo by Debora Robinson/NHLI via Getty Images) /

4 – Cam Fowler (2012-Present)

Cam Fowler is a player Pucks of a Feather has profiled many times over the last six months. From the effects of his 2018 season-ending injury to him being the next Anaheim Ducks Captain, it’s clear he’s a valued member of the organization.

Going into the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, the big story was who would be the number one pick, Taylor (Hall) or Tyler (Seguin). Fowler was involved in two other big stories that played out in round one. The first story, Fowler was rated as the number two blueline prospect and fifth best skater in North America by the International Scouting Service ahead of the draft.

Defenceman Eric Gudbranson went third as expected to Vancouver, but after that Fowler started slipping down the board. The Rangers even selected Dylan McIlrath (45 NHL games played between 2013-2017) 10th.

In between Gudbranson and McIlrath was another big storyline of the first round. Carolina had the seventh pick in round one. There was serious internal debate over selecting Fowler or Kitchener forward Jeff Skinner. The Canes selected Skinner and Fowler fell to the Anaheim Ducks at pick 12. He made the team as a rookie and Ducks Nation has been thrilled ever since

Although he didn’t have much competition to be the best Ducks player to wear number four (80 games by Jamie Pushor), he would be the best skater to wear all but a handful of Anaheim jersey numbers. The Farmington Hills, Michigan native has impacted the Ducks all-time leaderboard. In just eight seasons, Fowler has hit the charts in a big way:

561 games played – Eighth all-time, second among defenseman, 33 behind leader Ruslan Salei.
249 points – Eighth all-time, second among defenseman, 15 behind leader Scott Niedermayer.
196 assists – Seventh all-time, second among defenseman, eight behind leader Niedermayer.

The best part of reviewing Cam Fowler’s career is that he’s only 26 years old. He’s going to be around for several more years.

ANAHEIM, CA: Keith Carney #3 of the Anaheim Ducks plays the puck against the Phoenix Coyotes on October 23, 2005. The Ducks defeated the Coyotes 5-3. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images) /

3 – Keith Carney (2002-2006)

On March 14 of this year, I sent a question into Ducks Q’s, a feature where the Ducks radio team answers fan questions, between the second and third periods, submitted via Twitter. For those of you who don’t know, March 14 is known as π Day (Pi Day) in recognition of the symbol’s mathematical value of 3.14 (if you don’t get it, blame the math people, it’s their joke). I asked who they thought the best numbers three and 14 were in Ducks history. Play-by-play man Steve Carrol answered Keith Carney was his pick for number three.

That was a roundabout story to get to Carney as the best #3 in Ducks history. There was nothing roundabout with Carney as a player, he came straight at his opponents. The quintessential stay-at-home defenseman, he was a key member of the 2003 Ducks team which made it to the Stanley Cup finals.

In the midst of that playoff run, Carney established a franchise record that will never be broken. In the Western Conference Semifinals against Dallas, he was involved in the game that would not end. It was a marathon affair that the Ducks won in the fifth overtime. Keith Carney played 56:20 that night, not including a two-minute penalty he took in the second period.

His place in Ducks history is more than that one game. He played 271 of his 1008 NHL career games with the Ducks. Over the four years Carney played for Anaheim, he served as the teams Alternate Captain.

Anaheim, CA: Fredrik Olausson #2 of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks waits on the ice during the game against the Colorado Avalanche at the Arrowhead Pond on December 10, 1999. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Gross /Allsport /

2 – Fredrik Olausson (1998-2000, 2002-2003)

Fredrik Olausson wore number two in his second and third stints with the organization. The first time around he sported number four from the time he was claimed on waivers by Anaheim on January 16, 1996, until he was traded to the Penguins in November of the following season.

An elite puck handler throughout his career, the Mighty Ducks thought enough of the Swedish defenseman to sign him as a free agent after his contract expired with Pittsburgh in the summer of 1998. That turned out to be a great move by new team General Manager Pierre Gauthier. Olausson had two very good seasons for the team.

In 1998-99, the Dadesjo, Sweden native led all Anaheim defensemen with 56 points (16g, 40a), including an astounding 43 points (10g, 33a) on the power play. His terrific year earned him an eighth-place finish for the Norris trophy.

Olausson stuck around Anaheim for the second of his two-year contract in 1999-2000. It wasn’t the all-star star season the previous one was, but he still scored 34 points (15g, 19a) in 70 games. He came back to the Ducks for the third time in 2002, but it was clear at age 36, Olausson had lost more than a step and only played in 44 games.

1 – Jonas Hiller (2008-2014)

Jonas Hiller was ranked as Pucks of a Feather’s fourth-best Ducks goalie of all-time. He was at the same time brilliant and confusing, making acrobatic saves, but then not coming through when it mattered most.

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As much as they needed him too, he couldn’t carry the team during the postseason. I agree with Chris Bushell’s assessment of Hiller when he wrote that the Swiss netminder was a classic case of “oh, what could’ve been.”

Hiller was signed by the Ducks as a free agent in 2007 after finishing a great career with HC Davos in his native Switzerland. He spent two seasons at Jean-Sebastien Giguere‘s backup, before claiming the starting job in 2009-10. The next year, he had his best season going 26-16-3, with a goals-against average (GAA) of 2.57, and .924 save percentage (SV%).

He was selected to Western Conference all-star team in 2011. A day after the game, vertigo-like symptoms began to affect him. Although he worked hard, Hiller was never able to play at the same level with the Anaheim Ducks after he took ill.

His last season as a Ducks player, 2013-14, ushered in the start of a new era. Unable to be what he once was, Hiller watched on the sidelines many nights as Anaheim brought up future NHL stars Frederik Andersen and John Gibson to pick up the slack in net.

Hiller still occupies third place all-time in Ducks history among goalies with 326 games played, 162 wins, 2.47 GAA, and .916 SV%. Additionally, he holds the team record for minutes played in one season with 4,253 in 2011-12.