Anaheim Ducks Tales: When Paul Kariya Almost Came Back
We have discussed numerous times the importance Paul Kariya has played in the Anaheim Ducks franchise, and there is no debating that. However, there was once a time when fans were hopeful he might return. Had that happened, there may not have been that awkward stage between PK9 and the Ducks organization after his retirement.
It was the summer of 2010, and the Anaheim Ducks were in a transition period after a long run of success throughout the 2000s. The team had just missed the playoffs for the first time since the pre-lockout 2003-04 season and were preparing for their first season without long-time captain Scott Niedermayer, who made the decision to retire from the game of hockey for good. This was a year after parting ways with their other franchise defensemen, Chris Pronger, the previous offseason.
While getting rid of two future Hall of Fame defensemen in consecutive offseasons was a major blow to Bob Murray‘s roster, with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry still in their primes, along with Bobby Ryan becoming a consistent 30 goal scorer, there was no time to rebuild. In the first round of the draft the team was elated after projected Top 5 pick, Cam Fowler, dropped to the Ducks all the way at 12. While Fowler is a heavily debated player amongst the fanbase, the team should still be happy that the draft went as it did, as Fowler has been close to as advertised over the years.
Fowler, as a rookie, made the team and joined veterans on the blue line such as Lubomir Visnovsky, who ended up leading the league for points by a d-man that year, Toni Lydman, and Sheldon Brookbank, playing in front of Jonas Hiller who became a first-time All-Star by giving the Anaheim Ducks a chance to win every night.
Upfront, along with the famed RPG line, was another big name in Joffrey Lupul, who had dealt with numerous injuries over the past 2 years and was coming into the season healthy. Additionally, many veterans supplemented the veteran core including Saku Koivu, Todd Marchant, Jason Blake, George Parros, and of course, the return again of Teemu Selanne, who signed a one-year pact to the joy of Ducks fans everywhere. While everyone was excited to have the Finish Flash back, his work off the ice was what could have made a lot of Ducks fans over the moon.
Selanne Was the Reason Kariya Almost Returned to the Anaheim Ducks
Selanne the previous off-season was a big reason for getting Saku Koivu to join the Anaheim Ducks after the long-time Habs captain was let go by the team. The Flash almost played a big part in bringing his former teammate and good friend Paul Kariya back in a Ducks jersey. While it would have only been a one-year deal, the importance of Kariya playing his (potentially) final seasons in a Ducks uniform would have really gone a long way with his relationship with the Ducks fanbase. Selanne spoke further about this back in 2019 on the 31 Thoughts podcast.
“I don’t think a lot of people know this, but right before he retired because of concussions he was one phone call away that Paul would play his last season with me in Anaheim. I thought when he called me in July, I thought he was going to tell me the news that he signed. But he said after the last medicals and the doctor said ‘no more’. So he was pretty close that he would come back.”
Paul Kariya did not Leave the Organization on Great Terms
Kariya, of course, was the first superstar in the history of the team after being the first-ever draft pick back in 1993. After making his debut in the shortened 1994-95 season he was excellent for the next nine years in Southern California.
In 606 games Kariya put up 669 points, topping 25 goals in every year with the Mighty Ducks with the exception of his rookie year and 1997-98 season after a cheap shot from Gary Suter. Selanne joined Kariya in 1996 and the two became one of the most dynamic duos in the NHL, combining for 830 points between 1997-2001.
Selanne was moved to the San Jose Sharks midway through the 2001 season and Kariya played through the 2003 season when the Mighty Ducks lost game 7 to the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup Finals. After the season, Kariya left after a lengthy dispute on his contract. Former GM Bryan Murray was required to offer a $10 million qualifying offer to Kariya in order to prevent the star from hitting unrestricted free agency.
At this point, the league had yet to implement a salary cap and revenue sharing that really hampered teams based on their market. The Mighty Ducks being a small market team with a small budget made it difficult to commit such a dollar figure to one player as the late Murray recounted.
“When you’re building a contending team, it’s hard to have one player at $10 million when the payroll is in the mid to low 40s (millions).” –Bryan Murray, Anaheim Ducks GM (2002-04)
While Selanne opted out of his final year with the San Jose Shark, his priority was to return to the place that he considered his home and sign with the Mighty Ducks.
“I was ready to come back to Anaheim, but then Paul had some issues with his contract negotiation with the Ducks and he got so mad and he called me ‘we have to go somewhere else’, and I said ‘what?! I want to come home’.”
From there, the duo was able to sign with any team that wanted the two All-Star forwards. Unfortunately, the place the two previously called home would not be part of that group. Once free agency opened up, Kariya and Selanne decided to join a loaded Colorado Avalanche squad who already featured future Hall of Famers Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, and Rob Blake to go along with players such as Adam Foote, Milan Hejduk, and Alex Tanguay.
While I mentioned there was no salary cap at this time having so many high payroll players still needed the two to reduce their annual figures. In order to chase a cup on an already loaded team, Selanne signed for one year at $5.8 million, and Kariya taking an $8.8 million pay cut by signing for $1.2 million for the year.
While leaving the Mighty Ducks on the terms he did ruffled fans in the wrong way, leaving and taking the pay cut he did in comparison really soured Kariya to the Mighty Ducks fans. As seen on the 2004 Colorado Avalanche season documentary, fans most definitely did not welcome him back with open arms (42:00 minute mark).
Unfortunately for the duo, injuries played a major factor for both of them in different ways. It is well documented how bad Teemu’s knee was at that point in his career and while he was able to play in 78 games that season, he was relatively ineffective by his standards putting up 16 goals and 32 points. Kariya dealt with a nagging wrist and ankle injury, only getting into 51 games putting up 11 goals and 36 points. The Avalanche would be knocked out by the Sharks in the second round.
Selanne Returned to Win a Cup with the Ducks, Kariya Continued Getting Paid
After the disappointing 2003-04 season the NHL went into a season-long lockout, wiping the 2005 campaign. Kariya took the time to get healthy from the injuries that had been bothering him over his year with the Avs.
Once the lockout came to an end he signed a two-year $9 million contract with the Nashville Predators, making him the highest-paid player in team history. He showed that he was healthy and back to his productive self putting up 161 points without missing a game in his two years.
Once his contract expired, and with the unknown ownership situation at the time with the Preds, Kariya signed on with the St. Louis Blues for three years and $18 million dollars. While playing in all 82 games in 2007-08, his production dipped putting up 16 goals and 65 points on the season. Injuries finally began to take their toll, and in the final two seasons of the contract, he was only able to play a combined 86 games while registering 58 points.
While Kariya did have a chance to celebrate scoring his 400th career goal in his final season with the Blues, the most noteworthy part of that final year was a cheap shot at the hands of Patrick Kaleta. This hit to the head, more or less, was the end of Kariya’s career as this concussion had doctors saying it was time to hang them up.
What if the Headshots Never Happened and Kariya Returned for a Final Year?
In addition to the aforementioned hits by Suter and Kaleta, many fans of the game remember the shot Kariya took from Scott Stevens in Game 6 of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals. As much as “off the floor, on the board” still gives me goosebumps watching to this day, the fact the most memorable part of his career was getting knocked out on the ice to the point of memory loss is a bit sad as a fan.
While health should always be a person’s priority, if one of those hits had not happened, Anaheim Ducks fans could have gotten the send-off they always wanted to see for their long-time captain. That is why it still makes me think “what could have been” when it comes to Kariya playing that last season in 2010-11.
For starters, it would have been very different seeing him play in the black, gold, and orange after exclusively wearing the eggplant and jade for all the year with the Mighty Ducks. Additionally, Bobby Ryan would have changed his number at some point, as he is the only other player to don number 9 in franchise history. Finally, with the retirement of Scott Niedermayer, would the Ducks have selected Ryan Getzlaf to be their captain, or would they potentially of gave it back to Paul for potentially his last year?
Speaking of Niedermayer, if Paul had returned, maybe he would have decided to postpone his retirement to play one more season with his long-time friend and former Olympic teammate. The possibilities are endless.
The forgotten piece in all of this is that the Anaheim Ducks were actually pretty good back in 2010-11. They finished 4th in the Western Conference with 99 points. This was the year that Corey Perry put up his 50 goal Hart Trophy campaign, along with Jonas Hiller playing lights out, making the All-Star team but losing the end of his season to vertigo (honestly that prevented the team from an extended playoff run, he was that good that year).
Lubomir Visnovsky led the league for points by a defenseman that year with 68, Ryan Getzlaf missed a handful of games due to a facial fracture but still managed 76 points in 67 games, Bobby Ryan had another fantastic season with 34 goals and 71 points, and at the ripe age of 40, Teemu Selanne put up one of his best seasons with 80 points in 73 games.
While the team was good they were very top-heavy. Visnovsky finished fifth on the team in points with Saku Koivu’s 45 and rookie Cam Fowler’s 40 being the next highest. Their depth scoring included 26 games of Joffrey Lupul, aging veteran Jason Blake, and young promising forward Brandon McMillian.
While Kariya was getting older, he still likely could have helped this team with more scoring depth as most of his issues over the years were his health. In this reality, Kariya is still healthy enough to rejoin his former partner in crime in Selanne. With Teemu scoring 80 points playing mainly with Koivu (45 points) and Blake (32), potentially bringing the opportunity to bring some of the old magic back with Kariya could have provided the Ducks with that extra scoring punch while bringing much nostalgia as well.
Kariya retiring as a Duck would have also immediately quashed any ill-will that may have been present at the time. It has been well documented about Kariya’s disappearance from the game of hockey once he retired because of how he was unable to leave on his own terms. From his retirement the only time Kariya returned to Honda Center was for his friend Selanne’s final regular-season game where he attended with Joe Sakic.
Back in 2015 when the Anaheim Ducks retired Selanne’s number 8, Kariya was notably absent, stating a prior commitment. While rumors were he did not was to direct any negative attention during the ceremony, the video clip he did for his former teammate received a standing ovation, clearly showing that the fans were happy to see Paul again.
Since then, the relationship with the fans has clearly been healed. Kariya has done a handful of work with the Ducks social media, was honored for his induction in the Hockey Hall of Fame back in 2017, and of course, finally having his number raised in 2018. While Kariya is clearly still not a big fan of the spotlight, he knows that whenever he returns to Honda Center it is always in open arms.
A Fairy Tale Ending that Didn’t End the Way we had Hoped
To wrap this article up I wanted to share a little personal note. Kariya, like many Anaheim Ducks fans, is my all-time favorite player in NHL history and is the reason I started cheering for the team, not the movies or cartoons, the player himself. I started following this team when I was five years old and have had my fair share of Kariya posters along with my prized 2003 Stanley Cup Finals jersey.
As a guy from Eastern Canada, it is not the easiest cheering for the Anaheim Ducks, as comes with responsibilities, most of their games start around the time I go to bed. In addition to that being a Western Conference team means they do not play teams in my area (Leafs, Sens, Red Wings) very often. The only time I ever got to see them live was actually in Anaheim for two games at New Years’ of 2010-11.
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- Anaheim Ducks: The Series that Defined the Decade
- Anaheim Ducks Tales: The Past Reminds Us to be Thankful for the Present
- Anaheim Ducks: Ryan Getzlaf’s Best Moments in Honor of Game 1,000
As a Christmas gift, I was super excited to finally see the team live and reality surpassed the expectations. The team beat my dad’s Flyers on New Year’s eve, then Hiller stood on his head defeating the defending Cup Champion Blackhawks two nights later.
The reason I am telling you this is because I look back on it now to think I was so close to seeing my all-time favorite player, who I grew up idolizing so much, play his final season in an Anaheim Ducks jersey.
I remember the excitement about the idea of Kariya going back to the Ducks for 2011, being disappointed that he was taking that season off, and even more disappointed that he was forced to retire the next offseason.
While he had a great career, and was rightfully inducted into the Hall of Fame, Kariya returning for one more season with the Anaheim Ducks would have closed the book on his great career with the team that adored him for so long. While he still may not have won his Stanley Cup, it still would have been the fairy tale ending that started the day he was drafted by the Disney-owned franchise.
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