By Zackery Robert
The Anaheim Ducks’ first trip to the draft podium came back in 1993 and have been making draft picks for what will be 30 years this coming June. During this time they have selected both well and poorly, let’s take a look at some of their previous draft day histories.
The Ducks haven’t had much success in their drafting in their earlier years, not until the 2000s did they see some repeated success from the podium. Albeit their most franchise defining selection came all the way in their first draft in 1993 when they selected Paul Kariya.
The Ducks winger had a hall of fame career cut short due to injuries but he made and left his mark on the game with great plays, great goals and a great sense of the game. Kariya finished off his career with 989 points in 989 games, Kariya was very deserving of his high selection at number four and will go down as arguably the best Anaheim Duck of all time.
Another top selection in their history came in the 2003 draft where they selected Ryan Getzlaf. The two-way centre had a career spanning three decades, amassing over 1000 points, and one Cup for the team. Along with being the teams longest serving captain. All said and done Getzlaf will have his number 15 up in the rafters sooner rather than later for the Ducks.
One more top pick in their history comes again from the 2003 draft when they selected Corey Perry in the first round, pick 28. Perry was a goal scorer for the Ducks. Along with helping secure their only Stanley cup in franchise history in 2007, Perry also picked up some individual hardware with a Rocket Richard trophy and Hart trophy in 2010-2011. The 2003 draft produced the most long term team success their franchise has enjoyed to date.
But where there is gold there is also fools gold, and this came in the form of three players in particular. Coming up first must be that of 2nd overall pick in 2005 Bobby Ryan. Being picked second overall always adds pressure but when you add in the fact that he was picked right after Sidney Crosby this pick had plenty of prestige to it. While he was not bad at all, he was just not what the Ducks had hoped for, playing in parts of six seasons with the Ducks. Not once being a point per game player and being traded away, Bobby Ryan did not have the most successful tenure in Anaheim and when you consider that his name was second off the board, this makes it all the more of a hard pick.
Second must come from the 2001 draft where the Ducks picked Stanislav Chistov at 5th overall. He only played 136 games with the ducks out of his total 196 and amassed a total points of 61 in his short career in the NHL before leaving to Russia for the next 10 seasons.
Third on this list comes from the 2000 draft which saw them select Alexei Smirnov 12th overall. Smirnov played only 52 games in his total NHL career, all with the ducks scoring 6 points. There was not much from this pick, the six-foot-three centre never panned out too much for the ducks and that brings him on to this list.
Currently in 2023 the Ducks have a nice group of young talent after a few successful drafts in the past handful of years. They sit at 29th in the league and eliminated from the playoffs. With that their eyes are on the draft and who they could possibly pick. Their most recent track history for drafting shows that they do not particularly favour one league more heavily than any others. As well, given their recent history of picks being pretty even between defence and forward prospects and the prospects ranked in and around the top five the Ducks should be targeting players like, Leo Carlsson, Zach Benson, Matvei Michkov and an outside chance at bulking up their defence by looking at Axel Sandin Pellikka.
These potential players to draft will help fill two needs the ducks lack sorely. Goals for per game and goals against per game. The Ducks currently rank dead last in goals against per game with 4.01 goals against per game and they rank second last in the league for goals for per game at a dismal 2.55 goals per game. Benson is a 100-point player in the WHL, Michkov is potentially the second-best player in this draft behind Bedard and Michkov’s offence is dynamic when not trying to do it all. Carlsson will fit well with their wingers and Pelikka will help bolster their defence in a few years with Drysdale and Zellweger.
When it comes down to it the Ducks have not been the best at drafting overall, but in the last handful of years they have really turned it around so on June 28th 2023 we will see what the Ducks come up with next to add to their draft day selection history.
2023 Draft Picks: 1st, 2nd, 2nd (Bos), 2nd (Col), 3rd, 3rd (Min), 4th, 5th, 6th
For more information on the 2023 NHL Draft class be sure to pick up your copy of the comprehensive DraftPro 2023 NHL Draft Guide.