Countdown to draft day – Anaheim Ducks

It is 84 days until draft day and I thought I would count those days down by looking at each team’s draft histories. I will showcase what I think were their best and worst drafts. Going alphabetically I will start in Anaheim which has been participating in NHL entry drafts since 1993. Their first ever pick was Paul Karyia which isn’t a bad choice to start your franchise off. However, I would have to say their best draft year without a doubt happened 10 years later in 2003. Here is how the draft went that year.

- Screenshot taken from hockeydb.com

With two first round picks, Anaheim selected Getzlaf and Perry. Perry is currently leading the NHL in goal scoring with 46 goals and Getzlaf is averaging nearly a point a game since joining the NHL. Without a doubt these are two guys to build a franchise around and the Ducks have already won a Cup thanks to the help of these guys (and a couple of others).

Drew Miller and Shane O’Brien are no longer with the Ducks but they are both NHL regulars. I would say just on the strength of their first round this was the best draft in Ducks history but Miller and O’Brien aren’t bad picks either especially considering they are 6^th and 8^th rounders which seals the deal for me.

The worst draft was a little harder to pick because the Ducks have had a couple of pretty bad years. Anyone remember former first round picks Chistov or Smirnov?

In spite of those, I will have to choose 1997 for a couple of reasons.

- Screenshot taken from hockeydb.com

For starters, Holmqvist is the only player left playing professional hockey and it isn’t even for an NHL team. Secondly, only Holmqvist played more NHL games than Balmochnykh‘s 6 NHL games. In fact, these two are the only ones to ever see NHL action without buying a ticket and their combined NHL career stats are:

162 games, 18 goals, 18 assists and 74 PIM.

Not great totals for a first round pick let alone an entire draft year.

I would like to point out that Vaillancourt did go on to get an education at McGill University so there must be something said about that!