1999–2000 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim season

Off-season

The Ducks made a few changes during the summer, with the focus on improving their scoring depth much like last season.

Ted Donato was acquired from the Ottawa Senators with Antti-Jussi Niemi in exchange for goalie Patrick Lalime on June 18, 1999. The Mighty Ducks acquired Oleg Tverdovsky from the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for Travis Green on June 26, 1999, in order to give the team more scoring from the blue line since Fredrik Olausson was the only point producing defence man last season. Defense man Mike Crowley would not make the roster with the Ducks although scoring 4 goals and 9 points in 28 games over the last two seasons, being sent to the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the IHL.

Rookies Mike Leclerc and Niclas Havelid earned roster spots. Vitaly Vishnevskiy would be their first choice to get a call up from Cincinnati in case of needing a defense man.

On September 27, five days before the season started the Ducks acquired prospect Ladislav Kohn from the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for 2000 8th round Draft pick.

Regular season

The season went down very much like the last one. The Mighty Ducks lost their first two games getting shut out both times but won their next two scoring eight goals. Anaheim made an early deal with the Islanders sending Ted Drury to Long Island in exchange for Tony Hrkac, who had won the Stanley Cup with Dallas the previous season. They played very consistently until December 26, 1999, going 18–13–4–1, winning four games in a row in mid-December. What seemed like the winning streak they needed quickly turned on its head becoming their longest winless streak – going 0–6–1 and dropping below the .500 mark for the first time. Anaheim stayed below that mark until January 26, 2000 when rumors surfaced about trading Selanne to give the Ducks more depth in order to make the playoffs, which looked questionable at that point.

The Ducks did boost their lineup by acquiring Kip Miller from Pittsburgh on January 29. Ironically, the Ducks had a five-game unbeaten streak which began in Pittsburgh and going 7–3–4 since Kip Miller's acquisition by February 29. In early March Anaheim struggled to keep up with Edmonton and San Jose, going 1–3–2-1 and winless the last four games during that stretch until March 15. The Ducks then again made a playoff push, winning the next three games, but going 3–4–0–1 after that streak in their last eight games, thus missing the postseason by four points. Since the Mighty Ducks never were out of the playoff picture fans and experts criticized General Manager Pierre Gauthier's decision not to obtain a player with some scoring touch (Sergei Krivokrasov and Brendan Morrison were dealt at the trading deadline). Late acquisitions Ed Ward and Jorgen Jonsson had no impact, each scoring only one goal though Ward brought some physical play with him, which was needed after the Ducks waived Jim McKenzie in mid-January.

Anaheim's biggest problem was their penalty killing: the Mighty Ducks struggled often short-handed during the regular season, as they had the lowest penalty-kill percentage in the NHL at 79.05%. The defense ranked seventh in the West, but the team's poor penalty kill resulted in 21 more goals allowed than the previous season, which cost them the playoffs. Offensively, their defensemen scored 43 goals compared to 25 goals in 1998–99, led by Olausson and Tverdovsky for a combined 30 goals. Both goalies had another very solid season though their save percentage was down compared to the previous year. Hebert recorded the second-best GAA of his career; this was also Hebert's fifth straight season with three or more shutouts. Their offense relied on their first line, again combining for 94 goals (109 goals last season) but saw more secondary scoring from other players as Cullen, Aalto and Nielsen improved their goal and point totals while Mike Leclerc had a solid rookie season with 19 points. Marty McInnis missed twenty games, which was a factor. The Ducks' power play was good but nowhere near the dominance of last season, ranking 14th with a percentage of 16.57%.

Final standings

Schedule and results

|- |1||October 2, 1999||0–2 || align="left"| @ Dallas Stars (1999–2000) ||0–1–0–0 || |- |2||October 5, 1999||0–4 || align="left"| @ Phoenix Coyotes (1999–2000) ||0–2–0–0 || |- |3||October 8, 1999||3–0 || align="left"| Dallas Stars (1999–2000) ||1–2–0–0 || |- |4||October 11, 1999||5–3 || align="left"| San Jose Sharks (1999–2000) ||2–2–0–0 || |- |5||October 13, 1999||2–3 || align="left"| @ New Jersey Devils (1999–2000) ||2–3–0–0 || |- |6||October 15, 1999||3–2 || align="left"| @ Tampa Bay Lightning (1999–2000) ||3–3–0–0 || |- |7||October 16, 1999||2–3 OT|| align="left"| @ Florida Panthers (1999–2000) ||3–3–0–1 || |- |8||October 19, 1999||7–1 || align="left"| @ Washington Capitals (1999–2000) ||4–3–0–1 || |- |9||October 21, 1999||5–5 OT|| align="left"| @ Chicago Blackhawks (1999–2000) ||4–3–1–1 || |- |10||October 24, 1999||2–3 || align="left"| Boston Bruins (1999–2000) ||4–4–1–1 || |- |11||October 27, 1999||2–1 OT|| align="left"| Pittsburgh Penguins (1999–2000) ||5–4–1–1 || |- |12||October 29, 1999||5–2 || align="left"| Washington Capitals (1999–2000) ||6–4–1–1 || |- |13||October 31, 1999||0–3 || align="left"| Phoenix Coyotes (1999–2000) ||6–5–1–1 ||

| Legend:

Player statistics

Scoring

• Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
• • = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Mighty Ducks only.*
• • = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Mighty Ducks only.*

Goaltending

Awards and records

Awards

Milestones

Transactions

Acquired Tony Hrkac and Dean Malkoc from the New York Islanders for Ted Drury on October 29, 1999

Waived Jim McKenzie, claimed off waivers by the Washington Capitals on January 20, 2000

Acquired Kip Miller from the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 2000 9th round Draft pick on January 29, 2000

Acquired Jorgen Jonson from the New York Islanders for Johan Davidson on March 11, 2000

Acquired Ed Ward from the Atlanta Thrashers for a 2001 7th round Draft pick on March 14, 2000

Traded Dan Trebil to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 2000 5th round Draft pick on March 14, 2000

Acquired Corey Hirsch from the Nashville Predators for future considerations on March 14, 2000

Acquired a 2000 2nd round draft pick (Jonas Ronnqvist) for Trent Hunter from the New York Islanders on May 23, 2000

Acquired a 2001 4th draft pick for Espen Knutsen from the Columbus Blue Jackets on May 25, 2000

Acquired a 2000 4th draft pick for the rights to Stephen Peat from the Washington Capitals on June 1, 2000

Acquired Jean-Sebastien Giguere for a 2000 2nd round draft pick from the Calgary Flames on June 10, 2000

Draft picks

Anaheim's draft picks at the 1999 NHL entry draft held at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts.

Farm teams

Cincinnati Mighty Ducks

Notes

References

References

1. "1999-00 NHL Summary".
2. "1999-00 NHL Summary".
3. "1999-00 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Schedule".
4. "Postseason All-Star Teams".
5. "NHL All-Star Game Starting Lineups by Year (since 1986)".
6. "2000 NHL All-Star Game Rosters".
7. "1999-00 NHL Debuts".
8. (December 18, 1999). "Ducks Shut Down Blackhawks".
9. "1999 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com".