2000–01 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim season

Offseason

After missing the 2000 playoffs by only four points, the Mighty Ducks were quite hopeful to return to the post season. Anaheim was very busy during the summer trading and acquiring a lot prospects and were active on the free agent market as well.

Trying to improve their scoring depth and not relying too much on Kariya and Selanne, the Mighty Ducks signed German Titov and acquired Andrej Nazarov who had a career year in goals (10) and points (31).

Other free agents were Dan Bylsma, Petr Tenkrat as well as Jim Cummins and Kevin Sawyer who were signed to provide the necessary protection for their star players since they lost Stu Grimson to the Kings as a free agent. The team became much more European-based making up half the roster, mainly on their defense (6).

Regular season

The season proved to be very tough as the team never found consistency. The Ducks had a fair start, going 6–4–3–2 until November 4, when the team started having trouble, going winless for five games twice in November, going 2–8–3–1 which led the team to trade Traverse and Nazarov to the Boston Bruins for Samuel Pahlsson on November 18. To make matters even worse, center Steve Rucchin was hit in the face by a shot on November 15 and missed the rest of the season. Despite his absence, the Ducks improved by mid-December, nearing the .500 mark by two games with a 5–3–0–0 record until December 17, but finishing the month 5–7–1–1. Anaheim fired head coach Craig Hartsburg on December 14 after a win against the Blue Jackets, replacing him with assistant coach Guy Charron, though the move did not improve their performance. Despite this roller coaster ride, the Mighty Ducks still remained in the playoff race with a 14–19–6–4 record by January 5, 2001. On January 10 the Mighty Ducks waived Dominic Roussel, resulting in J. S. Giguere becoming their new backup, believing him and Hebert would carry the team into the playoffs and pass on the torch carefully to a new number one during the season.

But all those hopes were shattered as the Mighty Ducks lost sixteen games by March 2 going 4–16–2–1. During this stretch, Hebert went 0–11–2 since December 17th, losing his starting position to Giguere, who had started already more games than Hebert, officially on February 14th – much sooner than had been expected. Though Hebert did not quite play as well as he had the previous two seasons, much of this was based on the team not giving him the necessary support he needed, as Selanne stated in an interview, expressing his frustrations and disappointment. Hebert faced thirty or more shots almost every game, yet was able to keep his save percentage close to the .900 mark.

The Ducks' longest winning streak was five games in early March, when it was clear the team was not going to make the playoffs. During the winning streak Anaheim sent Teemu Selanne to the Sharks in exchange for Jeff Friesen and Steve Shields. Shields' acquisition ended Hebert's tenure with the Mighty Ducks getting waived and picked up by the New York Rangers on March 7 to replace the injured Mike Richter. A week later, Jason Marshall was traded to Washington on March 13. Shields never dressed for the Ducks that season due to an injury and the team called up Gregg Naumenko to serve behind J. S. Giguere. Anaheim's GM Pierre Gauthier felt very confident and fans would accept the trade once the new arrivals dressed for their new team, calling both moves a huge change and necessary as the team needed to look forward and both players would improve the franchise immediately and long term as well. (SunJournal March 6, 2001) Fans gave management the cold shoulder for a long time since they did not believe the trade nor the waiving of Hebert to be a good move (LA Times, March 12th 2001) - especially Hebert's departure was not well received and made little sense, since Steve Shields was injured and out for the rest of the season, a potential trade of Hebert before the trading deadline at least would have resulted in a draft pick in return.

While Selanne enjoyed much success with San Jose, the same could not be said about Anaheim as the Ducks went 2–6–3 after their five-game winning streak, which had fans and experts worried whether the deal with the Sharks was actually worth it. The Mighty Ducks went 11–22–5–1 in the second half with a lot of open questions about the team's future identity with longtime players Hebert, Marshall and Selanne gone.

The defense was the weak link as the team allowed the second-most goals in the West with 245, behind Chicago with 246. Their goaltending was heavily effected by that, too as Guy Hebert and Dominic Roussel recorded a save percentage below .900 which was the first time in team history. In hopes of more scoring depth and not relying on their first line of Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne and Steve Rucchin, the acquisitions of Andrei Nazarov and German Titov did not pay off at all as the team was at the bottom in scoring. Marty McInnis rediscovered his scoring touch, Tverdovsky ranked third in team scoring, Mike Leclerc had a very good second season despite missing 28 games. Traverse and Nazarov were traded early in mid-December as both did not live up to their expectations. The European youngsters showed some talent but could not fill the scoring void left by Rucchin, who played only 16 games.

The season marked the start of a new era: in goal, the team waived goaltender Guy Hebert (the last remaining original Mighty Duck from the 1993 NHL expansion draft) while focusing on Jean-Sebastien Giguere as their new starter. Their defense lost a valuable cornerstone with Jason Marshall after 6 years. It also marked the breakup of one of the best two forward tandems at the time by trading Teemu Selanne to San Jose without improving the team in scoring.

Final standings

Schedule and results

|- |1||October 6, 2000||3–1 || align="left"| Minnesota Wild (2000–01) ||1–0–0–0 || |- |2||October 8, 2000||1–5 || align="left"| St. Louis Blues (2000–01) ||1–1–0–0 || |- |3||October 11, 2000||2–3 OT|| align="left"| Boston Bruins (2000–01) ||1–1–0–1 || |- |4||October 14, 2000||2–4 || align="left"| @ New Jersey Devils (2000–01) ||1–2–0–1 || |- |5||October 16, 2000||4–3 || align="left"| @ New York Rangers (2000–01) ||2–2–0–1 || |- |6||October 17, 2000||4–3 || align="left"| @ New York Islanders (2000–01) ||3–2–0–1 || |- |7||October 20, 2000||2–2 OT|| align="left"| @ Buffalo Sabres (2000–01) ||3–2–1–1 || |- |8||October 21, 2000||4–3 || align="left"| @ Philadelphia Flyers (2000–01) ||4–2–1–1 || |- |9||October 23, 2000||4–5 OT|| align="left"| Los Angeles Kings (2000–01) ||4–2–1–2 || |- |10||October 25, 2000||2–6 || align="left"| @ Los Angeles Kings (2000–01) ||4–3–1–2 || |- |11||October 27, 2000||3–2 || align="left"| Edmonton Oilers (2000–01) ||5–3–1–2 || |- |12||October 29, 2000||6–3 || align="left"| @ Calgary Flames (2000–01) ||6–3–1–2 || |- |13||October 30, 2000||3–5 || align="left"| @ Edmonton Oilers (2000–01) ||6–4–1–2 ||

| 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

• • = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Mighty Ducks only.*

Awards and records

Awards

Milestones

Transactions

The Mighty Ducks were involved in the following transactions from June 11, 2000, the day after the deciding game of the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals, through June 9, 2001, the day of the deciding game of the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals.

Trades

Players acquired

Players lost

Signings

Draft picks

Anaheim's draft picks at the 2000 NHL entry draft held at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta.

Farm teams

Cincinnati Mighty Ducks ( shared with the Detroit Red Wings )

Notes

References

References

1. (December 14, 2000). "Not-So-Mighty Ducks Fire Coach".
2. "2000-01 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Schedule".
3. "NHL All-Star Game Starting Lineups by Year (since 1986)".
4. "2001 NHL All-Star Game Rosters".
5. "2000-01 NHL Debuts".
6. "Hockey Transactions Search Results".
7. (June 12, 2000). "MIGHTY DUCKS OF ANAHEIM ACQUIRE DEFENSEMAN PATRICK TRAVERSE FROM OTTAWA IN EXCHANGE FOR DEFENSEMAN JOEL KWIATKOWSKI".
8. (June 13, 2000). "Champs deal thrice to keep team intact".
9. (June 26, 2000). "TRANSACTIONS".
10. (September 26, 2000). "CALGARY FLAMES ACQUIRE DEFENCEMAN JORDAN LEOPOLD FROM ANAHEIM".
11. (November 18, 2000). "NHL - Bruins seeking size on defense".
12. (February 9, 2001). "Ducks Acquire Sergei Vyshedkevich".
13. (March 6, 2001). "Sharks snap up Selanne".
14. (March 14, 2001). "SPORTS TRANSACTIONS FOR TUESDAY, MARCH 13+ - UPI Archives".
15. (June 13, 2000). "MIGHTY DUCKS OF ANAHEIM AGREE TO TERMS WITH CENTER JARRETT SMITH".
16. (July 1, 2000). "German Titov signs with Ducks - UPI Archives".
17. (July 5, 2000). "Ducks sign tough guy Jim Cummins".
18. (July 13, 2000). "Mighty Ducks sign Bylsma - UPI Archives".
19. (July 20, 2000). "SPORTS TRANSACTIONS FOR THURSDAY, JULY 20+ - UPI Archives".
20. (July 1, 2000). "2000 NHL Free Agents".
21. {{eliteprospects. 86952. Lloyd Shaw, retrieved May 20, 2023
22. (June 23, 2000). "NHL Expansion Draft List - UPI Archives".
23. (July 3, 2000). "Isles sign two free agents - UPI Archives".
24. (July 6, 2000). "TRANSACTIONS".
25. (July 7, 2000). "Grimson Signs With Kings".
26. (August 18, 2000). "Lightning signs Astashenko, Muir".
27. "Untitled Document".
28. "Amerks.com: Amerks Press Releases".
29. (September 25, 2000). "ACTIVITY".
30. (September 26, 2000). "Video opens McSorley assault trial".
31. (October 3, 2000). "Pirates Sign Corey Hirsch To Tryout Deal".
32. (October 6, 2000). "Sports transactions".
33. (October 17, 2000). "TRANSACTIONS".
34. (October 28, 2000). "Deals".
35. (January 10, 2001). "Oilers claim Roussel off waivers - UPI Archives".
36. (March 7, 2001). "NHL - Rangers claim Hebert off waivers".
37. (April 26, 2001). "Jokerit julkaisi huippusopimuksia".
38. (July 14, 2000). "Mighty Ducks Sign C Ronnqvist".
39. (July 25, 2000). "Mighty Ducks, McInnis sign deal - UPI Archives".
40. (July 27, 2000). "SPORTS TRANSACTIONS FOR THURSDAY, JULY 27+ - UPI Archives".
41. (August 1, 2000). "Lightning, feeling need for speed, signs 3 free agents".
42. (August 8, 2000). "Traverse, Ducks Agree to Deal".
43. (August 12, 2000). "Arbitrator Gives LeClair $7 Million".
44. (August 16, 2000). "Arbitrator awards Aalto $850,000 pact".
45. (September 5, 2000). "Mighty Ducks Re-Sign Cullen".
46. (September 16, 2000). "Ducks' Tverdovsky Wins Contract Battle".
47. (December 7, 2000). "Mighty Ducks Of Anaheim Agree To Terms With Defens".
48. (March 8, 2001). "Mighty Ducks Sign Marty McInnis For Three Years".
49. "2000 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com".