Former Ducks (2024-25 edition)

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Those were also the Babcock years (for chistov and smirnov). I'm sure it was no fun playing for that deplorable madman, imagine coming over from Russia, barely speaking the language, dealing with culture shock, and then having to deal with that head case.
 
That Smirnov draft (2000) was weird. I was a hockey fan but was not at all into the draft at that time, so this is just from looking at the draft page on hockey reference.

Smirnov was picked 12th overall. From picks 7 - 17, there was exactly one guy who played more than 250 games in the NHL: Ron Hainsey, who carved out a decent career for himself as a solid defensive d-man.

There were only two other guys in that stretch whose names might even be familiar: Nikita Alexeev and some guy name Hossa. But not that one. His brother, Marcel. Marcel only played 237 games in the NHL. Perhaps not coincidentally, that portion of the draft included only two North Americans, and one was Hainsey.

I wonder how often there is such a large stretch of busts in a given draft.
 
That Smirnov draft (2000) was weird. I was a hockey fan but was not at all into the draft at that time, so this is just from looking at the draft page on hockey reference.

Smirnov was picked 12th overall. From picks 7 - 17, there was exactly one guy who played more than 250 games in the NHL: Ron Hainsey, who carved out a decent career for himself as a solid defensive d-man.

There were only two other guys in that stretch whose names might even be familiar: Nikita Alexeev and some guy name Hossa. But not that one. His brother, Marcel. Marcel only played 237 games in the NHL. Perhaps not coincidentally, that portion of the draft included only two North Americans, and one was Hainsey.

I wonder how often there is such a large stretch of busts in a given draft.
yeah, i forgot to mention this in my post. 2000 draft was awful, so picking smirnov at 12 doesn't hurt as much in hindsight
 
Jesus. The link I posted a couple posts above said Montreal had recalled him. Obviously, deleted now.
AHL transactions still incorrectly lists him as being recalled to Montreal (TR team account tweeted that he was assigned to them), hopefully for his sake it's just a conditioning stint
 
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With all the talk about needing a mentor to teach the youngsters faceoffs, should be noted that I think I heard in-between periods that Nate Thompson is in the area working as a TV analyst for the Kings.
 
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Drysdale is slowly improving. Here is that stat thingie chart for tonight's game.

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yeah, i forgot to mention this in my post. 2000 draft was awful, so picking smirnov at 12 doesn't hurt as much in hindsight
There's a couple notable misses in Anaheim's history that in hindsight, you kinda wonder what other option they would have had. Like there's enough other misses around Anaheim's picks that even if the Ducks didn't draft the guy they did, the other reasonable options don't seem much better.

2006 was Mark Mitera at 19 - Only four players in the next 13 picks played more than 80 games. Claude Giroux was picked three picks later but was viewed as a reach (THN had him 60th in their mock). Varlamov was a first rounder to Washington, but the Ducks (with Giguere and Bryzgalov) weren't looking for that type of goalie talent, Berglund played over 700 games but infamously bailed on Buffalo shortly after being dealt and Nick Foligno has stuck around in various roles. I think I had Anaheim projected for Sanguinetti that year in the HF mock draft; he at least made it to the show, but only for 45 games.

2014 was Nick Ritchie at 10 - he played almost 500 games, but players like Fiala, Larkin, Tuch, Schmaltz, McCann, Pastrnak and Kempe all drafted within 20 slots after him. I remember being at the Combine that year and the story was that Anaheim was high on Kasperi Kapanen, but when the draft came around, the narrative was that Ritchie fell (Sportsnet and Bleacher Report both had him projected to go 7th overall). 🤷‍♂️

2015 was Larsson at 27 - he played most of three seasons with the Ducks. Immediately after him was Beauvillier who is now on his fifth team as a depth forward. Sebastian Aho at 35 (the Hurricane one) would be the next highlight, but not a significant amount of "oh dang!" over the next 20 picks. I guess depending on how much you like Travis Dermott, Brandon Carlo and Erik Cernak. All of them defensemen who have stuck around in the league longer.

2016 was Jones (24th) and Steel (30th) - Tage Thompson at 26 makes this one look worse, but after that we're looking at Jordan Kyrou at 35 and Alex Debrincat at 39.
 
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There's a couple notable misses in Anaheim's history that in hindsight, you kinda wonder what other option they would have had. Like there's enough other misses around Anaheim's picks that even if the Ducks didn't draft the guy they did, the other reasonable options don't seem much better.

2006 was Mark Mitera at 19 - Only four players in the next 13 picks played more than 80 games. Claude Giroux was picked three picks later but was viewed as a reach (THN had him 60th in their mock). Varlamov was a first rounder to Washington, but the Ducks (with Giguere and Bryzgalov) weren't looking for that type of goalie talent, Berglund played over 700 games but infamously bailed on Buffalo shortly after being dealt and Nick Foligno has stuck around in various roles. I think I had Anaheim projected for Sanguinetti that year in the HF mock draft; he at least made it to the show, but only for 45 games.

2014 was Nick Ritchie at 10 - he played almost 500 games, but players like Fiala, Larkin, Tuch, Schmaltz, McCann, Pastrnak and Kempe all drafted within 20 slots after him. I remember being at the Combine that year and the story was that Anaheim was high on Kasperi Kapanen, but when the draft came around, the narrative was that Ritchie fell (Sportsnet and Bleacher Report both had him projected to go 7th overall). 🤷‍♂️

2015 was Larsson at 27 - he played most of three seasons with the Ducks. Immediately after him was Beauvillier who is now on his fifth team as a depth forward. Sebastian Aho at 35 (the Hurricane one) would be the next highlight, but not a significant amount of "oh dang!" over the next 20 picks. I guess depending on how much you like Travis Dermott, Brandon Carlo and Erik Cernak. All of them defensemen who have stuck around in the league longer.

2016 was Jones (24th) and Steel (30th) - Tage Thompson at 26 makes this one look worse, but after that were looking at Jordan Kyrou at 35 and Alex Debrincat at 39.

Larsson will also be a more of a "what if" than a true bust for me. He was looking pretty damn good at a young age before the major injury
 
Man, Sherwood is doing great in Vancouver. Getting tired of seeing our prospects blossom after we give up on them.

Look how well Stefan Noesen is doing right now. 11 points in 12 games. I know he wasn't drafted by Anaheim but he was a part of the Bobby Ryan deal and I believe he was a player Anaheim wanted in the draft but Ottawa got him first.
 
Man, Sherwood is doing great in Vancouver. Getting tired of seeing our prospects blossom after we give up on them.

Look how well Stefan Noesen is doing right now. 11 points in 12 games. I know he wasn't drafted by Anaheim but he was a part of the Bobby Ryan deal and I believe he was a player Anaheim wanted in the draft but Ottawa got him first.
Guys I’m as frustrated as you are by what’s happening now but Sherwood is a 29 year old having a VERY mild breakout season with his third team. He’s mostly been an AHL guy everywhere he’s been.

Noesen is a 31 year old off to a career start now with his 6th team. These guys are not “blossoming."
 
Guys I’m as frustrated as you are by what’s happening now but Sherwood is a 29 year old having a VERY mild breakout season with his third team. He’s mostly been an AHL guy everywhere he’s been.

Noesen is a 31 year old off to a career start now with his 6th team. These guys are not “blossoming."
Yeah out of all the examples you could pick....Sherwood and Noesen are certainly a choice. Being upset over 4th line / AHL level players isn't it, we basically have two clones in Leason and McGinn, who you could argue are slightly better players.
 
Yeah out of all the examples you could pick....Sherwood and Noesen are certainly a choice. Being upset over 4th line / AHL level players isn't it, we basically have two clones in Leason and McGinn, who you could argue are slightly better players.
No one said they were "upset." But if you're paying attention, these are not Leason and McGinn clones. Both those guys are now solid third liners putting up nice offensive numbers, playing great supporting roles, and hitting guys like wrecking balls. Sherwood leads the league with 57 hits in 8 games. I'd sure as hell love that on the team, and I'd bet PV would too.

Sure, I probably would have made the same decision the org did years back. Is what it is. But doesn't mean it doesn't suck.
 
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