Draft Hits and Misses: Anaheim Ducks

Over the next couple of weeks I will look at each team in the NHL, and see how they have performed at the NHL draft. There are basically 3 really important areas to determine the level of success at one of the most inexact sciences in the game – selecting 17 and 18 year old kids and projecting what they will be like over the next 10 or 15 years.

Those three areas are: 1) Success in the first round; 2) Success in the second round and 3) The number of drafted players playing on a team’s roster. I limit it to the first 2 rounds because that is where a majority of the impact players come from, and also where mistakes in judgement are magnified. Players that come after the second round for the most part are fortunate picks and if they work out it is a bonus. Henrik Zetterberg, for example, was a 7th round pick, and although you could claim Detroit was skilled in unearthing a prospect at that point in the draft, if they had known he was going to be as good as he turned out to be, they wouldn’t have waited that long. There is as much good luck as good management for a player like that, and that is factored in in the 3rd area of success.

So up first, we will look at the Anaheim Ducks, and their track record since the year 2000.

FIRST ROUND SUCCESS:

The Ducks have selected 15 players in the first round, with 9 of them making some impact in the NHL, for a success rate of 60%.

SECOND ROUND SUCCESS:

In the second round, 3 of the 14 players they selected have gone on to play a significant amount of time.

HOME-DRAFTED TALENT:

The Ducks had 12 Anaheim drafted players play games with them this past season.

SUCCESSES – Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry were both selected in the 2003 draft, one of the deepest drafts ever. Selected 19th and 28th overall, that draft day established the foundation for the roster to this day.

FAILURES – While Getzlaf was a steal at the 19th pick, two other 19th overall picks were wasted by the Ducks. Neither Mark Mitera (2006) nor Logan McMillan (2007) ever suited up in an NHL game.

STEALS – The Ducks drafted P.A. Parenteau at #264 in 2001, and rugged blueliner Shane O’Brien at #250 in 2003.