Anaheim Ducks Are Championship Caliber In 2008-09

As the 2008-09 Anaheim Ducks training camp begins, questions are swirling around the ice in Orange County—but not the common ones you read about in the Boston Herald or Hockey News.

We all know about the Selanne Saga, about Scott Niedermeyer, and about GM Brian Burke's flirtation with Toronto.  I will not talk about the obvious questions in detail here. 

Niedermeyer and Selanne are in camp. A Schneider deal is in the works, and Schneider is staying home until it is done.  Whether Burke goes to Toronto next year or not is irrelevant to this season. I fully expect Burke to put forth full effort towards putting the best possible team on the ice, regardless of where he ends up next year.

Last year, the Ducks never quite pulled it together. Selanne and Niedermeyer's absences damaged team chemistry. They appeared slow and uninspired all year, and never really came out of their funk. They lost Andy McDonald, and his replacement as second-line C, Doug Weight, was slow and ineffective—even after Selanne returned in January.

However, despite Anaheim's substandard play, the well-reported indecision of its two biggest superstars, and injuries to Sami Pahlsson, J-S Giguere, Corey Perry, and Rob Niedermeyer, they still scored 102 points, second-most in Anaheim team history.

The Ducks experimented with line combinations last year all the way up until their last playoff series of the season against Dallas, going so far as playing Brad May on Getzlaff and Kunitz's first line to try to induce energy into a very lackluster season. This is the type of thing one would expect in the preseason, not in the playoffs.

Other than Perry and Getzlaff, and some great individual efforts by fourth-liners Parros, May, Marchant, and Sutherby, no one on the Ducks roster stood out last year.

Training camp will be interesting this year. Selanne has signed a free agent "tryout" contract in order to start camp and get into sync with his linemates—Brendan Morrission and either Bobby Ryan or Chris Kunitz.  Underachieving winger Todd Bertuzzi is gone to Calgary. And Drew Miller, Ryan Carter, and Bobby Ryan are ready to move into more prominent roles.

This is a very talented, experienced, tough, and deep Ducks team—and I wouldn't count them out of the Stanley Cup chase this year.

I am aware that most everyone has Detroit penciled in as the 2008 Champion already, but I don't. The Ducks have never backed down from the Redwings. If they can get past San Jose and Dallas, a big IF, the Ducks' North American physicality matches up well with the smaller, European-style Redwings.

Remember, Dallas had to go through Anaheim and San Jose before facing the Wings last year. The Wings had a much easier road as the #1 seed, playing Colorado and Nashville before finally ousting a physically depleted Dallas team for the right to beat up on the latest East Coast entry on the way to the Cup party.

You can count on San Jose, Dallas, and Anaheim fighting with Detroit for that #1 seed this year.

Here's how I see things shaping up for the 2008 Anaheim Ducks, line by line:

 Forwards

First Line

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?