Top 50 Anaheim Ducks
Named after the Mighty Ducks, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim first took flight in 1993 as an Expansion Team in the same year as the Florida Panthers. The Ducks landed their first major star in Paul Kariya in 1996, and they would trade for another in Teemu Selanne.
In 2003, they surprisingly won the Western Conference, but lost to the New Jersey Devils. The team was sold by their original company, Disney, and in 2006, they were renamed the Anaheim Ducks. The newly named team went on to win its first Stanley Cup by defeating the Ottawa Senators in 2007. They have yet to reach the Finals since.
This list is up to the end of the 2024/25 season.
Note: Hockey lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics and post-season accolades.
Ryan Kesler cut his teeth with the Vancouver Canucks, where he was one of the best defensive forwards, winning a Frank J. Selke Trophy in 2010-11. Kesler was dealt to the Anaheim Ducks after the 2013-14 Season, where he has remained a premier defensive forward.
Chris Kunitz went undrafted, but the Ontarian made a name for himself at small Ferris State and took them to their first NCAA Tournament and an Elite 8 appearance. The Ducks signed him in 2003, where he played 21 Games, but the NHL lockout prevented him from doing anything of note…
The son of former hockey pugilist Dave Manson, Josh Manson may not be as tough as his father, but he was a decent player in his own right.
From Minsk, Ruslan Salei was taken Ninth Overall in the 1996 Draft, and he would play there until 2006 when he signed with the Florida Panthers.
Frederik Andersen played in his native Denmark, playing well enough to earn a seventh-round pick by the Anaheim Ducks in 2010. Three years later, Andersen made his NHL debut with a 23 Game rookie year.
Fredrik Olausson is one of the best Swedish defensemen in the game’s history, who had three runs with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
Andrew Cogliano played for the Ducks for eight seasons, and while you would never slap the title of a superstar on Cogliano, you could state that he was a dependable character player throughout his tenure in Anaheim.
Sami Vatanen was a Fourth Round Pick by the Anaheim Ducks, but the Finnish Defenseman did not make his way stateside until three years later.
Trevor Zegras starred in the United States Junior Hockey League, so much so that he was a top ten pick in the 2019 Draft. Rather than join the team that drafted him, Anaheim, the Center honored a commitment to Boston University, where, as a freshman, he was the third highest…
After playing eight years in the NHL in a minute role, Defenseman Bobby Dollas was taken by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the 1993 Expansion Draft. Anaheim gave him the opportunity that he had always coveted.
Cullen's 21-year NHL career began in Anaheim, where he was a Second Round Pick in 1996.
Samuel Pahlsson was traded to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim only 17 Games into his NHL career, and it was his second team where he played his best hockey.
A native of Rhode Island, Keith Carney was a well-traveled Defenseman's arrival to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim was his fourth NHL team (after Buffalo, Chicago, and Phoenix).
The younger brother of Hockey Hall of Famer, Scott Niedermayer, Rob Niedermayer carved out a long career full of grit and leadership, and he brought that to Anaheim when he was traded there before the Ducks' 2003 playoff run.
Niclas Havelid was a Swedish star blueliner who played in his native Sweden for years before being drafted at age 26 (26?) by the Mighty Ducks in the Third Round of 1999.
Petr Sykora played for the New Jersey Devils for seven seasons, winning a Stanley Cup before he was part of a seven-player deal that sent him to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
Russian Defenseman Vitaly Vishnevsky was the Fifth Overall Pick in 1998, and he would play in 30 Games for the team that year for the squad that took him, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
After nine NHL seasons, the Anaheim Ducks signed Frank Vatrano, and the Left Wing would exceed the club’s expectations. With increased ice time, Vatrano has been able to score at least 21 Goals in all three of his seasons (thus far) in Anaheim. In 2023-24, Vatrano had his best year…
You don’t think of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim when you look at Dmitri Mirinov’s career, and that is not a surprise, considering that he never played a season beginning to end with Anaheim. Mironov would have a higher PPG in Anaheim than he did for every other team (except Detroit,…
Todd Marchant's NHL career began in the 1993-94 Season, and a dozen years later, the Mighty Ducks claimed him off of the waivers.