Anaheim's All-Time Team: Protect the Superstars

To help save the planet, I am re-using an image from Christmas 2006.
I know I've lost some momentum on this Anaheim Sometimes-Mighty Ducks of Anaheim project, but I'm down to my last spot to fill. I've got the rest of the roster penciled together for an unveiling next week, though it's still not too late to convince me on your votes in for:

• #1 Center: Rucchin, Oates, Fedorov, McDonald, or Getzlaf.



• #5 and #6 Defensemen: Two of Dollas, Karpa, Mironov, Salei, Havelid, Vishnevski, Carney, Ozolinsh, Beauchemin, O'Donnell, or Schneider.



• Backup Goaltender: Hebert, Shtalenkov, Gerber, Bryzgalov, or Hiller.

Today we fill my last open spot: Enforcer.

Throughout its franchise history, Anaheim has relied on an element of pure muscle, for a few reasons: to compensate for its sissy team name, to draw more lackluster fans in SoCal, and for traditional on-ice reasons (protecting and generating space for superstars). I don't suppose that reserving a slot for an enforcer makes Anaheim's All-Time team necessarily better on paper, but I think it does do a service to all those punch-monkeys who have stood up for the Ducks over the years. Also, my all-time team (penciled-in version) is looking quite soft thus far; I can probably count the career fighting majors among my forwards on one hand.

In terms of the skillset I'm looking for, it's pretty simple: Popularity, Fighting Ability, and Regular Shifts (in that order of importance). I've put together a list of twelve candidates which is by no means exhaustive (feel free to write in anyone I've missed), sorted by penalty minutes per game. I won't profile these guys (frankly, I don't remember them all), but this list should help jog Ducks fans' memories.

Player	ANA yrs	GP	PIM	PIM/gm
Garrett Burnett	2003-04	39	184	4.72
Todd Ewen	1993-94 to 1995-96	153	650	4.25
Kevin Sawyer	2000-01 to 2002-03	97	363	3.74
Brent Severyn	1997-98	37	133	3.59
Warren Rychel	1996-97 to 1997-98	133	416	3.13
Ken Baumgartner	1995-96 to 1996-97	79	223	2.82
George Parros	2006-07 to current	101	285	2.82
Stu Grimson	1993-94 to 1994-95, 1998-99 to 1999-00	231	583	2.52
Todd Fedoruk	2005-06 to 2006-07	86	210	2.44
Denny Lambert	1994-95 to 1995-96, 2001-02	119	272	2.29
Jim Cummins	2000-01 to 2001-02	81	167	2.06
Shawn Thornton	2006-07	48	88	1.83

Questions to consider: Who on this list was most likely to get fans on their feet? Who on this list would be scariest to fight against? Who on this list showed the best hockey sense aside from fighting? And then the real question: All that considered, who deserves the Enforcer spot on the Anaheim Sometimes-Mighty Ducks of Anaheim? Whether you're a Ducks fan or not, I'll take your votes and justifications in the comments.

Go Ducks.

Boxing Day

Merry Fist-mas day +1. Fight clip courtesey of Hockeyfights.com. Rumors that Earl Sleek was going to be an emergency replacement to backup Michael Wall were unfounded.

Maybe the Kings can loan Anaheim a goaltender.

Merry Fist-mas!

Merry Fist-mas to all, and to all a good fight!

Ducks-Stars: Tales from the Penalty Box

Well, as I mentioned in the GDP, I somehow snagged the Row B tickets to the Dallas game on Wednesday, and it was a blast. Now normally I bring my pal Damndaze along, (even though he’s a Red Wings fan) because he loves taking pictures from up close. However, Damndaze was out of town on business, and I had to take my own damn photos.

Now, I’m not real dedicated to photography or anything, especially when I’ve had some beers. Damndaze goes to a game and takes like 300 photos (a lot of them garbage-smudge, though); at the end of this game I think I had taken 16 shots (a couple of them garbage-smudge also). Most of the time the camera stays inaccessibly in my pocket, so I can safely drink my beer and still bang the glass if necessary.

Nevertheless, I did get some shots of some penalized Ducks. (Side gripe: this is my fourth game of five this season/preseason, and Chris Pronger refuses to take any damn penalties.)

OK, easily the best part of this game was the 90-second beating of metapest Matthew Barnaby, courtesy of the wicked fists of Shawn Thornton. It was a drawn-out yet one-sided affair that deep-down felt really good; it’s nice every once in a while when a big yapper-pest gets the beatdown he’s had coming to him for the better part of his career. I mean, it wasn’t knock-you-out decisive, but still Thornton pretty much made him his Barnabitch. And I tell ya, the Honda Center crowd was pretty damn pleased.

Once in the box, Thornton proceeded to reassemble his playing gear while still talking it up with the persistent (I’ll give him that) Barnaby. It was pretty amusing for all of us to watch. Anyway, awesome work, Shawn.

The next two penalties were both taken by Teemu Selanne, who suspiciously enough had been quoted that morning in the OC Register, saying: “I don’t want Lady Byng. Burkie would probably trade me if I won Lady Byng.”

Any way, Teemu showed up both times pleading his innocence, and I managed only one good shot out of both visits. I yelled "Go get 'em, Teemu!" in the closing seconds of each penalty, with the exuberance only a beer-drinker can muster.

In the third period, I got another rare visitor, Cap’n Niedermayer, for another minor. I tell ya, I was really struck by the intensity sitting next to that guy. I know that’s an overused word, but Scott intensely watched the Ducks kill his penalty. It was like he was memorizing it or something, kinda kreepy, actually.

Later in the third period, both Shawn Thornton and Shane O’Brien took coincidental minors for double-roughing Barnaby (again), and Shawn spent the entire time re-enacting the earlier bout for Shane’s amusement, giving him a blow-by-blow account. It was pretty cool to watch, those guys were having a good time that night.

In this shot, he is showing O’B how to move his hands faster than a digital camera’s default shutter speed in the hands of a drunken techno-idiot. You know, the kind of idiot who can't even frame well enough to get even one guy's face in the damn shot.

Oh yeah, and outside the penalty box, Ducks won the game as well. Goals by Capt. Niedermayer, Pronger, and two by Corey Perry--on a night when Moustache was scratched, of course.

27-4-6 means 60 points (!) for the Ducks, with still two more shopping days until Christmas. One year ago today, Anaheim had 38 points, while Ottawa and Detroit led the league with 51 points.

What’s the phrase I’m looking for? Oh yeah, Holy Christ Shit Moly Smokes! Sure there's bound to be downturns at some time, but for now the outlook is cautiously awesome.

Hope you like the photos, and have a good holiday weekend, readers-who-only-read-blogs-when-they’re-at-the-office!

BoC Gameday—Battle of the Thorntons Update

Anaheim Ducks (22-3-6, 1st in west) at Tampa Bay Lightning (14-13-2, t-9th in east)
Colorado Avalanche (13-13-2, 10th in west) at Los Angeles Kings (10-16-4, t-11th in west)
Nashville Predators (18-7-3, 3rd in west) at San Jose Sharks (20-9-0, 2nd in west)

Not to mention 11 other games today, featuring everyone except the Stanley Cup Finalists Edmonton Oilboys and Carolina Candy Canes.

Anyway, I guess I’d better feature this now, while gloating is still possible.

Battle of the Thorntons

Thornton	Team	GP	EV min	EV pts	EV pts/hr	+/-	PIM
Shawn	ANA	8	68:18	1-3-4	3.51	+7	26
Joe	SJS	29	414:51	6-6-12	1.74	-7	12
Scott	LAK	29	287:02	4-1-5	1.05	-9	19

Oops. They must have given that Hart trophy to the wrong Thornton.

Shawn, incidentally, has yet to be on the ice for an Anaheim goal-against.

[EDIT: I ran some Shawn Thornton numbers on last night's game. I think this is the first time Shawn has faced some tough minutes, as he played nearly 6 1/2 minutes against Ovechkin (about 57% of his ice time vs. AO). In fact, here's the elements of his Gordie Howe hat trick:

Goal: scored 31 seconds into his first shift. In his first game since Nov. 12.
Fight: initiated 35 seconds into his second shift. A decisive victory.
Assist: 22 seconds into his ninth shift, before the game was to the halfway point.

And the commonality? Omunchkin was on the ice for all of 'em. Sweet mother of mercy.]

Prediction: BoC 10, Challengers 5.

Ducks winning by committee

Top-of-the-west Ducks? Even I don't believe it.

Anaheim has picked up points in all 12 of its games thus far, winning 7 in regulation and going 2-3 in the shootout. It should be noted that it has been a somewhat soft schedule; 16 of the 21 points thus far have come from opponents who missed the last playoffs.

It of course is a franchise-best start, but I kid you not, it was also a franchise start when the Ducks won their first two games.

But still, check out this scoring balance, which features no forwards among the NHL's top 50 scorers (and includes only one goal off the stick of Teemu Selanne):

Line	G-A-Pts	+/-	PP	SH	GW
Selanne-McDonald-Kunitz	10-14-24	+1	6	0	2
Perry-Getzlaf-Fedoruk	7-13-20	+8	2	0	1
Shannon-Marchant-Penner	8-10-18	+5	2	1	2
R.Niedermayer-Pahlsson-Moen	6-11-17	+17	0	0	0
S. Niedermayer-Beauchemin	5-8-13	+6	1	0	0
Pronger-O’Donnell	2-12-14	+11	1	0	1
O’Brien-DiPenta	1-2-3	+3	1	0	1

So far results have been encouraging, but probably the real test for this team will be how it handles games against San Jose and Dallas, which represent more than 20% of Anaheim's remaining schedule. Can the Ducks maintain their outstanding goaltending (1.94 GAA, .934 Sv%), and keep up this scoring balance?

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Though not noted in the above table, offseason signing Shawn Thornton got called up from Portland two games ago to replace Boogeyman victim Todd Fedoruk. How long he stays with the big club remains to be seen, but for now at least, the Battle of the Thorntons is officially on, baby.

The Battle of the Thorntons

In a move that was so under the radar that it hasn’t been officially declared on Anaheim’s official site, the Ducks have completed the BoC trifecta by signing UFA punching bag Shawn Thornton (story here).

I don’t believe Shawn is blood-related to Joe (SJ) or Scott (LA), and is unlikely to crack the big club (and I’m not even 100% that this news release is true), so for now we’ll just leave the blog title alone.

Anyone in for a Thornton-Thornton trade?

[Edit: now it's official.]