The first round elimination of the Anaheim Ducks not only means there will be a new Stanley Cup champion in 2008 but also the possibility that the NHL careers of Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne might finally be over.
This unexpectedly early exit by the defending champs will raise questions about their off-season plans. The most significant:
- Rumors of GM Brian Burke possibly leaving to take over as team president or GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs have been swirling for months.
- Burke or his successor if he leaves will have to determine if they’ve got enough money to retain their key free agent players.
- Corey Perry is a restricted free agent whom they must re-sign before July 1st to prevent him getting an offer sheet from a rival club.
- Veteran forward Doug Weight faces an uncertain future as he probably won’t be re-signed.
- Trade rumors will likely dog the team over their lack of offensive production this season, among the lowest in the NHL.
But the most immediate question will be the respective futures of Niedermayer and Selanne, who kept fans guessing throughout last summer and the first half of this season if they’d return to the Ducks or retire.
Eventually they returned, which bolstered the Ducks in the regular season but ultimately their presence wasn’t enough to prevent the Dallas Stars from ending Anaheim’s dreams of consecutive championships.
Their contract situations are identical to last summer. Selanne is again an unrestricted free agent while Niedermayer is signed through next season at $6.75 million, although he now only has that one season remaining.
Considering that Ryan Getzlaf and Chris Kunitz re-signed new contracts that begin next season which will take up $5.325 and $3.725 million per season respectively, that could rule out a possible return of Selanne if he so desired.
Burke is on record as saying he won’t be as patient with Niedermayer as he was last year when awaiting his future plans, which means the Ducks GM will probably want a decision from the smooth-skating blueliner before July 1st, perhaps sooner.
It’s unlikely Niedermayer and Selanne will take as long to make decisions on their respective hockey-playing futures as they did this season. It’s possible a decision from both could come as early as this week.
If this season was, indeed, the real last dance for Niedermayer and Selanne, it will bring to a close two future Hall of Fame careers.
Niedermayer has been one of the best defensemen of his era and certainly ranked among the very best in NHL history. He was a key member of four Stanley Cup championship teams (three with New Jersey and one with Anaheim), won the Norris trophy in 2004 as the league’s best defenseman and the Conn Smythe trophy as the 2007 playoff MVP.
Selanne has been of the most exciting goals-corers of his era, with 552 goals and 1158 points in 1067 games. He set the existing NHL rookie record for single season goals (76) and points (132) as the 1992-93 rookie of the year, won the Richard trophy as the 1999 NHL goal-scoring leader, the Masterton in 2006 for perseverance, and a Stanley Cup with Anaheim.
1) It should be for Niedermayer. As we wrote on our blog this morning:While many will try to point to the significant roster turnover from last season's squad. The loss of Penner, McDonald, etc were certainly significant as their replacements, Weight, Bertuzzi didn't seem up to the task. However we at FAUXRUMORS point our finger of blame on this entire season/mess to one man, Scott Niedermayer! Why? Well from the moment the team won their Cup last June he ceased being the team's captain and became totally self centered and placed the team below his self interests. Its not like Scott had an injury or a family situation that needed his attention. It was PURE Selfishness/self indulgence.
2) Scott had a valid contract for this past year. The team invested big dollars with the expectations that he would live up to his side of the bargain. After the Cup, Niedermayer started a 5 month odyssey of uncertainly/self indulgence. Would he retire, would he come back?
3) In a salary capped league all GM's need to know what their payrolls can be, what space to sign players etc they have. By not making his plan known until so late it tied his teams GM Brian Burke. Burke, not knowing what his selfish captain would do, was forced to assume he wouldn't be back and then signed players with that in mind.
Last edited by fauxrumors5 on April 21st at 11:04 AM.
4)This allowed another GM like Kevin Lowe to see Anaheim's possible cap space issue and use it to their advantage. Burke not knowing if Scott's 6+ mil in cap space would be free had little choice but to allow one of his big assets(Penner) to go for very little. Later when Scott (finally) decided to come back it was after a date which caused the team to have to trim payroll because of NEXT season! This led to the Andy McDonald trade as well as the literal giving away of Ilya Bryzgalov
5) When Scott finally returned in January it appeared that things were going to be just like before. However, team mates whom were with the team since September must have had resentment watching Niedermayer take 6 months off and then come back as if nothing happened. The team appeared to come together when he and Selanne made returns. (We don't place the same degree of blame on Teemu because he did NOT have a contract and Burke did not have to manipulate the roster around him, AND he wasn't captain!) However, the playoffs are usually the time that separates real teams from pretenders. This team just never seemed able to put together a full effort against the Stars who aren't exactly the 1977 Canadiens. Why? Ask the captain!
6) Brian Burke, who to his credit was silent during the Niedermayer nonsense(in private he was seething!), would be VERY foolish to consider bringing back Scott(even if he decided he wanted to come back) Cut the ties as soon as possible and move on. The Ducks still have a very talented core, and a few moves could have them back next spring hungry, and ready to
i think its great the NHL is imposing a fine on Neidermeyer for breach of his contract earlier this year... the whole "not reporting to training camp type of thing".
me, Im just thankful the Ducks and Wild are out of it. The Wild has got to be the worst name for a sports team EVER.
While there will be Monday Morning Quarterbacking aplenty on what did in the Ducks, as far as I'm concerned the domino that set all the others in motion for Anaheim this year was the $4 million deal with Todd Bertuzzi. As I said at the time (and proved to be the case), it was too much for damaged goods and it put the Ducks at risk for losing Penner. (Bert played better than I thought he would during the season, but proved to be a non-factor in the playoffs; I think Penner would have delivered equally as well, if not moreso, on both counts.)
If you remember, Burke was sitting with roughly $2 million available after he signed Bertuzzi (counting Niedermayer's salary in the mix). Not enough money to do much of anything, frankly.
Conversely, if he passed on Bertuzzi, Burke likely could have signed Penner in the $3 million range, leaving him still another $3 million in his pocket to go after some scoring punch to replace Selanne. Or to absorb that cost in a trade. Or to re-sign Selanne and not have to ship off a warm body.
Burke did what he thought best, with the best information he had at the time. After signing Bertuzzi, I'm certain Burke thought he'd be able to lowball Penner to keep him in the fold. Things worked out differently, and that's where all the anger is generated toward Kevin Lowe. It's one thing to be a victim; quite another to expose your flank and shout "Come get me!"
On Scott Niedermayer:
It will be a shame to see Scott Niedermayer retire. I think he still has a lot of good hockey left in him. But sometimes it's better for a star to retire while he is still firmly affixed in the heavens, rather than watch him plummet to earth. The sad part is this contract episode leaves a bad taste on his pending retirement. It's a blemish on an otherwise spotless career, and forevermore we're cursed with a "What If?" question concerning the 2007-08 Ducks.
On Teemu Selanne:
I have hopes that Teemu Selanne can be talked into one more year, somewhere in the NHL. He's one good year away from 600 goals, and I would love to see him join that elite club.
Can you imagine Selanne on the Penguins?
On the Hockey Hall of Fame:
If Niedermayer and Selanne had retired last year, they would have been guaranteed HHOF inductees in 2010, joining another mortal lock in Joe Nieuwendyk, and leaving Eric Lindros, Peter Bondra, Pierre Turgeon, John LeClair and Ed Belfour to squabble over the fourth spot.
Should they both retire this year, they again move to the head of the list in 2011, with the remaining two spots fought over by potential retirees Trevor Linden, Dominik Hasek, Jeremy Roenick, Mats Sundin, and Mark Recchi among others.
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on April 21st at 12:29 PM.
I'm shocked that this happened to the ducks. They've got so much experience, so many successful players, so many guys who've got so much and so many young guys who've played well up until this playoff year that I thought they'd take it all.
In my mind the best group of defensemen ever, tons of guys with staney cup rings, con smyth trophies, a heart trophy, guys who can score, a great shutdown line, a goalie who's proven it more than once than he's the guy you want in a net, and an overall tough team with the heart needed to win it all. It's shocking.
Selane on the Penguins? Now that would be amazing. What would be cooler? Selane on the Oilers!!! With Hemsky or Gagne to Set up him and Edmonton's fast style of play you'd think he'd have no problem hitting 600.
As a Ducks fan, I must say that I was disappointed but not surprised with their performance (or lack thereof) during the playoffs. I have always believed that they would have been so much better if they had sacrificed a little defense in order to have more of an offensive threat.
Did we overload on defense because Neidermayer was on the fence about his retirement...YES! Were the moves successful...NO! If you look at the stats from the beginning of the season (Before Neidermayer) and compare them with the stats (After Neidermayer) you can conclude that Scott is the defenseman to keep even if his "selfishness" caused him to miss half of the season.
This year, I would: 1) Make Scott commit to play or retire, 2) If he stays then trade another defenseman for some offense. If he retires, then you use his salary to acquire some offensive threats.
Now here's an idea I had, something to get you bloggers talking...ASSUMING Scott decides to play another year. SELANNE stays 1 more year if he can play with KARIYA again, and with ANDY MACDONALD centering the line, WOW would we have some speed. We could give St. Louis Weight back along with a Beauchemin or Schneider, and we could throw in a Ryan Carter or a draft pick just for good measure.
You make some good points fauxrumors5, except for the reason of the trade of Ilya Bryzgalov. It wasn't to save money, as Hillar actually makes more than Ilya Bryzgalov.
I wholeheartedly agree with you Matt, and I can imagine just about anyone on the Penguins!
Selanne on the Oilers would be fun, wouldn't it? (Or Scott Niedermayer, for that matter, although personally I'd like to see Scott finish out his tour in Vancouver.)
Depending on what happens with Stoll, the Oilers may have a vacancy at centre (if they keep Cogliano on the left side) or at left wing (if they decide to turn Andrew into the third line pivot).
The Oilers are likely going to need an addition or two at left wing anyway, given that I expect Torres to be traded and Sanderson to be let loose. That's the perfect situation for somebody like J.F. Jacques to make the leap from the farm, but I wouldn't be surprised for the Oilers to make a mid-grade signing from the free agent market to fill at least one of those holes.
If the Oilers don't retain Stoll, wouldn't it be nice to see Doug Weight -- if he was willing to take a little less pay -- to finish up in Oilers silks? But, alas, I admit that's going the wrong direction, and we need to keep the youth movement going strong.
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on April 22nd at 10:08 AM.
I can't see St. Louis giving MacDonald back to the Ducks (along with Kariya) unless Anaheim gave up a TON to do it. More than just Beauchemain/Schneider, Carter, and a draft pick. Blues need offensive help, that's probably what they would be seeking in a deal. And they almost certainly wouldn't give up 2 of their better weapons up front.
Its really amazing how fast a hockety team can fall off the mountain? Last year, we all commented on how Edmonton and Carolina didn't make the playoffs. Now, last year's Stanley Cup finalists get bounced convincingly, and both are pondering some major overhauls. Wow.
I wonder if either player has that "fire inside" that made them so talented. Let's be honest, even at 75% these guys are better than many of their peers, but I watched a few games, and did not see either play like they did the previous year. Niedermayer has accomplished about everything but winning the Hart, and Selanne has his championship. Personally as a hockey fan, I would miss watching their skilled play, and as a Sharks Fan, I would be more than happy to get everyone in Teal Town to contribute to buy them each a yacht to keep them away from playing again.
If Burke was staying (which I think he is) and smart, he'd offer both front office positions, and a chance to retire in style. Then find a way to get rid of Big Burden I mean Big Bert. Then continue to build a team to compete with SJ and Dallas as well as the blooming talent the Great One is developing in the desert
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
