Pool Outlook for Anaheim

Well, now we begin the tour of teams eliminated in the second round of the playoffs, in alphabetical order and today, it's the Ducks in Anaheim. The Ducks did not have the best of regular season efforts, but when it came to the playoffs, they were a team that closely resembled that of which won the Cup in 2007. Unfortunately, that wasn't quite enough to get past the Red Wings in the second round, but they shouldn't hang their heads in disappointment, as it was a pretty tough year and yet had lots of pleasant surprises.

It could be fair to say that Ryan Getzlaf is a premier player in the league now, as he's moved up the pool rankings in leaps and bounds since the start of his career, finishing in the top 10 in pool scoring in 2009. Getzlaf finished the season with 25 goals and 66 assists in 81 GP for the Ducks, ranking him with some of the best players in the league. He should now be considered a solid first round pick in your fantasy draft next season, as he was a bargain second round pick last Fall.

The Ducks also had to be pleased with Corey Perry, who finished with 72 points in 78 GP, finishing in the top 50 in pool scoring. The emergence of Bobby Ryan (57 points in 64 GP) and Andrew Ebbett (32 points in 48 GP) should have raised some eyebrows throughout the league and the fantasy world. Teemu Selanne was playing quite well when he was healthy (54 points in 65 GP). Overall, the Ducks had some pretty good talent up front, but they did lack a little bit of depth when it came to the regular season. Those five forwards should have some consideration on your list this Fall.

The veteran defense had a pretty good year in 2009, as Scott Niedermayer led all blueliners on the team with 59 points in 82 GP, which is pretty good considering he thought about retiring last season. Chris Pronger also played every game in the regular season for the Ducks and managed 48 points. New acquisitions, James Wisniewski and Ryan Whitney, each played in 48 games in the year due to injury, but still managed to come away with 24 & 23 points, respectively. The 0.5 ppg range is pretty good for third and fourth defenders in the league and both should get a good long look for your pools next season.

In net, there was a changing of the guard by the end of the year, as Jonas Hiller took the number one job away from J-S Giguere in 2009, taking over the job for the playoffs as well. Both goalies finished with over 2,400 minutes played, but Hiller was statistically better for the pool, winning 23 games, 4 by shutout (54 pool points). Giguere won 19 and 2 by shutout (42 points), but has vowed to try and win his starting job back in training camp this year. It should prove to be a good goaltending battle in 2010, which could make it much harder for the poolies to decide who to take.

2010 Season Outlook
Even with making the playoffs in 2009, the team did a good job to rid themselves of some possible free agents that would have made the summer a little bit more miserable, although there will be a number of decisions to be made anyways. As you can see with the table below, there are going to be plenty of holes to fill this summer.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Ryan Getzlaf	Chris Pronger	Jonas Hiller
Corey Perry	Ryan Whitney	J-S Giguere
Bobby Ryan
Teemu Selanne
Andrew Ebbett
George Parros
Petteri Nokelainen
Ryan Carter

The Ducks have some key free agents to look at this summer, which does make them players in the market, I think anyways. The 12 players they have signed already will give the team an approximate cap hit of $35.6 million, leaving them lots of room to improve the team with the 11 players they need to fill an active roster. If they are looking to spend a lot of big dollars

The Ducks free agency concerns should start with their UFA crop, as Scott Niedermayer has now finishd the contract that he returned for in 2008 and now the question will be if he wants to retire or not. This decision will impact the team greatly, especially since he was a massive cap hit this past season and would likely be one again in 2010. Brother, Rob Niedermayer, will also be up for UFA status this summer and there is some suggestion that they could be a package deal for next season, if Scott wants to play. Todd Marchant, Bret Hedican, Francois Beauchemin and Sheldon Brookbank are also UFA eligible this summer and they may find themselves new places to play by the summer's end.

The RFA crop in Anaheim is quite small, in terms of players who played a lot of games in 2009. Erik Christensen and James Wisniewski are the top RFAs that the Ducks will have to re-sign this summer, but they should hardly pose too much of a problem for the team in terms of cap space or difficulty to sign.

The Ducks don't really seem to have much to watch out for in 2010, in terms of blue chip talent from their system, especially since Bobby Ryan and Andrew Ebbett have now made the jump into the big time with a bang. The three players that look likely to get more time next season look to be Matt Beleskey, Mark Mitera and Brian Salcido. All three seemed to have reached that maturity that they should be good depth players, but no one really stands out as a bonafide pick for your pool as a sleeper. If there is someone on the Ducks who really shows off their stuff, they'll be a mid-season pick-up, if any.

If there was a good power combination to pick up in the pool next season, I would look to Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan, likely scooping both of them pretty early. The Ducks won't have the kind of trouble getting young Ryan into the line-up because of the cap this season (or any othr season), as he's earned his stripes to play with the big guys now. Corey Perry will prove to be a good pick again in 2010, but don't get too high on him at the moment, in case you know he'll be playing more top line hockey. Definitely play the wait-and-see game with Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne, as retirement is in the picture for both. Right now, this is about as far as we can go.