- The trade for Teemu Selänne changed the fortunes of the Anaheim Ducks.
- Chris Pronger’s arrival helped push the Ducks toward their first Stanley Cup.
- Jean-Sebastian Giguere became a franchise icon after he was acquired.
The Anaheim Ducks joined the National Hockey League in 1993 with plenty of fanfare thanks to the popular Disney movie “The Mighty Ducks.”
And while the first three seasons did not go all that well for the Ducks, everything changed with one trade.
That would be a sign of things to come as the Ducks built a Stanley Cup contender through some blockbuster moves.
Check out my picks for the seven biggest trades in the history of the Ducks.
1. Chad Kilger, Oleg Tverdosky, and a Third-Round Pick for Teemu Selanne and Marc Chouinard
This is the trade that changed everything for the Ducks.
Anaheim had some promising players up front by the time it made this deal with the Winnipeg Jets, but bringing Teemu Selänne into the fold took them from an NHL betting long shot to a contender in the Western Conference.
Selänne formed a potent 1-2 punch with Paul Kariya, and they pushed the Ducks to their first playoff appearance in 1996-1997.
The Ducks would trade Selänne to the San Jose Sharks in 2001, but he would return four years later to help lead Anaheim to its only Stanley Cup.
Selanne’s 457 goals are the most in franchise history.
2. Joffrey Lupul, Ladislav Smid, Two First-Round Picks, and a Second-Round Pick for Chris Pronger
There seemingly is always one trade that pushes a Stanley Cup team over the hump. Anaheim’s acquisition of Chris Pronger in 2006 fits that bill.
Pronger, fresh off leading the Edmonton Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final in 2005-2006, requested a trade in the summer for family reasons.
The Ducks jumped at the opportunity, knowing that Pronger and Scott Niedermayer would give them a lethal combination on the blueline.
That’s exactly what happened.
Not only did the two Hall-of-Fame defencemen lead the Ducks to the Cup, but Niedermayer and Pronger finished second and third, respectively, in the voting for the Norris Trophy in 2007.
3. Teemu Selanne for Jeff Friesen, Steve Shields, and a Second-Round Pick
This one stings a bit.
Selänne had established himself as one of the pillars of the franchise by the time this deal was completed in 2001, but the last-place Ducks thought it would be in their best interest to move the “Finnish Flash” and begin to retool.
The trade didn’t pan out. Friesen failed to make an impact and was eventually traded to the New Jersey Devils, the team that defeated the Ducks in the 2003 Stanley Cup Final.
4. Second-Round Pick for Jean-Sebastian Giguere
The first three trades on this list were blockbusters, but this one flew under the radar at the time it was struck.
Looking for some help in goal, the Ducks sent a second-round pick to the Calgary Flames for Jean-Sebastian Giguere, hoping that the talented netminder would fulfill his potential with a change of scenery.
It turned out to be a massive coup for the Ducks.
Giguere, who was a first-round pick in 1995, took over the starting job for the Ducks in 2001, but it was his performance in the 2003 playoffs that made him a franchise icon.
Giguere went 15-6 with a .945 save percentage during Anaheim’s Cinderella run to the Final. Giguere was so dominant that he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP despite not winning the Stanley Cup.
Giguere and the Ducks would get their championship four years later.
5. Nick Bonino, Luca Sbisa, a First-Round Pick and a Third-Round Pick for Ryan Kesler and a Third-Round Pick
The Ducks were an elite team in the mid-2010s. They were regularly putting up 100 points, competing for the division, and the hockey betting lines showed them to be one of the favourites in the Western Conference, year after year.
Unfortunately, the Ducks were also struggling to turn their regular-season success into playoff success during this era.
The front office decided that the team needed some snarl if they wanted to go on another deep playoff run, so they traded for Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler. It was a tidy piece of business.
The Ducks would win three straight division titles and go to two Western Conference final in Kesler’s first three seasons in Anaheim.
6. First-Round Pick for A First-Round Pick and a Second-Round Pick
Trades only involving draft picks can go in a million different directions, but this one broke in the Ducks’ favour.
Anaheim sent the 23rd overall selection in the 2011 NHL Draft to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 30th and 39th picks.
The Ducks would use those picks to select Rickard Rakell and John Gibson, who became key contributors for Anaheim in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
7. Jamie Drysdale and a Second-Round Pick for Cutter Gauthier
The jury is still out on this trade, but there’s no doubt that it shook the hockey world with how it went down.
Cutter Gauthier was selected fifth overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2022 NHL Draft.
But the marriage between the Flyers and Gauthier turned sour a year later, and the blue chip prospect requested a trade.
The Ducks were a logical fit as a trading partner because they had a stacked farm system and traded Drysdale, the sixth overall pick in 2020, in return for Gauthier.
Seeing two top six picks swapped for one another so soon after being drafted is a rarity in the NHL and makes this a trade that will be followed for years to come.
