The Anaheim defense has experienced some significant changes in the past year. Gone are Chris Pronger and Francois Beauchemin; In are Ryan Whitney, Luca Sbisa and Nick Boynton. In terms of toughness and physicality, it's a night-and-day transformation, but an upgrade in terms of youth and long-term potential (while also stocking the cupboard with draft picks).
One player that's returning, at least for the short-term, is 17-year veteran Scott Niedermayer. The 35-year-old is coming back for at least one more season after signing a one-year deal worth over $6 million earlier this offseason. He talked about his decision to return to the Ducks with our Susan Slusser in early July.
It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Pacific Division.
San Jose saw its Presidents' Trophy campaign come to a surprising end in the first round of the NHL playoffs, Los Angeles is still the perfect spot for Dany Heatley, and is there any hope for success on the ice in Phoenix?
DETROIT -- After the Red Wings stopped the Ducks in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals on Thursday. Detroit forward Mikael Samuelsson said, "Sometimes the stars take each other out a little."
And when the big-name guys cancel each other out, the Wings usually are left in a better position that their opponents, which was the case in Game 7, when Darren Helm, Samuelsson and Dan Cleary provided the final three goals in a 4-3 victory. Jiri Hudler scored the first goal of the night on a power play.
Helm never has scored a goal in the regular season (14 games) but he has four postseason goals, and his breakaway score on Thursday showed off his terrific speed. Samuelsson is a role player, but has a nose for big playoff goals, while Cleary is a grinder. His game-winner with three minutes left Thursday was his first goal of the series.
Ryan Getzlaf finally looked like himself again after a bout of flu or an undisclosed injury, take your pick. And with Getzlaf rejuvenated, the Ducks were rejuvenated, outplaying the defending champion Red Wings much of the night to force Game 7 at Detroit on Thursday night.
Getzlaf, who'd managed only two shots in the previous two games for the eight-seeded Ducks, scored Anaheim's first goal and assisted on the second in the Ducks' 2-1 victory at the Honda Center, evening the Western Conference semifinals series at three games apiece.
No one will ever mistake the Anaheim Ducks for a group of Lady Byng candidates. They're not afraid to impose their physical will, and they're willing to cross the line in order to accomplish it.
The Detroit Red Wings aren't this type of team. They would prefer to skate their opponents into submission. Of course, this isn't stopping the Ducks from accusing their opponents of dirty hockey.
Tuesday night the Red Wings threw everything they could at Jonas Hiller and the Ducks defense; heck, there might have even been a kitchen sink thrown in there somewhere, as the Wings put 46 shots on the young netminder compared to only 23 going the other way at Chris Osgood.
In the end, the Wings would lose, 2-1, but not after the Ducks got some last-second help from referee Brad Watson. Watson prematurely blew his whistle, disallowing a potential game tying goal from Marian Hossa with under a minute to go in the game. Video, plus more, after the jump.
Two years ago, a much more heralded Anaheim Ducks team took out Detroit on their way to a Stanley Cup. This time, the Ducks enter a series against the Red Wings as perhaps the most-feared eighth seed in NHL playoff history. That said, they're still an eighth seed, and a decided underdog. Is this the end of "Cinderella"?
The Anaheim Ducks came into the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the NHL having won six of their last eight games, but only had the eighth seed in the West to show for their regular season. The Ducks carried that solid play into the lion's den of the Shark Tank on Thursday night, home of the top-seeded Sharks, and came out victorious, 2-0.
With goals from Scott Niedermayer and Ryan Getzlaf, the Ducks took the opening game of the serious on the road despite being outshot 35-17 on the night.
Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller showed exactly why he had taken the starting job down the stretch from JS Giguere and why the Ducks decided to waive Ilya Bryzgalov last summer. The team was confident in its netminders, especially Hiller, and rode his solid play to a win in the opening game.
Exactly 1,230 regular season games have been played. We're down to the best eight teams in each conference. The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin Wednesday night with four series lid-lifters.
The Western Conference is home to the league's best team (San Jose), the defending champion (Detroit), and the two most intriguing Cinderella stories in the league (St. Louis and Columbus). Can Cinderella put off the stroke of midnight, or will an established power advance their way to the Finals?
I noticed it was gone for a few shifts -- mainly because the Fox Sports Pittsburgh broadcast pointed it out -- but never really gave it much of a thought. Perhaps I should have.
FanHouse's Adam Gretz takes a look at his top 50 players in the NHL. No. 41 is Anaheim Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer.
It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Pacific Division.
DETROIT -- After the Red Wings stopped the Ducks in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals on Thursday. Detroit forward 
Ryan Getzlaf
No one will ever mistake the Anaheim Ducks for a group of Lady Byng candidates. They're not afraid to impose their physical will, and they're willing to cross the line in order to accomplish it.
Tuesday night the Red Wings threw everything they could at 
The Anaheim Ducks came into the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the NHL having won six of their last eight games, but only had the eighth seed in the West to show for their regular season. The Ducks carried that solid play into the lion's den of the Shark Tank on Thursday night, home of the top-seeded Sharks, and came out victorious, 2-0. 
