Captain Quack

Today begins the History of Captains in 30 days, where each team is viewed in accordance to the most important player on and off the ice: the Captain.  Today, as it was in the NHL season preview, we begin in alphabetical order, which means the Anaheim Ducks start off.  And the list of captains rattled off here (with a brief blurb about each one), is accurate, with Wikipedia as the source.  Take that for what you will.  So, with all of that out of the way, let's begin:

ANAHEIM DUCKS


In the team's seventeen year existence, they have had nine captains.  Beginning with their inaugural year, Troy Loney was the team's first captain, when the team was known as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.  The next two seasons saw the Captain's C placed on Randy Ladouceur.  Looking at the names so far, one would think that the choices for captain were uninspired.  Keep in mind that the Ducks were still trying to find an identity, and veteran leadership is a must when this is your situation.  From 1996-2003, the captaincy was bounced between two superstars: Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne, with Kariya being captain for all except 1998 in that time period.  It was during this period that the Ducks had some legitimacy, but still struggled to make hay in the playoffs.  The 2003-2004 season saw a change in the Captaincy, as both Kariya and Selanne were no longer Ducks (though Selanne would be back in 2006) and Steve Rucchin was named captain.  Rucchin was the last of the Ducks remaining from the 1994-95 season, so this was kind of fitting.  After the lockout, the Captaincy was assigned to a new guy in Scott Niedermayer, who had two different reigns as captain (2005-07 and 2008-10).  In between the two reigns, Chris Pronger was captain in the 2007-08 season.  Both were symbols of the team's commitment to defense, and both brought a winning attitude to the Ducks.  This year, with Niedermayer retired, the Captain's role is now in the hands of Ryan Getzlaf.