Ducks Draft Recap

The ducks had themselves one amazing draft day.

Arguably the winners of the draft they had the luck of being able to draft the number 5 and number 10 ranked players, Long Beach native, Emerson Etem, and Cam Fowler.

It was a perfect situation for Etem who lives in California to be drafted, and a huge honor for Fowler who received his sweater from his favorite player and idol, Scott Niedermayer.

It is difficult to say who was happier that those players were drafted, the players themselves, the fans, or Bob Murray and the rest of the Anaheim Ducks management.

Cam Fowler was a total steal at number 12. Apart from the Hall-Seguin debate, experts had trouble determining who the best defenseman was among the Gudbranson-Gormley-Fowler trio was. Gudbranson came fourth, but Fowler and Gormley fell to 12th and 13th respectively.

Murray was in total shock.

Fowler has received extremely high praise leading up to the draft. He has received comparisons to Erik and Jack Johnson, Brian Leetch, Thomas Kaberle, and even to an extent, Scott Niedermayer.

Watching his very first interview gave viewers the impression that he is intelligent, mature, and eager to work hard to make his way into the lineup as quickly as possible. It also helps that Scott Niedermayer may end up mentoring him. Isn't it also ironic that he has Fowl in his name? Yes I went for the lame duck related pun, but that is an awesome coincidence.

With the addition of Fowler, the Ducks' defensive pipeline appears to be the strongest in the league. Just thinking about Luca Sbisa, Jake Gardiner, Mark Mitera, and now Cam Fowler, it's enough to leave any fan drooling.

Etem luckily fell even further. It isn't a good feeling to have to wait as long as he did, but it almost seemed like fate that the speedy Californian managed to fall all the way to the team closest to home. I spent the last week with my family on a lake, but when I opened my phone at the hotel, I was in shock first to see that we actually drafted Fowler, my fourth favorite player in the draft, but with the 29th pick we took Etem. I honestly believed he would be taken 12th.

Not to say that Etem only got drafted because he is a California product. He has speed, size, and natural scoring talent. He received comparisons to Glen Anderson and Joffrey Lupul. But what is most impressive is Etem's determination and work ethic. From a young age Etem dedicated his life to hockey, going from city to city for hockey camps. In an interview he said he has already stopped caring about how far he fell, and that he is ready to make himself the best player selected in the draft.

That is very refreshing to hear. Many drafted players get caught up in the euphoria of being drafted and assume that they've reached their goal, by making the big time. They end up thinking that they will just continue improving physically and they will hit the big time without any problems. TR Goodman even said that he has the same focus and drive as Sidney Crosby.

Etem's mentality is what real stars are made of. They are always trying to improve themselves, they fight to be the best, and when you have the kind of talent that Etem has, a work ethic like that allows you to work out the weaknesses that caused you to drop in the draft. Expect Etem to be ranked among our top 10 prospects the next time THN and HF release their player rankings. He is an excellent pickup for the Ducks.

The draft was a step in the right direction, we will have to see if free agency will follow suit. If so, this upcoming season will be an exciting one.

Offseason Updates

It's been a rather uneventful offseason for the ducks so far. Fans have been hungrily waiting to see what Mr. Murray will do to make up for last year's Stanley cup absence.

Other than a couple of prospect signings, the Anaheim front office has shown no signs of life.

But fans can breathe a little easier knowing the silence will only last a little bit longer.

Fans who follow twitter, were given a major buzz of excitement when the official account of the ducks announced a signing would be made. This created some serious speculation, as everyone thought this was the first piece of big news they, well, we were waiting for.

Anaheim as an organization has never been known to tease fans with transaction hints. The Anaheim front office has always been more clandestine than other clubs. Nevertheless fans began to expect a big name like Ryan or niedermayer to be the signing.

In the end, Eric Stephens of the OCregister uncovered that the signing was for defenseman Sheldon Brookbank.

Not to bash on Brookbank, as he is an adept 3rd pairing defenseman, but fans were left expecting something big after so much time spent in silence. The hint dropped by the Ducks was almost like a message saying that the wait was over.

On the bright side, news is coming. Even if we have to wait a little bit longer.

Bobby Ryan's contract negotiations were described as being in their "early" stages a little over a week ago. The announcement of his signing should come within the next two to three weeks as a maximum, if he hasn't signed by draft day, it will be a safe bet that he will go to restricted free agency. Although it seems doubtful as both sides have sounded optimistic.

It has been announced that Scott Niedermayer will be announcing whether or not he will retire "soon". This is on the heels of Nicklas Lidstrom's recent desicion to return to his team for another year (at a million dollar paycut). Some could say that based on his interview, things aren't looking good, but Lidstrom (a fellow Norris trophy winner and future hall inductee) desicion could tilt the scales in the ducks' favor.

The draft is only a few short weeks away, and Murray is going to have to get a few signings done before then, to have a better picture of what kind of trades or free agent signings he needs to make.

So rest easy Duck fans, the silence will soon be broken.