The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim story is literally fairy tale material. It began prior to 1992 when Anaheim California began to erect a world class arena that some called Madison Square Garden West. Anaheim was the home to Disneyland and it's then leader Michael Eisner. At the time all Anaheim had was a rink and no team. Inspired by the movie, Field of Dreams, Eisner saw an opportunity and sought out a franchise to play in the new arena.

Using the Disney film capabilities, Eisner delivered the movie, The Mighty Ducks which became and instant hit. The movie was the story of a group of kids, led by a dysfunctional lawyer, Gordon Bombay, who in his childhood was a star himself. The motley crew of novices advance throughout the system and eventually play the team that Bombay played on, The Hawks. The climax of movie comes when team the star of the team, Charlie Conway, is awarded a penalty shot, which could win the game, season and championship for the Ducks. Bombay was in this exact situation years before and missed his famous "Triple Deek". As Conway breaks in on net he uses Bombay's triple deek and scores the winning goal. The movie grossed over $50 Million.

At the same time, the NHL was going through some changes at the senior level and conservative commissioner John Zeigler was leaving and interim commissioner Gil Stein was appointed, followed shortly by the naming of Gary Bettman as league commissioner in 1992. Bettman was a proponent of Corporate sponsorship and in late 1992 at the governor's meeting, both Disney and Wayne Huizenga of South Florida were awarded franchises. The expansion fee at the time was $50 Million. In the case of the Ducks, $25 Million went to the NHL, and $25 Million went to the Los Angeles Kings to offset the potential revenue loss from having a second club so close together.

The Mighty Ducks hired Jack Ferreira as their first General Manager and Pierre Gauthier became his assistant. Gauthier had been a former goalie for Boston University and had considerable scouting experience with the New England Whalers, Calgary Flames and New York Rangers. In the 1993 Expansion Draft, Guy Hebert was selected as their first pick for goal tenders. Other players selected in that draft were Alexei Kasatonov, Randy Ladouceur, bobby Dollas, Bill Houlder, Tim Sweeney, Stu Grimson and Troy Loney. The Expansion Draft was quickly followed by the Entry Draft where the Ducks selected Paul Kariya, a Hober Baker award winner as the most valuable player in collegiate hockey. The Ducks then selected Ron Wilson as their first coach. And so on September 18, 1993, the Mighty Ducks took to the ice against the Pittsburgh Penguins to a crowd of 16,673. The Ducks finished their inaugural season with 71 points (33-46-5), setting a record, along with the Florida Panthers for the most wins in a team's first season.

The Ducks became known and respected throughout the league, in part due to their skill, part due to the sequel to the original Mighty Ducks movie, and part due to the attraction of their jerseys. The Duck's front office was also becoming skilled in the business side of hockey and in 1996 they dealt their first round draft pick in the 1995 draft, Chad Kilgor and Oleg Tverdovsky to Winnipeg for Teemu Selanne.

In 1997 the Ducks celebrated their first winning season, 36-33-13 and set a new club record for most points in a season. Kariya and Selanne combined forces for 208 points, which at the time was second only to the scoring punch of the Penguins' Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, and 27 points in front of the Rangers Gretzky and Messier. That same year the Ducks made it into the playoffs and faced the Winnipeg Jets. In a much touted match up the Ducks took a quick 2-0 lead in games before Winnipeg responded with 3 wins. Fittingly Kariya took a pass from linemate Selanne and potted the winning goal at 7:29 of overtime. The next game Hebert was the star, stopping all 31 shots for his first playoff shutout. The next series saw the Ducks face off against the powerful Detroit Red Wings. Despite sending 3 of the 4 games into overtime, the Ducks couldn't finish off the eventual Stanley Cup winners.

The next year was a year of turmoil for the Mighty Ducks. Ron Wilson and upper management didn't see eye to eye and Pierre Page was brought in to replace Wilson who went to the Washington Capitals. Paul Kariya also had his problems with the management, which left Teemu Selanne all alone. While Kariya had worked out his problems with the management a cheap shot by Blackhawks Gary Suter put Kariya out with a serious concussion. Selanne could not hold the team up on his own and the Ducks were once again out of the playoff race.

In the 1998-99 season saw the Detroit Red Wings bounce the Ducks out once again in 4 straight games. The Ducks continued to slide in 1999-2000 finishing the season with a 34-36-12 record, good for 5th place in the Pacific Division. Kariya and Selanne finished the season with 86 and 85 points respectively, The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim story is literally fairy tale material. It began prior to 1992 when Anaheim California began to erect a world class arena that some called Madison Square Garden West. Anaheim was the home to Disneyland and it's then leader Michael Eisner. At the time all Anaheim had was a rink and no team. Inspired by the movie, Field of Dreams, Eisner saw an opportunity and sought out a franchise to play in the new arena.

Using the Disney film capabilities, Eisner delivered the movie, The Mighty Ducks which became and instant hit. The movie was the story of a group of kids, led by a dysfunctional lawyer, Gordon Bombay, who in his childhood was a star himself. The motley crew of novices advance throughout the system and eventually play the team that Bombay played on, The Hawks. The climax of movie comes when team the star of the team, Charlie Conway, is awarded a penalty shot, which could win the game, season and championship for the Ducks. Bombay was in this exact situation years before and missed his famous "Triple Deek". As Conway breaks in on net he uses Bombay's triple deek and scores the winning goal. The movie grossed over $50 Million.

At the same time, the NHL was going through some changes at the senior level and conservative commissioner John Zeigler was leaving and interim commissioner Gil Stein was appointed, followed shortly by the naming of Gary Bettman as league commissioner in 1992. Bettman was a proponent of Corporate sponsorship and in late 1992 at the governor's meeting, both Disney and Wayne Huizenga of South Florida were awarded franchises. The expansion fee at the time was $50 Million. In the case of the Ducks, $25 Million went to the NHL, and $25 Million went to the Los Angeles Kings to offset the potential revenue loss from having a second club so close together.

The Mighty Ducks hired Jack Ferreira as their first General Manager and Pierre Gauthier became his assistant. Gauthier had been a former goalie for Boston University and had considerable scouting experience with the New England Whalers, Calgary Flames and New York Rangers. In the 1993 Expansion Draft, Guy Hebert was selected as their first pick for goal tenders. Other players selected in that draft were Alexei Kasatonov, Randy Ladouceur, bobby Dollas, Bill Houlder, Tim Sweeney, Stu Grimson and Troy Loney. The Expansion Draft was quickly followed by the Entry Draft where the Ducks selected Paul Kariya, a Hober Baker award winner as the most valuable player in collegiate hockey. The Ducks then selected Ron Wilson as their first coach. And so on September 18, 1993, the Mighty Ducks took to the ice against the Pittsburgh Penguins to a crowd of 16,673. The Ducks finished their inaugural season with 71 points (33-46-5), setting a record, along with the Florida Panthers for the most wins in a team's first season.

The Ducks became known and respected throughout the league, in part due to their skill, part due to the sequel to the original Mighty Ducks movie, and part due to the attraction of their jerseys. The Duck's front office was also becoming skilled in the business side of hockey and in 1996 they dealt their first round draft pick in the 1995 draft, Chad Kilgor and Oleg Tverdovsky to Winnipeg for Teemu Selanne.

In 1997 the Ducks celebrated their first winning season, 36-33-13 and set a new club record for most points in a season. Kariya and Selanne combined forces for 208 points, which at the time was second only to the scoring punch of the Penguins' Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, and 27 points in front of the Rangers Gretzky and Messier. That same year the Ducks made it into the playoffs and faced the Winnipeg Jets. In a much touted match up the Ducks took a quick 2-0 lead in games before Winnipeg responded with 3 wins. Fittingly Kariya took a pass from linemate Selanne and potted the winning goal at 7:29 of overtime. The next game Hebert was the star, stopping all 31 shots for his first playoff shutout. The next series saw the Ducks face off against the powerful Detroit Red Wings. Despite sending 3 of the 4 games into overtime, the Ducks couldn't finish off the eventual Stanley Cup winners.

The next year was a year of turmoil for the Mighty Ducks. Ron Wilson and upper management didn't see eye to eye and Pierre Page was brought in to replace Wilson who went to the Washington Capitals. Paul Kariya also had his problems with the management, which left Teemu Selanne all alone. While Kariya had worked out his problems with the management a cheap shot by Blackhawks Gary Suter put Kariya out with a serious concussion. Selanne could not hold the team up on his own and the Ducks were once again out of the playoff race.

In the 1998-99 season saw the Detroit Red Wings bounce the Ducks out once again in 4 straight games. The Ducks continued to slide in 1999-2000 finishing the season with a 34-36-12 record, good for 5th place in the Pacific Division. Kariya and Selanne finished the season with 86 and 85 points respectively, a far cry from a few year previous when they had 208 points.