2000–01 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim season

The 2000–01 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim season was the team's eighth season. The Mighty Ducks failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second year in a row and finished last in the West.

Offseason
After missing the 2000 playoffs by only four points, the Mighty Ducks were quite hopeful to return to the post season. Anaheim was very busy during the summer trading and acquiring a lot prospects and were active on the free agent market as well.

Trying to improve their scoring depth and not relying too much on Kariya and Selanne, the Mighty Ducks signed German Titov and acquired Andrej Nazarov who had a career year in goals (10) and points (31).

Other free agents were Dan Bylsma, Petr Tenkrat as well as Jim Cummins and Kevin Sawyer who were signed to provide the necessary protection for their star players since they lost Stu Grimson to the Kings as a free agent. The team became much more European-based making up half the roster, mainly on their defense (6).

Regular season
The season proved to be very tough as the team never found consistency. The Ducks had a fair start, going 6–4–3–2 until November 4, when the team started having trouble, going winless for five games twice in November, going 2–8–3–1 which led the team to trade Traverse and Nazarov to the Boston Bruins for Samuel Pahlsson on November 18. To make matters even worse, center Steve Rucchin was hit in the face by a shot on November 15 and missed the rest of the season. Despite his absence, the Ducks improved by mid-December, nearing the .500 mark by two games with a 5–3–0–0 record until December 17, but finishing the month 5–7–1–1. Anaheim fired head coach Craig Hartsburg on December 14 after a win against the Blue Jackets, replacing him with assistant coach Guy Charron, though the move did not improve their performance. Despite this roller coaster ride, the Mighty Ducks still remained in the playoff race with a 14–19–6–4 record by January 5, 2001. On January 10 the Mighty Ducks waived Dominic Roussel, resulting in J. S. Giguere becoming their new backup, believing him and Hebert would carry the team into the playoffs and pass on the torch carefully to a new number one during the season.

But all those hopes were shattered as the Mighty Ducks lost sixteen games by March 2 going 4–16–2–1. During this stretch, Hebert went 0–11–2, losing his starting position to Giguere by February – much sooner then had been expected. Though Hebert did not quite play as well as he had the previous two seasons, much of this was based on the team not giving him the necessary support he needed, as Selanne stated in an interview, expressing his frustrations and disappointment. Hebert faced thirty or more shots almost every game, yet was able to keep his save percentage close to the .900 mark.

The Ducks' longest winning streak was five games in early March, when it was clear the team was not going to make the playoffs. During the winning streak Anaheim sent Teemu Selanne to the Sharks in exchange for Jeff Friesen and Steve Shields. Shields' acquisition ended Hebert's tenure with the Mighty Ducks getting waived and picked up by the New York Rangers on March 7 to replace the injured Mike Richter. A week later, Jason Marshall was traded to Washington on March 13. Shields never dressed for the Ducks that season due to an injury and the team called up Gregg Naumenko to serve behind J. S. Giguere. Anaheim's GM Pierre Gauthier felt very confident and fans would accept the trade once the new arrivals dressed for their new team, calling both moves a huge change and necessary as the team needed to look forward and both players would improve the franchise immediately and long term as well. (SunJournal March 6, 2001)

While Selanne enjoyed much success with San Jose, the same could not be said about Anaheim as the Ducks went 2–6–3 after their five-game winning streak, which had fans and experts worried whether the deal with the Sharks was actually worth it. The Mighty Ducks went 11–22–5–1 in the second half with a lot of open questions about the team's future identity with longtime players Hebert, Marshall and Selanne gone.

The defense was the weak link as the team allowed the second-most goals in the West with 245, behind Chicago with 246. Their goaltending was heavily effected by that, too as Guy Hebert and Dominic Roussel recorded a save percentage below .900 which was the first time in team history. In hopes of more scoring depth and not relying on their first line of Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne and Steve Rucchin, the acquisitions of Andrei Nazarov and German Titov did not pay off at all as the team was at the bottom in scoring. Marty McInnis rediscovered his scoring touch, Tverdovsky ranked third in team scoring, Mike Leclerc had a very good second season despite missing 28 games. Traverse and Nazarov were traded early in mid-December as both did not live up to their expectations. The European youngsters showed some talent but could not fill the scoring void left by Rucchin, who played only 16 games.

The season marked the start of a new era: in goal, the team waived goaltender Guy Hebert (the last remaining original Mighty Duck from the 1993 NHL Expansion Draft) while focusing on Jean-Sebastien Giguere as their new starter. Their defense lost a valuable cornerstone with Jason Marshall after 6 years. It also marked the breakup of one of the best two forward tandems at the time by trading Teemu Selanne to San Jose without improving the team in scoring. Selanne would return to Anaheim in 2005–06, winning a Stanley Cup in 2007.

Schedule and results

 * Legend:
 * Legend:

Scoring

 * Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
 * † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Mighty Ducks only.
 * ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Mighty Ducks only.

Goaltending

 * ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Mighty Ducks only.

Transactions
The Mighty Ducks were involved in the following transactions from June 11, 2000, the day after the deciding game of the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals, through June 9, 2001, the day of the deciding game of the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals.

Draft picks
Anaheim's draft picks at the 2000 NHL Entry Draft held at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta.

Farm teams
Cincinnati Mighty Ducks ( shared with the Detroit Red Wings )