page_title: Anaheim Ducks
section_title: Paul Kariya era (1996–2003)
hierarchical_section_title: Anaheim Ducks / History / Paul Kariya era (1996–2003)
caption_attribution_description: English: Paul Kariya in the 2003 Stanley Cup Final (Game 6).
context_page_description: The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the National Hockey League as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Since their inception, the Ducks have played their home games at the Honda Center.
  The club was founded in 1993 by The Walt Disney Company as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, a name based on the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks. Disney sold the franchise in 2005 to Henry and Susan Samueli, who along with then-general manager Brian Burke, changed the name of the team to the Anaheim Ducks before the 2006–07 season. The Ducks have qualified to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs 14 times, won six Pacific Division titles, two Western Conference championships, and one Stanley Cup.
context_section_description: During the 1995–96 season, Paul Kariya was chosen to play for the Western Conference in the 1996 NHL All-Star Game as the lone Ducks representative. At the time of his selection, (January 1996), Kariya was ranked 14th in league scoring with 51 points (23 goals and 28 assists) over 42 games, although the Ducks were overall a low-scoring team. Then a mid-season blockbuster deal with the Winnipeg Jets improved the franchise. The Ducks sent Chad Kilger, Oleg Tverdovsky and a third-round pick to the Jets in return for Marc Chouinard, a fourth-round draft pick and right winger Teemu Selanne. Following the trade, Ducks center Steve Rucchin commented, "Paul [Kariya] had a lot of pressure on him... He single-handedly won some games for us this year... Now that we have Teemu, there's no way everybody can just key on Paul." These three players formed one of the most potent lines of their time. Although the trade proved to be an important effort in the team, they still finished short of the playoffs, losing the eight spot in the Western Conference to the Winnipeg Jets based on the number of wins.
  During the 1996–97 season, Kariya became team captain following Randy Ladouceur's retirement in the off-season, and led the Ducks to their first post-season appearance after recording the franchise's first winning record of 36–33–13, good enough for home ice in the first round as the fourth seed against the Phoenix Coyotes. The Ducks trailed 3–2 going into Phoenix for Game 6. Kariya scored in overtime to force the franchise's first Game 7, which they won. However, in the second round, they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champions the Detroit Red Wings in a four-game sweep. After the season, Ron Wilson was fired after saying he would like to coach the Washington Capitals. Pierre Page succeeded him. The Ducks started out slowly in 1997–98, in part because Kariya missed the first 32 games of the season in a contract dispute. He came back in December, but on February 1, he suffered a season-ending concussion when the Chicago Blackhawks' Gary Suter cross-checked him in the face. With Kariya playing only a total of 22 games that season, the Ducks missed the playoffs and fired Page. The Ducks followed that season up by finishing sixth in the Western Conference in 1998–99 with new head coach Craig Hartsburg. However, they were swept by Detroit again, this time in the first round.
  In the 1999–2000 season, the Ducks finished with the same number of points as the previous season, but a much more competitive Western Conference had them miss the playoffs by four points behind rival San Jose Sharks. Despite this, the Mighty Ducks scored more goals than the conference champion Dallas Stars. In the following season, 2000–01, the Ducks ended up performing worse, as Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne's point production significantly declined from the previous season – Kariya went from 86 points to 67 points and Selanne went from 85 points to 57 points. Selanne was subsequently dealt to San Jose at the trade deadline for Jeff Friesen, Steve Shields and a second-round draft pick, while head coach Craig Hartsburg was fired during the season. The team ended up with a losing record and last place in the Western Conference that season. Without Selanne, Kariya's numbers continued to drop in the 2001–02 season with new coach Bryan Murray. The Mighty Ducks finished in 13th place in the Western Conference.
caption: Paul Kariya was the Mighty Ducks' captain from 1996 to 2003, and led the team to the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals.
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