Niedermayer Not the Hero Everyone May Think He Is

As a four-time Stanley Cup champion and Olympic hero, Scott Niedermayer hung up the skates for good in June.  This is probably not a surprise to Ducks fans, who have seen their long-time captain toy with the idea of retirement since mid-2007 every season.

"We were joking on the way in that maybe I changed my mind on the way here," Niedermayer said after the press conference that decided his fate. 

But the Ducks’ defense is no laughing matter; the team has been left in shambles.  Looking at the depth of the team, the top defensive pairing going into 2010-11 is Lubomir Visnovsky and Andy Sutton.  The second pairing would likely be Luca Sbisa and Paul Mara; while occupying the third pairing would be Brett Festerling and Sheldon Brookbank (Toni Lydman recently came down with an injury in camp).  Simply put, the Ducks are going to have the weakest defense in the league.

So what happened since 2007?  The Ducks were the most feared defensive team, sending out the likes of Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, Francois Beauchemin and Sean O’Donnell. 

After the Ducks’ Stanley Cup victory over the Senators, Niedermayer, along with aging teammate Teemu Selanne, both expressed interest in retirement.  After all, Niedermayer’s victory was his fourth Stanley Cup and he had already proven himself on an International level.  So what was left to prove?

His decision took entirely too long for him to make.  The team could not wait and wanted to address their hole that would be left by Niedermayer, so they went to the free-agent market and signed veteran defenseman Mathieu Schneider.  After Schneider debuted for the Ducks, rumors were still circulating that Niedermayer had plans to come back.  Finally on December 5, 33 games into the regular season, Niedermayer announced that he would return to the Ducks lineup.  But this posed a problem; the team was flooded with defensemen and also had a salary cap issue.  The Ducks were approximately $1 million over the salary cap, and had to move somebody.  The odd-men out were forward Andy McDonald (traded to St. Louis) and Shane Hnidy (traded to Boston).

Eventually, the Ducks had to address their problem with a blue line chalked full of veterans.  To start the next season, the Ducks moved Schneider to Atlanta to free up cap space.  Even though Schneider was signed to a two-year deal, he had to be moved because of Niedermayer’s return.

This was not the only time that Niedermayer’s indecisiveness affected the Anaheim Ducks.  After the Ducks lost in the Western Conference semi-finals to the Detroit Red Wings in the 2008-09 NHL playoffs, Ducks GM Bob Murray had a tough decision to make; with Pronger and Niedermayer still on the team, the Ducks had to move one of them.  The organization had improved its offensive core, but the younger players (Ryan Getzlaf, Cory Perry, and Bobby Ryan) would eventually need raises.  Once again, Niedermayer was unsure about his future, so he waited until the first day of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft to make his decision.  Hours before the draft began, he told Murray he wanted to return, so the GM decided that moving Pronger, an ex-Hart Trophy winner, was the best option for his club.  He traded Pronger (whose snarky comment of “I wouldn’t say I’m surprised” had some believing that he was not happy about being traded), to the Philadelphia Flyers for forward Joffrey Lupul, prospect defenseman Luca Sbisa and multiple draft picks.  Pronger went on to do something he has done twice before; help lead his team to the Stanley Cup Finals.  Meanwhile, the Ducks didn’t make the playoffs for the first time in five seasons.

Could these debacles have been avoided by Ducks’ GMs Brian Burke (in 2007 and 2008) and Bob Murray (present) telling Niedermayer to take a hike?  Very much so.  But you know as well as I do that if a Ducks GM turned his back on the team captain, the fan-favorite, he would be run out of town by the Ducks roster and his beloved fans.  Management’s hands were tied.  They had to retain Niedermayer in order to save face.

But it wasn’t only the politics that made these deals questionable.  Everyone could see Niedermayer’s play slowly diminish.  He was still a valuable player on the ice, but he was starting to finally show signs of old-age.  His points-per-game went from .87 in 2006-07 to .52 in 2007-08.  Posting 69 points in 2006-07, Niedermayer scored just 59 points two seasons later, and 48 points in his final NHL season.  While those are still respectable numbers for a NHL defenseman, they are reason to believe that he just was not the player he once was.  His speed slowed down and his fatigue seemed to set in quicker.  This is a common occurrence with older defensemen, but the Ducks still needed him to perform at a top level to keep their defense strong.

Just think that if this team had retained Pronger instead of trading him.  All of a sudden, this team’s defensive corps looks a lot steadier.  Pronger could pair up with Sutton and that could be the menacing shutdown line, while Visnovsky could skate the puck up and trust youngster Sbisa to cover his back.  This is also forgetting that Francois Beauchemin was allowed to walk due to salary restraints.  Had Niedermayer not have been there, two key defensemen from the Ducks’ Stanley Cup winning team may still be with the club.

Niedermayer was a treasure to have on the rink and definitely added name recognition to the Ducks lineup.  But his selfish attitude has left the team worse off than they have been in years.  Had he have been a more committal person, the Ducks may still be able to find ways to shut down Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau in San Jose.

All Niedermayer has done is give those players target practice this upcoming season.