Breaking: Ducks captain to retire at season's end
Huge news out of Anaheim this afternoon as the Ducks have announced that captain Ryan Getzlaf will be retiring at the end of the season after a 17 year career.
Known for his physicality and playmaking abilities, Getzlaf was a modern day power forward when he entered the league way back in 2005. From 2008 to 2017 he led the Ducks in assists for 10 consecutive seasons.
Drafted 19th overall in the 2003 draft, which many call the greatest draft of all time, Getzlaf's rookie season was pushed back a year thanks to the second of Bettman's infamous lockouts in 2004/05. At the time of writing this, Getzlaf has played all 1150 games with the Ducks and amassed 282 goals, 731 assists and 1013 points. He has also registered 954 penalty minutes.
Getzlaf has been a winner at every level, winning gold with Canada at the u-18s in 2003, the World Juniors in 2005, Olympics in 2010/2014 and World Championship in 2016 along with a Stanley Cup in 2007. He is one of 12 Canadians to be a member of the «Triple Gold» club (Stanley cup, Olympic gold and world championship). He, along with super pest Corey Perry, was the backbone of the Ducks for nearly two decades and he will very likely be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame one day.
Congrats to Getzlaf on an incredible career. I'd imagine that it won't take very long for the Ducks to raise his #15 to the rafters.
