Ryan Getzlaf
Ryan Getzlaf is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Getzlaf played his entire NHL career with the Anaheim Ducks and is the franchise's all-time leading scorer. A first-round selection, 19th overall, at the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, he played in three NHL All-Star Games and was a member of the Ducks' 2007 Stanley Cup championship team. A playmaker and power forward, Getzlaf is the Ducks' all-time leader in games played, assists, and points and the all-time playoff leader in goals, assists and points. He led the Ducks in assists twelve times, including a franchise record of 66 in 2008–09, and in points eight times. Getzlaf joined the NHL's Department of Player Safety in 2024.
As a junior, Getzlaf played four seasons with the Calgary Hitmen and was twice named to a Western Hockey League all-star team. Internationally, he has represented Canada on numerous occasions. Getzlaf was a member of the 2005 World Junior Championship squad considered the greatest in Canadian history, and won a silver medal at the 2008 IIHF World Championship. A two-time Olympian, Getzlaf played with Canadian teams that won gold medals at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Games.
Early life
Getzlaf was born May 10, 1985, in Regina, Saskatchewan. He is the younger son of Steve and Susan Getzlaf, and has an older brother, Chris. He attended Robert Usher Collegiate in Regina.Growing up in an athletically minded family, both Ryan and Chris were encouraged to play several sports, particularly hockey and football. Chris focused on football and ultimately joined their hometown Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Canadian Football League as a slotback. Ryan played tailback in football, and represented Saskatchewan as a catcher in a national youth baseball tournament, but focused on his hockey career when he was 5.
Playing career
Junior
While a member of the Regina Bantam AAA Rangers in 2000, Getzlaf was drafted into the Western Hockey League by the Calgary Hitmen with the 54th pick in the 2000 WHL Bantam Draft. He stood at the time of the draft, but grew by the time he joined the team as a 16-year-old. Getzlaf made his junior debut in 2001–02 and recorded 18 points in 63 games. He nearly quadrupled his offensive production as a 17-year-old in 2002–03 by scoring 29 goals and 68 points. His performance made him a top prospect for the 2003 National Hockey League Entry Draft; the NHL Central Scouting Bureau ranked Getzlaf as the fifth best North American skater in the draft and he was taken in the first round, 19th overall, by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.The Mighty Ducks returned Getzlaf to the Hitmen for the 2003–04 season. He recorded 75 points in just 49 games and was named to the WHL's first all-star team. Due to the 2004–05 NHL lock-out, Getzlaf was again returned to Calgary for his fourth season of junior hockey. He was named team captain, but was briefly stripped of the title by the coaches after earning several misconduct penalties for arguing with the officials. The captaincy was restored after a couple weeks, and Getzlaf moderated his interactions with referees. He also missed time during the season after suffering a concussion as a result of a hit by Dion Phaneuf of the Red Deer Rebels. Getzlaf finished the regular season with 54 points in 51 games, and after the Hitmen were eliminated from the WHL playoffs, was assigned to the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks of the American Hockey League for their own playoff run. Getzlaf appeared in 10 post-season games for Cincinnati in his professional debut. He recorded one goal and four assists.
Anaheim Ducks (2005–2022)
Early years in Anaheim, Stanley Cup championship (2005–2010)
Getzlaf made the Mighty Ducks' roster out of training camp and began the 2005–06 season in Anaheim; he made his NHL debut on October 5, 2005, against the Chicago Blackhawks. After recording his first point with an assist on October 14 against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Getzlaf scored his first NHL goal seven days later against goaltender Manny Legace of the Detroit Red Wings. Though Getzlaf had seven points in his first 16 games with Anaheim, he was demoted to the AHL's Portland Pirates in mid-November, partially to gain more playing time than he was getting in Anaheim. He appeared in 17 games for the Pirates in which he scored 8 goals and added 25 assists. Along with teammate Corey Perry, Getzlaf shared AHL co-rookie of the month honours for December and while he was named to play in the 2006 AHL All-Star game, Getzlaf did not appear in the contest as he was recalled to Anaheim in mid-January. He completed the season in the NHL, and finished with 14 goals, 25 assists and 39 points in 57 regular season games, then added three goals, four assists for seven points in 16 post-season contests.File:Kesler Getzlaf faceoff.jpg|thumb|Getzlaf faces off with future teammate Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks in December 2009.|alt=Getzlaf leans in against an opposing player, each with their stick on the ice, as linesman prepares to drop the puck.
In his sophomore season with the newly renamed Anaheim Ducks, Getzlaf appeared in all 82 regular season games for the team and finished with 25 goals, 33 assists and 58 points. He played in the YoungStars Game at the 2007 NHL All-Star Game in Dallas. At the age of 22 years, Getzlaf joined with Corey Perry and Dustin Penner to form the Ducks' "kid line" which emerged as a top scoring unit during a 2007 playoff run to the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals. Getzlaf led the Ducks in post-season scoring with 17 points, at the time a franchise playoff record, as the Ducks defeated the fourth-seeded Ottawa Senators in the final series in five games for the first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history.
The "kid line" was broken up prior to the 2007–08 season after Penner signed a contract as a restricted free agent with the Edmonton Oilers; however, Getzlaf opted to remain in Anaheim. He signed a five-year, $26.625 million extension that carried through the 2012–13 season. Getzlaf emerged as one of the NHL's top young stars as he played in his first All-Star Game in 2008, and led the Ducks in both assists and points.
Getzlaf tied a Ducks franchise record early in the 2008–09 season as he recorded five assists in a 5–4 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on October 29, 2008. One of the League's leading scorers, Getzlaf again led the Ducks with a franchise-record 66 assists, and his 91 points was sixth-best in the NHL. He appeared in his second All-Star Game after being voted into the starting line-up for the 2009 contest by the fans. Though the Ducks upset the Presidents' Trophy-winning San Jose Sharks in the six games in the opening round of the 2009 playoffs, the Ducks were eliminated in the second round by the defending Stanley Cup champion and second-seeded Detroit Red Wings in seven games, Getzlaf set a franchise playoff record with 14 assists, and four goals and finished sixth overall in post-season scoring.
An ankle sprain injury reduced Getzlaf to 66 games played in 2009–10. He still led the Ducks with 50 assists, and was second in team scoring with 69 points.
Western Conference Final runs, start of captaincy (2010–2017)
retired as a player following the season, and the Ducks named Getzlaf his successor as team captain prior to the 2010–11 season. Ducks' head coach Randy Carlyle described the promotion of the 25-year-old in terms of Getzlaf's maturation as an NHL player. He added "We felt that with it being his sixth season in the League, now is the time for the transition and the veteran players agreed with us." On December 28, 2010, he suffered multiple nasal sinus fractures in a game against the Phoenix Coyotes after being struck in the face by a puck, and consequently appeared in only 67 games; he recorded 19 goals, 57 assists for 76 points. Getzlaf's 57 assists ranked fourth in the NHL and he added six points in six post-season contests in a first round six game defeat at the hands of the fifth-seeded Nashville Predators including his 50th career playoff point.Getzlaf played his 500th career game on March 12, 2012, a 3–2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. He played all 82 games for the Ducks in 2011–12 and led the team with 46 assists followed up by 11 goals and 57 points.
Another milestone came late in the 2012–13 season as Getzlaf recorded his 500th point on March 8, 2013, with an assist on a Bobby Ryan goal in a 4–0 win over the Calgary Flames. On the same day, the Ducks signed Getzlaf to an eight-year contract extension that runs through the 2021–22 season and is worth $66 million. He finished the lock-out-shortened campaign as the team leader in assists and points, and tied for the team lead with 15 goals.
In 2013–14, Getzlaf recorded a career-high 31 goals and 56 assists to finish second to Pittsburgh Penguins forward and captain Sidney Crosby in league scoring with 87 points. Getzlaf was named to the second All-Star team and was a first-time finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player in the regular season. He finished as the runner-up to Crosby to the Ted Lindsay Award along with the Hart Trophy. In the final seconds of Anaheim's opening contest in the 2014 playoffs, against the Dallas Stars, Getzlaf suffered lacerations and bruises after blocking a shot with his face. He returned for the second game of the series, but missed the following two games due an undisclosed "upper body injury". Getzlaf returned for the remainder of his team's playoff series as they defeated the eighth-seeded Stars in six games before the Ducks were eliminated in the second round in seven games by the sixth-seeded and eventual Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings, surrendering a 3–2 series lead in the process.
In the 2015 playoffs, Getzlaf tied the previous Ducks record for most assists in a post-season – which he himself set in 2009 – at 14 when he provided the primary assist on teammate Simon Després' game-winning goal in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks on May 22, 2015. The Ducks would eventually fall to the Blackhawks in seven games, one win short of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals and surrendering a 3–2 series lead in the process. Getzlaf was named a finalist for the Mark Messier Leadership Award alongside Chicago Blackhawks forward and captain Jonathan Toews and Winnipeg Jets forward and captain Andrew Ladd with the award eventually going to Toews.
In 2017, Getzlaf for the second time in his career was named a finalist for the Mark Messier Leadership Award along with Calgary Flames defencemen and captain Mark Giordano and Columbus Blue Jackets forward and captain Nick Foligno. In the second round of the 2017 playoffs against the Edmonton Oilers, Getzlaf surpassed former teammate Teemu Selänne's franchise record of 35 playoff goals against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of the best of seven series. During the Western Conference finals against the Nashville Predators, Getzlaf was fined $10,000 for using a homophobic slur to insult an on-ice official. He later said "That's my responsibility to understand that there are eyes and ears on us all the time. Fortunately enough, nobody heard it. If you can read lips, it's a little bit harder, and I apologize for that. That's a thing that you won't hear from me again. I hope I didn't offend anybody outside the circle that we trust."