Scott Niedermayer’s Destiny Lays In His Own Hands

Apparently, star defenseman Scott Niedermayer isn’t leaving Anaheim at the trade deadline this year.

“Scotty and I have been talking and he’s going to retire an Anaheim Duck. And that’s the way it’s going to be unless he tells me different. I have an agreement with Scotty and it’s my word”, Ducks general manager Bob Murray told the LA Times yesterday.

Now, if the Ducks can keep up the way they’ve been playing lately and maybe add a key player at the deadline, I can understand why keeping Niedermayer is the way to go. Sure, he’s been a very important piece of the Anaheim Ducks since the lockout. Being the captain and being a huge part of the cup run in ’07. But unless we are talking about Teemu Selanne, I’m not in favour of Murray making promises like these.

Scotty has won it all and is a lock to make the Hockey Hall of Fame when he retires. But if the Ducks can’t contend seriously for the cup this year, there’s little reason to keep the upcoming Unrestricted Free Agent in my opinion. Obviously, the Ducks could gain some real nice assets for a player like Niedermayer come trade deadline. And after all, despite his success, he’s only been a Duck for about four and a half years. Now the team could lose him either through free agency or retirement this summer.

However, this should still be taken with a small grain of salt. But obviously, Niedermayer isn’t the first player a GM should go out and make promises about in public. But let’s say this is true, then Niedermayer holds his own destiny:

“We’ve talked about this. I see him staying here. Who knows, he might play next year”, Murray also told the LA Times.

If he isn’t traded, the Ducks fans can only hope for him to come back for at least another year. Hopefully taking a pay cut.

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Another small rumour floating around is the Ducks making a deal with the Flyers. Apparently, 1090 Sports Radio has reported that Philadelphia might have interested in net minder Jean-Sebastien Giguere in exchange for young forward Jeff Carter.

Now, I didn’t listen to this myself. But we don’t have a lot of rumours in Anaheim or even in California for that matter. So I thought I should at least mention it. Obviously, this deal can never go down as long as there aren’t more pieces involved. Jeff Carter has a lot more value at this point. Not to mention the Flyers current depth at the goalie position. I’ll do an Eklund and say this is an “ELV1” at this point. And that’s only due to “1″ being the lowest on the rate scale.