Ducks News: Anaheim's All-Time Leading Scorer Finds Passion in Player Development
Former Ducks captain finding new job after hockey
Ducks News: Anaheim's All-Time Leading Scorer Finds Passion in Player DevelopmentEven though this Ducks legend has been retired for a couple of seasons now, Ryan Getzlaf is still making an impact on the team in a new role.
Last week, Getzlaf was hired by Anaheim to become a player development coordinator. Getzlaf's first task in this position is to get this year's draftees mentally and physically prepared for NHL stardom.
While the job may be new for the 38-year-old, he believes that his experience as Anaheim's former captain has prepared him for this.
In a conversation with NHL.com, Getzlaf talked about his new job.
"I felt like it was kind of the next progression. I have always liked the management side of things and trying to understand it all. I think that I've basically been mentoring for the last couple years," said Getzlaf.
"In the last couple years of my career, we had a lot of young players come through, and I had to deal with different things. This seems like a good fit to help our organization moving forward as well as myself, too, to learn how this stuff works." (via NHL)
Getzlaf will first be tasked with helping this year's number two overall pick, Leo Carlsson, get prepared for the league.
People are hoping that Carlsson will be able to have the same impact on the Ducks that Getzlaf did.
In 17 seasons in Anaheim, Getzlaf scored 282 times and became the first Duck in franchise history to eclipse 1,000 points with the team.
Even though he has been away from the team for a couple of years, Getzlaf will always be impacting the Ducks.