Player Review: Ryan Getzlaf

The end of the 2019-20 Ducks season was made official when the NHL announced its Return to Play Plan on May 26. Anaheim concluded the season with a 29-33-9 record and 67 points, having played 71 games until the regular season was paused March 12 and eventually deemed completed May 26 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over this offseason we're featuring a different Ducks player in numerical order in our annual player review series highlighting key stats and moments from the past season. You can find published pieces and a full schedule on this landing page.

Records are meant to be broken. And when you've played as long as Ryan Getzlaf has, and have put up the kind of numbers he's put up, each season presents new achievements and noteworthy performances. Completing his 15th season with the Ducks in 2019-20, the familiar No. 15 reached several significant personal and franchise milestones.
First, his statistics. Getzlaf finished the season with 42 points (13g/29a) in 69 games, pacing the club in assists and finishing second in points. He led the Ducks in game-winning goals (5), co-led in power-play points (9, 3g/6a), ranked second in even-strength points (33, 10g/23a), tied for second in points per game (0.61) and tied for third in power-play goals (3). Furthermore, Getzlaf led Ducks forwards in blocked shots (69) and ranked third overall in hits (125). He posted season-best six-game point and assist streaks (8, 2g/6a) from Nov. 16-27 and reached 40 points or more in a season for the 14th consecutive year (he had 39 points in his 2005-06 rookie season).
Onto the milestones. In the fifth game of the season back on Oct. 11 in Columbus, Getzlaf became the franchise's all-time leader in games played, surpassing Corey Perry (988) with his 989th career appearance. Less than a month later, Getzlaf became the first player in club history to play 1,000 games with Anaheim on Nov. 3 vs. Chicago. He became just the sixth player in the last 40 NHL seasons to play their first 1,000 games with one franchise and win 548 (or more) of them (now at 568-362-127). He also became the eighth active player to appear in his first 1,000 with the same team and the 53rd all-time (19th as a center). The game against the Blackhawks also happened to be the 2,000th in Ducks franchise history.

In his postgame interview that night, Getzlaf spoke of his milestone. "It was great. Obviously the crowd, this is our home building and I've been here a long time, and it was a very warm welcome. A little emotional during the game and a little bit embarrassing. I'm not very good at those things, but it was great to see the family and having everybody here."
His teammates and head coach Dallas Eakins
shared their thoughts
on seeing him reach such a significant milestone.
Getzlaf reached another milestone on Feb. 25 vs. Edmonton when he drew his 24th career overtime assist to surpass Henrik Sedin (23) for the NHL's all-time lead in OT helpers. With 34 career overtime points, Getzlaf needs three more to tie Patrik Elias for the all-time mark (37). Among active NHL players, Getzlaf only trails Washington's Alex Ovechkin (36) in that category.
We know Getzlaf likes to dish the puck, but let's not sleep on his scoring ability.
There was this one from a game on Oct. 5 vs. San Jose when the big man used a shoulder fake to get around Aaron Dell to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead.

Then, there was this one from a game on Nov. 16 at St. Louis when he and Max Jones converted on an impressive give-and-go.

But the one he scored in overtime on Nov. 2 against Vancouver was unforgettable. It came on Día de los Muertos Night at Honda Center, and included a Spanish-only radio broadcast of the game with veteran broadcasters Erwin Higueros (play-by-play) and Jesús Zárate (analyst) providing the call. The broadcast was heard on AnaheimDucks.com and the Ducks screen of the NHL mobile app for iOS and Android.

Prior to the game, Higueros was asked if he had a goal call ready to go. "I've been thinking about what I'm going to say," he said,
in this feature on him and Zárate
. "I don't know if I'm just going to say Score! or if I'm going to go with Goooooool like in soccer. We'll see. The good thing is we're at home, so if I go with Goooooool, I'm going to have all these fans going crazy. Laughs
.

"[My wife Paige] the other day wanted eggs," he said to the group. "We had no eggs, so we borrowed eggs from a neighbor who had chickens. All of a sudden we were having them. She just ordered six of them."
Last week, Getzlaf gave an all-important update on the status of the chickens. "Great," he said. "Six chickens growing away."