The state of California is known for three things: Great weather, buddy cop movies wherein the straight-laced Caucasian learns to appreciate multiculturalism thanks to his zany ethnic partner, and mediocre hockey.

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are doing all they can to whittle the list down to two.

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It'd be easy to break out the time-worn Disney jokes here, the references to Goofy, Mickey and Daffy, just as it has been a breeze forgetting about pro hockey in the land of Jennifer Garner and Shaquille O'Neal. But the Ducks, under the stewardship of veteran GM Bryan Murray and rookie coach Mike Babcock, are enjoying such a dramatic and long-overdue reversal of fortune, clichés and cut-ups constitute a disservice. These are not your father's -- OK, make that your older brother's -- Ducks; things are changing, and for once, they're changing for the better.

While the San Jose Sharks continue to make fools out of those of us who believed them a championship contender, the Ducks are the league's most improved club, with a franchise-best 28-21-8-4 record that includes a 14-5-1-1 run since Jan. 9. As the L. A. Kings attempt to rationalize another season gone awry, the Ducks sit in the 6th position in the Western Conference, closer to the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues than the 9th-place Los Angeles Kings. And, though the Stanley Cup engravers aren't ready to double-check how to spell Vitaly Vishnevski just yet, the horizon holds genuine promise.

Don't underestimate the value of promise in Anaheim. This a franchise that has played 15 postseason games (winning just four of them) since its inaugural campaign in 1993-94. This is an organization that has amassed a 123-150-44-11 record in the last four seasons, none of which have extended into the playoffs. This is a group which has survived the regrettable Pierre Gauthier era, where on- and off-ice employees walked around on Faberge eggshells in fear of the temperamental ex-GM. This is a team that has rid themselves of Patrick Lalime, Espen Knutsen, Scott Young and Jordan Leopold, and despite not being held at gunpoint, a team that employed Sergei Krivokrasov, German Titov and Mikhail Shtalenkov. Put in movie parlance, the Ducks' first decade has been more "Apocaplypse Now" than "Uncommon Valor."

Thankfully for Ducks fans, those days are over. If they're wondering where to courier the thank you note, Murray's office would be a good place to start.

Murray, who took over the GM role last summer following a season as Ducks coach, has assembled a roster with 12 different names than last season, by any analysis a major gamble. He took another risk by hiring an unknown NHL quantity in Babcock. He added Petr Sykora, Adam Oates and Sandis Ozolinsh without mortgaging the team's future. He outbid a number of clubs for defenseman Kurt Sauer. And he expanded the coaching staff and improved the team's facilities. In short, he changed almost everything.

"(Then-Disney executive) Paul Pressler was terrific," said Murray, sure to garner consideration for The Hockey News' 2002-03 Executive of the Year award. "I wanted the organization to catch up to other clubs facility-wise and attitude-wise, and he and Disney were very accommodating on all fronts."

Equally as accommodating was the attitude of Paul Kariya, the team's cornerstone and sole superstar. Where other elite players would've packed their parachute long ago, Kariya has stayed the course. His reward has come with the arrivals of Oates and Sykora; the three have combined for 23 goals and 40 points since debuting as a line Jan. 9.

Kariya feels having Murray behind the bench for a year before he became GM was vital to the club's turnaround.

"I think it was a huge factor," he said. "Bryan has done just a terrific job in improving our club not only on the ice, but off the ice with additions to our weight room and staff. It's a better attitude and we're dedicated to winning."

It's fair to assume Kariya wouldn't have offered such a glowing assessment two years ago, when close friend and then-linemate Teemu Selanne was dealt to San Jose in another shuffling of the deck that went nowhere slow.

"After Selanne was traded, it had to be draining on Paul, although he would never admit to it," said Brian Hayward, the Ducks' TV analyst. "But the changes Bryan Murray has made have been huge. Bringing in Oates has allowed Paul to go back to being a scorer, rather than the playmaker he was forced to be the last few years. Oates also provides a nice balance to the high-energy approach Babcock takes with the players."

There's another guy. Mike Babcock. Never played a game in the league. Never coached a game in the league. But he has done a masterful job this season, loathe as he is to admit it.

"I want to be careful about assigning credit for improvement at this point," Babcock said. "Improvement is measured after Game 82, not at the three-quarter pole. But, if there is any credit to be awarded, it goes to the players first, then to Bryan. He's given us a foundation to work with, and we just try to get the players playing a simple game. So far, things have gone fairly well. But we're far from satisfied."

There are many Ducks tales -- sorry, couldn't resist -- that deserve to be told: The stellar play of Niclas Havelid following major reconstructive knee surgery. The team's slow-but-steady rise in attendance. Sauer's emergence as a blueline force. The almost criminally-overlooked goaltending of Jean-Sebastien Giguere. The rookie campaign of Stanislav Chistov. The locker-room influence of veteran defenseman Fredrik Olausson. A healthy Steve Rucchin, finally enjoying himself after so many seasons of desolation and disappointment. The 45 members of Martin Gerber's fan club who made the trip from Switzerland to see the backup goalie (possibly) play.

Rest assured, so long as the wins keep coming, each story will move to the fore. As their opponents are well aware, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are standing up; the rest of us now have to do the counting.

"With the adjustments we made this year, we wanted to send a message that things are changing in Anaheim, that things will be better, that this is a great place to play," Murray said.

Mission accomplished.

E-mail Adam Proteau at aproteau@thehockeynews.com.

Material from The Hockey News.
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