Ryan Getzlaf

Ryan Getzlaf (born May 10, 1985) 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.

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.

While a member of the Regina Bantam AAA Rangers in 2000, Getzlaf was drafted into the Western Hockey League (WHL) by the Calgary Hitmen with the 54th pick in the 2000 WHL Bantam Draft.

He stood 5 ft at the time of the draft, but grew 6 in 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.

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.

His performance made him a top prospect for the 2003 National Hockey League (NHL) 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 (AHL) 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.

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.

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 and 39 points in 57 regular season games, then added seven points in 16 post-season contests.

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 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 (21) and Dustin Penner (24) to form the Ducks' "kid line" which emerged as a top scoring unit during a 2007 playoff run to the 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 Ottawa Senators in the final series.

It was the first Stanley Cup championship in Anaheim's franchise history.

He led the Ducks in assists twelve times, including a franchise record of 66 in 2008–09, and in points eight times.

As a junior, Getzlaf played four seasons with the Calgary Hitmen and was twice named to a Western Hockey League (WHL) all-star team.

Internationally, he has represented Canada on numerous occasions.

A two-time Olympian, Getzlaf played with Canadian teams that won gold medals at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Games.