Bob Duff

That the Stanley Cup has only been successfully defended twice in the past two decades is not mere coincidence.

The summer of celebration leads to a Stanley Cup hangover for the champs, a headache that was compounded this season when the reigning Cup holders, the Anaheim Ducks, were compelled by the National Hockey League to open the season playing two games in London against the Los Angeles Kings.

Mix in the absence from the lineup until mid-season of Norris Trophy-winning defenseman and former team captain Scott Niedermayer and right-winger Teemu Selanne, a 48-goal scorer last season, and all the ingredients were present to produce a recipe for disaster.

It's no wonder that, like most ducks, Anaheim headed south at the onset of winter. But spring is when Ducks return, and that's why the rest of the NHL should feel uneasy.

"All the questions that were up in the air since the start of the season have been answered," Ducks right-winger George Parros said. "We're more comfortable with each other, and we're pretty confident."

As the playoffs begin, the bad news for the rest of the league is that Anaheim looks to have all its Ducks in a row.

"We feel much better about ourselves," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said.

That's a sentiment that must leave the other 15 playoff clubs feeling uneasy.

Since the Edmonton Oilers won their second straight Stanley Cup and fourth in five years in the spring of 1988, repeat defenders have been as rare as quiet suits adorning Don Cherry. The Pittsburgh Penguins maintained their crown in 1991-92 and the Detroit Red Wings turned a double in 1997-98.

Both teams endured their share of heartache and tragedy. In August 1991, Penguins coach Bob Johnson, who was preparing Team USA for the Canada Cup at the time, was diagnosed with cancer — an inoperable brain tumor. He died early in the season.

Six days after the Wings wrapped up their 1996-97 Cup, defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov and team masseur Sergei Mnatsakanov suffered career-ending brain injuries in a limousine crash.

"In each case, the team responded," said Scotty Bowman, who coached both clubs. "It's a situation where you realize that life must go on, but the memory of what happened doesn't ever go away."

What the Ducks have gone through doesn’t compare to those instances, but the long-term uncertainty as to whether Niedermayer or Selanne would return to the lineup made things uncomfortable, to say the least.

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"From a coaching standpoint, we've dealt with a lot of issues over the course of the season," Carlyle said. "And we haven't won the division."

The Ducks' scenario is playing out in similar fashion to the way the Penguins defended their Stanley Cup title. Pittsburgh scuffled through a 3-7-1 January and a 3-7-3 February and although they didn't fall out of a playoff position, the Pens were in the danger zone.

Ultimately finishing fourth overall in the Eastern Conference at 39-32-9, the Penguins were opposites to the Ducks in terms of the style in which they arrived at their destination. Pittsburgh was about high-tempo offense, netting a league-leading 343 goals while allowing 308 goals, 20th overall.

The Ducks recorded the second-best goals-against average in the NHL (2.24), but were a dismal 28th out of 30 in goals for (2.36).

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This is the only significant concern for the team, but it is a dramatic one: Can they score enough goals to win? Doug Weight hasn’t been productive as a second-line center. Right-winger Corey Perry, a 29-goal scorer, will miss at least a portion of the opening playoff round because of a right quad tendon laceration.

"We have had our fair share of challenges offensively, but we felt we would be able to provide some more offense from our back end and that's held true with (off-season free-agent addition) Mathieu Schneider," Carlyle said. "We have added the (Marc-Andre) Bergeron kid at the deadline (from the New York Islanders) because those puck-moving defensemen are of a premium and you've got to have guys that are mobile back there and remove that puck from your zone. But we also invited another guy back in our lineup, and No. 8 (Selanne) has been picking up the offense."

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Still, Carlyle understands to retain their crown, the Ducks must stifle the opposition with their solid defensive game, a pressuring forecheck and a punishing physical presence.

With a Conn Smythe-winning goalie (Jean-Sebastien Giguere) and two Norris Trophy winning defenders (Niedermayer, Chris Pronger) anchoring the back end, Anaheim is well positioned to defend its title. And they understand how they must defend it.

"We think that with our group, we are going to have to play tight hockey," Carlyle said.

The good news for the Ducks is that’s the kind of hockey — smothering defensive play — that wins in the playoffs. Even for teams like the Wings and Penguins, who were known for their ability to score at record paces, ultimately, when the big prize was up for grabs, it was defense that brought them the famed silver chalice.

"We think that the strength of our defense will be our asset that we can take forward into the playoffs," Carlyle said.

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