As the season gets down to the playoffs the various Low Cost Franchises dare to dream about Stanley Cup triumph and the prospect of becoming champions. We will peek at these Low Cost Franchises in detail and look on how they have started from a Franchise For Sale advertised across the sector to the mega powers of the NHL today. The NHL franchise market has been up and down over lots of years from lots of clubs struggling to survive to a lot of clubs being able to hand out lucrative multi million dollar contracts. At this existing moment the NHL franchise market is looking steady as huge amounts of dollars are being saved as the global economic crisis has hit the hockey market. All of the Low Cost Franchises are shutting up shop and functioning with what they have, which is having a benefit to the proposal of Franchises For Sale in the market. A lot of owners for lots of years have treated their franchise as a Home Based Franchise, they work with their team on a daily basis and take it everywhere they go. This is much like any franchise in the present climate and consequently beneficial to their potential investor looking for a Franchise For Sale in the NHL market. The sponsor will have the confidence that the team has been well looked after and treated as if it were a Home Based Franchise.

Here is a look at one of the NHL Low Cost Franchises that has had much support over the years incorporating massive advertising campaigns including films and merchandise.

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are a National Hockey League (NHL) club located in Anaheim, California. They were started in 1993, with their home arena at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (“The Pond”). Their uniform colours are maroon and green, and feature a hockey mask outlining a duck’s beak, in front of two crossed hockey sticks.

When started in 1993, the Mighty Ducks were owned by The Walt Disney Company. The franchises name was selected from the Disney movie The Mighty Ducks (much to the disdain of numerous traditionalists), about a gang of misfit youths who form an amateur hockey squad. Disney has consequently also made an animated series called The Mighty Ducks, featuring a fictional Mighty Ducks of Anaheim club that consists of actual (albeit anthropomorphized) ducks.

With their first draft pick, the The franchise selected Paul Kariya 4th overall in Round 1 of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. Kariya would become the cornerstone of the young Mighty Ducks club, the club captain, and would nearly guide them to Stanley Cup triumph in 2003 before his departure for the Colorado Avalanche.

In 1997, the franchise made their first playoff appearance and defeated the Phoenix Coyotes in seven games in the Western Conference quarterfinals. Though, they lost in the semi finals to the Detroit Red Wings.

Their best playoff performance in club history was during the 2002-03 season which saw the franchise come within one game of the Stanley Cup. They trounced defending Stanley Cup champs the Detroit Red Wings, won over the Dallas Stars in the quarterfinals, defeated the Minnesota Wild in the Conference Finals, and finally fell to the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup Finals in 7 games. For his heroics which had kept the franchise in the playoffs a lot of times, goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere won the Conn Smythe Trophy as most-valuable-player of the playoffs.

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