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Sure, the Ducks play in perhaps the league's best division. But they also have two of the league's greatest talents in Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne. Any season without a playoff game is a disappointment.

ESPN.com takes a Closer Look at Anaheim in '99-00 and what it needs to get better next season.

Season Review: Top heavy Ducks

	Selanne

Selanne and Kariya didn't exactly struggle. Both averaged well over a point per game, and in this era, that's a productive benchmark. But Selanne's 33 goals was his lowest output since netting 22 in '94-95.

The real problem for Anaheim was their depth up front. After Steve Rucchin (19-38-57), who gets a lot of residual points off Kariya and Selanne, the next highest scoring forward was Kip Miller -- and 19 of his 42 points were with Pittsburgh. That makes Anaheim look more like a one-line team.

Depth is an issue for almost every team in the NHL, but most playoff teams have two solid offensive lines.

Of course, the Ducks could improve on the 227 goals against, but the Kings let in 228 and made the playoffs with relative ease. Guy Hebert played well, but his GAA (2.51) and save percentage (.908) were down from the year before. It didn't help that backup Dominic Roussel struggled with a 3.16 GAA and .883 save percentage. He might be a backup, but again, most playoff-bound teams have No. 2 goalies with better numbers.

Starting to see a pattern with the commentary? Yup, the Ducks didn't make the playoffs, and they probably should have.

The Open Market: Not too Ducky
The Ducks signed goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who has just 24 career NHL starts. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's a minor signing. Hopefully, the 23-year-old can either push Roussel or replace him as Hebert's backup. If you think there's too much harping on the impact of the No. 2 goalie, consider that Hebert is 33-years-old and has started 135 games the past two seasons. His save percentage was substantially weaker the second half of last year. A strong backup could take as many as 10 starts off his plate, and leave Hebert fresher for late in the season, and ideally, the playoffs.

	FREE AGENCY
	Key unsigned free agents: Matt Cullen, Jorgen Jonsson, Oleg Tverdovsky. Signings/offseason acquisitions: Antti Aalto, Ladislav Kohn, Dan Bylsma, Jim Cummins, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Mike LeClerc, Marty McInnis, Chris O'Sullivan, Kevin Sawyer, German Titov, Patrick Traverse.

In terms of other signings, there hasn't been anything major. The Ducks inked Jim Cummins, presumably to fill the tough-guy role vacated by Stu Grimson, who went up the freeway to the Kings. German Titov should provide some offensive depth. He scored 17 goals last season -- which would have been fourth on the Ducks -- but he'll be 35 in October, and only scored twice in the final 20 regular-season games.

Oleg Tverdovsky and Matt Cullen remain the most significant unsigned players, with Tverdovsky being the most valuable because of his power-play presence.

How to improve: Lean on others
What happened last season was the West improved, but the Ducks didn't. How can that be changed? Well, it ain't brain surgery: Get goals from at least one other line, preferably two. Guys like Titov, Marty McInnis and Matt Cullen must creep into 20-goal, 50-point range for the Ducks to be successful.

Selanne certainly can play better than he did last season. But if Anaheim doesn't get more balanced scoring and consistent goaltending, the presence of Kariya and Selanne will sell more shirts, hats and toys than playoff tickets.

And don't let coach Craig Hartsburg off the hook too easily. Hartsburg received a two-year contract extension for leading the team to last place in arguably the league's most difficult divsion. What he needs to do as a coach to justify that is to find a way for this team to overachieve ... for once.

Brian A. Shactman is the NHL Editor for ESPN.com.