from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

Watching Rickard Rakell deftly navigate through traffic with his soft hands and creative vision in this his breakthrough NHL season, one wonders how he went just 30th overall in the 2011 draft.

The answer is just another chapter in the Anaheim Ducks' draft mythology.

Consider the events of that Friday evening in St. Paul, Minn., five years ago when Anaheim held the No. 22 overall pick. The Ducks had targeted Stefan Noesen, and when he went No. 21 overall to Ottawa they shifted gears.

"That's when we moved back,'' Ducks GM Bob Murray recalled this week.

Murray traded the pick to Toronto in exchange for the Maple Leafs' No. 30 and No. 39 overall picks. Toronto drafted Tyler Biggs at No. 22, while the Ducks took Rakell at No. 30 and John Gibson at No. 39.

That's how the top franchises in this league stay on top, with days like that.

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