"Ryan Getzlaf knows his life could be much more hectic.
It could take him much longer to get out of the locker room after every game or practice because of the media demands if he were playing in Toronto or Montreal.
Star players there are treated like the equivalent of the New York Yankees in New York, perhaps more. Their every move is monitored, their every word documented.
Picture Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby or Washington's Alexander Ovechkin playing in a hockey-intense market north of the border, and contrast it with the relative anonymity that cloaks Getzlaf.
"It's been brought to my attention a lot of times how things go differently there with the media and the coverage," Getzlaf said. "I'm thankful for it, in a way, when you're out there flying under the radar a little bit more."
The secret has long been out about Getzlaf. He's an MVP candidate on par with the Crosbys and Ovechkins of the NHL. It's just that he might not be the first name mentioned when the league's superstars are evoked.
And that's fine with the Ducks center, who is set to lead the club when it opens the season Saturday at the Honda Center against rival San Jose.
Getzlaf, 24, tied for sixth in scoring last season with 25 goals and 66 assists. He was the only player in the top 10 that plays west of the Rockies, so it's understandable if the hockey world didn't turn its collective attention to him until the postseason.
"I think people are starting to realize after last year's playoff, especially our games here, that he's one of the four or five best players in the NHL," defenseman Ryan Whitney said.
"Just being in California, we play at 10 o'clock Eastern time. A lot of people are sleeping during our games. That's kind of how it works. But I think especially this year, and the Olympics, he'll really start to open eyes."
Whitney, who played in Pittsburgh with Crosby and Evgeni Malkin before he came to the Ducks in a March trade, said he wasn't fully aware of Getzlaf's freakish dominance until he came west.
"He's going to battle, be a force, the way he hits," Whitney said. "Really a playoff-type player.""
