“Ryan Getzlaf can be as good as he wants to be.” – Brian Burke, November 2007

Those words were uttered by the then-Ducks general manager as a high compliment and a means of spurring his young center to even greater heights. Others such as Teemu Selanne said the same and many, many more were thinking it.

There was a time when those words of great promise hung around Ryan Getzlaf’s neck like an anchor. Now as he made the rounds as a sought-after superstar at the All-Star weekend in Columbus, Ohio, Getzlaf is at the point where he is great and wants to be among the best.

The Ducks are again at the top of the NHL standings in the regular season, and Getzlaf has never had a greater impact on them in his 10 seasons. Illness and injury ate away at the Ducks in the first half of 2014-15, but their captain was a powerful constant and wouldn’t allow losing to set in.

Now his running mate as a fellow Ducks star for a decade, Corey Perry watched Getzlaf fly solo for 15 games because he had to deal with the mumps and a knee injury. The Ducks lost just twice in regulation during the time Perry missed.

“In here, we don’t want to lose back-to-back games,” Perry said. “When we lost a game, that next game we had to be at our best. And most of the time, he was at his best and he really carried the team. That’s what leaders do. That’s why he’s the captain.”

At the All-Star break, Getzlaf sits seventh in scoring with 50 points. The playmaking center’s 35 assists are tied for third. Passing has always been his first option but 15 goals, which are third on the Ducks, put him on pace for a fourth 25-goal season.

The obvious numbers for the NHL’s leading team put him right back in the Hart Trophy conversation after being the runner-up to Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby for most valuable player honors last June. Things that aren’t as obvious present a better argument for his candidacy.

Seven of Getzlaf’s 15 goals have either tied a game or gave the Ducks a lead and three have proved to be winning goals. His 37 points at even strength are one behind Tampa Bay’s Tyler Johnson for the league high and his 64 blocked shots are most among forwards.

Until joining the Ducks this season, Nate Thompson had spent his entire career in the Eastern Conference and only occasionally played against him. Now he has seen everything that Getzlaf brings to the ice.

“The thing you don’t notice when you play against him is all the little things he does,” Thompson said. “It’s pretty impressive when your top player is going down to block shots and making the big defensive plays. Just so many little things he does away from the puck. And then obviously when he has the puck, he’s pretty dangerous.

“He’s just one of those players where when he’s on the ice, he has a presence. He controls the hockey game.”

With the game’s biggest star in Crosby sitting out the league’s midseason showcase to nurse an injury, Getzlaf has had more of the All-Star spotlight on him. Crosby and Chicago’s Jonathan Toews may be the faces of the NHL, but Getzlaf is among the elite, his status confirmed by being named an alternate captain for Toews’s team in Sunday’s game.

Since his low point in 2012, Getzlaf has been on a three-year mission to become the top-five player so many saw in him. Is he finally as good as he can be?

“I’ve always felt I’ve been trying to play to the best of my abilities,” Getzlaf said. “There’s always times throughout my career where I’ve been growing and there’s still room for growth. To say that I am the player I want to be, I think would put me in a category where I’m satisfied. And I don’t want to be there.

“Because that’s not what a hockey career consists of. I think if you reach that point where you just kind of accept where you are, it’s hard to get any better.”

Others think he is better than ever. A contemporary such as Kings center Anze Kopitar sees someone who has improved and evolved over the years.

“He’s definitely one of the complete players in the league,” Kopitar said. “I think his 200-foot game has definitely improved and the numbers show it with his plus-minus and all the assists he’s getting. He’s a tough player to play against.”

The difference in Getzlaf this season has been his ability to put up points and prod the Ducks along as several players have been in and out of the lineup. It was in December where the 6-foot-4 center lifted his team to a 10-3-1 record. They didn’t have Perry for 10 of those games.

Different players lined up alongside him but Getzlaf still scored 20 points, the most in a single month since he did it in March 2011. The Ducks are 24-5-4 whenever he scores a point and 7-5-2 when he doesn’t.

The immense talent that once too easily lost his cool has matured into the leader who’s motivated by being the face of a Stanley Cup champion.

“As I’ve said many times, Getzy comes off to be something he’s really not,” Ducks general manager Bob Murray said. “He’s really what I call an old soul and a very caring person. He cares. And you can see the way he cares by his attention to other things.

“Early on this year, he wasn’t playing great defensively. He fixed that and he knew he had to get better. Little things like that. The great leaders don’t say a lot. It’s what they do on the ice that is everything. And I think that’s what he is figuring out over time.”

At 29, Getzlaf is firmly in his prime even as he jokes that “my body doesn’t feel like it.”

“I’ve been trying to be a leader and be at the forefront for a while now,” he continued. “Some years it’s been great and some years it’s been hard. And that’s the way a career goes.

“I feel great right now at where I’m at in pushing this team and pushing myself on a daily basis.”

Getzlaf was with Perry in Las Vegas when the winger won the Hart in 2011. Perry lent his support for the center last summer when Crosby won. Perry said it is now his teammate’s turn.

“He deserves it,” Perry said. “He’s done a lot for this team, for this organization. His personal game has taken another step up. I thought he played extremely well last year but I think this year he’s done a little bit more.

“With all the injuries we’ve had, there’s been different guys stepping up. He’s mostly been the major guy that’s really took over and carried this team.”

The sport’s ultimate individual honor is the one thing Getzlaf hasn’t won. It is something he’d like to add to his impressive trophy case – though hoisting the Cup a second time is preferable.

“I think it would be great,” he said. “All those things are good recognition of how the season went. When you’re talking about the Hart Trophy, that’s more of the category of what you want to be in. At the end of the year, if I’m in that category, there’s a good chance that our team’s in a good situation.

“That’s ultimately the goal – to get in the playoffs in the highest position. If I’m in that conversation, chances are we are close to that.”

Staff writer Rich Hammond contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: estephens@ocregister.com