September 2009 Archives
First, the Ducks' good news: Both Joffrey Lupul and Petteri Nokelainen returned to practice on Wednesday.
The bad news? Nokelainen, who strained his groin on Sunday, had to leave midway through practice and was to be evaluated by team trainers.
Meanwhile Lupul, who's had a recurrence of back spasms, made it through practice. But head coach Randy Carlyle said there's always a level of caution with back injuries.
"I think anytime you have a muscle that goes into - I don't know if you'd call a cramp - or whatever you want to call it, in the back area, there's always concern," Carlyle said. "Usually though if you get a couple good days, then you strtengthen other areas around it - that's what therapy does - it corrects itself and you can move on."
The status of both players for Saturday's regular-season opener against San Jose is yet to be determined.
For a coach who can be comically redundant about taking one game at a time, Randy Carlyle took a huge look forward Wednesday when asked about keeping 19-year-old Luca Sbisa in the NHL this season.
"He's not afraid to do things with (the puck)," Carlyle said of Sbisa. "The one thing you notice about the best defensemen who play the game ... when they have the puck, they're never under pressure. They can be very calm when they have the puck, and they want it more, and they do usually have it a lot in the game.
"Those are the types of players who seem to have the ability to extend their careers a long time, and play huge minutes and make contributions."
The Ducks have 25 players still left on their training camp roster, and can only have 23 by noon. Randy Carlyle has said (nearly outright) that left wing Logan MacMillan will be one of the cuts. But who will be the other?
Most likely the Ducks will keep the other 14 forwards and 7 of the 8 defensemen currently on the roster. However, Carlyle acknowledged Tuesday that keeping all 8 defensemen and 13 forwards was also a possibility.
"I would say in the league, if you asked any coach or general manager that you can never have enough of, which position do you think 90 percent of them would say?" the coach asked rhetorically.
Both 14 and 7, or 13 and 8, are viable options because cap space is not an issue this season, unlike each of the past two training camps. Here's a shakedown of the players on the bubble:
Andrew Ebbett is a quiet and unassuming man at 5-foot-9 and 174 pounds, the type of professional athlete who, if he introduces himself as a professional athlete, makes you do a double-take. He's easy to overlook.
Coming off his first NHL season, nobody bothered to ask Ebbett what he thought the Ducks needed to do in the off-season. If they had, he probably wouldn't have suggested bringing in another second-line center, the job he held throughout last season's playoff run.
Of course, the Ducks promptly signed Saku Koivu to take Ebbett's place. His reaction?
No cuts in practice today, only two notable absences.
Joffrey Lupul, who missed two preseason games with a bad back before returning to play in Sunday's finale against the Kings, did not participate in practice.
"He's had some tightness in his lower back area," head coach Randy Carlyle said, "and we seem to be able to loosen it up, and then he goes out and does anything, it seems to cramp back up. We're more precautionary. He did skate the other day, was fit enough to play but yesterday after treatment it persisted, so we felt it was best interests for him not to skate today."
Carlyle said that Petteri Nokelainen strained his groin muscle against San Jose on Friday toward the end of the second period. The center skated prior to practice Tuesday but didn't participate in drills.
Logan MacMillan "has had some issues," Carlyle said, and was in the trainer's room too. The 20-year-old has played in just one preseason game.
"What we're trying to do is educate him in some of the training issues and whatnot; we're keeping the player around," Carlyle said. "We feel he's got a lot to learn in a short period of time around our group. He's got a short period of time right now for him to be with us. But obviously tomorrow has to change."
Brendan Mikkelson wasn't exactly expected to be in Anaheim still. Certainly not considering defensemen Steve McCarthy, Jassen Cullimore, Brian Salcido and Brett Festerling were all cut from the Ducks' training camp first.
Which is what made Sunday's game against the Kings, the Ducks' final action of the preseason, so important for the 22-year-old.
Left wing Kyle Calder and defensemen Jassen Cullimore were released from their Pro Tryout Contracts by the Ducks on Saturday, giving the team's younger talent room to breathe and further clarifying the picture on defense.
Also Saturday, goaltender Justin Pogge and forward Ryan Donally were both sent to San Antonio of the AHL.
Rob Niedermayer is headed to the team that made his brother, Scott, famous: The New Jersey Devils.
The free-agent forward, whom the Ducks chose not to re-sign in the offseason and was reportedly considering offers from the KHL, heads to New Jersey on a one-year contract.
Ducks owner Henry Samueli's latest appeal to avoid prison time was turned down Thursday in federal court.
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday said it could not reinstate a proposed plea bargain that called for Samueli to serve five years of probation, pay a $250,000 fine and pay $12 million to the U.S. Treasury Department, according to a Reuters report.
Samueli has been prohibited by the NHL from being involved in the Ducks' day-to-day business since he was indicted in a stock backdating scheme.
U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney in Santa Ana has not set a sentencing date.
Teemu Selanne scored on a sharp-angled shot past Andrew Raycroft 3:49 into the extra period, bailing the Ducks out in a game they lead 2-0. Corey Perry and Ryan Whitney also scored goals, and Jonas Hiller stopped 23 of 25 shots.
Brendan Mikkelson made a strong case to make the opening day roster, picking up an assist on Perry's goal and getting robbed of a potential goal by Raycroft in the first period. Saku Koivu (who passed to Selanne for the OT goal) had two assists, and Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf (in his preseason debut) and Scott Niedermayer had one helper apiece.
Phoenix forward Francis Lessard has been suspended five games for his hit on the Ducks' Ryan Donally last Friday. The suspension spans the Coyotes' final two regular-season games, as well as the first three games of the regular season.
The entire Ducks roster, coaches and management will attend. Click here for the full release.
Steve McCarthy, a veteran defenseman who spent last season in the KHL, was traded to Atlanta for future considerations a day after clearing waivers.
The 28-year-old appeared in two preseason games as a Duck, collecting one assist and seven penalty minutes. His trade leaves the team with five defensemen (Brendan Mikkelson, Jassen Cullimore, Sheldon Brookbank, Mark Mitera, Luca Sbisa) in the running for two roster spots.
They were better tonight. They didn't turn the puck over nearly as many times. They simplified it. That's the key, especially now for this group, to simplify and get the staples of our structure down pat. And the expectations, what you do in this situation, what you do in that situation, and learn those things. We've got a fairly large group of people that are new to us. It's not like we're the same team we were last year. It's probably 7 or 8 new faces, that's almost 50 percent of the team.
The Ducks have sent forward Matt McCue to Manitoba of the AHL, trimming its training camp roster to 32: 18 forwards, 11 defensemen and three goaltenders.
The 6-5 converted defenseman left a mark with his fists, pummeling the Vancouver Canucks' Alexandre Bolduc in one of two fights last Thursday at Honda Center, and was held scoreless in two preseason games. McCue (career stats) went undrafted in June out of the Western Hockey League.
Some writers have suggested that, when general manager Bob Murray revamped the Ducks' roster this past summer, he was abandoning the penchant for pugilism that Brian Burke brought to Anaheim in 2005.
Anyone who saw Monday's game at Honda Center saw that little has changed.
Even when Jonas Hiller was starting the final seven games of the 2008-09 regular season, and Jean-Sebastien Giguere wasn't, Randy Carlyle called his goaltenders "1-A and 1-B" and left you, the fan, to decide your preferred alphabetical order. Not until playoff time was there a distinct number 1 (Hiller) and number 2 (Giguere).
Asking the Ducks' coach to nail down a starter at this point in the preseason, then, might be as appealing as pulling teeth - something hockey coaches are historically familiar with. Especially when Giguere stopped 23 of 25 shots in a 3-2 Ducks' win Monday, bringing his two-game total to 37 stops on 41 shots. Meanwhile, Hiller has stopped 40 of 44 in his two appearances.
With three preseason games left to decide the team's most prominent position battle, there doesn't seem to be a clear favorite.
Saku Koivu scored his first goal as a Duck, Jonas Hiller stopped 22 of 25 shots, and the Ducks settled for a split in their fourth preseason game in as many days.
In what may be a preview of the Ducks' second line, Koivu anchored a second line between Joffrey Lupul and Teemu Selanne. His goal came on a power play at 19:28 of the second period.
Assigned to San Antonio (AHL):
Shawn Weller - Left Wing
Brett Festerling - Defenseman
MacGregor Sharp - Center
Maxime Macenauer - Center
J.P. Levasseur - Goaltender
Assigned to Manitoba (AHL):
Brian Salcido - Defenseman
Assigned to Juniors (Kelowna):
Brandon McMillan - Center
Anaheim now has 36 players remaining on its 2009 Training Camp Roster - 21 forwards, 11 defensemen and four goaltenders.
Luca Sbisa scored the game-winning goal during a Ducks power play in overtime, completing a comeback in a game the Ducks trailed 3-0 in the third period.
Joffrey Lupul scored twice, and Dan Sexton once, as the Ducks (2-1) scored all four goals on the power play. Jean-Phillippe Levasseur (10 saves on 11 shots) and Timo Pielmeier (33-35) split the goaltending duties.
Sbisa finished with a goal and an assist, Lupul added an assist, and Maxime Macenauer had two assists for the Ducks.
The only difference between Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu skating on the same line Thursday night, and the two skating together for the Finnish national team, was ... well ... everything.
Calder Ebbett Perry
Donally Nokelainen Weller
Artyukhin Marchant Parros
Mikkelson Brookbank
Whitney Eminger
Festerling McCarthy
Hiller
Pielmeier
The Ducks announced today the following roster moves:
Assigned to junior team:
Josh Brittain - Left Wing (Barrie/OHL)
Mat Clark - Defenseman (Brampton/OHL)
Marco Cousineau - Goaltender (Drummondville/QMJHL)
Nicolas Deschamps - Center (Chicoutimi/QMJHL)
Peter Holland - Center (Guelph/OHL)
Stefan Warg - Defenseman (Seattle/WHL)
Anaheim now has 43 players remaining on its 2009 Training Camp Roster - 25 forwards, 13 defensemen and five goaltenders.
• Jonas Hiller and Erik Christensen at Oggi's Pizza (200 level)
• Petteri Nokelainen at the Team Store (200 level)
• Joffrey Lupul at the Box Office
Sources tell TSN Rob Niedermayer is in negotiations with the KHL's (CSKA) Moscow Red Army and failing an NHL team surfacing with a suitable offer within the next few days, the veteran forward will sign a one-year contract to play in Russia.
Sources say Niedermayer has received some interest from NHL teams, but none of the offers have been considered financially worthy.
Niedermayer won a Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007, but seems to be caught in the salary cap crunch a number of NHL teams are faced with.
Former NHLer Sergei Nemchinov is CSKA's head coach and general manager.
One year ago Bobby Ryan scored twice in the Ducks' preseason opener, a 6-4 win over the San Jose Sharks. Back then, Ryan was merely trying to make the team's opening-day roster as a rookie. He was quiet the rest of the preseason and was forced to begin the regular season not in Anaheim but in Des Moines, Iowa, due in part to salary-cap constraints.
The result was the same, but the circumstances could not have been more different when the Ducks' 2009 preseason began Wednesday.
Ryan, who finished 2008 as a Calder Trophy candidate and the Ducks' second-leading goal scorer, was wearing an alternate captain's "A" against the Phoenix Coyotes. Flanked by rookies Dan Sexton and Peter Holland, Ryan scored both goals in regulation, and another in the shootout, in the Ducks' 3-2 victory.
Here is the lineup the Ducks expect to use on Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks at Honda Center:
70-Brittain 11-Koivu 10-Perry
32-Calder 48-Ebbett 8-Selanne
52-Donally 22-Marchant 16-Parros
61-McCue 64-McMillan 47-Weller
27-Niedermayer 73-Clark
43-Mitera 34-Wisniewski
19-Whitney 71-Warg
35-Giguere
31-Pogge
The Phoenix Coyotes' training camp media guide features an interesting slogan/logo on its front page: "WE PLAY FOR YOU," with an outline of the state of Arizona in the background. Here's what it looks like: http://coyotes.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?id=45908
The guess here is that the slogan/logo (slogo?) was intended to allay fears that the franchise could move to Canada. But with the battle for ownership (and possible relocation) still in court, the better slogan might be: "WE PLAY FOR WHOEVER THE JUDGE TELLS US TO PLAY FOR."
Defenseman Bret Hedican, who played 51 games for the Ducks in 2008-09 before injuries cut short his season, is retiring from the NHL.
The Minnesota native told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "Looking back, I remember Curt Giles saying my first year, 'Bret, enjoy every day because it's going to go by really quick. I remember thinking that's crazy. Now looking back at my 17 years, man, it flew by. I'm really happy at my career and have no regrets."
Jassen Cullimore and Kyle Calder each have a lot going for
them in Ducks' training camp.
They are experienced, but not old. In intrasquad scrimmages, both players have shown at least flashes of the skills that have allowed them to play a combined 23 NHL seasons. And for what it's worth, they've been assigned relatively low jersey numbers (32 for Calder and 40 for Cullimore), not the higher ones reserved for minor-league and junior-league players, a superficial suggestion that they're not about to get cut.
After their third intrasquad scrimmage in three days, Randy Carlyle guaranteed that the Ducks are tired of playing other Ducks. The fans aren't tired of watching it -- there were several hundred in the crowd at Anaheim ICE on Tuesday morning -- but it's clear by now that some players are looking to hit a bit harder than they're able to against their own teammates.
From the Ducks staff:
Several Ducks veterans who will not dress for the preseason games on Wednesday and Thursday will welcome fans back by working at various Honda Center locations.Starting at 6:30 p.m., players will work alongside Ducks/Honda Center staff members at locations such as the box office, team store, and concession stands. There will be a listing at the Fan Zone (located across from section 210) as to what players are participating and where they are located.
Travis Moen, Samuel Pahlsson and Rob Niedermayer did the Ducks a great service in 2006-07. As a unit, they formed perhaps the NHL's best shut-down checking line, and were an instrumental part of the Stanley Cup championship run.
The trio did something more, setting a template for the Ducks' third line that lasted after Pahlsson and Moen were shipped out of Anaheim at last season's trade deadline.
On Monday, head coach Randy Carlyle hinted that the template could change this season. So good was the defense of Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry in the playoffs against San Jose and Detroit, that Carlyle is content to start the season with the three skilled youngsters as his shut-down unit.
"Historically we've played a checking line," the coach said. "With the emergence of Getzlaf, Perry and last year Bobby Ryan, we felt we could play those guys up against anybody's so-called number one line in the league. That's a steppingstone.
"Are they going to be able to do it this year? Well, we're going to wait and see, but we think they're capable of doing that."
If there was any question how the Ducks plan to employ Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu as NHL teammates, it was answered quickly in the form of side-by-side lockers when the Ducks opened training camp at Anaheim ICE on Sunday.
In other words, it's still early, but it looks like they'll be sticking together.
As training camp begins, not only are the Ducks unbothered by the salary cap, or by unsigned or unretired players, they're about as close to full health as a hockey team gets.
Only two players were held out of the Ducks' intrasquad scrimmage at the end of Day 1 -- Ryan Getzlaf, who is recovering from sports hernia surgery in July, and Erik Christensen, who had shoulder surgery in June. Both participated in the drills at the beginning of the day, and expect to be cleared for contact soon.
All the talk about what the 2009-10 Ducks would look like on paper finally gave way to hockey Sunday morning.
When the players stepped out on to the ice -- including many new names, with the loudest applause reserved for the familiar ones -- a standing-room only crowd of approximately 1,000 at Anaheim ICE seemed overcome with as much relief as appreciation.
As hockey-as-religion metaphors go, this one was appropriate.
Defenseman Jassen Cullimore, a 15-year veteran who spent last season with the Florida Panthers, has accepted a tryout invitation and will be with the Ducks when training camp begins Sunday at Anaheim ICE. He'll be joined by 16 rookies who took part in the team's recent rookie camp, including 2009 draft picks Peter Holland and Matt Clark.
The complete list of rookie camp invites:
FORWARDS
Matthew Beleskey
Josh Brittain
Nicolas Deschamps
Peter Holland
Maxime Macenauer
Logan MacMillan
Matt McCue
Brandon McMillan
MacGregor Sharp
Dan Sexton
DEFENSEMEN
Matt Clark
Mark Mitera
Luca Sbisa
Stefan Warg
GOALTENDERS
Marco Cousineau
Timo Pielmeier
The Ducks announced today that individual game tickets for the 2009-10 regular season (41 home games) will go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. Tickets may be purchased online at AnaheimDucks.com, or by phone with Ticketmaster at (714) 703-2545. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Honda Center box office on a first-come, first-served basis. The club will open the 2009-10 regular season schedule at Honda Center on Saturday, Oct. 3 vs. San Jose at 7:05 p.m.
Ticket prices for all home games start at $18.50 and are subject to an arena facility fee, beginning at $1.50.
For more details, check out <a href="http://ducks.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=44139">anaheimducks.com</a>.
Martin Madden, the Ducks' director of amateur scouting, sat down for a recorded interview on the Ducks' web site following the Ducklings' 2-1 loss to the Sharks' rookies on Monday night.
Your highlights:
- He'll watch approximately 200-230 games this year between the college and junior ranks.
- Madden thinks the 2010 draft "is going to be a good, deep draft. Maybe not as marquee up at the top, but it's going to be a good crop of kids this year."
- His thoughts on Peter Holland, Scott Valentine and Matt Clark which, if you went to the rookies' open practice on Saturday, you can now measure up against your own impressions.
In the second game of a three-game Rookie series at Sharks Ice, the Anaheim Ducks dropped a 5-0 decision to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.
San Jose jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period with goals from Dean Strong and Kevin Henderson. Strong's power-play tally at 6:54 of the first snapped Anaheim's streak at eight straight penalty kills.
The Ducks will open training camp with a total of 33 players -- 18 forwards, 11 defensemen and four goalies -- beginning with an open practice at 9:45 a.m. Sunday at Anaheim ICE. That doesn't include any potential invitees from the team's rookie tournament, which is currently under way in San Jose.
Here's the full list of scheduled participants so far:
The Ducks have signed free agent defenseman Steve Eminger to a two-year, $2.25 million contract.
Apparently Bob Murray needed a left wing, and Bryan Murray needed a right wing, to play on their respective AHL teams.

J.P. Hoornstra has been covering the Anaheim Ducks since 2007. Eight months after the University of Wisconsin won its third NCAA hockey championship, he was born in a frigid Madison winter. He betrayed his blue-blooded beginnings by graduating from UCLA in 2003, and welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.


Recent Comments
johntmeyer on On the third day, the Ducks rest.: Did my com
johntmeyer on On the third day, the Ducks rest.: Hi JP, My
johnmartinmaher on Ducks prospect Macenauer out 'quite a length of time.': Great work
iain on Agent's interview sparks Niedermayers-to-Vancouver rumor: You wanted
dirtmover on Ducks 2, Sharks 0.: What a gre
Mitleid on Ott's suspension is up.: A lot of p
Tinky Winky on What $1.99 buys you nowadays.: 1.99 can b
Jacob Pomrenke on Who are you, and what are you doing here?: At least y
Jeff Gluck on My Motocross cherry is broken.: Did you wa