Maxim Lapierre, Bob Murray comments on Ray Emery.

This isn’t the only demerit in the Ray Emery file, but it’s among the most relevant to the Ducks:

That incident took place Feb. 10, 2007, almost four years to the day before Emery is set to join the Ducks organization – presuming the goalie clears waivers tomorrow and is assigned to AHL affiliate Syracuse.

Emery was playing for Ottawa at the time, and Ducks center Maxim Lapierre was a rookie with the Montreal Canadiens. The two might not see each other in the same dressing room until late in the season – if Emery gets an NHL call-up at all. Still, it was worth asking Lapierre how he felt about possibly being teammates with Emery.
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Why only one year for Carlyle, McNab, and more.

Bob Murray’s contract as general manager of the Ducks runs through the 2011-12 season, and he wanted Randy Carlyle and David McNab to be able to say the same. Nothing more, nothing less.

“My experience has taught me that nobody goes past me,” Murray said on a conference call Tuesday afternoon to announce the contract extensions for Carlyle and McNab. “That goes back to something from a previous job where I was gone and some people were left in some very uncomfortable positions when I was gone. Good and bad. That won’t happen again. I felt bad for some people after I was gone.”

“I’m up at the end of next year, and nobody’s going past mine.”

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Syvret, Bordson traded to Philadelphia for two AHLers.

Danny Syvret and Rob Bordson’s time in the Ducks organization did not last long.

On Sunday, Syvret and Bordson were traded to Philadelphia for a pair of forwards off the Flyers’ American Hockey League roster, Patrick Maroon and David Laliberte. Syvret’s opportunities for advancement figured to dwindle when the Ducks got defenseman Andy Sutton back off injured reserve Sunday.

More than that, their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch were having trouble scoring.

“We were trying to get a little bit of help up front down there,” Ducks general manager Bob Murray said. “We’ve
had guys in and out of the lineup. We had a chance to get a couple of
wingers that we like. You have to give a little to get that. We went out
and made the change.”

Maroon, who had five goals and eight points in nine games for the Adirondack Phantoms, and Laliberte (2 goals, 8 points in 18 games for Adirondack) should be able to help with the scoring. A former
sixth-round draft pick by the Flyers in 2007, Maroon has yet to reach
the NHL.

According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Maroon was the Phantoms’ leading scorer through eight games before being dismissed
for what the organization termed as “behavioral issues” and “attitude
problems.”
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It’s official: Fowler will remain in Anaheim.

Cam Fowler was not playing hockey when he knew he had arrived, so to speak, as a full-fledged NHL defenseman.

“The last few days they told me to start moving some of my stuff into Scotty (Niedermayer)’s house and get my car out here,” he said. “That was kind of a good tip that at least they were going to keep me around for a little while.’

It became official Tuesday when Ducks general manager Bob Murray announced that he intends to keep the 18-year-old defenseman in the NHL this season. Fowler, who has played six games and is set to play his seventh on Wednesday, could have played up to nine games before Murray had to keep him or return him to his junior squad, the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League.
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After two years on the job, evaluating Bob Murray.

Almost as soon as Randy Carlyle was rumored to be on the hot seat (see here, here and here) Bob Murray usurped an undesirable share of responsibility for the Ducks’ 4-7-1 start (see here and here).

The general manager has certainly traded away his share of popular players (Chris Pronger, Chris Kunitz, J.S. Giguere) and acquired some underachievers (Ryan Whitney, Evgeny Artyukhin, Petteri Nokelainen, Nick Boynton). He’s also had to cope with a shrinking internal budget in a time when many teams are pushing closer to a rising salary-cap ceiling – not to mention the fact that he inherited a team in November 2008 with only eight players signed beyond the end of the season.

A little research reveals some more specifics. We research, you decide:

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A false alarm in the Bobby Ryan negotiations.

New York Post columnist Larry Brooks wrote on his Twitter account earlier today that Bobby Ryan and the Ducks had reached agreement on a five-year contract worth “approximately $5.5M per,” citing a “Source.”

But the usually reliable and well-connected Brooks wrote shortly afterward that “Don Meehan, Ryan’s agent, rebuts/contradicts our source on Ryan deal, says nothing is done.”

Indeed, there was no contract in place and Ryan remains a restricted free agent.

Earlier this summer, Ryan told Ducks general manager Bob Murray that he wanted to be paid slightly less than star forwards Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. The team’s highest-paid players are making an average of $5.325 per season through 2013, so it’s unlikely that Ryan would be offered more than that.

Anaheim is believed to be offering a five-year deal. It’s unlikely the Ducks want to sign Ryan to a three-year contract that would expire at the same time as Getzlaf and Perry’s, but that is what Ryan is believed to be seeking.

So the wait continues.

DiPenta returns to the Ducks, sort of.

Joe DiPenta, part of the Ducks’ 2007 Stanley Cup championship team, has signed an American Hockey League contract with the Syracuse Crunch, the Ducks’ top minor-league affiliate. The 31-year-old defenseman will also take part in training camp in Anaheim on a pro tryout contract.

DiPenta spent the 2008-09 season in the Swedish Elite League before returning to the AHL in 2009-10 with the Portland Pirates. Ducks general manager Bob Murray liked the veteran’s leadership skills for the Crunch and DiPenta, who still lives in Newport Beach and is active in the community, wanted to extend his career another season.

Known for his safe defensive play, DiPenta held a sixth/seventh defenseman role for the Ducks from 2005-08. In both 2006 and 2007 he appeared in 16 playoff games, going scoreless, after posting two goals and eight points in the regular season each year. His playing time dwindled in 2007-08 and he finished with a goal and five points.

In 174 career NHL games, DiPenta has six goals, 23 points and 110 penalty minutes.

Selanne returning to Ducks.

Another dispatch from the road, where word travels fast that 40-year-old right wing Teemu Selanne is returning to the Ducks for another season. Selanne, who is still in his native Finland, agreed to a 1-year, $3.25 million contract.

Selanne spoke to the media via conference call earlier today (transcript can be found here), as did general manager Bob Murray (comments here).

Selanne gets a slight raise on last year’s contract, but it’s still below market rate for a player who scored 27 goals in a mere 54 games last season. He doesn’t immediately make the Ducks a playoff contender — how well a rebuilt, Scott Niedermayer-less defense can perform is the critical question now — but Selanne does ensure that the league’s fifth-best power play won’t take a huge step backward next season.

On the Wisniewski trade.

Checking in from the vacation trail to report, as I’m sure you already know, that James Wisniewski has been traded to the New York Islanders for a third-round draft pick in 2011.

At a glance, it’s not obvious how this fits into Bob Murray’s plans to rebuild a young, thin defense. Expect some more moves in the coming days or weeks. Among their current blueline corps, only Lubomir Visnovsky, Toni Lydman and Sheldon Brookbank have spent a full season in the NHL.

Foligno to replace Brown as assistant coach.

Mike Foligno, a veteran head coach in the Ontario Hockey League, has been named an assistant coach with the Ducks, succeeding Newell Brown. Brown was a Ducks assistant from 1998-2000 and again from 2005 until this week, when his contract was not renewed.

Foligno spent the last seven seasons as head coach and general manager of the Sudbury Wolves, compiling a 189-229-58 record. The Wolves went 26-35-7 last season and made the playoffs for the sixth time in Sudbury’s tenure, which included a conference championship in 2006-07.

Foligno has previously served as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs (1995-96) and Colorado Avalanche (1997-98). He served as the head coach of the AHL’s Hershey Bears from 1998-2003.

“He wanted to come back to the NHL,” Ducks general manager Bob Murray said. “I think this was the right time. He’s really passionate. He’s got charisma. I think he’s going to work very well with our forwards.”

In a 15-year NHL playing career (1979-94) with Detroit, Buffalo, Toronto and Florida, Foligno collected 355 goals, 727 points and 2,049 penalty minutes in 1,018 games. A right wing, Foligno’s best season came with Buffalo in 1985-86, when he scored 41 goals and 80 points in 79 games.

Brown was responsible for running the Ducks’ power play, a role Foligno can possibly expect to assume with fellow assistant coach Dave Farrish already in charge of the penalty kill.