Ducks at the World Championships, Day 2.

Only one current Ducks player took the ice Saturday in Slovakia: Cam Fowler played 14:38 and collected an assist in the United States’ 5-1 win over Austria. It was the first game of the tournament for the Americans.

Swiss defenseman Luca Sbisa, the other Anaheim participant, was held scoreless Friday night in his team’s 1-0 win over France.

Fowler and Sbisa are the only Ducks players taking part in the tournament. Typically the IIHF World Championships are a bigger deal in Europe than North America, where those whole Stanley Cup playoffs are going on. Check out the list of players who suited up for the U.S. and you’ll see why the NHL playoffs are a more compelling draw.

Slovakia native Lubomir Visnovsky said he would like to take part in the tournament on his home soil, but only if his balky shoulder joints allow it. He didn’t dress in the Slovaks’ 3-1 win over Slovenia Friday night.

Former Ducks taking part in the tournament include Ryan Shannon and Mike Brown (U.S.), Evgeny Artyukhin (Russia), and Petteri Nokelainen (Finland).

Ducks Day 2 draft notes.

10:16 a.m.: With their second-round pick, the Ducks take right wing Devante Smith-Pelly, a right wing from Mississauga St. Michael’s (OHL). He is listed at 5-11, 211 pounds.

Smith-Pelly had 29 goals and 62 points in 60 games last season. He was ranked 67th among North American Skaters by Central Scouting in the midterm rankings, and 76th in the final rankings.

For Smith-Pelly, hearing his name called 42nd overall wasn’t necessarily a surprise.

“I wasn’t really sure exactly where I was going to go,” he said. “I came in not expecting to go anywhere, really, just soaking it all in. Then to hear my name called was exciting.”

The 18-year-old compared his game to that of Dustin Brown, the versatile Kings winger who can score, defend and hit with equal ease. Smith-Pelly described himself as “a guy who can excel in a top-6 forward role or a bottom-6 forward role.” This in spite of the fact that he came to the OHL from a team – the Junior Canadiens – “where defense was optional.”

Don’t be surprised if the Ducks ask him to spend some extra time in juniors to hone the defensive side of his game. For as much as Smith-Pelly would like to make the NHL club, the Memorial Cup tournament is coming to Mississauga next year, and his team will have the automatic berth given to the host squad.

12:15 p.m.: The Ducks have acquired the Toronto Maple Leafs’ fifth-round pick (122nd overall) for right wing Mike Brown, and used it to select Christopher Wagner, a right wing for the South Shore Kings of the Eastern Junior Hockey League. Wagner had 34 goals and 83 points in 44 games last season for South Shore.

Anaheim then used its own fifth-round pick (132nd overall) to select Tim Heed, a defenseman from Sweden. Heed was the 30th-ranked European skater by Central Scouting. The 19-year-old had eight goals and 37 points in 32 games last year for Sodertalje of the of the Swedish Elite League.

Neither player is here at Staples Center, but I did ask Brian Burke about Brown. Even though he didn’t trade for Brown – that was one of Bob Murray’s first deals as Ducks GM – he was on the Maple Leafs’ radar. “We’re very pleased,” Burke said.

The 25-year-old Brown set career highs in 2009-10 with 75 games played, six goals, seven points and 106 penalty minutes.

12:45 p.m.: The Ducks have chosen Swedish center Andreas Dahlstrom with the first of their two sixth-round picks, 161st overall. The scouting report, according to Eliteprospects.com

A very shifty player. Dahlstrm has impressive hands and technical
skills and is very creative. Can do the unexpected with the puck at all
times. Hockey sense is good and passing game is impressive. Skating
could maybe use some improvement as well as his finishing ability.
Injuries have also slowed down his development, but he has the potential
to become a high scoring player.

1:05 p.m.: Kevin Lind (Chicago, USHL) becomes the newest Duck with the 177th pick of the draft. Anaheim has one pick left, a seventh-rounder.

Lind fell from the 32nd to 139th on Central Scouting’s list of North American skaters. HockeysFuture.com ranked him as the 10th-best draft prospect in the entire USHL in January. According to the Ducks’ director of amateur scouting, Martin Madden, Lind was hurt by playing on a poor team and pushing back his college entry by a year (he’ll attend Notre Dame after playing next season in the USHL).

1:18 p.m.: The Ducks used their last pick of the draft (192nd overall) on Brett Perlini, a sophomore fowrard from Michigan State. The 20-year-old had seven goals and 12 points in 20 games last season. His father, Fred Perlini, played eight NHL games as a center for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Brown undergoes abdominal surgery.

A team spokesperson passes along that Ducks right wing Mike Brown had surgery on Friday to
repair a torn abdominal muscle, the result of “wear and tear.” The surgery
was
performed by Dr. William Meyers in Philadelphia. Recovery time is
expected to
be four-to-six weeks.

Brown, 24, had six goals and an assist in 75 games for the Ducks this season, mostly as a fourth-line winger, and did not miss any games due to injury. He also amassed 106 penalty minutes.

Ducks 3, Nashville 2.

Teemu Selanne rejoined the lineup and the Ducks skated away with their first road victory since Dec. 22.


Selanne, Matt Beleskey and Ryan Getzlaf scored goals, with Getzlaf’s long wrister at 11:26 of the second period — right after he gloved down an errant Preds pass along the glass — proving to be the game-winner.

It was the third NHL goal for Beleskey, who remained at left wing with Getzlaf and right wing Corey Perry. He’s scored one in each of the last three games. Selanne shifted to a line with left wing Mike Brown and center Petteri Nokelainen, and was credited for tipping in a Nokelainen shot for the Ducks’ first goal.

Patric Hornqvist and Martin Erat added goals in the third period, but Jonas Hiller hung on to make 25 saves.

The Ducks travel to Chicago for a 4 p.m. Sunday game.

More details in tomorrow’s editions.

Dallas 5, Ducks 3.

Playing their second straight game without injured center Ryan Getzlaf, the Ducks’ offense didn’t suffer nearly as much as their defense in Dallas.

Loui Eriksson’s hat trick, including a short-handed goal that opened the scoring, sent the Ducks to their third loss in their last four games. Eriksson’s second goal was the back-breaker — draped by Sheldon Brookbank, he flung a one-handed shot weakly between the legs of Jonas Hiller that somehow eldued the Ducks’ goalie at 6:19 of the second period.

Exactly 30 seconds after that goal tied it at 2, Stephane Robidas’ point shot angled in off the stick of Ducks defenseman Nick Boynton, and the Stars would not trail again.

Saku Koivu scored twice, and Dan Sexton added a pair of assists, in a losing effort for the Ducks. Mike Brown scored his career-high fifth goal for the Ducks, who got 37 saves from Hiller.

Forward Todd Marchant left the game midway through the second period and did not return.

Minutes from Tuesday’s meeting.

On a night when Ryan Getzlaf missed his first game of the season — along with injured forwards Teemu Selanne and Joffrey Lupul — Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle had his work cut out for him Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild. Divvying up the time on ice was a challenge, but the end result was a 4-2 victory.

Continue reading “Minutes from Tuesday’s meeting.” »

Suddenly, Ducks looking like a fastbreak team.

It could have been a product of the Phoenix Coyotes’ defense. It could have been a product of the Ducks’ team speed. It could have been an aberration, or it could be a turning point.

Whatever the case, the Ducks had not scored four goals in regulation for more than a month — and only six times all season –before Saturday’s 4-2 victory over Phoenix. Two came on the power play which, considering the Ducks were up a man for more than 11 minutes, is to be expected.

The other two came not from the dump-and-grind style that became the Ducks’ trademark under Randy Carlyle, one that had other teams bulking up to push and prod their way to the net after the Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 2007. Both were breakaway plays, dependent upon up-and-down speed by Kyle Chipchura and Matt Brown as much as their persistence.

Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov did well to turn away many more breakout scoring chances by the Ducks, who scarcely held the territorial advantage.They were outshot 30-15 through two periods before several third-period penalties to Phoenix allowed Anaheim to settle into the offensive zone.
Continue reading “Suddenly, Ducks looking like a fastbreak team.” »

Ducks 4, Phoenix 2.

Mike Brown, Kyle Chipchura, Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan scored goals, and Jonas Hiller withstood a 41-shot barrage, as the Ducks gained a badly needed two points in regulation.


Even though the Ducks always beat Phoenix at home (the Coyotes extended their streak of futility at The Pond to five wins in their last 20 games here — a span of about five years), they did so in a very un-Duck-like fashion.

Continue reading “Ducks 4, Phoenix 2.” »

The latest on the Ducks’ injuries, and how they’re affecting the lineup.

Petteri Nokelainen probably summed it up best.


“I play with whoever they put me out to play with,” he said, “Right now it looks like we’re playing with everybody right now, especially when we’re two guys short in the middle.”

Those two guys — centers Saku Koivu and Ryan Carter — didn’t take part in a full practice Tuesday with their teammates. Koivu at least attempted to start, after skating for a half-hour on his own, but lasted about 15 minutes before walking off the ice. Carter, who bruised his foot in Columbus when it absorbed a teammate’s shot in practice, didn’t skate at all.

Continue reading “The latest on the Ducks’ injuries, and how they’re affecting the lineup.” »