Bickel traded to Rangers in swap of minor-league defensemen.

Defenseman Stu Bickel, a Ducks farmhand since 2008, has been traded to the New York Rangers for minor-league defenseman Nigel Williams.

Williams, 22, has one assist in 12 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack, the Rangers’ American Hockey League affiliate. A former second-round draft pick by the Avalanche (51st overall in 2006), Williams possesses a good frame (6-foot-5, 237 pounds) but was unhappy playing in Hartford according to one report.

Since the Ducks signed him as a free agent out of the University of Minnesota, Bickel has split the last three seasons between the AHL and the ECHL. In six games this season for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, Bickel had three assists and 14 penalty minutes. He also played in one scoreless game for the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals.

Bakersfield eliminated from ECHL playoffs.

The Bakersfield Condors, the Ducks’ ECHL affiliate, saw its season come to an end Saturday with a 7-4 loss to Stockton in Game 5 of their Kelly Cup playoff series.

Timo Pielmeier allowed six goals on 33 shots in the loss and finished the playoffs with a 1-2-1 record, 3.39 goals-against average and .892 save percentage in four games. Jean-Phillippe Levasseur went 3-2-1, 2.61 GAA and .914 save percentage.

Kyle Calder, who had two assists Saturday, led the Condors with five goals and 10 points in 10 playoff games. MacGregor Sharp had a goal Saturday to bring his totals to three goals and eight points in 10 games. Ducks prospects Maxime Macenauer, Stu Bickel and Eric Regan also suited up for the Condors in the playoffs (team stats here).

Sexton, Clark, Salcido shut out in Hamilton.

Consider this a belated, Ducks-related, American Hockey League playoff update.

Since the Ducks do not have an AHL affiliate this year, tracking their prospects’ postseason progress is a more haphazard endeavor than usual. Three (Dan Sexton, Brian Salcido and Mat Clark) are with the Manitoba Moose, who tonight lost Game 1 of their seven-game series against the Hamilton Bulldogs. Needless to say, each was held scoreless.

On Wednesday, defenseman Nathan Oystrick had two assists in the Chicago Wolves’ 6-5 win over the Milwaukee Admirals in Game 1 of their series. Shawn Weller, playing for the Abbotsford Heat, contributed the second of three goals in a 3-2 win over the Rochester Americans. Heat defenseman Mark Mitera was held scoreless.

The Ducks’ ECHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, begin play in the second round of the Kelly Cup playoffs tomorrow against the Stockton Thunder. Kyle Calder, MacGregor Sharp, Ryan Donally, Maxime Macenauer, Matt McCue, Eric Regan, Stu Bickel, Timo Pielmeier and J-P Levasseur are all competing in the series for Bakersfield.

Bickel, Sharp reassigned.

Center MacGregor Sharp and defenseman Stu Bickel have been reassigned from the Ducks’ ECHL affiliate in Bakersfield to the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League.


It will be the first taste of AHL hockey this season for both players. Sharp began the season in Bakersfield before earning an eight-game cup of coffee in Anaheim following the injuries to Kyle Calder and Ryan Carter. Sharp was sent down last week, when the Ducks acquired Kyle Chipchura from Ottawa to center the fourth line, and did not score during his first NHL stint. In 15 games with Bakersfield, the 24-year-old center had four goals and 14 points.

Bickel, 23, had one goal and 12 points, as well as 44 penalty minutes, in 22 games for the Condors. A free-agent signee out of the University of Minnesota, Bickel played 21 games last season for the Iowa Chops, logging one assist.

The Rampage are the AHL affiliate of the Phoenix Coyotes.