Andrew Gordon’s Teemu Selanne connection.

Andrew Gordon’s first-period goal accounted for all the offense in the Ducks’ 6-1 loss to the Sharks on Wednesday night. Gordon, the former Washington Capitals prospect who signed a two-year contract in the off-season, elicited a positive reaction from Randy Carlyle after an otherwise dreary game for the Ducks.

“I thought that Gordon made an impression. I thought that he was, again, a player that showed the determination and the fire that he showed right from the start of camp to impress some people,” the coach said.

Here’s something you probably didn’t know about Gordon.
Continue reading “Andrew Gordon’s Teemu Selanne connection.” »

Updates on Foster, Ryan, Macenauer; plan for tomorrow.

Kurtis Foster will have a procedure later
today at UCI Medical Center to remove a piece of wire from his left
thigh, the Ducks announced Monday, and the defenseman is expected to miss 2-4 weeks. Foster hasn’t been taking part in drills since training camp opened Saturday.

A team spokesperson said the wire was placed in Foster’s left leg during surgery that took place
to repair a fracture in March
2008. The wire was causing inflammation/irritation, and therefore will
be removed.

A two to four week timetable projects to Oct. 3 at the earliest and Oct. 17 at the latest. The Ducks play a preseason game in Helsinki on Oct. 4 and do not play in North America again until Oct. 14, a home game against San Jose. Foster’s availability for the Europe trip seems to be in jeopardy, which would open a door for the other defensemen bidding for an opening-day roster spot.

Some more injury updates:
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Selanne ends suspense, signs 1-year deal.

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(Photo courtesy of Anaheim Ducks)

Teemu Selanne said he wanted to decide whether or not to extend his playing career by September 16. Looks like he beat his own deadline by a full day.

The 41-year-old right wing signed a one-year, $4 million contract Thursday that will keep the Ducks’ leading scorer in uniform for another year. The annual summer ritual of will-he-retire-or-re-sign was getting old, and there was a sense of finality this time when Selanne spoke to reporters on a national conference call.

“I look at it as my last year,” Selanne said. “Hopefully it’s going to be a good
one.”

Full story to come in tomorrow’s editions. Some more interesting details:

Continue reading “Selanne ends suspense, signs 1-year deal.” »

Via Twitter, an upbeat Teemu Selanne update.

Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Sami Lepisto went on Twitter today to provide one of the more revealing – if not substantive – Teemu Selanne updates of the summer.

Lepisto, who like Selanne is currently training in his native Finland, teased fans with this post earlier today:

“Trivia of the day! Who came to practice this morning w this?

Followed by this, shortly afterward:

“Yea it’s Teemu’s new one!! And he is looking good on the ice!! 41 yr old shouldn’t be that fast!!”

In short: In the opinion of one fellow NHL player, Selanne is looking “good.” And “fast.” And he has a nice car. For the Ducks, who have been contemplating a Plan B if Selanne’s arthroscopic knee surgery doesn’t allow him to play this season, this can only be good news.

Ducks have a ‘Plan B’ if Selanne can’t play.

If Teemu Selanne doesn’t play in 2010-11, the Ducks are prepared to go forward with a “Plan B.”

That plan may be closer to reality than it was a week ago. General manager Bob Murray said he spoke with Selanne three days ago and the 41-year-old has hit a snag in his recovery from arthroscopic knee surgery in June.

“He’s been struggling a bit,” Murray said. “I think he was getting depressed with the whole thing. Last week I think he had a few days where it wasn’t bugging him. I think he intends to go hard this week with the bigger boys in Helsinki. We are scheduled to speak after this week is over.”

Murray said he won’t hang a timeframe on Selanne, who recently told a Finnish newspaper that he won’t decide whether to retire or re-sign until September at the earliest. The Ducks took the same approach in 2007 when the right wing contemplated retirement, ultimately waiting until December-more than two months into the regular season – for Selanne to return.
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Report: Selanne postponing decision until September.

Teemu Selanne’s knee injury may leave the Ducks in limbo until training camp.

According to Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat, the 41-year-old right wing will not announce whether he’ll retire or re-sign before September. Selanne underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee in June. In July, he told Ducks general manager Bob Murray that his recovery was on track.

Selanne, an unrestricted free agent, is still without a contract for next season and would leave the Ducks with a gaping hole at right wing if he doesn’t re-sign. Clearly, the team is counting on a full recovery and the same passion from Selanne that led to his 31-goal, 80-point season in 2010-11.

In the meantime, the waiting continues.

Ducks trade for Cogliano, sign Drouin-Deslauriers, etc.

The Ducks took their biggest step toward addressing their biggest area of need this summer today, trading a second-round draft pick in 2013 to the Edmonton Oilers for center Andrew Cogliano.

The 24-year-old has never missed a game in four NHL seasons – all with Edmonton – while racking up 57 goals, 146 points and 137 penalty minutes. Listed at 5-foot-10, Cogliano compares favorably to recently-retired forward Todd Marchant, another player whose two-way game evolved in Edmonton before he arrived in Anaheim.

“I’ve matured as a player,” Cogliano said. “At this point in my career, I can create offense but also take up the def side of things. I played a lot of penalty kill last year. I feel like I can contribute at both ends of the rink.”

In Cogliano and Brandon McMillan, the Ducks now have two viable options for the third-line center position. McMillan finished a strong rookie campaign with 11 goals and 21 points, but his 38.9 percent success rate in the faceoff circle was the lowest on the team. Cogliano only won 41.6 percent of draws last season, but his 461 faceoff wins were the most of any Oiler, and that figure should reasonably increase if he’s surrounded by better and hungrier players.

Cogliano also scored 18 goals in each of his first two NHL seasons before dipping to 10 and 11 the last two years, respectively.

The Ducks’ third- and fourth-line positions – arguably their biggest area of weakness in the playoffs – are more clear but still a little muddy. Cogliano and enforcer George Parros are all but locks; so are youngsters Brandon McMillan, Dan Sexton and Matt Beleskey if they don’t take a step backwards, and Jean-Francois Jacques. There could be one or two open positions –for a fourth-line center, or a third- or fourth-line left wing — with a decent crop of candidates lying in the AHL and junior ranks.

Considering his two-way potential and his faceoff skills, it’s safe to say that adding Cogliano should allow McMillan to switch to either the left or right wing. Counting those two, along with Beleskey, Dan Sexton, Kyle Palmieri or perhaps Emerson Etem -to name just four candidates -the Ducks could have a young third line with above-average speed.

“We dabbled in this a bit over the last year and a half,” general manager Bob Murray said. “The biggest thing for us is speed. We tried to increase our team speed the last couple of years and we really haven’t accomplished that. He can definitely skate.”
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Rakell goes to Ducks at No. 30.

The Ducks selected Rickard Rakell, a Swedish-born forward from the Ontario Hockey League, with their lone first-round draft pick Friday after trading down to No. 30.

The Ducks also acquired the 30th and the 39th overall picks from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for the 22nd overall pick.

“He’s very intelligent and he plays more of a North American
game than a European game,” Ducks general manager Bob Murray said. “He’s a good
two-way player and a smart player. He can play center or wing. We’re very happy
he was still there at 30.”

Rakell had 19 goals, 43 points and 12 penalty minutes in 49
games for the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League last season, his
first in North America. The 18-year-old played for Sweden at the World Junior
Championships and had three assists in five games at the tournament in Buffalo,
N.Y.

“I had a lot of meetings at the combine and they went really
well, especially with the Ducks,” Rakell told reporters in Minnesota.

Listed at 6-foot-1, 193 pounds, Rickard is “two or three
years” away from the NHL according to NHL Central Scouting’s Al Jensen.

Murray also said that he hasn’t received a decision from
star right wing Teemu Selanne, who is contemplating retirement.

“His knee acted up a little bit. Doctors looked at it,”
Murray said. “I think he wants to play hockey again. We’re just trying to see
how the knee goes.”

One more from Selanne.

Teemu Selanne told reporters before leaving Honda Center today that he plans to talk in depth with Paul Kariya about a possible reunion in Anaheim.

Kariya has not played in a year because of lingering post-concussion symptoms, which led Selanne on a tangent about hits to the head in the NHL.

“He’s healthy now but … if you saw all the hits that happened this year in the head, they’ve got to do something,” Selanne said. “Giving one or two games, it’s not going to, you know – if they want to take those out, they have to do more.”

His suggestion? “I guarantee that if you get 20 games one time, players are going to think twice if they do anything. It’s not worth it, you know.”

It was then suggested that Selanne become the NHL’s discipline czar when he does retired.

“I would be really good with that,” he replied, laughing. “I would be tough.”

How Paul Kariya figures into Teemu Selanne’s plans.

Teemu Selanne’s decision to play another season in the NHL will depend in part on … Paul Kariya?

Selanne said Tuesday that he’s interested to know if Kariya would return to Anaheim after missing all of the 2010-11 season with post-concussion symptoms.

“Obviously all the years that I had with Paul, it was just unbelievable,” Selanne said. “I talked to him yesterday and we’re going to meet next week. We didn’t even talk about injuries yet but I want to talk to him about how he’s doing, what he’s thinking and maybe go surf with him.”
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