Two Steps Forward, One Step Back for Ducks
by Karen Francis
Hockeytalk.biz

He is skating and getting into condition and he will skate with the team when they return from their road trip. He could return in as early as a week, depending on how fast it takes him to get back into top condition. “My job is to go out there and perform as well as I can when I do get on the ice. That’s what my focus is now, just to get ready and when I get on the ice, play as hard as I can for my teammates and for my team.”

Not so fast, Scott. Salary is not an issue as the Ducks are under the cap for this year and Niedermayer’s salary will be prorated for the time he was suspended. The problem is next year’s contract obligations that put them over the limits. This will require the reduction of about $900,000 in salary from next year’s payroll to accommodate Niedermayer’s return. Which brings us to…

The Ducks will need to make roster changes as soon as possible before Niedermayer can be activated. The Hockey News had a great article that explained tagging as best as it could, and still leaves your eyes glazing over in bewilderment. Rumors have been flying since Niedermayer’s announcement. The most likely candidates are defensemen, and they would include Sean O’Donnell ($1.6 million), Shane Hnidy ($760K) and Schneider ($5.5 million). Other candidates would include forward Todd Marchant whose $2.5 million salary next year is a sizeable chunk of change.

Remember that in addition to making room for Niedermayer, who still might retire at the end of this season anyway, the Ducks need to re-sign Corey Perry to an extension. They cannot do that until they have the space to do so. If the Ducks trade for another player, it frees up zero room next year unless the player has a contract expiring in June. Schneider would make sense with his contract. The money would free up space for Niedermayer this year, allow for money to re-sign Perry and maybe even get an offensive forward to help out this year.

The main problem is GM’s know that Burke is desperate to make moves, something he has been doing since mid November. Other GM’s might hold fast and not trade waiting to force Burke to put a player or two on waivers, as he had to do with goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, just so he can get rid of the money issue. There seem to be interested parties at this point, but who knows how this will end up? We can only wait and watch and figure that we will know within the next week to 10 days.

In the meantime, Geoff Platt was called up from the Portland Pirates due to a groin strain to Brian Sutherby. Platt had at least a point in each of the nine games played for the Pirates after he was acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets and played on a line with Bobby Ryan. Platt debuted in the Buffalo game and was inserted on a line with Andy McDonald and Todd Bertuzzi. The line had some good chemistry together right off the bat, which doesn’t always happen.

Last Sunday the Ducks continued their downward slide and were shut out by Edmonton, 4-0. They were outscored 9-1 in their two games against Edmonton. After their Canadian road trip, the Ducks looked tired and out of synch. Todd Marchant was a healthy scratch for only the second time in his career. The Ducks were angry at themselves for the performance and Rob Niedermayer quietly reflected after the game, “We’re the only guys, the guys in this room, that are going to turn this around. We just have to stay positive and work our room out of this. It’s not something in this league where it’s a switch that you can just turn on and off. It’s something that you have to work towards, that you have to commit to and that’s what we have to do in here.”

News of Niedermayer’s return buoyed a team in need of a boost. The Ducks played "the most workmen-like 60 minutes that we’ve played in probably the last 60 days” against Buffalo and earned a 4-1 win. Carlyle continued “That’s the type of game that we need to play.” After 128 minutes of being blanked, the Ducks finally found the back of the net and even had two power play goals. They killed all four penalties as well, a sign of more discipline.

The Ducks went on the road and started off with a continued good effort in Chicago, earning a 5-3 win. The Ducks had less penalties than the other team for the first time in 13 games. They took only three penalties, killing two of them. The Ducks were 1 for 6 on the power play themselves. The Ducks were outshot 42   21. Francois Beauchemin described it as “a big battle for both teams.”

The battle took a lot out of the Ducks as they headed to Nashville for their second game in as many nights. The Ducks found themselves in penalty trouble again. “This is an all-too-familiar statement. We are taking far too many penalties,” observed a frustrated coach Randy Carlyle after the game. The Ducks found themselves down a man and down a goal and never could dig out of their hole in a 4-2 loss. The only positive was killing nine out of ten penalties and getting a short handed goal at the end of the game. Fatigue was no excuse, as they have played five back to backs thus far in the season. Undisciplined and stupid would be the words that come to mind.

The Ducks don’t have a good enough penalty kill to take this many penalties night after night. Chris Pronger said that even if the Ducks do have a reputation, “You don’t always have to live up to your reputation.” It would be easy to say that Carlyle has been tearing his hair out over the penalty situation, but he didn’t have much to spare in the first place.

The Ducks remain at 79.9% penalty killing, which has moved up to 22nd overall. I cannot recall when the Ducks have been over 80% all season. For a team that had the 5th best penalty kill overall last year, these Ducks have a long way to go. And if you can’t kill them, don’t take them. That’s simple!

The power play is back up to 13.7%, 26th in the league. The Ducks still need to take advantage of their chances when they have them and not take stupid penalties that negate their advantage. When Scott Niedermayer does return to the line up, it is reasonable to assume that both stats will improve, but the Ducks should know better by now. They are responsible for their performance and actions on the ice and to depend on one player to turn things around is unfair and unrealistic. It is a team effort.

The Ducks are currently 14-13-4 on the season with 32 points. The Ducks are in third place in the Pacific Division behind Dallas and San Jose, who are tied with 34 points. The Ducks moved up to 7th place in the Western Conference. With four teams within two points of the Ducks, and only 8 points between the Ducks and last place in the conference, playoff spots are up for the grabs. Each point matters the deeper they go into the season.

Brian Sutherby has missed three games with a groin strain suffered in Sunday’s game against Edmonton. He is day to day and improving slowly.

Kent Huskins has missed two games with a bruised knee suffered in Wednesday’s game against Buffalo.

The Ducks have one more road game in Columbus on Monday. This is a building that has not been friendly to the Ducks. Staying out of the penalty box will help. The Ducks then come home to play Vancouver on Wednesday, Minnesota on Friday, and San Jose next Sunday. Scott Niedermayer is likely to rejoin the team with any one of those games, something that will boost the Ducks. The Ducks need more consistency, not just temporal boosts.

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