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DECEMBER 16, 2007 -- ANAHEIM -- Yes, we’re coming up on Shark Week for the Ducks. Sunday, Tuesday, and Saturday the Ducks get to meet their Pacific Division rivals in games that are sure to be interesting. Sunday is at home and will feature the first appearance by Scott Niedermayer this season. The other two will be at the Shark Tank in San Jose. Somehow the Colorado Avalanche got squeezed in as an extra bonus at home on Wednesday.

SCOTT NIEDERMAYER

On Monday, the Ducks rebounded from their errors in Nashville and managed to power a 4-3 overtime win in Columbus against the Blue Jackets. Corey Perry learned his lesson from being benched in the third period against Nashville. “It was something I had to take to heart and move forward.” Perry scored two power play goals and barely missed a hat trick by hitting the goal post. “Good things happen when you stay out of the penalty box.” The Ducks went 3 for 6 on the power play, including the game winner in overtime. Sami Pahlsson converted his first ever career penalty shot, which counted as a short handed goal. “That was fun!” Jean-Sebastian Giguere looked strong in goal stopping 32 of 35 shots. The Ducks were able to come home from their three game road trip 2-1-0.

Andy McDonald was traded on Friday afternoon to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Doug Weight, Michal Birner and a 7th round draft pick in 2008. GM Brian Burke had nothing but praise for McDonald, but the reality is, he was not producing this year. This was primarily due to the unofficial retirement of Teemu Selanne and the shifting of Chris Kunitz to the Corey Perry/Ryan Getzlaf line. After nearly eight years with the Ducks organization, McDonald commented “Right now I guess this is a new big moment in my career, and I’m looking forward to it.” McDonald will be reunited with former teammate Paul Kariya in St. Louis. The trade was able to free up enough tagging room to accommodate Scott Niedermayer’s return.

Doug Weight did not arrive in time for practice on Saturday, but he should have no problem jumping right into things on Sunday afternoon against the Sharks. There is great hope that Weight will have some chemistry with Todd Bertuzzi, something McDonald was unable to develop. Weight had to waive his no trade clause for the trade to happen. “Each minute, I get more and more excited to be part of that team. Hopefully the reason they want me is they know I’m going to compete. I’m going to play as hard as I can every time I put on the uniform.” Weight will put on #39, as always.

Defenseman Bruno St. Jacques, who was recently reacquired and signed by the Ducks, was called up from Portland to fill in the gap while Kent Huskins is missing. He was sent back to Portland on Saturday after Niedermayer was removed from suspension and put back on the active list.

Geoff Platt was also sent back to Portland. However, Bobby Ryan got his first call up of the year. Ryan made the team out of training camp and went to England to start the season and then was sent to Portland afterwards. Randy Carlyle observed that Ryan has “worked extremely hard. He has a better understanding of the expectations of how he’s to play. The one thing he has is big-league skill.” He should be in the line up on Sunday.

Brian Sutherby was removed from the IR and played in Wednesday’s game against the Canucks. The groin injury flared back up in the third period and the Ducks are going to be more cautious with his return this time.

Kent Huskins took Sutherby’s place on the IR with a bruised/sprained knee suffered December 5. He is wearing a knee brace and doing off ice workouts to re-strengthen the knee. He had his first full practice on Saturday and you could see the progress he had made from just a few short days ago.

Travis Moen caught a puck in the face from assistant coach Dave Farrish on Wednesday. He had a 1 ½” gash that required several stiches to close the wound. He did not miss any games.

Brad May took a puck in the foot at practice on Saturday and left with a wrapped, swollen foot and hobbled out on crutches. He is questionable for Sunday’s game.

Sami Pahlsson continues to take “maintenance” days for lingering pelvic area inflammation that was not corrected by the hernia surgery he had this summer. He is working diligently on strengthening and improving the area and giving it as much rest as it needs. It is not significant enough for him to miss any games at this point. However, it was revealed that this has been nagging him for the past 18 months.

The Ducks continue to get plenty of opportunities to improve their penalty kill. The opposing teams certainly get enough power plays thanks to the Ducks. The team appeared to be slowly improving but the game against Minnesota saw four consecutive power play goals. Thus, the current stat is 78.8%, which puts them in 24th around the league. It will be interesting to see how Niedermayer’s return will help the penalty killing stats.

The power play is up this week to 15.4%, 21st in the league. The Ducks have received much fewer chances on the power play than their opponents and getting the occasional goal here and there has helped. The Ducks went 4 in 10 opportunities in their games this week, which is why the stat has improved.

The Ducks are currently 15-15-4 on the season with 34 points. The Ducks are still in third place in the Pacific Division. They are 6 points behind the division leading Dallas Stars. The Ducks have dropped to 11th place in the Western Conference, although there are three other teams tied with points. The Ducks have played the most games of all of those teams.

The Ducks need to be better than .500 if they are going to get a chance at the playoffs in spring. Right now, they are pinning their hopes on Scott Niedermayer to help turn things around. Reality is, it will take every single guy in that locker room to be on the same page and pulling in the same direction to turn this around. Niedermayer cannot be expected to haul his teammates, but his leadership can certainly help point them in the right direction.

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2008 Western Hockey Network 

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12/15/07 -- ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Anaheim Ducks announced today that the National Hockey League (NHL) club has recalled right wing Bobby Ryan from the Portland Pirates, Anaheim’s primary development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL).

Ryan, 20 (3/17/87), scored 10-14=24 points with a +6 rating and six penalty minutes (PIM) in 25 games with the Pirates this season. At the time of his recall, he led Portland in plus/minus (+6), was tied for the team lead in power play goals and ranked second in goals and points. He recorded seven multiple-point games, including a season-high 2-1=3 point contest on Nov. 17 at Worcester. That Nov. 17 game sparked an 11-game stretch that produced 7-6=13 points for Ryan prior to his Anaheim promotion.

Originally selected by Anaheim in the first round (second overall) of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Ryan began the 2007-08 regular season with the Ducks. He appeared in four games with Anaheim from Sept. 29-Oct. 5, scoring 1-0=1 point before being assigned to Portland on Oct. 6

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