Notebook: It's a case of road sweet road for surging Ducks
In theory, it should have been a much better way for the Anaheim Ducks to launch the new season. Especially since their ultimately failed Stanley Cup defense last year was hampered -- and in the minds of some derailed -- because the team began with a rough road trip that kicked off overseas in London.
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| After a slow start, Ryan Getzlaf has picked up his production for the Ducks. (Getty Images) |
Sometimes early season records can be deceiving, but in this case, it was actually a fair reflection of how things were going for the Ducks. Anaheim had myriad problems coming out of training camp, struggling on defense and special teams, taking too many penalties and failing to produce any offense to speak of.
In fact, Anaheim looked so uninspired, there were even some suggestions that coach Randy Carlyle's job might be in jeopardy only 15 months after winning a league title. General manager Brian Burke quickly put that speculation to rest, but the Ducks still seemed in danger of falling out of the division race before the first month was over because of the start, prompting the minions in the dressing room to start waxing about the need to get away for a while.
"We'll spend a bit more time together and maybe start feeling like real teammates and building something," said Scott Niedermayer after the Ducks dropped the finale of their homestand.
At the time, the comment sounded like little more than a captain doing damage control by putting the best face on a bad situation. But there was obviously something to the notion.
Anaheim left the comforts of home and swept the trip by winning in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Columbus. And when the Ducks returned for their first game Wednesday against the defending Stanley Cup champs from Detroit, they kept things going with an impressive 5-4 comeback overtime victory to go over the .500 mark for the first time.
"The road trip was very good for us," said Teemu Selanne, who picked up a hat trick against the Red Wings. "We were able to be together as a team, have a couple parties and all of a sudden we're good."
That should be a scary thought for the rest of league, especially now that the Ducks are putting their overall game together and, more important, getting their swagger back. Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who wasn't sharp a couple of weeks ago, has played a big role in the turnaround, but the real key has been the top line coming to life, in particular center Ryan Getzlaf.
The line, which includes wingers Corey Perry and Chris Kunitz, had combined for just two assists before the trip began but has put together six goals and 23 points since, with Getzlaf getting 10 of them, including five assists against the Red Wings. And as long as that unit keeps on rolling, chances are the Ducks will, too.
"They're young guys who never really went through (a slump) like that before, but they're going to be better players because of it," said Giguere, whose club will play eight of its next nine at home, with the only road game being in Los Angeles. "That's a big positive for us."
Not so truthfully speaking
Goaltender Rick DiPietro is out of the New York Islanders lineup again even if no one is quite sure exactly what the problem is. And that's the way league GMs want it, although there are some who wonder why.
"I can see where it sounds like you don't want anyone to know if a guy has maybe a bad hand and you're going to start slashing his hand, but I don't think that's going to happen regularly," Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla said a league conference call this week. "It could be more transparent."
Don't bet on it. During the playoffs, NHL general managers voted to limit how much information is disclosed about player injuries after Red Wings GM Ken Holland brought up the subject at their meetings. Holland was concerned that forward Johan Franzen was being targeted after suffering from concussion-like symptoms and got unanimous support for his proposal.
The new dictate prohibits teams from falsifying or misrepresenting an injury but does not require specifics to be revealed. And that makes the policy a lot weaker than that of the NFL, which mandates a weekly injury report with full disclosure. Then again, there is a lot more money wagered on football games than on hockey.
For the record, DiPietro is now sidelined because he "incurred a lower body injury unrelated to his previous injuries," according to the Islanders. He has had two concussions and surgery on both hips and his right knee in the past two-plus seasons, the most recent coming last June.
The recovery period from the latest surgery kept DiPietro out of New York's lineup for the first four games of the season. He returned and started only three times before coming out after the first period against Carolina last Saturday.
There has been no indication from the team when he might return, which makes it seem as if the struggling organization is less concerned about the potential for their goalie being targeted than the public relations implications. New York raised plenty of eyebrows when it awarded DiPietro what amounted to the first lifetime contract in NHL history in 2006, a 15-year deal worth $67.5 million.
Icings
• With the holiday season approaching, there are a slew of hockey books set to be released, but a new tome penned by Theo Fleury promises to be particularly revealing. Fleury managed to score 455 goals in 15 season with four teams, but his career still failed to reach its full potential because of problems he had off the ice. Fleury told the Calgary Herald this week that nothing will be off limits in the book, including tales of his partying, binges and long-rumored possible involvement in a sex scandal with convicted junior hockey coach Graham James.
• Not that we're trying to be Page 6, but there was another junior hockey sex scandal in the news this week involving former player agent David Frost. You may recall the name in relation to Mike Danton, the former St. Louis Blues player now serving a federal sentence for allegedly plotting to have Frost killed. Now Frost, 41, is being tried in Napanee, Ontario, on charges of sexual exploitation when he coached a teenage team back in the early 1990s. Frost is accused, among other things, of coercing some of his players and their girlfriends to have three-way sex with him.
• The difference a day makes. The NHL has quietly fixed a scheduling goof by moving the trade deadline back one day to March 4. The original date had 24 teams in action, which would have cost everyone at least one game with their new acquisitions, not to mention taking the spotlight off key contests in the home stretch of the schedule. There are only two games March 4.
• Brendan Shanahan has apparently given up on returning to the New York Rangers. The 39-year-old veteran made it clear all summer than he wanted to be on Broadway and nowhere else, but the Rangers never really warmed to the idea and left him in limbo. The New York Post is now reporting that Shanahan has told his agent to explore other options. "It's time to move on," Shanahan told the newspaper.
They said it
"In today's game, it's considered a clean check. And yet it's a very dangerous check. When a player is vulnerable like that, you're putting yourself in a position to injure another player. Right, wrong or indifferent, danger can occur. Brandon won't do that again. I'm not blaming anybody, but I know firsthand a check like that wouldn't have happened 20 years ago because you know what the consequences would've been." -- Devils coach Brent Sutter, whose son, Brandon, suffered a concussion playing for the Carolina Hurricanes last week after taking an open-ice hit from Doug Weight of the Islanders. Sutter had his head down and was reaching for the puck when the incident occurred.
