McIver was happy to finally get on the ice after practicing three times this past week with the Vancouver Giants, a WHL team.  “I couldn’t sit around all week and not do anything.”  During the hour and a half practice, McIver showed a lot of hustle.  While the coaching staff had gone over the systems when they were in Vancouver, McIver knows that it will “a few games and practices” to get it all down. “I’ll feel more comfortable every day.”

Coach Randy Carlyle had positive praise for McIver.  “It will take a few days for him to get up to speed, but he’s a worker,” said Carlyle.  “He’s not a flashy guy.  He’s a big, strong, stay-at-home defenseman.  He can be a physical force.  He’s got a good stick. We’re counting on him to be a defensive player for us.”

Even though McIver scored the game winning goal in overtime in Vancouver, he cautioned that he was not an offensive guy and not to expect that in the future.  “I don’t bring much offense. I make simple plays, move the puck, play physical and tough and fight when I have to.” Goaltender Roberto Luongo was certainly surprised at the rare goal from McIver.  In spite of practicing shootouts against Luongo daily in training camp, McIver had never gotten one past him before.  “He was kind of giving it to me afterward,” McIver said with a grin.  “He said he didn’t what I was going to do.”  McIver used his forehand to put it past his former goaltender.

While McIver was at practice, George Parros was absent.  Parros was given a “maintenance day” for a bruise.  After skating yesterday and not seeing any improvement, they all felt it best to give him “complete rest” to let it heal.   Naturally the location of the injury was not disclosed.

Tomorrow the Ducks will open their season at home against the Phoenix Coyotes.   Carlyle stated that the main focus is “looking to rebound from our performance” against San Jose.   The rest of the pomp and circumstance is for the fans.

Carlyle had mentioned earlier in the week that the Ducks needed to establish their identity and work ethic right from the start.  Thursday night’s game was neither the identity nor work ethic they wanted to be associated with.  “They obviously played well under our capabilities.  We talked about it.  We lacked the passion that’s necessary to have success.”  When asked if it was a bit early to be having these kinds of discussions with the team, Carlyle responded, “With this group, it’s been something we haven’t had to talk about very often.”

The Ducks were undisciplined, taking five penalties in the second period alone.  It left goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere “under siege,” which as Carlyle said is “tough on a goalie.”  It would be easier if the penalties called were borderline or questionable.  They weren’t.  Carlyle simply said, “We were responsible for our actions.”

Teemu Selanne wished that the Ducks had another game this evening, to get the bad taste out of their mouth.  Instead, they have to wait until Sunday to put Thursday’s results behind them and exorcise their undisciplined, passionless demons.  “We need a couple good games under our belt,” observed Selanne.  Disappointed Ducks fans would agree.

In other news, Nathan McIver finally was granted a work visa and will be traveling to Southern California this evening.  McIver is anticipated to join the team for tomorrow’s practice, his first.  McIver got the game winning goal against his former team on Sunday in pre-season, but was unable to travel out of Canada with the Ducks until his visa was approved.

Carlyle had been iterating all during training camp that the Ducks, while doing relatively well, still needed to step things up a notch and work at a higher level.  Tonight, that was evident.  The Ducks had the best of the Sharks last season, going 5-1-2 in eight division match-ups.   That won’t be happening this year.

The Ducks got out to a decent enough start in the first period, even though both teams remained scoreless after twenty minutes.   In the second period, it started to go to hell in a handbasket.  Jean-Sebastien Giguere let in the first goal by Jonathan Cheechoo at 2:32 after he was unable to control the rebound from Dan Boyle’s shot.  The puck rebounded right to Cheechoo’s stick and the Duck killer had no problem putting it behind Giguere.   Why did the Sharks have the scoring chance in the first place?  Duck turnover, a rather unpalatable entree made worse in the fact that it was Scott Niedermayer.

The Ducks then decided to start their trek to the penalty box, taking five penalties in the second period alone and seven overall.  The Sharks were happy to convert on two of those opportunities.  Cheechoo got his second goal of the game at 6:44 just as a 5 on 3 expired.  Who were the two players in the penalty box?  Teemu Selanne and Niedermayer.  Luckily the Ducks did not remain on the penalty as Selanne’s penalty had just expired :04 seconds before Cheechoo scored.   Giguere, who was stuck in a shooting gallery at one end while Evgeni Nabokov caught up on the local paper at the other, kept the Ducks in the game making 19 saves in the second period alone.  Nabokov?  3 saves for the period.

The Sharks continued scoring in the third period, again on the power play.  Christian Ehrhoff got his shot through plenty of traffic to make it 3-0 at 2:52.  The Ducks finally realized that a hockey game is played at both ends and at 14:35, the other Niedermayer (Rob) tipped in a beauty of a shot by newcomer Steve Montador.  No more shutout for Nabokov.  The Sharks did not let the Ducks further in the game and extended their lead once again at 15:57.  Devin Setoguchi and Patrick Marleau had a breakaway, with Setoguchi getting the goal and making it 4-1.

The Ducks ended the game with 29 shots on goal, the Sharks with 41, a number that the Ducks have to drastically reduce if they want to have success this season.  The Ducks were not disciplined enough and it cost them dearly in two points in the standings and to a division rival.   You cannot fault them for a lack of offense because it’s hard to score when you are constantly short-handed in your own end.   Yet when they did get chances, they simply could not convert, with the exception of one goal.

On Sunday the Ducks open at home against another division rival, the Phoenix Coyotes.  Although the Coyotes looked pretty docile in the pre-season, nothing is guaranteed.  The Ducks will now have two days to regroup and practice and start preparing for game two of the season.  The question becomes, how will they respond?

First, you can mail a check, cash or money order to:

Ducks Charity Fund
c/o Chris & Dawn Wassel
PO Box 424
Yucca Valley, CA 92286-0424

Checks are to be made out to Chris Wassel, who will handle the accounting for the checks/cash/money order part of the fundraiser.

Please include your name, address and email and Chris will confirm the receipt and amount of your donation. If you need a tax receipt, please include a self addressed stamped envelope. International money orders will work for those not in the United States who wish to donate to the fund.

Second, you can donate via Paypal.  https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=LZqrbz8dPSOGwNE9kZ3ZvrMqfv4kuOOdFO_WWwGKBBx7GvU3xrm9Y4bzYzW&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f38432c9462fe7313791b4c12e10393706e418936fde86cce

The current total is over $400, with donations still arriving.

While the current vitriol between Lowe and Ducks GM Brian Burke has stopped for now (sure helps to have a cease and desist order by the NHL League offices!), Ducks and Oilers fans are still raging against each other.   The best way to get the last word is to beat them and giving money to charity is always a good thing.

The salary cap has some interesting rules and regulations.  One of the rules is that a team is allowed to go over the salary cap by as much as the salary of a player placed on injured reserve minus the total amount the team is under the salary cap.  Therefore, the closer to the cap, the more salary you can claim later on.  For example, if you are $100,000 below the cap and the player’s salary is $750,000, you can deduct $650,000.  If you are $10,000 below the cap, you would be able to deduct $740,000.  Clearly a team would desire the larger amount that would work in their favor.

The Ducks do know that Brad Larsen, who was obtained in the Mathieu Schneider trade with Atlanta, will be on injured reserve for at least the next six weeks.  Larsen ended up having sports hernia surgery on Friday, October 3.  In order to get cap relief, the injured player must miss at least 10 games, and the team will have to request that relief.  In light of how close the Ducks have been to the salary cap, they are extremely likely to apply for that relief from Larsen’s salary, which is $535,000.

Assistant GM David McNab was unavailable to talk to the media this morning as he was on a league conference call finalizing rosters.  Further clarification from McNab, who is intimately acquainted with all the ins and outs and nuances of finances in the NHL, is expected later today.  Pushing the salary cap is not unusual, but most teams keep an extra player until the roster is set and then send them down.  In this case, LeNeveu had already been sent to Iowa before being sent on a trek for frequent flyer miles and a day-trip to California.

In the meantime, the Ducks have flown to San Jose in anticipation of opening night.  LeNeveu remained in Anaheim and will likely be returned to Iowa tomorrow.  The Ducks could have recalled any player, as long as they did not put the Ducks over the cap.

Also not joining the Ducks will be newcomer Nathan McIver.  McIver was acquired off waivers from Vancouver and scored the game winning overtime goal on Sunday night in Vancouver against his former team.  However, McIver is still waiting for his visa and work permit issues to be resolved before he can join the team.  McIver has never been a US resident, so the paperwork takes longer to process.  In the meantime, McIver continues to work out with a hockey team in Vancouver (not the Canucks!).  As soon as the paperwork is approved he will rejoin the team, which could be as soon as the next couple of days.  Although the Ducks travel to Toronto on October 21 for a five-day Canadian road trip, one would hope these issues are resolved long before then.

Coach Randy Carlyle, who ultimately decides which players are captains, praised Niedermayer.  “Scotty is a tremendous leader and has been for his entire career.  We have several experienced leaders on this team and we will need them to work as a group in order for us to have success.”  Carlyle said that he spoke with both Niedermayer and Pronger last April about the possibility of Niedermayer becoming captain again, as he was already “leaning in that direction.”  However, at that time it was still unknown if Niedermayer would return for another year or retire.  Regardless, Carlyle stated that Pronger supported the idea “110%.”

Niedermayer was as even-keeled as ever after the announcement was made.  “It’s an honor to be named team captain.  We have several great leaders in the locker room and I’m just happy to be part of that.”  When asked if it was uncomfortable taking back the captaincy from Pronger, Niedermayer honestly responded, “Neither of us is really goign to change.  We both would respect each other no matter who had the “C.”  I don’t think there is an issue at all.”

Pronger concurred.  “I think it’s a natural progression.  Last year it was in my court because Scotty wasn’t around.  He’s obviously back and committed to being here.”  In many ways, Pronger is likely to be relieved of the responsibilities of wearing the “C.”  Many fans felt that he lost a bit of his edge (if that is possible) last season by having the responsibility of captaincy.

This is Getzlaf’s first time to be an assistant captain, a further sign that the Ducks are further grooming him to be the face of the franchise.   Carlyle said the Ducks are “asking him to be more of a presence, not only on the ice play, in the dressing room, the community, all of those things.”  Learning those responsibilities are “imperative.”  Getzlaf himself acknowledged that “It’s an honor.  With the guys in our room and amount of leaders we have, it’s definitely an honor.  The guys who have had it around the room, who have all worn letters for a lot of their career, they see another chance for a young guy like myself to be able to come up and be a leader like they are.”  Getzlaf is already the honorary captain of the Wild Winger’s Kid’s Club this year.

The Ducks made the announcement this morning during the Ducks practice.  The players had an hour long practice before another half an hour of long conditioning laps.   Even the “new” captain, who is in impeccable condition, was bending over trying to catch his breath.  He had recovered fully by the time the media interviewed him about his new position.

Also, in other Ducks news Joakim Lindstrom was reclaimed off waivers from Chicago earlier today.  He was sent to Iowa, as had been his original destination.

The Ducks are carrying 2 goalies, 7 defensemen and 14 forwards.  Brad Larsen, however, will be starting the season on the injured reserve list as he just had sports hernia surgery last week.  That leaves 13 healthy forwards to start the year - 12 to play and one healthy scratch to rotate into the line-up.

The Ducks will open the season in San Jose on Thursday against the Sharks and will have their home opener on Sunday, October 12, against the Phoenix Coyotes.

In the first period the Ducks were outshot 11-4 by the Canucks, but still managed to head off the ice with a 1-1 tie.   Former Canuck, Brendan Morrison, was playing against his former team for the first time and reminded Canucks fans why they will miss him.  Morrison got the first goal just as a power play was expiring at 9:04, his first goal of the pre-season.  Henrik Sedin tied up the game on a power play of their own at 13:36.   Jean-Sebastien Giguere saved the first shot from Sedin’s brother, Daniel, but could not prevent Henrik from scoring as well.

The scoring continued back and forth in the second period.  Travis Moen, who has been seeing time on the top line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, had his first goal of the pre-season at 5:43.  Mason Raymond tied things up at 9:25 on another power play goal.   The Ducks answered back just :27 seconds later as Perry redirected a shot from Getzlaf at 9:52.   Raymond earned his second goal of the game at 11:50 and ended the period tied once again at 3-3.

At some point, the tie had to be broken, but it would take overtime before the game would be decided.  Defenseman Nathan McIver, who had just been picked off waivers from Vancouver yesterday, was in the box for holding at the end of the third period.  There was still :13 left on the penalty to start the extra period.  When McIver got out of the box, he got the pass from Sami Pahlsson and took off down the ice towards his former teammate, Roberto Luongo.  McIver put it past the goalie, giving the Ducks the win at just :22 seconds of OT.

The Ducks finish the pre-season with a 6-1-1 record and look good going into the regular season which begins for the Ducks in San Jose on Thursday.

The Ducks also announced that Brad Larsen, who was picked up from Atlanta as part of the Mathieu Schneider trade, will be out for at least six weeks recovering from sports hernia surgery.  Larsen came to Anaheim injured and was sent to see a specialist in Philadelphia who determined that surgery was necessary.  Larsen will begin the season on the injured reserve list.

So what led to Ryan being sent to Iowa? There are so many factors that led to the #2 draft pick in 2005 being sent to Iowa, it makes the head spin.   Certainly the immediate factor is the salary cap and the fact that the Ducks have to be under the maximum salary cap by opening night on October 9.   “It is definitely cap related,” Burke said. “That’s an enormous part of this. We’ve looked at 100 ways to try to start the season and have the option of keeping Bobby. We can’t do that. Bobby Ryan is a great kid. I wish there were better options to deal with this situation, but there are not.”

The question then becomes how did the Ducks get themselves into this kind of salary cap trouble?  The salary cap is not new and all 30 teams have been operating under the same rules and guidelines since the lockout.  “I think people are going to take this opportunity to blast the cap system, or the Players Association,” Burke said. “We don’t fault the league or the union. This is the landscape we live in. The same set of rules applies to every team.”   Burke certainly knows the rules, so you have to ask why was he unable to make things work for the Ducks?  That’s part of his job, isn’t it?  Only the Ducks seem to be having this kind of complex difficulty with remaining under the cap.

You have to start looking back at some of the decisions that Burke made in the past that contributed to this problem that the Ducks are experiencing today.  Burke’s focus was to build a Stanley Cup winning team.  When Burke arrived he got rid of players who weren’t pulling their weight and added others who did.  After a loss to Edmonton in the Western Conference finals in 2006, Burke went after unhappy Oilers defenseman, Chris Pronger, and brought him over to the Ducks, along with a hefty contract that the Oilers were better able to manage in their overall salary scheme.  Even with Pronger’s $6 million salary, the Ducks were still ok, though.

After the Ducks won the Stanley Cup, it was expected that Teemu Selanne would contemplate retirement and go out on top.  The surprise shocker was Scott Niedermayer also was unsure of whether or not he wanted to keep playing.   Niedermayer was still under contract, but Selanne was an unrestricted free agent.  Both players were given as long as they wanted to make decisions.  That was a blunder, in hindsight, as Burke expected both players to make a timely decision and not wait until December and January to state their intentions.

In light of not having decisions from Niedermayer and Selanne, Burke had no choice but to go out and theoretically replace both players.   That was a reasonable decision.   The problem was not taking into account the possibility that both Niedermayer and Selanne could come back and if they did, how would that affect the overall salary cap picture.   Burke went out and signed Mathieu Schneider to a two year contract that paid him just under $6 million per year.   Burke then signed Todd Bertuzzi to a two year contract that paid him $4 million per year.   It was a lot of money, but Burke felt both players would pay off for the Ducks.

Bertuzzi played in 68 games and had 14 goals and 26 assists.  Schneider played in 65 games and had 12 goals and 27 assists.   Both were reasonable results, but Bertuzzi did not perform as well as had been hoped.   As a result, Burke bought out Bertuzzi’s contract in June after placing him on waivers.  No one picked him off waivers and the Ducks were left with a cap hit of $1.3 million over the next two years.  Ouch.   In hindsight, that money could have helped pay for Bobby Ryan this year.

When Niedermayer decided to continue playing, Burke claimed that it would be unfair to Schneider to move him.  For a man who frequently confesses that he is “not a sentimental guy,” Burke should have made the right decision and moved Schneider’s salary that was only there to replace Niedermayer.  Burke knew that he would need to re-sign both Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, two players who were going to be restricted free agents on July 1.   Instead, Burke moved Andy McDonald to the St. Louis Blues, a completely unexpected move that brought Doug Weight in return.  Weight never developed chemistry with linemates and was even benched for poor performance.  The absence of McDonald added to the lack of offensive production for the Ducks last season.

By not moving Schneider, Burke only had cap room to re-sign Getzlaf to a contract extension.  There was no money leftover for even a bag of pucks.  Perry had to wait until July 1 to sign, which meant the possibility that he could test the waters and entertain offer sheets from other teams.  Dustin Penner did that last year and the Ducks lost him to a ridiculous contract offer from Edmonton.  Burke did the smart thing and chose to waive the right to match the offer, something that would have choked the salary cap even further.  It was fortunate that Perry was determined to remain a Duck and was patient to wait.   Other teams would have been clicking their heels in joy at the opportunity to take the “burden” of Perry from the Ducks.  Both Getzlaf and Perry earned hefty new contracts - bad for the already tight salary cap but great for the Ducks in the long term and a good decision by Burke to do so.

Certainly hindsight is 20/20, but not moving Schneider’s salary last December was a move that Burke probably regrets a bit now.  When Niedermayer announced he was definitely going to come back for the final year of his contract, the writing was on the wall.  Burke tried to move Schneider all summer long.   As training camp neared, Burke was forced to put Schneider on waivers, but again, no one picked him up.  Schneider was told to stay home from camp as a trade was “imminent.”  Imminent took longer than expected and it was another week before Burke could find a trading partner in Atlanta.  However, Burke was forced to take players in exchange and was handed Ken Klee, an injured Brad Larsen, and a prospect.

There was a subtraction from the salary cap, but not enough.  Next to go was Sean O’Donnell who was sent to Los Angeles for a draft pick.  Still not enough.  Burke continued to have his back against the wall and was forced to make more moves.   Bobby Ryan became the next victim of Burke’s mismanagement and seeming lack of forethought.

“Bobby Ryan had an excellent camp,” Burke said. “He did everything we asked him to do in the off-season. We challenged him this summer to get his fitness level to where it should be, and he did that.”  Yes, Ryan did do everything expected of him.  Coach Randy Carlyle was disappointed Ryan had to go, admitting that Ryan’s “performance made it difficult to do the reassignment, but in the new world of the NHL, cap issues are cap issues. He falls into that category.”

“He’s a young player that’s made huge strides with our organization,” Carlyle said. “I talked to him at length about how he has changed his body makeup, the way he approaches the game from the standpoint of not being a high-risk, high-reward player. He demonstrated that in training camp. He changed a lot of the things that he was trying to do on the ice, became more of a guy willing to grind the puck, keep it in the offensive zone and not play that high-risk, high-reward, turnover game.”  None of that matters when the numbers are against you.

Ryan himself said, “I think if they told me I wasn’t ready yet, it would be easier to take than if it was a salary-cap situation.”  Then to add insult to injury, Burke further stated to the media that “Our goal is to find a way to get him back here on our team, if — and only if, and I stressed this to Bobby — he’s dominating at that (AHL) level. He did that last year in the playoffs. If he does that, we’ll try to find a way to bring him back.”  If?  In 16 games Ryan led the Pirates in the playoffs with 9 goals and 11 assists.  Add to the fact that he is probably in the best shape ever, there is no reason he won’t tear things up.

So assuming there is no “if” but rather “when,” what next? Burke continued to astonish Ducks fans with the statement that if they couldn’t make room in Anaheim, they would “find him another organization.”  Nothing like building up your top prospect.   Burke had no problem being “fair” to goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov last year and let him go for nothing in return.  He claimed he was unable to find a trading partner (or more likely a trading partner that offered a reasonable trade in return) and let Bryzgalov go on waivers to Phoenix, a division rival no less.   It was fortunate that the Kings were doing as well as they were at the time, or else Bryzgalov would have gone to that organization instead, a bitter pill for Ducks fans to swallow.

There has been much speculation that Burke will not even be in Anaheim next year, as his contract runs out.  Assuming you have not been in a cave for the past year, you would know that Toronto is the most likely place that Burke will end up.  While there are many positives that Burke has brought to the Ducks, there are also negatives and transactions that even Burke himself admitted he screwed up (goaltender Michael Leighton, who got picked off waiver wires).

It would be nice to blame one event or circumstance when determining why Bobby Ryan is an Iowa Chop and not an Anaheim Duck to start the year, but there isn’t.  Yet in many ways the finger does continue to point at Burke, whose good and bad decisions along the way added up to a problem with the salary cap.  One can only hope that Ryan continues to hold his head high, work hard and can make a reappearance on the Anaheim roster as he deserves.