SoCal Exclusive: Dan Wood
By Joe K
Hockey in Southern California tends to be a tough match, as evident by the Los Angeles Times’s decision to assign one beat writer for both the LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks this season. However, unlike the Times, the Orange County Register has one beat writer specifically focused on the Ducks. His name is Dan Wood, who also happens to run
for the register. Due to his hockey expertise, we got him talking about the up-and-coming Bobby Ryan, Brian Burke’s future, and the upcoming 2008-2009 season.
Q: The Ducks were said to have one of the best defensive corps for the past two seasons. With the loss of Mathieu Schneider and Sean O’Donnell, are the Ducks still the top defensive team on paper?
I think the Ducks would still be right up there for that distinction, probably vying with Detroit and its top four of Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall and Brad Stuart. While Schneider is still a good player and should help Atlanta, even at age 39, I’m not sure he really fit with the Ducks after Scott Niedermayer returned last season. Schneider’s strength is offense, and he wasn’t on Anaheim’s top power-play unit and he played on their third pair at even strength. I think Ken Klee, who came
from the Thrashers in the Schneider trade, is a comparable player to O’Donnell, and Klee is a right-hand shot, which will probably enable Chris Pronger to switch over to his natural left side. I expect Kent Huskins to continue to grow as a player this season and get more ice time. The key for the Ducks, though, is being good on the ice, not merely on paper. Francois Beauchemin needs to bounce back to his 2006-07 form after an off season, and Niedermayer and Pronger both need to play better than they did last season, too. This team was built around Niedermayer and Pronger when it won
the Stanley Cup in 2007, and those guys need to be Anaheim’s best players.
Q: Will the Ducks be capable of hanging with teams like Dallas and San Jose or are the Ducks truly a sleeper in the Pacific?
I think the Ducks are being overlooked by virtually everyone in the mainstream hockey media, and I really don’t understand why. As many things as they had working against them last season, the Ducks still wound up with 102 points, matching the fourth-highest total in the league. As they enter
this season, everything with the notable exception of their remaining salary-cap challenges seems to be exactly as they want it. Even with their struggles last season, the Ducks went right down to the wire with Dallas and San Jose in the race for first place in the Pacific Division. I think a repeat scenario, with those three teams staging an epic battle, is more likely than not.
Q: Will Bobby Ryan be back with the Ducks for most of the year or be much like last year sharing more time in the minors?
Answering this question requires guesswork on what will happen with Anaheim’s salary-cap situation. The Ducks will enter the season dangerously close to the NHL’s $56.7 million limit, with virtually no flexibility to add players. Unless they subtract a significant amount of salary, likely by trading another veteran player, I don’t know how they will make room for Bobby Ryan. Having said that, I think an argument can certainly be made that Ryan deserves to be here now, based on his training-camp performance, but I don’t think he absolutely “demanded” to be here with an earth-shattering effort in camp and the exhibition campaign. If he lights it up in Iowa, he will likely force the Ducks into making a move to create room for him.
Q: Who was the most impressive prospect behind Bobby Ryan in the Ducks training camp?
The Ducks spoke highly of defenseman Brett Festerling, but that was due at least in part to the fact that Festerling has a lower salary-cap hit than fellow promising young defensemen Brian Salcido and Brendan Mikkelson. Salcido, an Orange County product, is more of an offensive-oriented defenseman, whereas Festerling and Mikkelson are more defensive types. I think we could see any or all three at some point this season, but again, Anaheim’s salary-cap issues are likely to play into this scenario, as well.
Q: Why has Brian Burke still not signed a contract extension when he seems to want to stay in Anaheim?
Burke cites family issues as the reason for the uncertainty surrounding his future. From my understanding, he wanted to take a significant amount of time, perhaps until Christmas, to try to sort through everything, which includes children from his first marriage living in the East. In many ways, working in the East would be preferable for Burke.
Having said that, he has talked many times about the great situation he has here and how much he likes working for Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli. I honestly don’t know what will happen here. My guess is it’s probably 50-50 that Burke stays beyond this season or resigns with an eye toward working elsewhere.
Note: Ken Armer was a major contributor to his interview