NHL Anaheim

After taking a good chunk of last season to decide whether or not to return to the Anaheim lineup, it looks like future Hall of Fame defenseman Scott Niedermayer may be back in time for training camp next season. Here's Adam Brady from the official Ducks Blog:

I'm not going to get into the other topic on the table in Ducks land, but I will say that the buzz around here is that we will be hearing word from Scott Niedermayer as early as tomorrow morning. And while it's well-documented that I don't have a good reputation with this sort of thing, you can book it: He's coming back.

That's something that's got to cheer the Anaheim faithful. The next question has to be whether or not Teemu Selanne comes back, something that would force the team to make some difficult decision to remain under the cap -- something Battle of California took a look at a few days back. And if you're still not convinced about Niedermayer's value to the Anaheim defense, check out this analysis from fellow FanHouser Earl Sleek.

But there's more, including how Anaheim GM Brian Burke referred to the Edmonton Oilers as "dirty bastards," when talking about the compensatory draft picks the Ducks received from the Oilers after the free agent signing of Dustin Penner last year. Be sure to check out the whole post, as Brody passes along a lot of interesting comments from Burke that shed plenty of light on the situation in Anaheim.

In other Ducks news, Anaheim extended qualifying offers to four free agents, including winger Corey Perry.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman did what he had to do yesterday when he handed down an indefinite suspension of Anaheim Ducks owner Henry Samueli after the Ducks owner pleaded guilty to lying to investigators looking into the backdating of stock options at Broadcom, a company Samueli founded.

In addition, Samueli's wife, Susan, informed the league that she will abide by the terms of her husband's suspension to avoid any appearance of a conflict. In the interim, however long that lasts, Ducks chief executive and alternate governor Michael Schulman will take day-to-day control of the franchise.

So what happens next? The next critical date on the calendar for Samueli is August 18, where he is expected to be sentenced according to the terms of a plea agreement he came to with the government yesterday. However, that agreement is subject to the approval of the court -- which explains why Schulman told the Orange County Register that "it's not over yet," when he was asked about Samueli's sentence.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Anaheim Ducks owner Henry Samueli has pleaded guilty to charges that he lied to representatives of the Securities and Exchange Commission while they were investigating his role in the backdating of stock options at Broadcom, the company he co-founded. As part of a plea agreement, Samueli will serve five years probation and agree to pay a $12.2 million fine.

So what does it mean for the Ducks? Not a whole lot. Sure, this is an embarrassing and humiliating experience for Samueli -- a man who some would argue didn't do anything at Broadcom that plenty of other high-tech companies were doing at the same time -- but NHL Vice President Bill Daly has already said it wouldn't affect his ownership of the Ducks. While a $12.2 million fine would sting anybody, Samueli, whose net worth was pegged by Forbes back in 2003 at about $2.3 billion, can afford it pretty easily.

Every Thursday, Earl Sleek will conspire with his pen and scanner to bring you another installment of PuckToons. Hopefully you will find these amusing, relevant, well-drawn, or you're a person who is tolerant towards mediocrity.

This week's cartoon addresses two items related to GM Brian Burke of the Anaheim Ducks. First, he has given superstars Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne until tomorrow to commit to training camp, refusing to repeat last year's set of semi-retirement distractions. I wrote a post at Battle of California that talked about the impact of each player's return to the roster, and I hope that both decide to play another year in a Ducks uniform.

Burke also has been connected with rumors that once he has finished this season with the Ducks, he will take over the GM duties for the Toronto Maple Leafs. I can't say that this idea pleases me as a Ducks fan, but I'll save judgement until his decision has been made. At this point, Burke has at least created a lot of flexibility with next year's roster, which I certainly can appreciate.

Predictions on the futures of Scott Niedermayer, Teemu Selanne, or Brian Burke are all welcome in the comments.

Every Thursday, Earl Sleek will conspire with his pen and scanner to bring you another installment of PuckToons. Hopefully you will find these amusing, relevant, well-drawn, or you're a person who is tolerant towards mediocrity.

Well, I had better do some explaining on this cartoon, which laughs at the legal issues surrounding various members of the Anaheim Ducks organization. Yesterday, team owner Henry Samueli was named in a civil fraud complaint against Broadcom Corporation, though the Ducks have stated that the complaint will not affect team operations. Of course the Ducks players have other legal issues of their own:

• Todd Bertuzzi is still involved in the civil suit with Steve Moore's career-ending injury, back from his days in a Vancouver Canucks uniform. I've actually never written about this (and don't intend to start today), so instead I'll direct you to the capable blogging hands of Tom Benjamin for this story.
• Ryan Getzlaf has found his way into a bit of scandal with the California Highway Patrol. A CHP captain has been placed on leave while authorities investigate allegations he "fixed" a ticket for the Ducks' all-star center.
• Brad May, so far as I know, isn't involved in any official lawsuit, but if you believe the comment left at Battle of California (featured at the bottom of this post), at least one Phoenix lawyer is trying to collect on a judgment.
• Chris Pronger is probably clean on the legal front, but he's so widely despised by non-Duck fans for his on-ice elbowing and stomping suspensions that I had to throw him in the penalty box with the other guys.

Quite the collection of legal issues facing these Ducks (did I miss any?). I sure hope Wild Wing has brushed up on his courtroom etiquette.

Four days ago, the Penguins wrapped up an easy sweep over the Senators. Tonight, the Stars just sent the Ducks to join their opponents from last year's Stanley Cup Finals on the golf course with a relatively easy 3-1 victory over the defending champs, taking the series from them 4 games to 2.

Honestly, I was kind of alarmed by how non-chalant the Ducks were this entire series and I doubt I'm alone in that aspect. The Stars dominated the first two games with two wins by a cumulative 9-2 win before the Ducks even woke up. After winning two out of three, the Ducks only managed 17 shots tonight with their season on the line in Dallas and the prospect of a home game 7 looming. That's not going to win a playoff game against anyone.

That is, of course, not to take away from what the Stars did in this series. Their power play dominated the first two games and Marty Turco was stellar in the whole series. After Corey Perry gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead tonight, Stephane Robidas and Stu Barnes scored in the first 130 seconds of the third period, then mostly dominated the rest of the third period until the Ducks late flurry of fruitless, desperate shots. Even then, the Stars managed to add exclamation points from Loui Eriksson and Mike Modano.

Four fourth period goals allowed and only 17 shots with their playoff lives on the line? Yeah, it's time to give the Cup to someone else.

Like my former FanHouse colleague, Greg Wyshynski, it isn't terribly often that I find myself in agreement with Larry Brooks of the New York Post. But this morning, as he broke the news that the NHL has fined Anaheim Ducks defenseman $500,000 for not reporting to the team until midseason. As Brooks writes:

[T]he league has sought to punish Niedermayer by fining him approximately $500,000 of his $6.75M salary for missing training camp, unilaterally invoking Article 15.3 (f) of the CBA that reads, "For each day a Player does not report to Training Camp without his Club's permission, his pay will be reduced by 1/275th of his annual . . . salary."

As Brooks goes on to note, the decision to fine Niedermayer is all the more curious considering the fact that Anaheim General Manager Brian Burke gave the sure-fire first ballot Hall of Famer permission to take as much time as he liked to make up his mind to decided whether or not to return to the lineup. After all, the intent of this clause seems pretty clear in that it was designed to punish players who would attempt to hold out while under contract, and that clearly wasn't the case with the Ducks and Niedermayer, where the back and forth was actually friendly.

So what's the story behind the fine? According to Brooks, the league is afraid that Niedermayer's example will set a precedent where other team's might look to stash higher-salaried players off the ice to get some cap relief over the course of the season, only to bring them back to the lineup later when the total cap hit will be fractionally less.

Click here for more NHL playoff previews.

(Author's note: I'm a Ducks fan, deal with it.)

It has been five years since the NHL had a playoff game featuring two teams from the Pacific Division, when the top-seeded Stars lost in six games to the 7th-seeded Mighty Ducks in the second round of the 2003 playoffs. It was an amazing series from my perspective, at least. In all six games of the series Dallas was either tied or ahead with two minutes left in regulation, but the miracle Ducks managed to score four game-winners, each on their final shot of the game.

Fast forward ahead to 2008. The Ducks, no longer "Mighty", have won seven playoff series since that meeting, including the most recent Stanley Cup. The Stars, over the same stretch, have won none. It seems like this would be an opportunity for the Stars to get their playoff mojo back, but the blueline-heavy Ducks certainly have other ideas. This series will feature three of the last four winners of the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP; whose heroics will win this Pacific battle this time around? Let's take a look:

As the hockey world wraps its collective brain around the incredible Stanley Cup Playoff match-ups we've been given in Round One, it might be a good time to recall that the defending champions have lost exactly six games since Feb. 5. The Anaheim Ducks are trying to become the first team since the 1996-98 Detroit Red Wings to win back-to-back Stanley Cups. They draw the Dallas Stars in the four/five series -- one that could be decided by special teams, as Dallas went 0-for-15 in its three losses to Anaheim and 9-for-23 in its five wins.

Sports with Steve has made the argument that the Ducks are the team to beat in the postseason, and that "there's just nobody out there that can stop them in a seven-game series." If it's Anaheim's Cup to lose, that means someone is going to have to take it from them. And if this comedic attempt is any indication, that won't be easy -- beware the Parros!

Every Thursday, Earl Sleek will conspire with his pen and scanner to bring you another installment of PuckToons. Hopefully you will find these amusing, relevant, well-drawn, or you're a person who is tolerant towards mediocrity.

Sorry I've been away a few weeks; my new job is stomping away at my free time like ... well, you know who. I've dealt with a lot of angry commenters at Battle of California about Chris Pronger's eight-game suspension, and Jes and Greg have offered some good opinion here as well. Practically nobody seems happy about the NHL's response to the incident, so why not have some fun with it?

I will say this from the perspective of a Ducks fan. When Pronger gets suspended, two things seem to happen. Fans of opposing teams get angry at the team and the league for not punishing Pronger for long enough, and the Ducks themselves seem to react to that outcry with an "us versus the world" attitude, with solid on-ice results. Dating back to last year's Western Conference Finals, the Ducks have now won their last six games without Pronger in the lineup, all victories coming in regulation. I don't know how long those results can last, though; tomorrow night will be a huge test when the Ducks visit the unstoppable Sharks.

On a related note, this reminds me of the last big issue that rival fans had with the Ducks: how big are Scott Niedermayer's and Teemu Selanne's non-retirement decisions looking now, especially in this stretch where the Ducks are playing without Pronger and leading scorer Corey Perry?