The Ducks also hired Brent Flahr, Jeff Crisp and Pavel Routa to the scouting department. Flahr will work with amateur and professional scouting in the NHL, the AHL, the USHL and high-school leagues in the northeastern USA. Crisp will be an amateur scout for Minnesota high schools, Western Canadian Tier II hockey and the USHL. Routa will scout in Europe for the European leagues and international tournaments. Flahr and Routa both previously worked with the Florida Panthers (former employees of GM Bryan Murray) and Crisp last worked with the Calgary Flames.
From September 4 to 8, at the HealthSouth Training Center in El Segundo, California, the Ducks prospects will compete in the First Annual Rookie Tournament against top prospects from the Los Angeles Kings, the Phoenix Coyotes and the San Jose Sharks. The Kings will host the tournament this year and it will rotate to the various participants’ venues each year. Joffrey Lupul, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Mikael Holmqvist and Chris Kunitz are among the Ducks prospects listed to attend. The full rookie camp roster can be found here(PDF File). One interesting name on the list is A.J. Maclean, son of assistant coach Paul Maclean. He’s there on a try-out contract.
Ryan Getzlaf and Tim Brent attended the Team Canada World Junior 2004 training camp in August. Getzlaf impressed with his hard-hitting style and showed offensive wizardry (outscoring the combined efforts of the no. 2 and no. 3 overall picks in the 2003 draft, Eric Staal and Nathan Horton). Brent was hampered by a shoulder injury but did play in the final game of the camp, registering three assists and had some good scoring opportunities.
The Ducks signed 24-year-old center, Keith Aucoin to a one-year contract. Aucoin played last season with Providence in the AHL, leading them in points and assists. He also played in four playoff games with the Boston Bruins. Aucoin will provide depth for the Ducks and veteran scoring for Cincinnati.
The Ducks are also in talks with the San Diego Gulls of the ECHL to be their affiliate for the 2003-04 season. The agreement could see the Ducks send six players to the Gulls. At least one current Duck is familiar with San Diego, center Steve Rucchin spent time playing there during the players strike of 1994-95. A portion of this year’s training camp for the Ducks will be held in San Diego’s Sports Arena.
The Halifax Mooseheads website reports that George Davis may return to the Mooseheads roster for a final year in the QMJHL. Davis will attend the Ducks rookie camp, and has a three-way contract (NHL, AHL, ECHL), but with work troubles in the ECHL, if Davis doesn’t make it in the AHL, he could be back in Halifax.
Mighty Ducks Training Camp for the 2003-04 season starts on September 11, and the Ducks hit the ice for pre-season action on September 18 in Los Angeles against the Kings. Camp should be very exciting with a lot of spots open for competition and a lot of prospects and young players being counted on to step up and play key roles with the club.
