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Mighty Ducks of Anaheim general manager Bryan Murray probably figured the roller-coaster ride was over at the end of the Stanley Cup Finals. It was nothing compared to the 17 days between July 3-19.
Murray went from hero to goat one summer afternoon when Paul Kariya signed as a free agent with the Colorado Avalanche, where he was reunited with former Ducks' linemate Teemu Selanne.
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Murray did not make a qualifying offer to Kariya but was prepared to pay him
considerably more than he got from Colorado. Instead, the best player in Ducks'
history and the inspirational story of Game Six of the Stanley Cup Finals jumped
to a Western Conference rival.
"We tried to upgrade our hockey team," Murray tried to explain. "I talked to Paul about adjusting his salary so we could upgrade our talent. I was of the understanding that Paul would make the adjustment and let us add a top-line player. That didn't happen." Ticketmaster
For two weeks, Murray was less popular in Orange County than California Governor Gray Davis. Signing Vaclav Prospal, the leading scorer of the Tampa Bay Lightning, on July 17 did little to appease Ducks' fans. But Murray still had one coup left. Two days later, he added Sergei Fedorov, one of only two players to win the Hart and Selke trophies.
"We are excited and ready to start another season," Murray said. "I think our fans will learn to appreciate what Sergei brings."
Murray should know. He coached Fedorov in Detroit during the 32-year-old's first three NHL seasons.
"I know how hard he works and the Mighty Ducks' organization is headed in the right direction," Fedorov said.
Murray had a couple more pieces of business. On September 10, he re-signed goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who became a folk hero in Southern California during his spectacular postseason run. Four days later, Anaheim re-signed right wing Petr Sykora.
Suddenly, the Ducks' team that will take the ice on Wednesday in Dallas is better than the one that left the ice on June 9 in New Jersey. But will it be good enough to unseat the Stars atop the Pacific Division? Ticketmaster
It was anything but a quiet offseason in Dallas, which was eliminated by Anaheim in six games in the Western Conference semifinals.
Long-time captain Derian Hatcher went home to play for the Red Wings, defenseman Darryl Sydor was traded away and Kirk Muller retired.
Working with a suddenly restrictive budget, Stars general manager Doug Armstrong filled the holes on defense by signing 37-year-old Don Sweeney and trading for former Phoenix Coyotes captain Teppo Numminen.
Dallas did not have to look far to fill the leadership void, naming Mike Modano captain the same day Hatcher defected.
Modano has been the Stars' offensive leader for more than a decade. He slumped to 28 goals last season but has posted five straight 75-point seasons and is entering the final year of his contract. Ticketmaster
Dallas might have had a better chance against Anaheim in the playoffs with a healthy Bill Guerin. He was on pace for a 32-goal season in his first season with the Stars before undergoing thigh surgery.
Coming off his third Selke Trophy and a career-high 31 goals, Jere Lehtinen is Dallas' version of Fedorov. But second-year coach Dave Tippett will need more from players like enigmatic Jason Arnott and Pierre Turgeon to win a second straight Presidents' Trophy.
The Stars are set in net with the re-signing of Marty Turco, whose first season as a No. 1 goalie was a historic one. His 1.72 goals-against average was the lowest in the NHL's modern era.
The Los Angeles Kings are breaking in a new No. 1 goalie following the acquisition of Roman Cechmanek.
Another wildly inconsistent postseason resulted in Cechmanek being exiled from Philadelphia. But he's been among the NHL's top regular-season netminders and last season shared the Jennings Trophy with New Jersey's Martin Brodeur.
The Kings' top priority will be keeping their top players healthy. Any shot at the playoffs disappeared last season when Jason Allison, Adam Deadmarsh and Steve Heinze missed long stretches. Two seasons ago, Allison tied for fourth in the league in scoring; last season, he was limited to 26 games.
"The key to the season is good health," said Los Angeles coach Andy Murray, who guided Canada to the gold medal at the World Championships. "Things happen in life for a reason. I think what has happened has made our resolve stiffer for this season."
Even without Allison around, winger Ziggy Palffy had another stellar season with 37 goals and 48 points.
The Kings unloaded Mathieu Schneider at the trade deadline, but the defense is a solid, if unspectacular unit, featuring Aaron Miller, Jaroslav Modry, Mattias Norstrom and Lubomir Visnovsky.
Defense is a concern in Phoenix, where the Coyotes traded away Numminen and veteran Danny Markov in separate deals. Youngsters David Tanabe and Igor Knyazev came over from Carolina in the Markov trade and join a unit that suddenly lacks experience.
Last season's Tony Amonte experiment was a failure, so Phoenix has opted for scoring by committee. The Coyotes boasted four 20-goal scorers in 2002-03 and are counting on more production from trade deadline pickups Chris Gratton and Jan Hrdina.
Shane Doan replaced Numminen as captain and has to do better than 21 goals. But coach Bob Francis is high on 24-year-old Ladislav Nagy, who earned a spot on the No. 1 line last season when he piled up 22 goals and 35 assists.
"We're gonna be strong up front, but we have to improve our overall defense," Francis said. "You can't spend as much time in our own end as we have."
Actually, Phoenix can, assuming goalie Sean Burke stays healthy and regains his form of two seasons ago. In 2001-02, he almost single-handedly willed an overachieving group of Coyotes into the playoffs and was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. Ticketmaster
There don't figure to be many trophy candidates in San Jose, where the Sharks reluctantly settled into a rebuilding mode.
Gone are Selanne, Owen Nolan, Bryan Marchment, Adam Graves and Niklas Sundstrom. Ron Wilson got a look at youngsters Niko Dimitrakos, Jonathan Cheechoo, Lynn Loyns and Jim Fahey in his first season behind the bench, and all four should see action again in 2003-04.
They could be joined in the lineup by rookies Miroslav Zalesak, defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and Marcel Goc.
Vesa Toskala, a 26-year-old goalie, should see more playing time, particularly if former Calder Trophy winner Evgeni Nabokov does not reverse last season's slide.
There are still enough veterans around in Vincent Damphousse, Mike Ricci, Patrick Marleau and Marco Sturm up front and Mike Rathje, Brad Stuart and Kyle McLaren on defense. But expectations have changed in Northern California.
"There were some things that we wanted to change here, and we started last season," Wilson said. "Last year, we were crawling and this training camp, we began to walk. And now we have a good little trot going. If we can be running in the next two weeks, I will be pleased."