Scott Niedermayer will return to Ducks

Scott Niedermayer, one of the key ingredients to the Ducks’ Stanley Cup season in 2007, said today that he would return to the Ducks next season, although he might make it his last.

After contemplating retirement after each of the last two seasons, Niedermayer said in a conference call with reporters that he didn’t want to go out on a low note – the Ducks’ loss in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But then it really could be a wrap for his long and distinguished career.

“If I had to place a guess, I would say yes,” the four-time All-Star defenseman said of retiring after this season. “But I’ve been wrong before in my thinking. If I had to make a decision on that, I’d say yes, this would probably be it.”

General Manager Brian Burke seemed relieved.

“It’s no secret what Scotty has meant to this organization over the past three years,” Burke said. “Needless to say, we are thrilled he’s returning to play for the upcoming season.”

Teammates also expressed their delight that the star is giving it one more year.

“It’s obviously great news,” Ducks captain Chris Pronger said. “He’s been a huge part of this team. I think it shows how committed he is to winning. It obviously makes us that much better.”

Another reason to come back, Niedermayer said, was his desire to finish out the last year of his four-year, $27-million contract.

One of the best players of his generation, Niedermayer, 34, has starred for Anaheim and led the franchise to its first Stanley Cup since leaving the New Jersey Devils as a free agent in 2005. The four-time All-Star first considered retiring after that Cup victory.

Niedermayer thought about it so hard last summer that it wasn’t until mid-December that he decided to keep playing and returned to the Ducks.

The team immediately took off and finished with 102 points only to see their title defense end in six games against the Dallas Stars. In 48 games last season, Niedermayer had eight goals and 25 points while logging a plus-minus rating of minus-2.

When Niedermayer again said he would consider retiring, Burke didn’t grant the same latitude as last time and asked for a decision by draft day – last Friday. Only problem was that the defenseman’s wife, Lisa, delivered the couple’s fourth child on that Friday, so the deadline was relaxed.

Pronger said it will be a relief to not answer any daily questions about Niedermayer, which became a distraction during the first part of last season.

“All those things now, you don’t have to deal with,” Pronger said. “You’re more focused on the task at hand, and that’s getting better each and every night.”

Niedermayer, who won his first and only Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman in 2004, has 148 goals and 485 assists in 1,101 career games and has added 22 goals and 66 assists in 189 playoff games. He remains the only hockey player to have won a Stanley Cup, a Canadian major junior championship, an Olympic gold medal, a world championship, a world junior championship and a World Cup title.

“Our goal is to get back to winning a championship,” Pronger said. “Anything less is a disappointment. We’ve got to regain that focus, and certainly getting Scotty back helps get everybody as focused as possible.”

 eric.stephens@latimes.com