Luca Sbisa is happy to be back with Ducks

The Ducks hadn’t played their first exhibition game yet but the pungent aroma of sweaty hockey equipment had unmistakably spread throughout their locker room Tuesday morning.

To Luca Sbisa, it was sweet perfume.

“It feels great to be back in this dressing room. I certainly missed it,” he said.

The 20-year-old defenseman, acquired from Philadelphia in the Chris Pronger trade, started last season with the Ducks but was returned to his junior team after eight games. He wasn’t happy, but he used the time to refine his game in the Western Hockey League and with the Swiss Olympic team at the Vancouver Games, where he was thrust into a defensive role and thrived.

Sbisa hopes to take up permanent residence with the Ducks this season, and he has a good chance to claim a spot in a defense corps that’s being rebuilt after the retirement of Scott Niedermayer and a flurry of off-season moves. A smooth skater with good size at 6 feet 2 and 202 pounds, Sbisa has the mobility and motivation to make an impact.

“We know that he’s got other sets of skills, but we think that the first things that he’s got to do for us is play a solid, strong defensive game with some puck-moving ability out of our zone and not to focus on anything other than that,” Coach Randy Carlyle said before a youth-laden team lost its exhibition debut to the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-1, at the Honda Center.

“I just think he’s a more mature player. I think he’s a more mature young man.”

Sbisa, whose ice time of 19 minutes 5 seconds Tuesday included work on the penalty-killing and power-play units, acknowledged he benefitted from the year’s development.

“Playing all those minutes and playing on all those different stages, my level of game just took another step forward,” he said. “I can make better decisions. I know when to rush the puck and when not to rush the puck. I just know certain things I didn’t really know before. Last year, I had one play in my mind and I just did it no matter what happened. Now, I read more of what happens in front of me.”

Given a choice, he’d probably rather rush the puck. But he understands his new responsibility.

“They want me to have a defensive role on this team if I’m going to play here right away so I’m going to focus on that. Make a good first pass, play sound defense,” he said. “If I can chip in offensively that’s even better, but I’m just going to focus on hard-nosed skating in my own zone.”

Defense was the Ducks’ downfall last season and again figures to be their weak link. Sbisa and 18-year-old Cam Fowler have the potential to make a difference if they seize the moment.

“If you compare the forwards to the D-men it’s a little different. We have like three great scoring lines. Our top two are among the best in the league, I would say,” Sbisa said. “The D, you hear a lot of complaints about the defense right now. ‘They’re not this. They’re not that. They’re not good enough there.’ But I think everyone just has to step up and have a good year. We’ll be more than just fine.”

Slap shots

Bobby Ryan scored the Ducks’ goal during a second-period power play. Starting goalie Curtis McElhinney gave up two goals and Jean-Philippe Levasseur yielded two.

A bruised left hand will prevent Kings goaltender Erik Ersberg from starting his team’s exhibition opener Wednesday at Denver. Jonathan Bernier, scheduled to start a split-squad game Thursday at Phoenix, J.F. Berube and Jeff Zatkoff made the trip. Jonathan Quick will start the other split-squad game Thursday, against a Phoenix split squad at Staples Center. Ersberg might play Thursday if his hand permits.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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