Ducks to Wait to Name a Coach

The Mighty Ducks will wait until after next week’s NHL expansion and entry drafts to hire their first coach, General Manager Jack Ferreira said Monday.

Though Ferreira and Tony Tavares, president of Disney Sports Enterprises, have said for months that it isn’t crucial to have a coach on board before the drafts, Ferreira has been meeting with candidates the last two weeks.

But with several top entry-draft prospects coming in for interviews this week, opening festivities for Anaheim Arena scheduled for this weekend and the Duck front-office staff departing Monday for the drafts in Quebec City, Ferreira said the decision “definitely will be after the draft.

“We’re just getting down to the nitty-gritty with the expansion draft.”

The expansion draft is June 24 and the entry draft is June 26.

The Florida Panthers, the Ducks’ 1993 expansion companion, already have named Roger Nielson, former New York Ranger coach, as their head coach and he will have input on the team’s selections.

Ferreira has interviewed former Kings’ coach Mike Murphy, now a Toronto assistant; former Buffalo coach Rick Dudley, now coach of the San Diego Gulls of the International Hockey League; Al Sims, coach of the IHL’s Ft. Wayne Komets; Marc Crawford, coach of the St. John’s Maple Leafs of the American Hockey League, and Jay Leach, a former Hartford Whalers assistant who coached the AHL’s Springfield Whalers last season.

Ferreira is scheduled to meet with former Minnesota North Star Coach Lorne Henning, now a New York Islander assistant, this week. The Ducks are also expected to at least contact King assistant Cap Raeder.

“We’ll narrow it down and bring a few in for second-type interviews,” Ferreira said. “That probably won’t be done until after the draft.”