MIGHTY DUCKS NOTES : Ewen’s Arbitration Hearing Scheduled Today

The Mighty Ducks and right wing Todd Ewen are scheduled for an arbitration hearing today to determine Ewen’s 1995 salary retroactively.

That much-delayed hearing, now nearly a year overdue, will help determine how much it is likely to cost the Ducks to re-sign Ewen.

The Ducks have submitted a figure of $385,000, which was Ewen’s salary the previous season. Ewen, an assistant captain and the team’s sole enforcer since the trade of Stu Grimson, has asked for $525,000.

Ewen figures to get a raise after leading the Ducks in penalty minutes with 272 and scoring a career-high 18 points during the 1993-94 season. And though he had a disappointing year last season, failing to score a goal for the first time in his career, the 1995 season can’t be considered in the hearing, which was delayed first by the lockout and later for personal reasons involving agent Barney Harris.

Arbitrator Claude Foisy can choose any figure in his ruling, due 48 hours after today’s hearing. Ewen can become a free agent after the ruling, but the Ducks have said they plan to re-sign him, and the team can earn the right to match any offer by offering a 10% raise over the arbitration award.

“After this [arbitration] is resolved, is Todd interested in playing for the Ducks? Yes,” Harris said. “They indicated they are interested too. Everything has been very upbeat, no one’s upset. . . . We all understand this is business.”

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Minor league defenseman Alain Deeks and junior goaltender Byron Penstock have agreed to multiyear contracts with the Duck organization and will report to training camp Sept. 10.

Deeks, 26, is a 6-foot-5, 230-pound defenseman who spent most of last season with Knoxville (Tenn.) in the East Coast Hockey League, scoring 15 goals and 13 assists in 58 games. He had a goal and two assists in 13 games with Las Vegas in the more competitive International Hockey League.

Penstock, 20, played the past three seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings, a Canadian junior team in the Western Hockey League. In 48 games last season, he had 27-16-4 record with a 3.16 goals-against average.