Ducks to Open Training Camp With Few Major Roster Changes : Hockey: Team could not land Brendan Shanahan or Joel Otto, but top draft pick Chad Kilger will be around.

What the Mighty Ducks need to get this summer is a big, skilled forward, another Brendan Shanahan, Coach Ron Wilson said in May, after his team finished last in the Western Conference.

The free agent we really have our eye on, General Manager Jack Ferreira said later, is Joel Otto, a big, veteran center who can shut down the opposition and score some goals too.

What the Ducks will have when training camp opens today is essentially the same team they had in May--minus center Stephan Lebeau, the third-leading scorer who signed to play in Switzerland, and plus first-round draft pick Chad Kilger, a big, skilled center who is promising but only 18.

So is the franchise sticking with its corporate commitment to the bottom line, or is it sticking with its commitment to grow with young talent?

St. Louis traded left wing Shanahan to Hartford for defenseman Chris Pronger, and the chances of the Ducks giving up a high-profile young player such as defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky are infinitesimal. Likewise for left wing Paul Kariya.

As for Otto, Ferreira at least gets credit for inquiring. Asked if he’d consider the Ducks, Otto sent a polite “No thanks” and signed a three-year deal with Philadelphia worth $1.8 million a year.

Would the Ducks--whose raising of ticket prices is increasing the pressure to make the playoffs--have spent that much?

“It’s easy for me to say that now,” Ferreira said. “Yeah, sure, we would have matched anything.”

Wilson can become only the second coach to survive an expansion team’s first three seasons if he makes it through this season (Ottawa’s Rick Bowness was the first) and Ferreira has already discussed a contract extension.

“You can say it would have been nice if we’d gone out after a high-profile free agent, but there weren’t many guys out there you’d be able to sign without giving up four or five draft picks [as compensation for restricted free agents],” Wilson said. “Certainly we were interested in Joel Otto, but he wasn’t interested in anybody west of the Mississippi.

“I’m not disappointed, because of what we were showing toward the end of last year. We have to get our young players to continue to show improvement, and our veterans who had what you might call off seasons have to bounce back and play better than they did. If they do that, we can follow our plan.”

The Ducks led the NHL in games played by rookies (238) and took some lumps. A flurry of trades in March and April stabilized the defense with the arrival of Milos Holan, David Karpa and Jason York. Center Mike Sillinger, a highly regarded young player from the Detroit Red Wings, boosted the offense, and the team played just under .500 (10-12-3) down the stretch.

“We basically are a fairly young team, and some guys we think could be the veteran core of the team, we re-signed this summer,” Ferreira said. “That other group of young players are not highly experienced, but they’ve got a good up-side. The more guys we have like that, with our veteran leadership, you hope they’ll come along very quickly.”

They’ll have to come a long ways if they hope to make the Stanley Cup playoffs this season. The road got longer this summer when the Quebec Nordiques became the Colorado Avalanche and joined the Western Conference.

“In a masochistic way, I’m glad they’re here,” Wilson said. “A lot of people regard them as the best young team in the league, and it’s better to evaluate ourselves against them.”