MIGHTY DUCK NOTEBOOK / ELLIOTT TEAFORD : Wilson Has His Eye on Trnka

The Mighty Ducks scrimmaged for the first time Tuesday and one young player grabbed Coach Ron Wilson’s attention.

He was Pavel Trnka, a defenseman who was drafted by the Ducks in 1994 but is attending his first training camp. Trnka, 19, played for HC Kladno in his native Czech Republic last season.

“He was excellent,” Wilson said. “I had never seen him play before and I didn’t know what to expect. Meeting him at the draft I thought he was just a skinny kid, but he’s filled out.

“Veterans beware.”

It would seem natural that Wilson would pair Trnka with Milos Holan, who also is from the Czech Republic. Each is a product of the national system taught at all levels of hockey, from Pee Wee to Olympic, in the Czech Republic. Each also plays a different style.

“Trnka is more of a traditional stay-at-home defenseman and Milos is much more offensive-minded,” Wilson said.

Wilson will probably wait a while before deciding on defense pairings, however.

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This is Randy Ladouceur’s 16th NHL training camp and he vividly remembers his first one with the Detroit Red Wings.

“There were probably 85 to 90 guys in camp and you had to do something to get noticed,” he said.

As team captain and the Duck player with the most years in the league, Ladouceur doesn’t need to impress the coaching staff as he once did. But he still can recall the feeling young players such as top draft pick Chad Kilger might have as they skate in their first NHL camp.

“Unless you come in with a lot of notoriety you’ve got to make yourself get noticed,” Ladouceur said. “The trick is not to get out of your element and try to do too much.”

Kilger, 6 feet, 215 pounds, impressed Ladouceur with his physical play and willingness to hit veterans.

“He was laying it into [Robert] Dirk out there,” Ladouceur said. “He played hard and that’s the attitude you have to have.”

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Any discussion of improvement for the Ducks begins and ends with special teams, according to Ladouceur. They were awful last season, finishing last in the 26-team league in penalty killing (75.6%) and on the power play (11.4%).

“I think we’ve definitely got to improve our special teams,” he said. “Twenty-sixth? That’s not going to get you anyplace.”

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Defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky seems to have won his battle with Reiters Syndrome, a rare arthritic-inducing infection that caused him great pain in his feet during his rookie season.

Tverdovsky, 19, is often compared to Bobby Orr because of his blazing speed and excellent offensive skills.

“Whenever you have a physical ailment it’s easy to fall back on it and use it as an excuse, and Oleg did that a few times,” Wilson said.

And now?

“He’s flying out there,” Wilson said. “Young defensemen grow from year to year. He came in at 18 and it was like, ‘Oh, he’s got a long ways to go.’ Then he’s 19 and he’s matured and he’s got a mind to play well and it’s, ‘Look out.’ ”