Ducks Get Clearance to Talk With Page

The Mighty Ducks and Calgary Flames at last stopped their bickering Tuesday, agreeing on compensation that frees Pierre Page to become Anaheim’s new coach. Duck General Manager Jack Ferreira expects to hire Page by week’s end.

“I’m relieved and I’m sure Calgary is too,” Ferreira said. “Now both our organizations can focus on getting ready for the season. It’s one more hurdle out of the way.”

Page, 49, was in the process of moving from Calgary to Southern California Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

The Ducks will give a conditional draft pick to the Flames to hire Page, who resigned as Calgary’s coach June 18 with one season left on a three-year contract.

Page’s NHL coaching record is 227-258-69, including a 32-41-9 mark with the Flames last season. Calgary finished fifth in the Pacific Division and failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Ducks could have waited until Oct. 1 when Page was scheduled to become a free agent, but it would have meant going through training camp next month without a coach. Training camp begins Sept. 9 and the Ducks open the regular season Oct. 3.

“He’s a guy who really works well with what he has,” Ferreira said of Page. “His teams are always better at the end of a season than at the beginning. He’s very good at developing players.”

Page’s hiring should be a done deal, but as ever with the Ducks this off-season, there could be a delay. Ferreira is flying today to Toronto for an arbitration hearing for defenseman Dmitri Mironov and won’t be able to meet with Page until he returns Friday.

“We’ll probably just do it over the phone,” Ferreira said. “I anticipate it’ll get done in the next couple of days.”

Ferreira said all along that Page was the right man to replace Ron Wilson, whose contract was not renewed after four seasons as the Ducks’ only coach. Wilson was later named the Washington Capitals’ coach.

Ferreira gave Page his first NHL head coaching job in 1988 with the Minnesota North Stars. They also worked together with the Calgary Flames in the early 1980s. Page also served as coach and general manager of the Quebec Nordiques from 1990-94 before the franchise became the Colorado Avalanche.

The two had informal talks over the July 4 weekend at Ferreira’s home and at Anaheim Stadium while watching several Angels’ baseball games. But under terms of Page’s resignation agreement with Calgary, the Ducks couldn’t hire him until the Flames received compensation. The agreement ends Oct. 1, however.

“I’m grateful Calgary was able to come to an agreement with us,” Ferreira said. “It did go through our minds [starting training camp without Page]. I really didn’t want to have that happen. I’m glad we were able to get it done.”

Page’s hiring will complete the Duck coaching staff. He will join assistants Walt Kyle, in his second season as a Duck assistant, and Don Hay, who coached the Phoenix Coyotes last season.

Hay initially was believed to be the leading contender to replace Wilson, but fell from contention after Page quit over a contract squabble with the Flames. Page wanted a two-year extension, but the Flames offered only one.

Ferreira still needs to re-sign several key players, including All-Stars Paul Kariya and Guy Hebert. It’s expected to take about $7 million a season to re-sign Kariya, the NHL’s third-leading scorer last season, and roughly $3 million a year to re-sign Hebert, who is coming off a career-high 29 victories in 1996-97.