Ducks Are Free to Hire Page

The Mighty Ducks and Calgary Flames finally settled their bickering Tuesday, agreeing on compensation that frees Pierre Page to become Anaheim’s coach. General Manager Jack Ferreira of the Ducks said he 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 Tuesday from Calgary to Southern California and could not be reached.

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

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’s resignation agreement with the Flames was to have expired, 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.”

Ferreira is flying to Toronto today 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 of Page’s hiring. “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’ coach. Wilson later was 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 Flames in the early 1980s. Page was also coach and general manager of the Quebec Nordiques from 1990 to ’94 before the franchise became the Colorado Avalanche.

The two had informal talks over the Fourth of July weekend at Ferreira’s home and at Anaheim Stadium while watching several Angel games. But under terms of Page’s resignation agreement, the Ducks couldn’t hire him until the Flames agreed to compensation.

“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, coming off a career-high 29 victories in 1996-97.