Team Gets Early Rise Out of Kariya

It’s unlikely Pierre Page needed a reminder of how fortunate he is to have Paul Kariya back, but he got one anyway Monday morning. The Mighty Duck coach arrived at Disney Ice at 8:15 to prepare for a 10:30 practice and found Kariya already at work.

“He does training before practice, training after practice--he’s just so professional,” Page said. “He’s a special kind of athlete, one of those few guys in major league sports who’s great but still wants to get better.”

If you believe his coach and teammates, Kariya is much more than simply a gifted player.

“Coaches are always making lists of players who need help,” Page said. “This guy needs a checker or this guy needs a playmaker. You know you’re on a good team when you have more people who can help other people than people who need help.

“Paul’s on that elite list of guys who can help a whole team at once.”

Even Teemu Selanne--the object of much abuse as the Ducks’ sole offensive threat and therefore one of the players who figures to benefit most by Kariya’s return--said he was “totally amazed that one player could make such a difference in a whole team’s confidence level.”

The Ducks scored six goals for the first time this season during Kariya’s season debut Friday against Washington.

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Defenseman Ruslan Salei, who suffered a broken bone in his left foot last week and was expected to miss two or three weeks, was back on the ice for practice Monday, participating in all the drills.

“The X-ray showed a broken bone and the MRI didn’t,” trainer Greg Smith said. “But it doesn’t really matter. If he can skate and he can tolerate it, that’s all that matters.

“We’ll see how sore he is [today]. That will be the big test.”