New Coach Pierre Page Has Been Assigned to Take the Ducks ‘To the Next Level.’

Pierre Page set the ground rules right from the start. He demanded three things from the Mighty Ducks: grit, drive and speed.

Oh, he would make allowances if a player displayed speed, grit and drive. Drive, grit and speed were OK too.

But any other method of operation would result in a swift trip to the minor leagues. Or a trade to another team.

Other than his daily sermons on grit, drive and speed, Page made it clear from the first day of training camp that predictability would take a beating. Unconventional wisdom would be the order of the day.

Players took notice when a rookie defenseman named Marc Moro was moved to the right wing and scored a pretty goal on a breakaway during a scrimmage.

No room on the blue line? Page tried Moro up front, gave him a chance to shine. Moro couldn’t make the team, but the experiment continues at the Ducks’ minor-league affiliate in Cincinnati.

Workouts moved at breakneck speed. One drill followed another as assistants Don Hay and Walt Kyle bellowed instructions. Players caught on quickly or risked heckling from teammates.

Practice followed scrimmages--a departure from the norm in almost all team sports that says you practice first, then scrimmage to see how players react to a game situation when they’re fatigued. Page hoped to see how the Ducks practiced when tired after a two-hour scrimmage.

Set three-man lines weren’t as important as tandems, players were informed. Page believes two players bond easier than three and opponents have a tough time when forced to contend with constantly changing trios.

Youthful squads played exhibition games on the road, perhaps angering paying customers in Edmonton and Phoenix who hoped to see the Ducks at full strength. But Page (say it: Pa-zhay) wanted to gauge the rookies’ ability to perform under pressure.

Some, such as Finnish rookie Antti Aalto, appeared nervous. Others excelled and were on the verge of earning key jobs as camp neared its end.

If it was novel to the players, Page took a moment to explain. There was a method to his madness and he was perfectly willing to halt practice and make it clear.

“[Management] never said to me, ‘Win the Stanley Cup,’ ” Page said. “It was always, ‘Take us to the next level.’ ”

Neither team president Tony Tavares nor General Manager Jack Ferreira demanded it be accomplished in a specific manner. So far, Page has relished doing it his way.

In many ways, Page is not unlike Ron Wilson. They each have been called bright, innovative, outspoken, demanding, caring.

But Page is not Wilson.

“There’s going to be a different approach here than in past years and that’s not a knock on Ron,” said Kyle, one of Wilson’s assistants last season. “The change is going to be healthy.”

Change was just what management was after at season’s end. However mind-boggling it seemed when Tavares and Ferreira canned Wilson on May 20, the bottom line was they believed Wilson had worn out his welcome in Anaheim.

Hey, thanks for the great start in the NHL, first winning season, first playoff appearance, a bit of credibility and some great media exposure.

Now, beat it, Ron.

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Page is not perfect. He does not have a winning record as an NHL coach. He is 227-258-69 going into his eighth season.

He also has feuded openly with star players, lost the confidence of players and management and been just too damned emotional for his own good sometimes.

“One thing that’s evident about Pierre is his desire to win is so great,” said right wing Scott Young, who played for Quebec when Page was coach and general manager there in the early 1990s. “He wants to win so bad it will become evident to anyone who follows the team.”

Quebec was Page’s second stop as a coach in the NHL. He got his start in 1988 with Minnesota when Ferreira was the North Stars’ general manager. They were set to jump ship to start the expansion San Jose Sharks together, but Page received an offer to become GM in Quebec. Ferreira went to San Jose without his friend.

Page built the Nordiques, a money-losing team that ran a distant second to the storied Montreal Canadiens in the battle for supremacy in Quebec, into a contender.

That Colorado Avalanche team that won the 1996 Stanley Cup? It had been constructed from the ground floor by Page.

It certainly helped Page’s building project that Eric Lindros refused to play for the Nordiques, who drafted him in 1991, and demanded a trade.

Page sent Lindros, perceived as an ingrate by the Nordique fans, to the Philadelphia Flyers for Peter Forsberg, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, Chris Simon and two draft picks.

Lindros helped the Flyers become Cup contenders, Page’s deal helped the Avalanche, which moved to Denver in 1995, win the Cup.

Page would have been part of the championship team if he hadn’t lost his zeal for the game after four stressed-out seasons in Quebec and resigned in 1994.

He once snapped during a playoff game against the hated Canadiens, chewing out Mats Sundin on the bench. He lost the players’ confidence and support with his fit of anger, and soon enough the Nordiques lost the series.

“Whatever the situation was when he left Quebec, no player could fault how much he cared about winning,” Young said.

Quitting in Quebec, sitting out a season, then returning to coach the Calgary Flames renewed Page’s passion for the game.

But the Flames proved to be a lost cause too.

They hadn’t won a playoff series since their one and only Cup victory in 1989. Players ran glib, innovative coach Terry Crisp out of town after a 99-point season in 1989-90 because he was perceived as too tough.

Page’s teams were competitive despite a lack of marquee players. Money was tight, and still is in Calgary, and management was determined to make do with youngsters.

Despite Calgary’s small budget, a lengthy feud with captain Theoren Fleury and a 32-41-9 record last season, Page wanted to stay and turn the Flames into winners.

But he also wanted a commitment that General Manager Al Coates was unwilling to provide. Page pressed for a two-year contract extension, But Coates offered only one season. Page quit.

After a summer-long battle between the teams over compensation, Page at last became a Duck on Aug. 9.

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Page, 49, lists Cliff Fletcher, Al MacNeil and the late Bob Johnson, co-workers over two stints in the Calgary organization, among his mentors. There are others, including Scotty Bowman, but Johnson stands out most of all.

“He read all these positive-thinking books and you’d think, ‘Nobody can be that positive,’ ” Page said of Johnson, who coached the Flames when Page was an assistant there in the 1980s. “But he was really like that. He’d always look for something positive in someone. A lot of guys aren’t used to that. They’re looking for a kick in the butt.

“I remember we lost 11 in a row in 1986 and we went to bookstores looking for things to read to the guys, trying to find something to be positive about. We lost a game, 11-1, and after the game all he could talk about was the one goal we scored. All the writers said, ‘Come on, Bob, give us a break.’

“But that was the last game of the streak.”

Johnson used the pairs concept to near-perfection the rest of that season, leading the Flames to their first Stanley Cup final, where they lost to the Canadiens. Sometimes he used so many combinations he had trouble keeping them straight.

“He would say in practice, ‘What the hell was that line we liked so much the other day?’ ” Page said.

Page learned a great deal from Bowman, who won his seventh Stanley Cup last spring, as his assistant in the 1981 Canada Cup. Communication wasn’t a Bowman strong suit, however.

“He’s been known to say the opposite of what he believes to be true,” Page said. “The biggest thing I’ve learned over the years is don’t play mind games. You always fear a player can’t handle the truth. You’ve got to find a way to tell them the truth.

“I used to think communicating was talking. It’s listening. It goes for coaches, parents and teachers and business people. You can really find out what’s on a player’s mind if you listen.”

Raw talent, old-fashioned hard work and a dash of luck play a central role in Page’s blueprint for a successful hockey team. But chemistry--among the players, among the coaches, among management--is perhaps the biggest key.

“There are 26 teams with 26 coaches [in the NHL],” Page said. “They all want the same thing. You have to go home at night and wonder, ‘Why am I so cocky to believe we’re going to get there first?’

“If we’re going to do it, we’ve got to get incredible chemistry on and off the ice. The chemistry off the ice will allow us to do it on the ice. There won’t be too many agendas.

“There are a lot of good players everywhere. We’re not smarter than anyone else. Sooner or later, we’ll realize it, come together and it’ll work.

“It’s chemistry.”