The Price Is Not Right

Center Trevor Linden, defenseman Jyrki Lumme and enforcer Gino Odjick of the Vancouver Canucks and center Travis Green of the New York Islanders are believed to be among the players atop the Mighty Ducks’ trading wish list.

Completing a deal to bring one or more of them to Anaheim has been difficult, although apparently not because the Ducks haven’t tried.

“He’s been very active, very aggressive,” team President Tony Tavares said of General Manager Jack Ferreira. “He’s not just sitting in his office waiting for the phone to ring. We just haven’t been able to work out a deal. Who are we going to give up? [Paul] Kariya? [Teemu] Selanne? [Steve] Rucchin? No, I don’t think so. Now, ask me who other teams have an interest in. Our issue is we’re not good enough to have other teams interested in our other players.

“Believe me, if the appropriate trade was available, we’d make it. Our priorities haven’t changed. We need creativity in our top six forwards, a physical defenseman and a true heavyweight. We’ve got our eyes open.

“We need players, but the answers are here too. We can play better. But how do we get to the next level? The answer is not here. We’re not going to be an elite team strictly with the players who are here.”

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In the wake of a seven-hour meeting Thursday between the coaching and management staffs, Coach Pierre Page has apparently decided to stick to more set line combinations.

“I’m just not a status quo guy, that much I know,” Page said. “Maybe I’m too much of a change-it-up kind of guy.”

Said Ferreira: “He might be putting more pressure on himself than he should. Teams playing against us the last two games have changed their lines completely. And it wasn’t as if we didn’t make a million changes last season.”

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Selanne did not practice Friday because of a sore wrist. He is expected to play Sunday against the Chicago Blackhawks.