As Opportunities Fly By, Ducks in No Rush

Craig Hartsburg, hunkered down at his summer home in Canada’s Cottage Country, waits patiently to hear from the Mighty Ducks. He would like to be their new coach, but says he hasn’t received an update recently.

“What have you heard? Anything?” he asked a reporter.

Barry Melrose is champing at the bit too. The same goes for minor league coaches Butch Goring, John Anderson, Dave Tippett and John Van Boxmeer.

The Ducks fired Pierre Page on June 15, but appear to be in no great hurry to hire a new coach. This is nothing new for the Ducks, who over the last few years have gained a reputation as perhaps the NHL’s slowest-moving team.

Carpe diem?

The Ducks’ method of operation is to put it off until tomorrow.

After all, it took almost three months last summer to hire Page to replace Ron Wilson--whose contract was not renewed even though he led the Ducks to the second round of the 1997 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Management’s sluggishness extends beyond coaching searches, jeopardizing the team’s hopes for a turnaround from last season’s 12th-place finish in the 13-team Western Conference.

The opening of the free-agent signing period last week produced frenzied activity by many teams. The Ducks have watched while some of the league’s top free agents have signed elsewhere.

Winger Brett Hull went from St. Louis to Dallas.

Center Doug Gilmour went from New Jersey to Chicago.

Defenseman Gary Suter went from Chicago to San Jose.

Defenseman Jyrki Lumme went from Vancouver to Phoenix.

Defenseman Steve Duchesne went from St. Louis to the Kings.

Defenseman Uwe Krupp went from Colorado to Detroit.

The Ducks are believed to be in pursuit of Pittsburgh Penguin center Ron Francis, another high-profile unrestricted free agent. But they also are up against financial heavyweights such as the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers, and they are not expected to sign Francis.

The Ducks hoped to bolster their inexperienced defense corps, but it appears they probably will settle for Dmitri Mironov and/or Fredrik Olausson--two former Anaheim defensemen.

They also hoped to add more scoring in an effort to relieve some of the burden shouldered by wingers Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne. But so far, the Ducks have struck out.

Three months before the start of their sixth NHL season, the Ducks appear to be a franchise in disarray.

“That may be your interpretation; it’s not mine,” team President Tony Tavares said when Page was fired. A closer look shows Tavares’ interpretation is flawed.

The Ducks do not have a coach.

The Ducks have failed to sign a free agent.

It doesn’t take a genius to realize the latter is related to the former. Free agents want to know who their coach will be before signing with a new team.

Moreover, Tavares has so far failed to make good on two recent promises. He vowed that the Ducks would be aggressive in free agency.

Tavares also said he expected the team’s payroll to increase by at least $10 million next season--up from a relatively low $25 million--because of free-agent signings.

Currently, the only significant increase for 1998-99 will be Kariya’s scheduled $3-million raise--from $5.5 million to $8.5 million.

“When all is said, we’ll be north of the league average,” said Tavares, who then indicated it would be for the first time in franchise history. He also pointed out, correctly, that the Rangers and Vancouver Canucks--teams with payrolls of about $40 million--failed to make the playoffs last season.

But what he failed to acknowledge is at least the Rangers and Canucks appear to be making an effort to improve. The Ducks seem to have adopted a do-nothing philosophy.

True, they have two of the best wingers in the world in Kariya and Selanne. But Tavares and General Manager Jack Ferreira have failed in their attempts to build a playoff-caliber team around Kariya and Selanne.

And that brings us back to the subject of coaching. One of the reasons Page says he was fired was because he fought too hard against the status quo. He wanted changes made, new players signed and others jettisoned.

“I tried to do something about it and I’m out,” Page said Wednesday. “Ninety-nine percent of the people there know why things are going slow. It doesn’t help for me to analyze the Ducks’ situation.

“[But] who’s there now pushing to get things done?”

Several NHL sources recently indicated the Ducks can’t get anything done because Tavares insists on having the final say on almost everything, which often brings decision-making to a halt.

Tavares, called “a hot dog vendor” by one Canadian columnist because of his background in arena management, is thought by many to be ill-prepared to make hockey decisions.

Tavares made a name for himself by hammering out favorable contracts for arenas. He had never operated a pro sports franchise when he was hired in 1993 to head Disney’s Anaheim Sports, which runs the Ducks and the Angels.

Tavares was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

As for the search for a new coach, six candidates have been interviewed and three finalists are expected to be selected by Ferreira. Those three, who are believed to include Hartsburg and Goring, then will be interviewed by Tavares.

A hiring is not expected until next week at the earliest.

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DUCK SCHEDULE C9