Harping About Hartsburg Doesn’t Faze Ducks’ Coach

Craig Hartsburg is as dull as a Saturday night in Orange County. The Mighty Duck coach stands emotionless behind the bench. His game plan is stifling the creativity of Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne. He should be fired if the team fails to advance to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Those are widely held perceptions of Hartsburg, whose gravest sin appears to be that he’s not the glib self-promoter Ron Wilson was during his four seasons as Duck coach.

Excuse Hartsburg, but he has more on his mind than what others think of him. He knows he can’t change their opinions.

Besides, he’s too busy trying to get the Ducks into the playoffs. Preparing his team to play the Kings today at 3 p.m. in Staples Center was about all he thought of this week.

Perhaps the only criticism of the coach that’s on target is that he’s not a quote machine.

“Obviously, we’re a young team that’s trying to get better,” Hartsburg said the other day in a fairly typical assessment of the Ducks. “We’ve got to get better by pushing ourselves to the limit. We pushed ourselves against Phoenix. We had to fight back.”

When the Ducks completed a rally from a two-goal deficit to beat the Coyotes, 4-3, on defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky’s overtime goal Sunday, Hartsburg showed the world his human side.

With the sellout crowd of 17,174 at the Arrowhead Pond on its feet roaring, ESPN’s cameras caught Hartsburg hammering both fists on the glass behind the bench in celebration. The clip was replayed again and again on highlight shows Sunday night.

“I do that every time we win. Don’t you watch the bench?” he joked, trashing the notion that he’s a robot.

“Really? That’s awesome,” Selanne said when told of Hartsburg’s postgame outburst.

Fact is, Duck players know a different Hartsburg than reporters and fans. The Ducks have seen his fire up close, particularly during this up-and-down season.

“He is an emotional person,” said Kariya, who has been accused of being chronically serious himself. “I don’t think he shows a lot of it behind the bench, but he shows it to us. I’m sure when dealing with the media he’s got a calm demeanor. With us he’s pretty emotional.”

Selanne picked up the story.

“There are black marks from his shoes on the boards behind the bench,” Selanne said, pausing to show how Hartsburg kicks the boards in frustration when things don’t go the Ducks’ way. “He’s so into it. When we lose, I don’t think he even sleeps.”

Although the Ducks’ 32-33-12-2 record and ninth-place station in the NHL’s Western Conference don’t necessarily reflect it, the Ducks say they have responded to Hartsburg’s coaching style.

“I think it’s very important that the players realize how serious the coach takes things,” Selanne said. “We know whatever he’s doing is best for the team.”

Said Kariya: “Craig has kept us focused. It hasn’t been easy, especially with a young team. It starts with Craig and goes throughout our team.”

Months ago, there were rumors Kariya and Selanne were angry at Hartsburg. They didn’t care for his “defensive” game plan and were poised to rebel.

The rumors can be traced to the Ducks’ 2-0 victory Nov. 9 over the Toronto Maple Leafs, a game many reporters in Toronto expected to be a throwback to the wide-open, high-scoring days of the 1980s.

With the exception of a couple of terrific scoring chances on their first few shifts, the Maple Leafs couldn’t get out of their own end. The Ducks pressured Toronto all over the ice and skated away with one of their better victories of the season.

Toronto writers called the Ducks boring, blaming Hartsburg for keeping Kariya and Selanne on a tight leash.

“It’s not a defensive system,” Kariya said this week. “Craig has stressed making smart decisions with the puck. That’s what all good teams do. We adjusted that [game plan] midway through the season. . . . [But] it’s not a defensive system. It’s being smart and playing a team game. Our forecheck is very aggressive. We utilize our speed.

“It’s not a [neutral-zone] trap.”

A more valid criticism of Hartsburg centers on his unwillingness to change the makeup of his struggling power-play unit earlier this season.

After leading the league with a 22% success rate on the power play last season, the Ducks descended to the back of the pack until left wing Marty McInnis suffered a groin injury in late January.

Hartsburg was forced to move Tverdovsky to the left point, shifting Kariya to a more natural position along the boards. The Ducks are a league-best 32 for 126 (25.4%) on the power play since Feb. 1.

“We would have had to do something soon [if McInnis hadn’t been hurt],” Hartsburg said of adding Tverdovsky to the power play.

What has been hardest of all to fathom this season has been a series of lackluster showings against the NHL’s bottom-feeders. In losses to the Montreal Canadiens (twice), the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders, the Ducks seemed to have their minds elsewhere in the early going.

A youthful lineup may have something to do with it, but Kariya accepted some of the blame. Until this season, he has been content to lead by example. But his method of operation changed after the first loss to Montreal, a dreary 2-1 defeat Nov. 11.

“There are times in practice when I can see the guys’ heads aren’t into it and that’s when I’ve said something,” Kariya said. “I don’t recall too many times when I’ve spoken to someone individually. When a guy has his head in the clouds, I’ll say something.”

If nothing else, this has been a season of building in Anaheim. Hartsburg says he’s pleased with the progress of the young players on the roster, including Tverdovsky, defensemen Ruslan Salei, Pavel Trnka and Vitaly Vishnevski and forwards Antti Aalto, Matt Cullen, Ladislav Kohn and Mike Leclerc.

“He’s pretty straight with the guys,” Salei said. “He tells you what he thinks. It’s always good when a coach tells you what he expects. It’s good when you can communicate with him. It’s the way it should be.”

Added Kariya: “Craig has done a great job here from Day 1. I’ve enjoyed what he’s done here. I believe he’s moving the team in the right direction.”

Kariya’s opinion is not widely held outside the organization, however. Last week, two Canadian newspapers mentioned Hartsburg’s name among those expected to be fired at season’s end.

“Surprise, it’s the Toronto media again,” said Pierre Gauthier, team president and general manager. Gauthier then refused further comment for the record, but made it clear the stories were off base.

“There’s no sense even talking about it,” said Hartsburg, who’s in the second year of a three-year contract. “It’s somebody’s opinion who lives in Toronto and probably hasn’t seen three of our games all year. Certainly, we want to be in a playoff spot. But we’re not in a playoff spot. To me, it’s all just talk. It’s not going to be a distraction to any of us.”

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Mighty Ducks vs. Kings

The Mighty Ducks have won two of four games against the Kings this season, tying the other two:

* Dec. 3: Ducks 1, Kings 1--Guy Hebert faced only 20 King shots, stopping 19, at the Pond.

* Feb. 8: Ducks 5, Kings 3--Ducks erupted for four second-period goals at Staples Center.

* March 15: Ducks 2, Kings 2--Jamie Storr made 37 saves as Kings rallied to tie at the Pond.

* March 21: Ducks 5, Kings 2--At Staples Center, Hebert improved to 7-0-2 in last nine games against Kings.