It’s Time for Ducks’ Hartsburg to Go

It’s time for a coaching change in Anaheim.

There, the words have finally been written in this newspaper after days, weeks and months of talking around the subject, but never actually advocating a change.

Pierre Gauthier, team president and general manager, should wake up this morning and inform Craig Hartsburg that his services are no longer needed behind the Mighty Duck bench. Gauthier should wish Hartsburg well, thank him for his devotion and apologize for so many sleepless nights.

Gauthier would be doing the poor guy a favor. Hartsburg simply hasn’t been given enough tools to turn the Ducks into winners. To be sure, there are talented players in Anaheim, but not enough gritty ones who despise losing. The players and the fans need to know that losing won’t be tolerated.

Certainly, Hartsburg can’t fire Gauthier, whose off-season moves have ranged from busts to total disasters. German Titov? Give me a break.

Gauthier should then phone assistants Guy Charron and Terry Simpson, letting them know they’re in charge now. He should next call captain Paul Kariya to deliver the news.

By 9 a.m. today, the papers and radio and television stations should be informed. Have a news conference set for 2 p.m. at the Arrowhead Pond, giving Charron and Simpson a chance to meet with the players and conduct an hourlong practice in preparation for Wednesday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

I go into such detail here because I want no mistake made about what needs to happen in order to lift the Ducks from what has been a miserable 20-game stretch in which they have four victories.

Look, the Philadelphia Flyers fired Craig Ramsay, who had a .500 record when he was let go Sunday. Plus, Ramsay didn’t have Eric Lindros in the lineup.

Playing just well enough to lose by a goal is fine for youth-league teams. But this is the NHL. Winning is all that matters. The Ducks, last in the Pacific Division, haven’t been doing enough of it this season (or last season either) and somebody has to pay the price.

It’s not simply the Ducks’ 4-12-3-1 record in the last 20 games that should prompt Hartsburg’s firing. It’s the way the Ducks have been losing that has sealed the deal.

Including Sunday’s all-too-predictable 1-0 loss to the Dallas Stars, the Ducks have scored 75 goals and given up 96 in 32 games. Only 10 teams have scored fewer goals and only three teams have given up more. Remember, this is a team with Kariya and Teemu Selanne, two of the league’s best offensive players. You would think that, if nothing else, this would be an exciting team to watch.

Wrong. All too often, the Ducks slog through the neutral zone looking for heaven knows what sort of opening before tossing the puck into the corner for no apparent reason. The Ducks have two of the league’s top thoroughbreds in Kariya and Selanne but have asked them to play like plow horses.

Want a glimpse of what Kariya and Selanne might look like under another coach playing a different system? Get a look at the high-scoring Kings, who have scored 102 goals with an offensive system that’s well worth watching.

To be sure, the Kings have many of the same troubles with consistent effort and execution as do the Ducks, but their best offensive players have been freed by Coach Andy Murray to play to their strengths.

Murray, you’ll recall, was one of three finalists when Hartsburg was selected by Gauthier to coach the Ducks in the summer of 1998.

Make no mistake, much of what has been happening on the ice is Hartsburg’s fault. But some of the blame must also be pinned on Gauthier, who promised a deeper, more improved club in 1999-2000.

Hartsburg has struggled to wring anything of note from the likes of Titov, who has only two goals, five points and 21 shots on net in 25 games. Clearly, Titov hasn’t upheld his end of the three-season, $4.6-million contract he signed last summer.

Other off-season moves also haven’t panned out. Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere is in the minors. Forward Jonas Ronnqvist failed to produce and was sent to the minors. Winger Andrei Nazarov and defenseman Patrick Traverse were hopeless cases and were traded last month to the Boston Bruins for center Samuel Pahlsson, who hasn’t recorded a point in nine games for the Ducks.

All the talk about bad luck, crippling injuries and a terrible schedule that put the team on the road for 19 of its first 31 games is just that, talk. This is a results-oriented business. If one guy can’t do the job, you find somebody who can.

Everyone, from Kariya to Hartsburg to Gauthier, keeps insisting the Ducks are on the right track. The trouble is there’s a mile-long freight train bearing down on them at top speed.

MARIO RETURNS, BUT WHAT ABOUT ERIC?

A week after Lindros says he wants to play in the NHL again, Mario Lemieux abruptly announces he wants to return.

How strange, how utterly remarkable that we might actually see Lemieux on the ice for the Pittsburgh Penguins before we see Lindros, an unsigned free agent, in the league again.

Lemieux’s return was the talk of the league last week, just as Lindros’ stated desire to play again was two weeks ago.

Three and a half years after he retired, Lemieux hopes to return to become the first owner to play for his team. There were many who wondered, in all seriousness, whether he would lead the NHL in scoring this season.

Lemieux’s motives are simple, and we probably shouldn’t begrudge him wanting to contribute to the financial stability of his economically-challenged Penguins. And, if he can help smooth out the considerable rough patches in Jaromir Jagr’s game this season, well, so be it.

“I missed the game and missed the challenge of competing,” Lemieux explained in Pittsburgh last week. “I look forward to the chance to get back on the ice with the players.”

Word is Lemieux hopes to be fit to play Dec. 27 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It’s a good bet Lemieux, 35, still has more skills and talent than almost anyone else in the league.

Truth be told, he probably quit too soon.

WILD ABOUT MINNESOTA

It’s frigid outside and on most winter days it’s so dark and overcast that it’s tough to tell if it’s 8 a.m. or high noon, but Coach Jacques Lemaire has warmed to the task of turning the expansion Minnesota Wild into a winner.

But why would Lemaire, 55, a man with 11 Stanley Cup victories as a player, coach and front-office employee, want to start over again with a brand new franchise with no hope of winning for several seasons? Shouldn’t he be relaxing somewhere warm?

Lemaire smiled. Clearly, he’s been asked this before.

“I love it,” he said. “It’s been great. Every day has been even better than I thought it would. We’re playing a solid game. We’re looking for goals like many other clubs. We’re in every game. It’s not like we’re down, 4-0, after one period.”

SLAP SHOTS

Veteran defenseman Paul Coffey did the classy thing after the Boston Bruins released him last week. Instead of blaming the Bruins, Coffey blamed himself.

“I had a few nagging injuries that set me back, but that wasn’t the problem,” Coffey told the Boston Globe. “It’s not for lack of effort, but I never found a confidence level on the ice. It’s all on me and nobody else.” . . .

The New York Rangers, our favorite dysfunctional team, are coming to town to play the Kings on Thursday and the Ducks on Friday, which gives us a chance to check out their latest melodrama.

The newest plot line centers on whether or not defenseman Brian Leetch is being overworked. Leetch is having a great season with eight goals and 40 points, but there are concerns he might soon buckle under the strain of increased ice time.