Youngsters on View Tonight

Coach Craig Hartsburg plans to give a hint as to the makeup of his second and third lines when the Ducks play the San Jose Sharks in the exhibition opener for both teams tonight at 7:30 at the San Jose Arena.

Left wing Mike Leclerc, center German Titov and right wing Marty McInnis will be teamed on one line and Ladislav Kohn, Matt Cullen and Jonas Ronnqvist will play on another.

The Ducks’ top line of Paul Kariya, Steve Rucchin and Teemu Selanne will not play as Hartsburg goes with a youthful lineup that includes several players who are probably ticketed for the minors.

Hartsburg and his new assistants, Guy Charron and Terry Simpson, will take a long look at youngsters such as center Andy McDonald and wingers Maxim Balmochnykh and Petr Tenkrat.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Gregg Naumenko will handle the goaltending chores. Giguere, acquired in a trade with the Calgary Flames during the off-season, spent most of last season in the minors. Naumenko was the Ducks’ top minor league goalie.

The defense pairs: Patrick Traverse and Jason Marshall, Pavel Trnka and Niclas Havelid, and Chris O’Sullivan and Vitaly Vishnevski.

“This has been a pretty positive first week, starting with the way everybody showed up in such good shape,” Hartsburg said. “The players are excited by what they’ve seen so far. We have lots of depth and lots of speed. The next step is to play some games.”

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Defenseman Pascal Trepanier, who suffered a knee injury in the Ducks’ intrasquad scrimmage Tuesday, skated lightly on his own. He is not expected to play in the first three exhibitions.