Nothing Can Get Gauthier Down

The Mighty Ducks have an eight-game winless streak, one shy of the franchise’s longest, after Wednesday’s 6-0 debacle against the Florida Panthers.

Injuries to center Steve Rucchin and defenseman Keith Carney have again exposed a lack of depth.

The offense has nine goals in the last seven games.

Yet Duck General Manager Pierre Gauthier carries a what-me-worry attitude.

“We are, in my opinion, very close to turning this around,” Gauthier said.

Gauthier said that before the Ducks’ meltdown in front of an announced 15,232 at the National Car Center. Afterward, it appeared about the only thing the Ducks may be on track for is the first overall pick in the June draft.

The Panthers did this without Pavel Bure, out with an apparent concussion. But Ivan Novoseltsev scored two goals to highlight a four-goal second period and the Ducks threw in the towel.

“It’s embarrassing when three quarters of the team doesn’t even show up to play,” team captain Paul Kariya said. “It’s a joke. It’s a lack of commitment to the team, a lack of effort, a lack of wanting to win, a lack of preparation. The absolute least you can do is be ready to play. You think guys in Colorado or Detroit have to baby-sit guys to get them ready to play? It’s ridiculous.”

The Panthers had scored five goals in their last four games with Bure, but scored a season-high six without him. Novoseltsev scored the Panthers’ first two goals. He picked up the puck in the Panther zone and skated past three Duck players, turning defenseman Niclas Havelid in circles before tucking a shot between the legs of goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere for a 1-0 lead one minute into the second period.

The rest, for the Ducks, was a blur.

“It was an embarrassing hockey game for us,” Duck Coach Bryan Murray said. “We didn’t compete. The one thing we’ve done in every other game is compete hard. Tonight, we didn’t want to get hit. Tonight, we didn’t want to chase pucks.

“It’s one thing to lose or to not have enough ability to score a goal or whatever it may be. But it is another thing not to compete hard, to challenge the other team at least a little bit.”

This is where the Ducks sit in Gauthier’s fourth year as general manager.

As Ottawa’s general manager, Gauthier turned the Senators from a hapless team that won nine games in the 1994-95 lockout season into a playoff team in 1996-97.

That type of success hasn’t happened with the Ducks, who seem to lack the right DNA. They made the playoffs in 1998-99, Gauthier’s first season. They finished last in the Western Conference last season.

“There is no quick fix,” Gauthier said Wednesday afternoon. “The blueprint says draft well, develop well and trade well with the assets you have developed.”

All of which, Gauthier claims, is in motion with the Ducks.

“I wish it could be done in a year or two years, but that doesn’t mean you change the process,” Gauthier said. “In our case, I’m convinced we’re right there.”

Of course, Gauthier didn’t witness Wednesday’s rout.

The Ducks are winless through the first four games of a six-game trip, playing teams far from the NHL elite--Columbus, Washington, Tampa Bay and Florida.

But Murray was there and questioned his players’ commitment. In fact, other than Kariya, he questioned the entire roster.

“The players have got to get their act together a little bit here too,” Murray said. “[Kariya] tries awfully ... hard every night. We’ll try to shake them up a little bit, but somebody has to step up here and do a better job for us. We got to find out how much some of these guys care about playing on our team.... I think I’m finding it out.”