Immediate Help Will Be Hard to Find

Bailing water does take extra manpower. Such is the task Mighty Duck General Manager Bryan Murray and Senior Vice President Doug Moss have on their hands these days.

Both are trying to upgrade their ends of the front office to keep the team from listing.

Most general managers have spent the last couple of months preparing for this weekend’s NHL draft and evaluating the free-agent market, which opens July 1. Murray, who took over after Pierre Gauthier was fired in April, has had to retool management personnel as well.

Moss, brought on board to handle the team’s business side, has also been in a hiring frenzy, as the Ducks and Angels--both owned by Disney--will operate their business departments separately for the first time. Both teams will have marketing directors, a job that was handled by one person for both teams in the past.

This will be a sink-or-swim moment for the Ducks ... again. They were tied for 13th in the Western Conference last season, although they were encouraged by their 15-13-2 record in their last 30 games. The team’s attendance, which has been in a free fall for four seasons, ranked last in the NHL.

“We want to get the fans back,” said Murray, previously the general manager in Detroit and Florida. “The only way to do that is compete and be entertaining every night and win your share of games.”

Players selected by the Ducks in this draft, which will be held today and Sunday in Toronto, probably won’t provide immediate help. The Ducks have the seventh pick in a draft that is considered thin beyond the top four prospects--defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, left wing Rick Nash, defenseman Joni Pitkanen and goalie Kari Lehtonen.

As for free agency, Murray admits attracting a high-profile player is unlikely because the Ducks finished so far out of the playoffs.

The Ducks, who scored the second fewest goals in the NHL last season, probably will try to sign players with offensive skills, size and toughness. In the last two weeks, Murray has signed two of the team’s recent top draft picks, forward Alexei Smirnov and defenseman Mark Popovic, and is negotiating with another, forward Stanislav Chistov.

“Getting a free agent will be difficult,” Murray said. “The cost of free agents is so extreme that you are better off drafting your own players and developing them.”

The draft-and-develop approach has been the Duck mantra for nine seasons. Yet the team has only two postseason appearances in that time.

Murray said he did not anticipate a big trade, so the moves that he hopes will put the Ducks on the road to success will be more behind the scenes.

He is trying to bolster the scouting department and is expected to hire Chuck Fletcher, Murray’s assistant general manager with Florida, as director of hockey operations.

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Larry Rucchin, brother of Duck center Steve Rucchin, died Thursday in Hamilton, Canada. He was diagnosed with cancer two years ago while playing hockey in Germany. He was 35.