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Good morning, Southern California sports fans, and guess which of the area’s professional sports teams is in the best position to make the playoffs ... Lakers, Clippers, Kings or Mighty Ducks.

The Kings need to explore hospital group rates and their injury-induced ineffectiveness has led club President Tim Leiweke to threaten mass expulsion of potential free agents and hefty contracts.

The Lakers are three-time champions and everyone is waiting for them to flex their muscles instead of letting other teams kick sand in their face.

The Clippers? Well, “another year, another lottery pick” would work fine as a slogan ... every season.

So in a sports world turned upside down, the Ducks, in ninth place, one point behind Chicago and Colorado for one of eight Western Conference playoff berths, are in the area’s best spot, at least for now.

That’s because of rapid improvement in the franchise’s way of doing business -- acquiring defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh last Thursday, for example -- and the general malaise in sports this winter in Southern California. So, the Ducks are in the playoff picture for the first time in three seasons, having reached the All-Star break with their best record in history: 22-18-7-4.

Now what?

The Ducks have the seventh-best power play in the NHL. Their penalty-killing units rank third. Jean-Sebastien Giguere, after a slow start, has demonstrated that he is one of the league’s bright young goalies. All that has taken the Ducks from 13th place, where they finished a last season, to ninth. That’s a respectable showing, but a little more oomph will be necessary to reach the promised land.

“You break the season down into segments and each one gets more intense,” team captain Paul Kariya said. “When we come out of the All-Star break, the intensity is going to be high because everything is played on a more intense level. The games mean more.”

The Ducks will play six of their next seven games against Western Conference teams, starting tonight at Calgary. Since losing five consecutive games coming off the Christmas break, the Ducks are 6-1-1-1 against Western Conference teams.

They went 7-2-0-1 in the 10 games before the All-Star break to put themselves in the middle of the action. Of course, the tumbleweeds blowing through the Arrowhead Pond most games suggest that fans have yet to answer the call. All the Ducks can do is continue as they have and hope that someone out there will pay attention.

Certainly General Manager Bryan Murray raised a few eyebrows, after receiving permission from Disney overlords to increase payroll. He acquired Ozolinsh, an offense-minded defenseman from Florida, hoping to fill a need for more offense from the blue line. All it cost the Ducks was center Matt Cullen and defenseman Pavel Trnka, both of whom had long ago been erased from the Ducks’ master plan.

“Being in the race all the way is important to us as a franchise,” Murray said. “It will show the fans that we are a legitimate contender and positive things are happening here. It shows the players that we are on the right path.

“There has been a commitment from ownership, not only to get into the playoffs, but to send a message that we want to get better, that strides are being made to make this a better team. We hope fans come back in greater numbers.”

That began during the off-season, when Murray replaced Pierre Gauthier and jammed on the brakes to slow the Ducks’ descent. He signed prospects Stanislav Chistov and Alexei Smirnov. Chistov was selected to play in the NHL’s YoungStars game.

Murray swung a seven-player deal, sending Oleg Tverdovsky and Jeff Friesen to New Jersey for Petr Sykora. Sykora has 18 goals, and a team-high 11 on the power play.

Adam Oates and Fredrik Olausson were signed as free agents. Oates, since recovering from a broken hand, is centering one of the league’s hottest lines, flanked by Sykora and Kariya. The three have combined for 12 goals and 20 assists in 10 games.

Murray also flew below the radar, outbidding Colorado for 20-year old defenseman Kurt Sauer and signing little-known Jason Krog. Sauer has played with savvy well beyond his years, to the point where he jumped San Jose’s Bryan Marchment after Marchment had blindsided the Ducks’ Patric Kjellberg on Thursday. Krog has six goals since being recalled from minor league Cincinnati.

First-year Coach Mike Babcock, without NHL experience, has proven to be more than capable at this level, especially in game situations.

“Things are better now than they have been in years,” defenseman Ruslan Salei said. “That’s such a positive thing. We are in the race. If we get in, then anything can happen. That’s interesting, huh?”

Intriguing, anyway. But there is a large gap between staying in the race and reaching the playoffs ... 31 games in fact.

“Bryan has given us every opportunity to win,” Kariya said. “They have improved the team and now, as players, it is our responsibility to get things done.”

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*--* West Race Playoff race in Western Conference. Eight teams qualify for postseason: Team Wins Pts 1 Dallas 30 72 2 St. Louis 28 66 3 Vancouver 29 65 4 Detroit 27 64 5 Edmonton 24 60 6 Minnesota 25 59 7 Chicago 22 56 8 Colorado 20 56 9 DUCKS 22 55 10 Phoenix 19 49 11 San Jose 19 49 12 KINGS 20 48

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