Murray Says Unity Is the Missing Ingredient

All is well, Mighty Duck General Manager Bryan Murray said. There is no need to push the panic button.

The mildly concerned button, however, is another matter.

Murray said Tuesday that the Ducks will be fine, despite their meandering 4-7-1-2 start, which includes losses -- one in overtime -- in their last three games.

The Ducks have seemed more a collection of guys than a team through the first month. There has been little chemistry and only cameo appearances from their top players. But there is no reason, Murray said, to shake things up with a trade, major or minor, at this time.

“I think the makeup is good,” Murray said before the Ducks’ 2-1 overtime loss to St. Louis Tuesday. “That doesn’t mean that we don’t need another high-energy player at some point.”

The Ducks’ need, for now, is more internal than external, Murray said.

“The skill is definitely there,” Murray said. “We have to find a way to get the unity we need. We’ve seen spurts of it. The better players have to get points for us.”

That is in lock step with Coach Mike Babcock’s recent harping that “our best players have to be our best players.”

* Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere has had a slow start. He was much sharper in the St. Louis game, although both goals he gave up were between his legs.

* Sergei Fedorov has been magical at times and a vanishing act other times. Petr Sykora and Sandis Ozolinsh have been inconsistent.

* Steve Rucchin and Keith Carney, pillars in the Ducks’ structure, are fighting through injuries.

“We have to give this team a chance to find chemistry,” Murray said. “If you make a change, then you bring in a different body, but you have to give up a body. You have to give things time to develop.”

Last season, once the Ducks became playoff contenders, Murray bolstered the roster, bringing in Ozolinsh, Steve Thomas and Rob Niedermayer.

Said Babcock: “I keep saying this: I think we’ve got good players; we have to become a good team.”

*

Fedorov came to Anaheim to be the guy. That, Babcock said, is a nightly duty.

“When you’re the guy, it’s your team, you set the tone for that team,” Babcock said Monday. “That’s not one time, that’s 82 times, then in the playoffs, that’s the challenge for him. He wants that challenge; he seems to want to embrace that. But, right now, we’re a 4-7 team.”

*

The Detroit Red Wings have signed former Duck forward Thomas to a one-year, $1-million deal.