For Opening Night, It’s Kings at Ducks

The Kings and Ducks will open their seasons against each other on Oct. 6 at the Arrowhead Pond, the first of their eight meetings in the 2006-07 regular season.

Both teams will have many home dates early on. The Kings’ home opener is Oct. 7 against St. Louis, kicking off a season-high, six-game homestand. The Ducks have a five-game homestand that begins with the Blues on Oct. 9 after playing at Phoenix on Oct. 7.

The Kings and Ducks, along with the rest of the Pacific Division, will play host to teams from the Atlantic Division -- the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers -- after not playing them at all last season. The Kings and Ducks will play all the Southeast Division teams on the road, including the Carolina Hurricanes, the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Highlighting both schedules are games against the Penguins and 18-year-old Sidney Crosby, as well as the Washington Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin, who was named the NHL’s rookie of the year.

Crosby, who had 102 points in his rookie season last year, will make his first Southern California appearance when the Kings play host to the Penguins on Nov. 1. The Ducks will play host to Pittsburgh on Nov. 6.

The Ducks will play at Carolina on Dec. 29, and the Kings visit the Hurricanes on Feb. 13 to cap a five-game trip. The Ducks play at Washington on Dec. 8 and the Kings visit Ovechkin and the Capitals on Feb. 8.

The NHL opens its season Oct. 4.

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In an apparent appeasement to dissident rank-and-file members, the NHL Players’ Assn. held off on selecting a replacement for outgoing president Trevor Linden at its annual meeting in Whistler, Canada.

An interim president is expected to be named in early August. Linden, who played a prominent role in the new collective-bargaining agreement that ended the lockout, did not seek reelection after eight years.

Many union members, the most outspoken being Chris Chelios of the Detroit Red Wings and former NHL forward Trent Klatt, were upset with the manner in which Ted Saskin was elected to replace Bob Goodenow as its executive director last July. Chelios and Klatt, a former Kings player, have called for Saskin to step down.

The union did announce five of the seven members who will make up its interim executive committee. They are Kevyn Adams of the Hurricanes, Alyn McCauley of the Kings, Wade Redden of the Ottawa Senators, Mathieu Schneider of the Red Wings and Marty Turco of the Dallas Stars. Two European members will be elected in early August.

A vote on whether the interim committee will become permanent will take place after all 30 teams name their player representatives.

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Darryl Sutter stepped down as coach of the Calgary Flames and handed over coaching duties to assistant Jim Playfair.

Sutter will continue his role as the Flames’ general manager. The move allows Sutter to focus more on his front-office duties.

“This is just a succession plan,” Sutter said. “Basically the lockout stalled it by a year.”

Wayne Fleming, the former national team coach for Canada, was hired as an assistant. Assistant coaches Rich Preston and Rob Cookson will stay, along with goaltending coach David Marcoux.

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The Phoenix Coyotes promoted Keith Gretzky to director of amateur scouting.

The 39-year-old Gretzky, younger brother of Coyotes managing partner and coach Wayne Gretzky, spent the last five seasons scouting amateur players for the team. He will oversee all amateur scouting and will run the team’s draft.

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The Montreal Canadiens re-signed goalie David Aebischer to a $1.9-million, one-year contract, and also signed free-agent forward Sergei Samsonov to a two-year contract and made two trades.

Montreal traded winger Richard Zednik to Washington for a third-round draft pick in 2007, and acquired winger Mike Johnson from Phoenix for a fourth-round pick next year.

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The Carolina Hurricanes agreed to terms on two-year contracts with forwards Keith Aucoin and Dave Gove, prospects who made their NHL debut last season.... Dmitry Afanasenkov re-signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning, accepting the team’s one-year, $738,045 qualifying offer.... Defenseman John-Michael Liles re-signed with the Colorado Avalanche, agreeing to a two-year contract.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.