Getzlaf puts face forward for Ducks

Ryan Getzlaf is accustomed to being on the ice when the Ducks are short-handed, but he had never been outnumbered like this.

Invited to speak at a gathering of the club’s season-ticket holders a few months ago, he found himself at a one-on-500 disadvantage. Scott Niedermayer, the Ducks’ captain and a three-time Stanley Cup champion, also attended the session, but fans insisted on directing their questions to Getzlaf.

Although he was barely halfway into his second NHL season and a few months past his 21st birthday, Getzlaf handled the inquiries with confident ease. He’s confronting on-ice challenges with equal assurance, rapidly developing into a leader and franchise player as the Ducks press deeper into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

That’s exactly what General Manager Brian Burke envisioned when he asked Getzlaf to meet all those ticket holders.

Burke believes the 6-foot-3, 211-pound center will soon become the public face of the Ducks, who are trying to sell themselves as a worthy choice in a crowded Southern California sports market. Being a good athlete or decent team isn’t enough. Making an impression takes charisma, talent and results, and Getzlaf qualifies on all counts.

The native of Regina, Canada, leads the team’s forwards in the playoffs with an average ice time of 21 minutes 41 seconds and ranks second in scoring with three goals and seven points. That includes a short-handed goal in Game 2 of the Ducks’ first-round victory over Minnesota.

Getzlaf has excelled on the second line between Corey Perry and Dustin Penner all season, but his determined penalty-killing work is a prime reason the Ducks will take a 2-1 series lead into their conference semifinal game against the Vancouver Canucks tonight at GM Place.

“To be a good player in this league, you need a little cockiness, a little swagger. He’s got that,” Burke said.

“He handled himself extremely well at that meeting. He was poised, articulate, showed a sense of humor a couple of times and was very comfortable. And he’s going to have to take on a larger public role as he gets better.”

Teammate Teemu Selanne recently mentioned Getzlaf in the same breath as NHL scoring champion Sidney Crosby, comparing their skills favorably and saying that if Getzlaf played in Canada, “he would be huge.” Selanne also said he expected Getzlaf to be “maybe the best player in the league. He has the tools for that.”

And the toolbox -- the intelligence to handle it.

“Oh, yeah. What a great kid he is,” Selanne said. “He’s really hungry about having success and getting better.”

Getzlaf, the Ducks’ first-round pick and 19th overall in the 2003 entry draft, had 25 goals and 58 points this season, up from 14 goals and 39 points as a rookie in 2005-06. He has shed the complacency he sometimes showed during his junior career, when things probably came too easily for him and Bryan Murray, then the Ducks’ general manager, had to remind him of all the can’t-miss kids who did miss because they wouldn’t supplement their talent with hard work.

“He can handle the puck and he’s got the hardest shot on the team besides Chris Pronger,” Burke said. “He’s got a chance to be something special in this league, and you’re starting to see the baby steps, the first walking steps....

“What we need from Getzy is more consistency. He’s got to play at that level with more consistency, which is not an unusual knock on a young player.”

Getzlaf got his first taste of killing penalties last spring as a replacement for Jonathan Hedstrom, who walked out on the Ducks and returned home to Sweden.

“I had killed penalties in junior before, and we talked about it a little bit and I liked it,” Getzlaf said. “This year I wasn’t killing much. I was the fifth penalty killer until we lost Todd Marchant,” referring to the Ducks’ center who went out because of a groin injury.

“It’s a good way for me to get in the game. It’s a great way to kind of not worry about too much, just kind of go out there and get in front of pucks and you can kind of dump them out and get skating right away.”

Those defensive responsibilities should help Getzlaf round out his game, as they did for Steve Yzerman and Joe Sakic. They were “just” scorers as young players but eventually became two-way players -- and Cup champions.

“If you can play all special teams and you can play five-on-five, you’re going to get a lot more minutes through your career,” Getzlaf said. “I’ve always wanted to be more of a complete player than just an offensive guy.”

The transformation has only just begun.

“It will get harder for him, not easier,” Burke said. “Teams are noticing him now. They’re starting to put defensive people out against him and try and bang him.”

Just another hurdle for him to overcome on his way to becoming the face of the Ducks’ future. After surviving that one-on-500, it should be a breeze.

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Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.