Ducks try filling the void at top

DETROIT -- Life without Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne wasn’t something the Ducks planned on. A little more than three months ago, in the afterglow of their first Stanley Cup title, the team had no choice but to wait as the pair considered leaving the game.

The wait may not be over but the reality is the defending champions have had to move on while two of the most accomplished players to grace the Ducks’ sweater sit at home trying to decide if the fire is still there.

Two season-opening games in London are in the books and tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings in a rematch of the Western Conference finals awaits, but it will take the course of this season to find out just how much the Ducks will miss Niedermayer, their former captain, and Selanne, their goal-scoring winger who was the face of the franchise.

If there is a leadership void, as some have suggested, the Ducks don’t see it.

“We have a number of veteran guys on this team that can stand up and say something,” said Chris Pronger, who was installed as captain last week. “It doesn’t always have to come from the captain and it shouldn’t. Much like last year.

“Scotty didn’t have to say an awful lot. We’ve got a lot of guys that can stand up and speak up in the locker room.”

Numbers are easier to point to and the Ducks will have to account for what’s lost. At 34, Niedermayer posted a career-high 69 points to lead all NHL defensemen and, at 36, Selanne led the Ducks with 48 goals and 94 points.

The additions of Mathieu Schneider and Todd Bertuzzi addressed that in part but what isn’t easy to see is how the change affects the dressing room. How does the dynamic change in Coach Randy Carlyle’s third season without Niedermayer’s steely demeanor to keep the team focused and Selanne’s ever-upbeat personality to keep it loose?

One answer is to accept that things change.

“Even if you have the same team, it’s going to be different,” Pronger said. “It’s a new year, a new dynamic. Players are a little bit more experienced, a little bit older. Maybe there are some fresh faces.

“Each year is different and you’re never going to see the same experiences. Every year brings different challenges.”

Center Ryan Getzlaf underscored the need to move forward.

“The worst thing you can do is look back at last year over and over and over again,” Getzlaf said. “We have to accept that we have a new group, a new foundation.

“I think that’s the main focus now. We need to go forward and create that new identity for our group. It may end up being the same identity as last year, but we still have to create it.”

Another answer is one the Ducks readily trot out: leadership didn’t sit solely with Niedermayer or Selanne.

If it wasn’t Pronger speaking up after a desultory performance, it was other veterans such as Todd Marchant or Sean O’Donnell who chimed in. And with those players still in the fold, Pronger says it makes the job of being captain easier to manage.

“That’s what is good about this team,” said Pronger, an assistant captain last season. “We have that veteran presence. You need to rely on guys in the locker room. It can’t always be Randy coming in screaming and yelling. Sometimes it has to be the captain or the assistant.”

Or, as forward Rob Niedermayer added, “You can’t always lean on one guy all the time. I don’t think that works. It isn’t fair to put all that on one person. It’s a group in here. Strength is in numbers. We’ve got to have a few leaders.”

Carlyle said that some of that leadership has to come from the Ducks’ young core and he addressed that by naming third-year left wing Chris Kunitz an assistant captain.

And if linemates Getzlaf and Corey Perry, both 22, feel the need to voice their opinion, they should be free and willing to do so.

“We have younger players that have to accept more of a responsibility,” Carlyle said. “That’s natural. That has to happen in any successful organization.

“Young guys have to accept that responsibility and continue to grow. Sometimes it gets stifled, sometimes there’s a lull in that. We’re trying to make sure that does not happen.”

It is a responsibility that Kunitz, 28, said he doesn’t take lightly, even if it came to him as a surprise.

“It means a lot,” said Kunitz, who was an assistant captain in college at Ferris State (Mich.). “It’s a good feeling to be entrusted with that. It’s take ownership of helping the team and taking it to the next step.”

Upon being named captain, Pronger said he learned from his experiences in that role with the St. Louis Blues and witnessed how Niedermayer and former Edmonton Oilers defenseman Jason Smith worked while adorning the “C” on their sweater.

“I said it a few days ago, I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is to keep my mouth shut,” Pronger said. “I listen a lot more. You can’t always be ready to get your point across. I’m not the only one that has an opinion.”

Still, there are times when one shall lead the way, as Niedermayer did in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals when he settled the team down after Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson fired a shot in his direction as the second period ended. The Ducks won, 3-2, to take an insurmountable 3-1 series lead.

“There are instances throughout the course of the year where it’s going to boil down to that,” Pronger said. “One guy that needs to stand up to Randy or the media or Burkie [General Manager Brian Burke] or teammates, whatever the case may be.

“You don’t always know when but when it happens, you’ll know.”

eric.stephens@latimes.com