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Lineup starts to come into focus

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Times Staff Writer

With their roster sharply trimmed, the Ducks began to turn their eyes toward the regular season by trotting out a lineup against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday that will look much like the one they will use in London on Sept. 29 against the Kings.

Besides injured Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Samuel Pahlsson and Mathieu Schneider, defensemen Francois Beauchemin and Joe DiPenta were the only regulars from last season that were not in the lineup for the Ducks’ 1-0 loss at the Honda Center. Dennis Packard’s goal with 4:52 left won it for the Sharks.

Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne, of course, are missing as they consider retirement. But the Ducks spent a good part of the game working winger Todd Bertuzzi into some line combinations.

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Bertuzzi spent time on a line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry along with the regular twosome of Andy McDonald and Chris Kunitz. Getzlaf could imagine the possibility of the 6-foot-3, 231-pound forward alongside him.

“If he ends up with us, it’s going to be nice,” Getzlaf said. “We look forward to playing with him if we can. Obviously he’s a big body in this league and nobody controls the puck like he can. If he can hold onto the puck and make those little plays, it’s going to work wonders for our line.”

Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said he wants to see more out of his team over the final two exhibition games Friday at San Jose and Sunday at home against Vancouver before leaving for London on Monday.

“I’m going to try to play a solid group of our team and see where that takes us because we don’t have an extended period of time,” Carlyle said. “We knew that was what had to happen and here we are.”

Meanwhile, Giguere and Pahlsson, both recovering from hernia surgeries, have been skating on their own and will accompany the Ducks overseas. Whether the two will be able to play is another matter.

Giguere and Pahlsson have yet to be cleared for practice and that may not occur until the end of the week at the earliest.

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“There’s a little bit of discomfort on the ice still,” Giguere said. “If there wasn’t any discomfort, I’d be practicing with the guys on the ice. So it’s not ready yet.

“I’m hoping that by the time we get to London, the discomfort is going to be gone and I’ll be able to practice fully.”

Defenseman Sean O’Donnell said it may not be a bad thing for both to miss some time early on.

“Obviously they’re important parts to our team and you want those guys back as soon as possible,” O’Donnell said. “But you know, they played a lot of hockey last year and last spring. Maybe having them have an extra month off come springtime won’t be the worst thing in the world.”

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eric.stephens@latimes.com

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