Randy Carlyle has a ‘pretty seamless’ return to Ducks

The first sign that Randy Carlyle was officially back as Ducks coach came when he had his players skate laps toward the end of practice.

Carlyle is known for such conditioning work, even though he’s not quite up to it himself on the first day of training camp.

“Sore feet,” Carlyle said of taking the ice Friday. “You get sore feet because you haven’t had the skates on in a while. But coming back into this building has been pretty seamless. I think the jitters and all that are gone. I don’t think I would say I was as nervous as I was the first time in 2005 coming in here, that’s for sure.”

Carlyle coached the Ducks from 2005-11, with the club winning the Stanley Cup in 2007, but he was fired and replaced by Bruce Boudreau in 2011. Boudreau was fired after last season and replaced by Carlyle, who had coached the Toronto Maple Leafs before being fired in his fourth year last season.

Carlyle’s robust approach was not surprising to those that have previously played for him. Carlyle had dinner with the team Thursday night and his philosophy of discipline and accountability was delivered.

Left wing Andrew Cogliano senses a renewed team.

“I think there’s a different aura in terms of how guys have prepared themselves this summer and how they’ve come in,” Cogliano said. “Randy’s going to test us. I think he’s going to put a big emphasis on being ready and being a conditioned team and being a team that can push the pace. You have to be ready to play like that.”

Defenseman Cam Fowler comes full circle. He played for Carlyle as an 18-year-old in 2010 and is now the most tenured Ducks defensemen at 24. Fowler and Carlyle are also, coincidentally, perhaps the most grateful to be back in Anaheim.

Fowler was the subject of trade speculation during the NHL draft when it was thought the Ducks would move him to help re-sign restricted free agents Hampus Lindholm and Rickard Rakell.

General Manager Bob Murray squashed the talk, but it lingered into summer.

“I tried not to think about it, but I had people telling me certain things, and I’d be lying if I said at one point I didn’t expect something to happen,” Fowler said. “I know that it can happen, but it’s kind of in the back of my mind right now. I’m obviously excited to be here.”

Fellow defenseman Simon Despres also was glad to return after he said he played through concussion symptoms at the end of last season. Despres was concussed in the fourth game and missed 42 games, then sustained another hit to the head in late March.

He returned for the playoffs, where the Ducks were eliminated in the first round, and said “it was dangerous,” but it was his decision to play. Despres said he became symptom free a month after the season.

“I did the best I could with what I had,” he said. “There were a lot of components that came into play that didn’t allow me to maybe play my best hockey. But that’s part of the game … it’s not an excuse. To my standards, I want to be better.”

Despres starts fresh with jersey No. 6 after he wore No. 24. He didn’t want to wear the late Ruslan Salei’s No. 24 and said change was appropriate.

“I thought this summer, with the [poor] season I had, it was good timing to make a change with my number,” he said.

Etc.

Carlyle said center Ryan Kesler, goaltender John Gibson and defenseman Sami Vatanen will join the team next week after some rest from the World Cup. … Veteran right wing David Jones signed a professional tryout contract. Forwards David Booth, Sean Bergenheim and goalie Yann Danis are also among those in camp on tryout contracts.