Ducks make bald statement

Yesterday the Anaheim Ducks traded captain Brooks Orpik to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for forwards Derek Ryan and Matt Martin. Today manager Sven Henry continued restructuring the leadership of his team by trading recently signed franchise player Andrew Cogliano, along with perennial underachiever Vladislav Namestnikov to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for veteran center Ryan Getzlaf and journeyman defenseman Matt Taormina.

- We love what Ryan Getzlaf brings to the ice. He may be bald, and he may be earning way too much money, but he's one of the premier playmakers around and we're excited to have him! I don't want to say anything negative about Brooks Orpik but this team didn't win a single Cup in the half a season he served as captain under my reign. That is unacceptable. He was also set to serve as our #4 or #5 defenseman this season, and for a 36 year old making $6.25 million a year, that's a bad deal.

- As for Cogliano we like what he brings and his versatility has served this club very well, but he's not Ryan Getzlaf.

- Vladdy, I'm just so tired of typing out his full name when writing down potential line combinations that I was determined to trade him and to send him as far away from Anaheim as possible. To have him land in New Jersey, let's just say I couldn't be happier. And at the rate he's not scoring, I wont be seeing his name a lot ever again.

The arrival of Getzlaf also creates a bit of a logjam at the center position for the Ducks who now sport Getzlaf, Jeff Carter, Matt Duchene and Artem Anisimov as pure centermen. Henry however is confident it wont cause a problem as he expects at least Duchene to see plenty of time on the wing this season.

Finally an update on a few other Ducks players surrounded by trade rumors lately:

- Mike Smith is expected to stay with the club and challenge Cam Talbot for the starting job as the club is expected to carry three goaltenders at least to start the year.

- David Schlemko has garnered a lot of interest lately with his excellent combination of skills and a favorable contract appealing to multiple teams. While the Ducks are very happy to keep Schlemko, they are rumoured to be listening to offers coming in.

- Teddy Purcell remains in limbo as his $4 million dollar contract continues to be a point of contention. The team can afford to keep him around, and a lack of RW depth does speak in his favor, but the threat of a buyout continues to hang over the veteran forward.

- Patric Hornqvist's name has come up in conversations lately but the Ducks are very high on the blonde net presence. Currently the club's top RW, it would no doubt take a serious offer to lure Bengan from SoCal.

The free agent frenzy began today where the Ducks don't expect to be a major player. "We'll go ugly early", said GM Henry on the matter.