Kyle Chipchura, former captain of the Canadian junior team.

First, they’ve exchanged a fourth round pick in the 2011 NHL draft to the Canadiens for Kyle Chipchura. Described as a heart and soul player, and a leader by GM Bob Murray, Chipchura looks to be a valuable addition to the Ducks team. Chipchura struggled somewhat under the pressure of playing for the Canadiens, he’s looking to start fresh down in Anaheim.

Brendan Mikkelson, in a pre-season game.

Next, the Ducks have re-assigned Brendan Mikkelson to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. Mikkelson, whose played 22 NHL games thus far, has been struggling lately, and Murray regarded the move as a way for Brendan to regain his confidence. The Ducks have recalled Brett Festerling to take his place. Festerling, whose played over 40 NHL games already in his career, will hopefully be able to add some kind of spark to the Ducks’ struggling defense.

Erik Christensen, featured on the right.

Last, but not least, Erik Christensen will be traveling from coast to coast after being claimed by the New York Rangers. Since he was not brought up in re-entry waivers, the Ducks will not be responsible for his salary. Christensen, age 25, will likely be getting a fresh start with the Rangers. Ever since his impressive 30 point stint in 2006-2007 with the Penguins, Christensen has yet to eclipse that mark, and has yet to play over 60 games in one season on the same team.

The true beauty of blogging is not found in garnering the recognition and rewards that conventional journalism offers, but in being easily forgotten.  It sounds contradictory to the mandate of good business (and website) ownership to wish your project an inconsequential existence, but in this case I think it’s entirely appropriate.

As of this posting, it has been slightly over five weeks since the last post on Quacked — but no need to fret, the season hasn’t kicked off yet and the games are not for keeps.  Though it is true that the off-season brings with it very little of the excitement of the regular season and playoffs, to suggest that the last month has been uneventful would be patently absurd.  The upshot for Ducks fans is that their team has been relatively unaffected by the maelstrom of recent activity.  For better or for worse, Bob Murray took care of business early and things have remained relatively status quo ever since.

What is news for Anaheim fans, aside from that which concerns the Ducks, is that the San Jose Sharks organization has added the “missing piece” to its Stanley Cup puzzle… again.  Dany Heatley is the newest Shark, and should subsequently become a new target of derision at the Honda Center.  It remains to be seen how long it will take him to develop chemistry on one of the most offensively gifted top lines in hockey alongside Joe Thornton and Devin Setoguchi, but it is safe to say that goal scoring should not be a problem in San Jose this season.

I’m going to fire off the rest of this post in point form due in part to the fact that none of it is new news, and has been covered ad nauseam by the mainstream media already:

• The results of the Ducks nascent preseason have been mixed thus far, churning out a 3-2 shootout win over the Coyotes, followed by a listless 3-0 shutout loss at the hands of the Canucks, and last night another overtime win against Phoenix, this time being outshot 46-21 and  coming from 3-0 down to take it 4-3.  The past week has seen the Ducks debut of Justin Pogge, Saku Koivu and Mark Bell (here on a tryout basis).
• Quick props to Bobby Ryan for his two goal (plus shootout) effort in the inaugural preseason tilt with Phoenix, and to Joffrey Lupul for potting two last night against the same Phoenix squad.
• Captain Hook, aka Rob Niedermayer, is on the verge of signing with a KHL if he doesn’t get a knockout offer from an NHL team this week.  Another victim of the league-wide  salary cap crunch?
• Speaking of financial debacles, how about the ongoing saga concerning the struggle for ownership of the Phoenix Coyotes?  The case has much intrigue, but has gone on for so long now that many people must just be praying for it to be over.  With RIM (via Jim Balsillie) potentially laying claim to an NHL franchise, how long will it take for Steve Jobs to want in on the action?  The Seattle Snow Leopards has a certain ring to it…
• Continuing in the vein of the new NHL economics, the Phil Kessel circus came to an end today with Boston shipping the unsigned forward to Toronto, where Brian Burke promptly signed him to a new, long-term contract.  Once again, Burke saw a piece he wanted on his team and paid the price to get it.  It remains to be seen whether his rebuild in Toronto turns out the same success as the one in Anaheim.
• Theo Fleury is on the comeback trail, and wouldn’t you know it, he scored a shootout winner in his first game back.  Talk about a blast from the past: the last time Fleury suited up for an NHL team was before the shootout had been implemented.  Now that Theo is back, he’ll have to take the “other Fleury” billing as Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre is unquestionably the more celebrated of the two, having just backstopped the Pens to a Stanley Cup.
• Finally, no synopsis of the past month’s goings on in the NHL would be complete without a major thumbs down to the NHLPA for another executive director disaster.  Following the Ted Saskin debacle, you would think both sides had learned a valuable lesson in choosing the right person for the job.  Guess not.

Cheers for now.  Hopefully the next update won’t be five weeks in the making.  With the start of real hockey just around the corner, that shouldn’t be too much of a concern.