Ducks prepared for trade deadline, looking for offense

Anaheim Ducks GM Brian Burke tells Eric Stephens of the Los Angeles Times that he is prepared to deal with all scenarios as the February 26 trade deadline approaches.

“As a manager, your job is to evaluate all the scenarios,” he said. “The view going in would be to add to the group, not to change the group so much. But we’ll look at all scenarios.”

“I know that sounds like a trite answer, but it’s true. I’ve told our staff to be prepared to look at everything.”

While Burke would not name players by name, he admits that his priority is to bolster his offence by acquiring some “secondary scoring.”

Twp players believed to be of interest to the Ducks are pending unrestricted free agent forwards Mats Sundin of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Marian Hossa of the Atlanta Thrashers.

But there are some issues with both. Sundin has a no-trade clause in his contract, and has repeatedly said he has no intentions of waiving it. As for Hossa, with the Thrashers still in the chase for the Southeast Division lead, it’s possible they’ll hang on to him.

Still, by the time the trade deadline rolls around, the Ducks would have $1.8 million in salary cap space. That would be plenty to cover Sundin’s pro-rated cap hit of $1.1 million, as well as Hossa’s.

However, trading for Sundin and Hossa would cost “either top prospects Bobby Ryan or Brian Salcido, possibly a roster player” and the first-round draft pick the Ducks received from the Edmonton Oilers in the deal for forward Dustin Penner.

“Every pick’s in play,” Burke said. “The problem with the Edmonton pick is we have to see where that’s going to be. It is a deep draft. If that’s a high pick, that’s going to take a lot to move that pick, a lot more than a rental player, because you’re talking a [potential] 10-year guy.”