Center Antoine Vermette retires as one of the best faceoff specialists of his generation.
Vermette announced on Thursday he was calling it a career after 14 NHL seasons with the Ottawa Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets, Arizona Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks. The 36-year-old from Quebec won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2015 and most recently played for the Ducks, but he didn't sign with a team after becoming a free agent last summer.
ANAHEIM DUCKS
LAST SEASON: 44-25-13, 101 points. Finished second in Pacific Division. Lost to San Jose Sharks in first round.
COACH: Randy Carlyle (10th season, 13th NHL season).
ADDED: D Luke Schenn, D Andrej Sustr, C Brian Gibbons, RW Carter Rowney.
LOST: D Francois Beauchemin, D Kevin Bieksa, C Antoine Vermette, LW Jason Chimera, RW J.T. Brown, C Derek Grant.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Ducks had something of a rally cry to start their season: Just wait until we get healthy.
Slowly, the injured have returned. And now with Ryan Kesler back after missing 37 games following hip surgery and Corey Perry expected back soon, Anaheim is approaching full strength for the first time this season.
It appears to be showing dividends after the Ducks dominated the third period Sunday to down the Arizona Coyotes 5-2 for their fourth victory in five games.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Anaheim goalie John Gibson has been pulled from a hockey game before. So he knew exactly how to react after a rough outing: No panic, no worries.
"It's going to happen to everybody. It's part of the game," Gibson said after making 37 saves in the Anaheim Ducks' 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night.
Antoine Vermette had two goals and Kevin Roy also scored for the Ducks, who jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held on to snap a four-game losing streak.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Anaheim goalie John Gibson has been pulled from a hockey game before. So he knew exactly how to react after a rough outing: No panic, no worries.
"It's going to happen to everybody. It's part of the game," Gibson said after making 37 saves in the Anaheim Ducks' 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night.
Antoine Vermette had two goals and Kevin Roy also scored for the Ducks, who jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held on to snap a four-game losing streak.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Antoine Vermette made sure Reto Berra had a memorable first start with Anaheim.
Vermette beat goalie Martin Jones in the ninth round of a long shootout to give the Ducks a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Monday night.
Corey Perry, Cam Fowler and Brandon Montour also scored during the tiebreaker for Anaheim.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Roman Josi scored one goal and assisted on another as the Nashville Predators built a three-goal lead before holding off the Anaheim Ducks 5-3 Friday night in a rematch of last season's Western Conference finals.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Derek Grant didn't score a goal in the first 92 games of his NHL career, and then he put two past star Montreal goalie Carey Price.
That was only perhaps the fifth-strangest occurrence in the Anaheim Ducks' 6-2 victory over the struggling Canadiens on Friday night.
Grant scored during Anaheim's three-goal first period, and he scored again while the Ducks connected three times in a 97-second span of the third.
ANAHEIM, California (AP) — Nick Ritchie scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period as the Anaheim Ducks roared back from an early two-goal deficit to even the Western Conference finals with a 5-3 victory over the Nashville Predators in Game 2 on Sunday.
Anaheim Ducks forward Antoine Vermette was suspended for 10 games without pay Thursday for slashing a linesman in apparent anger after a faceoff.
Vermette slapped his stick against the back of linesman Shandor Alphonso's legs after losing a faceoff to Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu during the third period of the Ducks' 1-0 win Tuesday.
Anaheim Ducks center Antoine Vermette is facing the likely prospect of a 10-game suspension from the NHL for slashing a linesman.
Vermette slapped his stick against the back of linesman Shandor Alphonso's legs after losing a faceoff to Minnesota Wild captain Mikko Koivu during the third period of the Ducks' 1-0 win Tuesday night.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Anaheim Ducks goalie John Gibson got all the cushion he needed five minutes into a game against the Western Conference-leading Minnesota Wild on a night teammate Antoine Vermette was ejected for slashing a ref.
Gibson made 37 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, rookie Joseph Cramarossa scored his fourth goal and Anaheim beat Minnesota 1-0 on Tuesday night.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — For one night at least, Corey Perry rediscovered his scoring touch in propelling the Anaheim Ducks to a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.
Antoine Vermette and the Ducks were left hoping this is a sign of things to come.
"Oh, he's a wild card. This is a dangerous player all his career and we know that," Vermette said. "If he gets going, we know how hot he can be."
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Veteran Antoine Vermette is managing to look every bit as fresh as his 21-year-old linemates.
Vermette and Corey Perry each had a goal and an assist, and the Anaheim Ducks scored a season-high three power play goals to beat the Ottawa Senators 5-1 on Sunday afternoon.
Joseph Cramarossa, Sami Vatanen and Vermette's linemate Nick Ritchie also scored for the Ducks, and John Gibson made 21 saves.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — If the goals aren't going to come in bunches, best make them timely.
At least, that's what worked for Hampus Lindholm on Friday night.
Lindholm got his first goal of the season with 5:38 remaining, helping the Anaheim Ducks beat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 after blowing a two-goal lead.
Nick Ritchie found Lindholm alone on the opposite circle and fired a sharp pass that Lindholm slapped in over goalie Martin Jones' left shoulder.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Jeff Carter scored twice and got his 600th career point, Peter Budaj made 28 saves and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 on Sunday night.
Carter assisted on Drew Doughty's score early in the second period and then added power-play goals 71 seconds apart to make it 3-0. The first goal got him to 600 points.
Antoine Vermette and Rickard Rakell scored for Anaheim, and John Gibson made 26 saves.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — John Gibson bounced back from a most lousy performance by giving the Anaheim Ducks more than just a solid performance in net.
He even helped generate some offense.
Gibson made a season-high 33 saves, Cam Fowler and Ryan Kesler had goals and the Ducks gave the Edmonton Oilers their fourth straight loss, 4-1 on Tuesday night.
Nick Ritchie and Antoine Vermette also scored for Anaheim, and Corey Perry had two assists to take the team lead with 15 points.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Veteran forward Antoine Vermette has agreed to a two-year, $3.5 million contract with the Anaheim Ducks.
Anaheim announced the deal Monday.
The former Stanley Cup champion spent last season with the Arizona Coyotes, getting 17 goals and 21 assists. The Coyotes bought out the remaining $3.75 million on Vermette's contract earlier this month, making him a free agent.
The Arizona Coyotes parted ways with veteran center Antoine Vermette to give themselves some more flexibility for next season.
The Coyotes bought out the final year of Vermette's contract on Monday, making the 34-year-old a free agent. Instead of counting $3.75 million against the salary cap, Vermette will count $1.25 million each of the next two seasons as Arizona looks to get younger.
"In order to give our team more flexibility, we needed to make this difficult...