With the season winding down and no point in exacerbating Jonas Hiller’s back injury, the Ducks have called up Jean-Philippe Levasseur as back-up for Curtis McElhinney.
 Yeah, I know, I hear all the Hiller fans asking “who are these guys?”  I’ll have more on C.McE tomorrow, but for now, a little about the strapping young lad, JPL (get it?).
 When the Iowa Chops went buh-bye, Levasseur was loaned to the then Edmonton Oilers AHL affiliate team, the Springfield Falcons in December 2009 (The Falcons recently joined forces with the Columbus Blue Jackets).  Since his debut with the Falcons, Levasseur has played in [...]

Ever since the Iowa Chops shuttered their ice, the Anaheim Ducks had been searching for an AHL team to affiliate with and after successful (and brief) negotiations, they landed the more stable and successful Syracuse Crunch.
Previously affiliated with the Dallas Stars, The Chops had only been a viable team for barely a year when allegations arose that ownership had taken out a loan and used the franchise as collateral.  A big no-no according to AHL rules.
In addition, according to the Ducks, the Chops owed Anaheim “significant money.”  Attempts at digging for more details have not been successful as the Chops [...]