The skinny so far:

Goaltender Jean-Philippe Levasseur has been signed to a 1-year extension. It’ll be interesting to see if he gets called up to play more than one game this year or if he’ll be able to nab the number 2 spot. I’m hoping that now that he’s been resigned, he will be more inclined to submit to an interview!

The other two free agents who have resigned are defenseman Sheldon Brookbank (2-year extension) and center Kyle Chipchura (1-year extension).

Unrestricted players are Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu, Aaron Ward, Brian Salcido, Joey MacDonald, Kyle Calder, Brennan Evans and Ryan Donally. Of course, we still haven’t heard a decision from Teemu yet which has everything to do with what direction the team will take when approaching final decisions regarding the likes of Koivu, Calder, Ryan and Wisniewski.

Qualifying offers have been made to Bobby Ryan, James Wisniewski and Brendan Mikkelson. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens!

The Ducks did not make a qualifying offer to left winger Bobby Bolt, which leaves him twisting in the wind while hanging out with family in his home town of Thunder Bay, Ont. Anaheim picked up Bobby back in the 2005 Entry Draft, but as far as I can tell, he didn’t develop as they thought he would and he spent much of last season displeased with the organization (yes, another player who declined to be interviewed).

Speaking of wings, we also acquired left wing/center Jason Jaffray from the Calgary Flames in exchange for left wing Logan MacMillan. Jaffray made his NHL debut Decemeber 12, 2007 with Vancouver, scoring his first goal against J.S. Giguere.

More fun to follow!

The Avs Duchene and McElhinney get to know each other.

Goaltender Curtis McElhinney, the lanky lefty from London, ON, was solid in his third straight win last night against the Avs – a wonderful romp of a game that featured Scott Niedermayer proving the old dog still knows a few tricks, Mr. 600 becoming Mr. 601 and bringing the Ducks to seven points behind Colorado for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Picked up in a trade with Calgary for netminder Vesa Toskala in early March 2010, McElhinney seemed at first glance to be an odd selection considering in the 2008-2009 season he failed to win in his first 13 starts.  It wasn’t until April 11, 2009 that he notched his first win against the Edmonton Oilers, 4-1.

During the CBC postgame interview, an ecstatic teammate gleefully shaving creamed him and scurried off giggling like a school girl.  Later, when a reporter pointed out there was still some in his ear, McElhinney responded “I’m sure it’s in a lot of other places, too. It feels good. Well, other than my eyes are burning a bit. It felt great, and I’m so happy to get it.”

Calgary teammate Craig Conroy once said McElhinney would make huge saves during practice, but no one was really aware of his talent because he didn’t play many games.  Well, someone on the Ducks staff apparently heeded those praises and we’ve been richly rewarded by the addition of Big Mac between the pipes.

McElhinney has stated that he’s eager to secure the Ducks back-up spot and that he was glad to get out from under Miikka Kiprusoff.  “It’s a tough job playing the backup role anywhere you are, but especially in Calgary with the amount of games that Kiprusoff likes to play,” McElhinney said in a recent interview.

ESPN.com fantasy sports analyst Tim Kavanaugh recently listed some of the hot goalies to watch out for and listed McElhinney alongside the more expected Jonathan Bernier, Cam Ward, Miikka Kiprusoff and Marc-Andre Fleury, commenting right off the bat “This is really an odd one.”  It’s nice to see the guy who flew under the radar getting some much deserved props.

So how much more of Mac will we see this season?  Well, with the way the Avs have been collapsing and the Ducks hopes revitalized, maybe more than expected.  Not that anyone wants to see Hiller out for longer than necessary, but the waterfowl are on a roll, so why mess with success?