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Ducks acquire Kevin Bieksa; Francois Beauchemin hits free agency
Free agency hasn’t even started yet, but Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray has already replaced his two most valuable UFAs in Matt Beleskey and Francois Beauchemin.
The Ducks followed up their draft-day acquisition of left wing Carl Hagelin, the expected replacement for Beleskey, by trading for defenseman Kevin Bieksa on Tuesday afternoon.
Anaheim shipped a second-round pick in the 2016 draft to the Vancouver Canucks for the blue liner, indicating that the club wouldn’t be able to move forward with veteran blue liner Francois Beauchemin.
Murray confirmed that the talks broke down with Beauchemin Tuesday morning, saying he had elected to become a free agent.
"That's very accurate," Murray told reporters Tuesday on a conference call. "I got told they were going to the free-agent market this morning. Things changed, it wasn't going to work. He told me what he was going to get in free agency and I couldn't get near that. We talked this morning they said, 'We're going to go to the market.'"
While Murray said he wasn't necessarily expecting that answer from Beauchemin's camp, he had already made contingency plans by way of talks with Vancouver.
Murray on @kbieksa3: "He's a right-hand shot that skates well. He's tough, has a mean streak and is a competitive guy."
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) June 30, 2015
Bieksa has one more year on his contract with a cap hit of $4.6 million in 2016. A year younger than Beauchemin, they possess similar qualities. Both have hard point shots and can eat up minutes and they drop the gloves, they can both throw down with the best of the them. However, Bieksa is more of an aggressive agitator and wracks up far more penalty minutes.
"I think they're similar players," Murray said. "They have some differences, obviously. I like them both, I've always liked them both. Don't forget, I put Kevin and Kes and all of those guys together in Winnipeg when I was working for Vancouver. So I have a history with them and some of these guys."
Beauchemin played nine seasons of his 11 seasons in Anaheim, helping the Ducks win a Stanley Cup in 2007. A veritable coach on the ice, he's primarily skated with emerging young blueliner Hampus Lindholm over the last two seasons and helped with the development of Cam Fowler and former Ducks D Luca Sbisa in prior years.
A compliment to Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger in earlier years, he stepped up as the leader of the defense after Niedermayer's retirement and Pronger's departure.
Bieksa not worried about bad blood with new #Ducks teammates, writes @AbbeyMastracco. http://t.co/frQWbUx3EF #NHL pic.twitter.com/t3fGNxx5I7
— FOX Sports West (@FoxSportsWest) July 1, 2015
The Ducks initially thought they could get the 35-year-old on a friendly one- or two-year deal, but he has suiters out there willing to pay him more for a longer deal.
"I think he has a one-time chance to go to free agency and he mentioned that someone would give him three years and $5 million on free agency," Murray said. "I couldn't do that. If you get that, you take it and I totally understand what they're doing."
Following the announcement of the Bieksa trade, the Ducks also announced the hiring of Paul MacLean as the new assistant coach. MacLean recently served as the head coach of the Ottawa Senators, winning the Jack Adams Award as the coach of the year in 2013. MacLean replaces Brad Lauer, who was the only member of the Anaheim coaching staff not retained following the season.
It's MacLean's second stint in Anaheim, as he previously served as an assistant under Mike Babcock.
"I thought our staff was much better this year with the addition of Trent (Yawney), but I thought there was some ways to make us even stronger," Murray said. "I think Paul, who has been a head coach and an assistant with Mike Babcock forever, I think he brings a whole other dimension to our coaching staff. I'm very excited about that. All of the things that we've done, I think the coaching staff is really, really in good shape right now."
