The second Dustin Penner era in Anaheim is off to an inauspicious start.
According to various reports out of Colorado, where the Ducks will face the Avs tonight, Penner has been dropped from the opening-night lineup, a surprising development given he was, at one point, skating with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf on the club’s top line during training camp.
“That’s up to them [the coaches],” Getzlaf told the L.A. Times about Penner potentially being stratched. “He’s got to work his way into the lineup like everybody else.”
According to Fox Sports’ Lisa Hillary, Penner was skating with coaches and extra players following this morning’s skate, a pretty solid indicator he wouldn’t be in the lineup.
Penner, 31, signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Ducks this past summer, reuniting the “Kid Line” of himself, Getzlaf and Perry -- one that to prominence during the 2006-07 season and was a driving force behind the first and only Stanley Cup in franchise history.
That year, Penner scored a career-high 29 goals and emerged as a budding star power forward, leading to him signing a five-year, $21.25 million offer sheet with Edmonton.
Training camp proved to be a letdown, though. Penner failed to impress on the club’s top line and, last week, Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau classified Penner’s camp as “mediocre.”