Tradegy Among Anaheim Duck Fans...

From Yahoo! Sports: LOS ANGELES - The Anaheim Ducks cut ties with Dustin Penner on Thursday when the team opted not to match a five-year, $21.25 million offer sheet from the Edmonton Oilers for the 24-year-old left winger.

The Ducks will receive picks in the first, second and third rounds of the 2008 draft from Edmonton as compensation.

Penner, who was a restricted free agent, will get a huge raise from the Oilers, earning $4.25 million in each of the next five seasons. He made the NHL minimum of $450,000 last season, when he scored 29 goals for the Stanley Cup champion Ducks.

Anaheim had a week to match Edmonton's offer and waited until Thursday's deadline had passed before announcing it was letting Penner go.

"We don't believe these salaries make sense," Anaheim general manager Brian Burke said on a conference call. "If I believe these salaries don't make sense and I match then I'm just as dumb as the team that extended the offer."

Burke was incensed by the terms and amount of last week's offer, and at the time he had especially harsh words for Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe, saying, "Edmonton has offered a mostly inflated salary for a player, and I think it's an act of desperation for a general manager who is fighting to keep his job."

Burke made it clear that his hard feelings didn't extend to Penner. "Dustin is a good kid and a good person and he played well for us," he said.

The Ducks don't have much room under the salary cap. They are around $5 million below the $50.3 million maximum for next season, although a team is allowed to be over the salary cap by 10 percent until Oct. 1.

Anaheim is still waiting on defenseman Scott Niedermayer and winger Teemu Selanne to decide whether they will retire or play next season. Burke said nothing has changed with their status.

Besides his 29 goals, Penner had 16 assists in his first full NHL season. He had three goals and five assists in 21 postseason games.

Good luck to you Dustin - & thank you for your part in the 2007 Stanley Cup Championship.

UPDATE - You have to read this Rags to Riches story sent to me by Ken