THE TELETYPE:
Eric Stephens reports via Twitter (tweet listed after the jump) that defenseman Brendan Mikkelson has accepted a two-way, one-year deal at his qualifying offer price of 687.5K. The Ducks issued offers to Mikkelson, Bobby Ryan and James Wisniewski at the deadline over two weeks ago and declined to make offers to a number of other RFA's. Obviously, the negotiation with Ryan and Wisniewski has gotten more press as both players were larger parts of the Ducks team last year, not to mention that the figures of Ryan's negotiation have been made public and Wisniewski filed for arbitration, for which a hearing is scheduled next month.
A 31st overall pick in 2005, Mikkelson split the 09-10 season with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL (49 games) and the Ducks (28 games).
ARTHUR:
Mikkelson's toolkit has always been that of a Top 4 defenseman, and while his issues were attributed to adjusting to Carlyle's system in 08-09, he was clearly having consistency issues last year. I've often called it a case of Dr. Mikkel and Mr. Hyde, which is truly frustrating because Dr. Mikkel is a damn good player, but it got to the point where the good doctor couldn't even show up for two consecutive shifts. He's 23, so if he blossoms (but doesn't blossom too much) in 10-11, the Ducks can get him on an affordable contract for the rest of his RFA. If he takes any longer, I'd suspect a trade, with him (annoyingly) becoming a Top 4 elsewhere.
Ducks D Brendan Mikkelson accepted one-year qual offer at $687,500. Two-way deal.
Eric Stephens
icemancometh