Giguere soon could be a gone Duck

OTTAWA —  Enjoy watching goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere in a Ducks uniform while you can.

Take note of his technique and his ability to stay square to the shooters, trademarks that are the envy of his more acrobatic but less successful peers.

Watch him stymie opponents and marvel at how hard he has worked to hone his craft and to overcome a dehydration problem that plagued him for years, until he learned last summer how to calibrate his fluid intake so he would remain strong and alert in the net.

Appreciate his calmness in the midst of a fury of flying pucks and flailing bodies, a sureness that has been the Ducks’ beacon in so many tight playoff games and has lifted them within two victories of their first Stanley Cup championship.

Admire him for the fine goalie and even finer person that he is because in the new salary-capped NHL, economics may dictate that these will be his final days with the team he helped transform from a movie-inspired marketing ploy into a playoff power.

Giguere, 30, will become an unrestricted free agent when this season ends. Every save he makes, every bit of leadership he displays and every game he wins drives his signing price higher.

His 16-save shutout in the Ducks’ 1-0 victory over Ottawa on Wednesday was his first of the playoffs, but he has stopped 360 of 386 shots for a .933 save percentage and a 1.75 goals-against average. Those numbers don’t match the .945 save percentage and 1.62 goals-against average he compiled during the Ducks’ 2003 Cup run, which ended with a seven-game loss to New Jersey in the finals, but he’s playing behind a much better team this season and hasn’t had to steal games in the manner he did four years ago.

Besides, he has been there this spring when he has been needed the most. For a desperate save on Todd Bertuzzi in the dying seconds of the sixth game of the Ducks’ Western Conference championship, ensuring that there would not be a seventh game in Detroit. Again for a glove save on Daniel Alfredsson in Game 1 of the finals.

“Our team is a lot more talented. We have a lot more offensive power and a lot more size. It just makes my job much easier,” Giguere said after the Ducks built a commanding 2-0 series lead Wednesday.

“I just have to go out there and give our team a chance to win. And that’s all I try to do. That’s what I try to focus on.”

He said he’s not focusing on his contract status, which is as it should be. He said General Manager Brian Burke had told him there would be no negotiations during the season and he has too much class to whine or sulk.

“It’s something for the summer,” Giguere said recently. “We’ll get there when we get there. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get a good deal here.

“I’d love to stay here. This definitely is my first pick. With the team that we have I’d be silly to want to go anywhere else.”

But circumstances may conspire to propel him out the door.

Giguere is finishing a contract that paid him $3.99 million this season. Winning the Cup, and perhaps a second Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs, would make him a very popular person the second that the free-agency period opens July 1.

Even if he isn’t the playoff MVP, he is destined to become a very, very rich man. The question is whether his paychecks will have a Ducks logo on them.

The NHL’s salary cap is expected to rise from $44 million to about $48.5 million next season, but the Ducks have a lot of high-priced players to get in under that limit.

They’re obligated to pay Chris Pronger $6.25 million and Scott Niedermayer $6.75 million and they’ll surely want to bring Teemu Selanne back after his 48-goal season. That will cost big bucks, too. Dustin Penner and Travis Moen are restricted free agents, and they will likely get sizable raises.

Giguere would be justified in starting talks at $6 million a season. Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo, a franchise player, earned $6 million this season and got his team only to the second round of the playoffs, where it lost to the Ducks.

Dallas’ Marty Turco, who has put up stellar numbers in the regular season but hasn’t gotten the Stars deep into the playoffs, also earned $6 million this season. His team lost to Vancouver in the first round.

While Giguere might be worth $6 million or more, the math will be difficult for the Ducks, who might decide to bid him farewell and hand the starting job to Ilya Bryzgalov. Such are the cold, hard facts of salary-cap economics.

Speculation has already begun that the Red Wings, unsure whether 42-year-old Dominik Hasek will return or retire, might make a pitch for Giguere. The team that should pursue him, though, is the Kings. They’ve been embarrassed by the success of the upstart Ducks, who have made more appearances in the Stanley Cup finals in 13 seasons than the Kings have in 39. What better revenge -- and rebuilding boost -- than to sign the man who very likely will hoist the Cup in the next few days?

Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com. To read previous columns by

Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.

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Mighty good

Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s career playoff statistics with the Ducks:

*--* Season GP MIN W L GA SA SO GAA SV% 2002-03 21 1,407 15 6 38 697 5 1.62 945 2005-06 6 318 3 3 18 132 0 3.40 864 2006-07* 15 888 11 3 26 386 1 1.75 933

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-- Through Game 2 of Stanley Cup finals

Source: NHL.com