The Ducks signed defenseman Rodwin Dionicio to a three-year, entry-level contract on Friday, per a news release from the team.

He was a fifth-round pick (129th overall) in last year’s draft as a re-entry selection. He joined goalie Vyacheslav Buteyets (Round 6, No. 178 in 2022) among aspiring Ducks to sign their entry-level deals already this offseason.

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Archive: In 2007, Ducks Star Center Getzlaf Was Settling In As Major Difference-Making Talent.

The Anaheim Ducks are still trying to turn the competitive corner and rise to the top of the Pacific Division – and in this cover story from THN’s’ June 5, 2007 edition (Vol. 60, Issue 33), senior writer Ken Campbell profiled Ducks star center Ryan Getzlaf as he settled into his role as a cornerstone competitor for the franchise.

(And this is your friendly, daily reminder: to access THN’s exclusive archive, go to http://THN.com/Free and subscribe to the magazine.) After being drafted 19th overall in 2003, Getzlaf made a mark at the NHL level very early, and won a Stanley Cup with the Ducks in 2007. And then-Ducks-GM Brian Burke was effusive in his praise for Getzlaf as a competitor and a leader. “He’s a great kid and he’s going to be a captain and he’s going to be a star, I think,” Burke told Campbell. “We have no quarrel with Getzy and his development.”

Ducks coach Randy Carlyle concurred with his GM, while setting new goals for Getzlaf as a night-in, night-out difference-maker. “When we talk about him being as good as he wants to be, when he doesn’t move his feet, he’s not as effective and that’s all it is, really,” Carlyle said. “If he’s standing around, he’s ineffective. He just has to keep moving. But he has a skill set a lot of people would like to have.”

Ryan Getzlaf has been hearing about it all season and words to the same effect will undoubtedly be spoken a few more times during the Stanley Cup final. Somewhere, sometime, somebody will talk about how good Ryan Getzlaf is going to be someday. Somebody will predict stardom, maybe even superstardom, for a player who didn’t even score 40 goals as a bantam player and has never scored 30 in a season as a player in major junior, minor pro or the NHL. All season, both Anaheim Ducks GM Brian Burke and coach Randy Carlyle have been telling anyone who will listen that Getzlaf will be, “as good as he wants to be.” (If that’s the case and Getzlaf is smart, he’ll start dreaming about being as good as Wayne Gretzky sometime soon.)

Teammate Teemu Selanne, who has played 15 years in the league and scored 76 goals in his rookie season, has said Getzlaf has the potential to be one of the top players in the NHL, maybe the best. He also says the 22-year-old center still has no idea how good he can be. Sheesh, you’d think the kid would have taken the hint by now. “I guess it shows people have confidence in the player you can be,” said Getzlaf, drafted 19th overall in 2003. “It’s great when people who are behind you think you can be a pretty good player in this league.”

Usually when GMs or coaches tell a player he can be as good as he wants to be, that’s not a real positive thing. The underlying notion is they’re not playing up to their potential and if they only wanted success a little more and were willing to work for it, it would come to them. Burke insists that’s not the case with Getzlaf. “That’s not how we’re saying it,” Burke said. “We’re saying it with a great deal of respect. He’s a great kid and he’s going to be a captain and he’s going to be a star, I think. We have no quarrel with Getzy and his development.”

But what the Ducks want to see from Getzlaf is what hockey people call, “the fire in the belly.” For example, coaches often schedule optional practices as a way of seeing which players will show up and for now, anyway, they’d like to see Getzlaf at all of them. Even Getzlaf acknowledges he needs to develop more consistency. “The guys who really succeed are the ones who show up every night and are ready to play and bring the same thing every night,” said the 6-foot-3, 211-pounder. Those who predict stardom for Getzlaf have this year’s playoff tournament to use as evidence. Most young, developing players watch their ice time dwindle during the post-season, but the opposite has been true for Getzlaf. He started this season as a fourth-liner and gradually worked his way up, averaging 15:03 in ice time per game.