ANAHEIM — When the Ducks placed Ilya Brzygalov on waivers earlier this season, general manager Brian Burke said he was making good on a promise to give the goaltender, mostly a backup to Jean-Sebastien Giguere, an opportunity to be a No. 1 netminder.
Of course, there were also some financial benefits for the Ducks, who are up against the salary cap; Bryzgalov will make $1,363,000 this season, while Jonas Hiller, who replaced him as Anaheim’s No. 2 goalie, will make $850.000.
While no one is likely to claim the Ducks are stronger in goal with Hiller rather than Bryzgalov — a standout in his new role as the No.1 goalie in Phoenix — it does seem the Ducks’ backup is becoming more comfortable with his role.
Hiller played extremely week last Friday when the Ducks beat Chicago 2-1, making 20 saves, including several difficult stops on a first-period flurry by the Blackhawks.
“I was quite happy with the way I started,� said the 25-year-old from Switzerland. “Those few chances they had, they were good chances … In one way it’s dangerous, if right away you get scored on, but if it goes the way it did today, making good stops, for sure it boosts your confidence.
“For sure it helped me a lot that I had those good saves at the beginning. I felt pretty comfortable the whole game.�
Friday’s win gave Hiller a 3-3-1 record in 10 games, with a 2.44 goals-against average and .903 saves percentage. The latter numbers not that far from Giguere’s 2.41 and .913. That doesn’t mean Hiller is ready to challenge for the No. 1 job, but it does indicate he may be earning more playing time — particularly in light of his 2-1 record and .927 saves percentage in his last three starts.
“Our mandate is not to expect our goaltenders to win us hockey games, but to give us a chance,� said coach Randy Carlyle, who started Hiller in part because Giguere had been ill and in part, he said, “we felt we have to play our (backup) goaltender a little bit more, give him a little bit of an opportunity. …
“I thought he made some critical stops at critical times, and that’s all you can ask of your goalie.�
Opportunity is something Hiller would welcome.
“I feel more and more comfortable every game,� said Hiller. “I’m always happy for the chances.�
That’s particularly true because the backup role is an unaccustomed one. Before he was signed by the Ducks as a free agent last spring, he had been the primary netminder for Davos in the Swiss A League, playing 131 games over three seasons with a 77-44-9 record. And this year, before joining the Ducks on Nov. 16, he had split starting duties at minor-league Portland (Me.), going 3-2-1 in six games.
So the reserve role is something he has to learn as he goes.
“For sure it’s easier if you get a start like every second or third day,� he said. “You’re more in the flow or whatever. But that’s the situation I have to go through, the situation as a backup, and I have to handle it. The last few times, I think it’s gone pretty well.�

New face: The newest face to arrive in Burke’s season-long tinkering with the Anaheim roster is right wing Brian Bochenski, who arrived from Boston last week in a trade for defenseman Shane Hnidy and made his Ducks debut Saturday at Phoenix.
Bochenski had six assists in 20 games with Boston this season; in 101 games with the Senators, Blackhawks and Bruins, he had 21 goals and 26 assists.
The trade was not a total surprise, he said.
“I was in and out of the lineup, and then all of a sudden they put me on the first line for two days, so maybe I thought, ‘Oh, what is going on here?’ But you never really know.
“I thought maybe something would happen, but not so soon. I was still hoping it panned out there.�
Bochenski had a slow start to the season — perhaps too literally for Boston. He said he was asked by the Bruins to add some bulk to his 6-foot-1 frame and reported at 205 pounds, but lost some speed in the process. Now he’s back to his usual 190 pounds, he said, and hopes to reestablish his offensive game.
“I’m a guy who scores a lot of goals, usually, and contributes offensively,� he said, asked to describe himself as a player. “Cause a lot of turnovers, and usually a pretty quick player down low in getting to loose pucks. The biggest thing is just scoring goals. I’ve done that my whole career.�
Bochenski played his college hockey at North Dakota, finishing with 79 goals and 75 assists in 120 career games, and has had similar production in the AHL, with 89 goals and 93 assists in 143 games.
Carlyle did not rush Bochenski into the lineup, choosing to have him sit out his first game as a Duck.
“It’s important to create an atmosphere for him to have success and give him an opportunity to play an offensive role,� said Carlyle, “because that’s what he is, an offensive player.
“Historically, he’s been able to provide scoring at the college level, at the American Hockey League level, and now the test is that he hasn’t been able to do it at the NHL level. And we have to find the best possible scenario to help him help us provide some offense.�

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