Bret Hedican News

The more things change the more they stay the same. Unless of course you change the right things.

Bret Hedican , who won the 2006 Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes and played 17 seasons in the NHL, announced his retirement Wednesday.

Big changes continued into the offseason for the Anaheim Ducks, with veteran defensemen departing and a fresh cast joining Scott Niedermayer on the blue line since last season's trade deadline.

The Ducks head into the offseason with about as many bumps and bruises as you'd expect following 13 gritty Stanley Cup playoff games.

As the Anaheim Ducks and Detroit Red Wings prepped Thursday morning for Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal series later in the evening, accusations were flying from Anaheim that the Wings were playing dirty hockey.

The Ducks had far too many areas for concern to harbor any such sentiment Wednesday as they prepared for Game 4 of their second-round playoff matchup Thursday at Honda Center.

Ducks defenseman, James Wisniewski, was release from UCI Medical Center this afternoon after being held overnight for observation.

Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle called it "a break." The Detroit Red Wings and their fans had some other choice adjectives after the Ducks' 2-1 victory Tuesday night.

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Chris Pronger and underrated FranA ois Beauchemin are part of perhaps the best blue-line in the game for the Ducks, who got strong efforts from everyone, including Todd Marchant , Drew Miller and Rob Niedermayer in pulling off their stunning first round upset of the San Jose Sharks.

Former St. Cloud State star Matt Cullen and the Carolina Hurricanes are still alive in the NHL playoffs.

Ryan Whitney came to the Ducks in late February. Chris Kunitz took his place in Pittsburgh.

PLAYER NOTES: --D James Wisniewski, who is in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time, scored his first postseason goal to pull the Ducks into a 2-2 tie at 14:50 of the second period.

The Rangers have done pretty well in the playoffs so far, but they could still use a few more goals.

Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller, above, gives credit to coach Francois Allaire for his recent play.