McInnis Takes Ducks’ Offer; Four Free Agents Left to Sign

Mighty Duck winger Marty McInnis accepted the team’s one-season qualifying contract offer Tuesday and will receive a 10% raise on his 1999-2000 salary of $1.3 million.

Marc Chouinard, a minor-league center, also accepted the Ducks’ qualifying offer.

The signings leave Pierre Gauthier, team president and general manager, with four free agents to re-sign: forwards Matt Cullen and Mike Leclerc, goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere and defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky.

Center Antti Aalto, right wing Ladislav Kohn and defenseman Patrick Traverse have filed for arbitration and their cases will be resolved by Aug. 15. The exact dates for their cases will be announced this week.

McInnis’ signing completes Gauthier’s off-season overhaul of the Ducks’ second line. McInnis, who is fit after undergoing groin surgery at season’s end, is expected to join center/winger German Titov on a new and improved line. Center Matt Cullen and rookie Jonas Ronnqvist also are expected to challenge for spots on the second line.

Last season, the Ducks’ top line of Paul Kariya, Steve Rucchin and Teemu Selanne scored 94 of the team’s 217 goals. McInnis, slowed by a nagging groin injury during the second half of the season, had 10 goals and 28 points in 62 games.

“Marty is totally healthy now,” Gauthier said. “He’s going to be a part of our second wave of scoring. With him and Titov and Ronnqvist and Cullen, there’s a lot of offense there. It shows we have more depth in scoring, which is important because it makes it tougher for other clubs to stop us.”