ANAHEIM, Calif. — Almost a career ago, an event that helped speed Kevin Bieksa to the Vancouver Canucks and the National Hockey League was a fight against minor-league teammate Fedor Fedorov, who by most accounts had the beating coming to him that Bieksa delivered outside the rink in Manitoba.
Former Canuck general manager Brian Burke was impressed. Burke's one-time assistant, Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray, may or may not be familiar with the Fedorov story. But he knows all about Bieksa's combativeness and good-guy toughness, and surrendered a second-round draft pick to acquire him from the Canucks in June.