BLUE JACKETS NOTEBOOK Arniel to face friendly foe

Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel has played with, played for, coached with and coached against Anaheim Ducks coach Randy Carlyle, but Wednesday's Jackets-Ducks showdown will mark the first time Arniel and Carlyle have gone toe-to-toe as head coaches.

"I coached against him when I was (an assistant coach) in Buffalo," Arniel said, "but this is a little different, obviously."

Arniel's relationship with Carlyle dates back 27 years, when they were teammates with the Winnipeg Jets in the mid-1980s.

Carlyle later coached Arniel as a player with the AHL's Manitoba Moose in the mid-to late 1990s, and he gave Arniel his first full-time coaching job as an assistant with Manitoba in 2000-01.

"We talk often," Arniel said. "It's an opportunity to go up against a guy I have a lot respect for. He helped me with my coaching steps along the way. He's a guy who's had great success, obviously. He's won the Stanley Cup (2007).

"He (and the Ducks) have had their trials and tribulations to start this season, but his teams will always be prepared, always ready to go. He's a fiery personality. He'll make sure his guys are ready, you know that."

Asked if Carlyle, one of the NHL's enduring sourpusses, is as grumpy as he lets on, Arniel snickered: "Oh, yeah."

"He's just a competitive person," Arniel said. "Just ask him: He's the world's best fisherman. He's the world's best hunter.

"We played together (in Winnipeg), and the practices were just like the games. He'd hack and whack you, hook you and hold you. He's loud, too. You always know he's in the building."

Skating laps

After an off day Sunday, Arniel ran a Carlyle-like practice yesterday.

At the end of a one-hour practice, Arniel had players split into four groups of five (one had six) and, starting from each corner of the ice, they skated laps around the rink, like speed skaters.

One lap, two laps, three laps; then three laps, two laps, one lap. Pity the goaltenders, who had to lug the heaviest gear around the ice.

"We haven't really had a chance to do this," Arniel said. "Last week I was debating on doing it, because coming back home from Sweden I wasn't sure if that would tire us back out even more. I felt like this was a good time, with (Sunday) an off day.

"It's something I like to do. It's almost like a game, with four lines going. The ice was a little bit sticky, so it wasn't easy. But even after a long practice, I thought the guys got through it pretty well."

Stralman could play

Blue Jackets defenseman Anton Stralman missed Saturday's 3-2 win in Minnesota because of a sprained left shoulder, but he has not been ruled out of Wednesday's game against the Ducks.

Arniel said Stralman could join the Jackets for practice this morning. If so, he could dress against the Ducks.

Stralman skated with injured right winger Jared Boll in the practice rink, and said the shoulder is feeling better every day.

"I did this exact thing to the right (shoulder) a few years ago," Stralman said. "This feels a lot better than that one did. I don't think it will be long, it's just a matter of being strong enough to compete in those kind of situations."

aportzline@dispatch.com