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Even as he broached the possibility of retirement soon after the Anaheim Ducks won the 2007 Stanley Cup, Scott Niedermayer was always careful to keep the door open for a possible return.

Niedermayer, who skipped training camp and the first two months of the season to ponder his future, made it official Wednesday — he will return to the Ducks for the remainder of the 2007-08 season and playoffs, assuming they qualify for postseason play.

General manager Brian Burke made the announcement at a press conference in Anaheim prior to the Ducks' game against the Buffalo Sabres. Niedermayer will skate with the Ducks Thursday and according to Burke, could return to the line-up within seven to 10 days.

"Scotty has fought over this decision over whether to retire," said Burke. "Our position has been that he earned that right. You're talking about a player who will walk into the Hall Of Fame someday. A player that has accomplished what he has accomplished and contributed what he has contributed has earned the right to wrestle with the decision like this."

Burke said he cautioned Niedermayer all along to be patient and not precipitously sign his retirement papers and then have second thoughts later in the summer.

"Scotty's 34," said Burke, "but you have to look at his post-season competition and his international competition. He's really 37 from a hockey standpoint. He's played 183 NHL playoff games and 43 international games. It's almost like dog years. If you add those additional years on, he's almost 37 and excelled at a high level for a long time. In my mind, that player has earned the right to take that time."

When Niedermayer went on sabbatical, he was the Ducks captain. In the meantime, they've replaced him with Chris Pronger. According to Burke, Pronger would continue to wear the 'C' — even now that Niedermayer is back playing again.

Burke indicated that Niedermayer's return was for this year only and he would not extend him the same latitude next year. For his part, Niedermayer thanked Burke, the team's owners and his teammates for their patience "while I wrestled with this very difficult decision."

The Ducks stood only 11th overall in the Western Conference standings as of yesterday and were in the bottom five of the league in both power-play and penalty-killing percentage — demonstrating the classic symptoms of a Stanley Cup hangover.

The Ducks believe Niedermayer's return will snap them out of their early-season funk, in which they've won just 12 of their first 28 games and have been outscored 80-66.

Because Niedermayer was suspended prior to the start of the season as a technicality, the Ducks have up to 21 days to activate him. The deciding factor may ultimately be how quickly Burke can manage his roster to get Niedermayer under the salary cap, a complicated process that has more to do with next year's cap limits.

Niedermayer will be paid a prorated portion of his $6.75-million (all figures U.S.) annual salary (about $4-million if he is activated next week), once he starts to play.

"He is not a roster player until we say he is," said Burke. "We'll see how his fitness levels are. My guess, given his conditioning fanaticism, you could see him in a game next week."

The Ducks can actually fit Niedermayer's salary for the current season under the cap, with minimal difficulty.

The problem is their committed salary for next season, which would include $6.75-million for the final year of Niedermayer's contract as well as the lucrative five-year $26.5-million extension they signed Ryan Getzlaf to last month. Under terms of the CBA's so-called "tagging" rule, the Ducks have too many dollars committed to contracts for next season, something that's prevented them from signing Corey Perry to an extension and will force them to move at least one of their high-priced players, probably a defenceman and probably Mathieu Schneider, assuming they can find someone to take on his $5.625-million annual contract.

"For Scotty to come back, we have to look at a roster change," said Burke. "People's natural inclination is to say that puts us in a tough spot and puts Scotty in a tough spot. In fact, I will tell you, we set the 20-game mark this year as our barometer. We knew we'd have a hangover after the Stanley Cup. Everybody does. We gave the team 20 games to turn it around and that's when we began making roster changes.

"We have offered a number of players for trade. I met with the players today and told them, 'if anybody wants to blame this on Scotty's return, feel free.' The fact of the matter is, we've looked at making changes based on the performance of the team since the 20-game mark. At that point, we were eighth in the Western Conference, but all the teams behind us had at least three games in hand, so we viewed ourselves as a non-playoff team at the 20-game mark and that's not acceptable to us."

Niedermayer won the Conn Smythe trophy as the playoffs' most valuable player last spring and is a three-time all-star and former Norris Trophy winner. He has won the Stanley Cup four times altogether, three with the New Jersey Devils and the last one, on the same team as his younger brother Rob.

Niedermayer began skating in late November with two ex-teammates, Jeff Friesen and Travis Green, in an effort to get into playing shape. The 34-year-old Niedermayer is one of the NHL's most dynamic and fluid skaters, so the Ducks do not expect it to take him long to get into playing shape.

There was no immediate word if Niedermayer's decision would have any impact on Teemu Selanne's future either. Selanne is an unrestricted free agent, but like Niedermayer, did not officially retire after the Ducks won the Stanley Cup last season. He is living in the Anaheim area and staying in shape, although he hasn't skated. Selanne could decide to return after Christmas and because he is not under contract to the team, his return would have limited salary-cap repercussions for the Ducks.

With Niedermayer back, the Ducks have suddenly become a more formidable challenger in the West. If Selanne ever decided to play again, they would move right back into the ranks of the serious contenders.