SCHOOL’S OUT FOR NOW

The weariness showed, and so did the pain.

Warren Rychel couldn’t help wincing after the Mighty Ducks’ five-hour game against the Detroit Red Wings had ended at 12:25 Friday morning in a wrenching, 3-2 double-overtime loss that ended the Ducks’ first appearance in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“It hurts. It really hurts,” Rychel said, but he didn’t mean the sweat rolling over the bloody scrapes and days-old stitches on his face.

“We left everything we had out there,” Rychel said. “We’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. I think lots of guys on the team, even though we lost, learned what it takes to win in the playoffs.”

It was a four-game series that took so long, Detroit’s Doug Brown called it “a six-game sweep.” Three of the games went to overtime--one to single overtime, one to double, another to triple.

“A sweep probably isn’t a great way to characterize this series. It was a lot closer than that,” said Detroit’s Brendan Shanahan, who ended Game 4 when he whacked in a rebound from a mad scramble in front of the net after 37 minutes 3 seconds of sudden-death overtime, on the Red Wings’ 73rd shot of the game.

Time will have to pass before the Duck players’ frustration over missing the third round can fade. But the franchise is only going to be stronger for it.

“You’ve got to be reasonable,” veteran defenseman Bobby Dollas said. “It’s our first trip here. A lot of guys can be proud of their series.”

Paul Kariya was one of those players who had never been in the playoffs. Now he’s a veteran of 11 games--and seven overtime periods.

“The experiences we learned here will be invaluable,” Kariya said. “We certainly know we have a long way to go to become a Cup contender.”

General Manager Jack Ferreira also saw the playoffs as a learning tool.

“I think this is a positive,” he said. “Everybody learned from this experience. A lot of our guys had never been in the Stanley Cup playoffs, let alone this number of overtime games. They learned from everything out there, how close the games are, how important every period, every shift is.

“They learned to take the pressure, and they learned what kind of top condition you have to be in to play two and three overtimes. Now, in the off-season, they’ll understand the things you have to do. And they also understand that things don’t get more exciting than the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“Brian Bellows said the other day, ‘Games like this make you realize how hard it is to win the Stanley Cup.’ The skill level is so much higher. You learn a lot about your team. This team can hold its head up and be proud.”

There will be changes before the Ducks take to the ice again for training camp in September.

Kariya will be back, though. Matching any offer for their 22-year-old superstar and restricted free agent is a no-brainer, even for the cost-conscious Walt Disney Co. It might take awhile, but it will get done, even if the Ducks have to triple his salary of slightly more than $2 million this season.

“I keep hearing three or four other teams are going to try to sign Paul,” club President Tony Tavares said. “I’m not losing any sleep.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t respect Paul’s ability. But I’ll be surprised if signing him is any problem.”

Coach Ron Wilson probably will be back too, despite speculation that he will be the hot coaching commodity of the off-season.

His contract is not officially up until July 1, leaving the Ducks time to finish their protracted negotiations, since other teams are prohibited from talking to him without permission while he’s under contract.

“I don’t think he’ll be going anywhere,” Kariya said.

It will cost the Ducks to keep Wilson--and it should. He has proved his worth time and again, despite being kept on pins and needles. He says he wants to stay.

“We have a couple of the best young players in the game,” Wilson said. “Why would I want to leave when we have a chance to win the Stanley Cup?”

So unless he overplays his hand in negotiating a hefty raise from his $350,000 salary, all the talk about other teams’ interest probably will be moot.

“I don’t have any offers from other teams,” said Wilson, adding that chances are “pretty good” he’ll stay in Anaheim.

“I read the rumors,” he said. “It’s flattering. I didn’t read my name last year. Now it’s just a logical thing, is the way I look at it. All those jobs that appear to be opening or will be, my name’s bantered around, just because of my contract situation.”

The Ducks’ chief concerns are re-signing Kariya, Wilson and goalie Guy Hebert, also a potential restricted free agent, meaning the Ducks have the right to match offers.

But they can’t stand still otherwise. They need more depth.

“We need help up front,” Kariya said. “Look at [the Red Wings]. They basically have three lines that can score. Every aspect of our game needs to be improved.”

There are other contract situations as well. The Ducks must decide what to do with their $1.5-million option on Jari Kurri’s contract. That’s too steep for his statistics, but they could still try to re-sign him in the open market for less, keeping his veteran presence and positive effects on Teemu Selanne.

Bellows, who doesn’t have his finishing touch anymore, is an unrestricted free agent, as is defenseman J.J. Daigneault, a key to the Ducks’ power play. The other power-play point man, Dmitri Mironov, is a restricted free agent.

There is definitely work to be done.

“This was a good lesson for us,” Selanne said. “We gave what we had, and it wasn’t enough.”

Times staff writers Elliott Teaford and Helene Elliott contributed to this story.