Bob Duff

Brian Burke insists that Scott Niedermayer deserved the opportunity to pick his spot.

Even though in sports, those who pick their spots are looked upon with disdain.

Niedermayer, who captained the Anaheim Ducks to the Stanley Cup last spring, informed the Ducks on Wednesday that he was coming out of his self-imposed hockey hiatus — he never did announce his retirement — and would return to the Anaheim lineup for the remainder of the 2007-08 NHL season.

“I’m excited to be rejoining my teammates and getting back on the ice,” Niedermayer said. “I would like to thank (team owners) the Samuelis, (Ducks general manager) Brian Burke and especially my teammates for their patience while I wrestled with this very difficult decision.”

On the surface, this seems like a huge break for the Ducks, who are struggling along at hockey’s version of the Mendoza Line, the cutoff point for playoff qualification. Adding a Norris Trophy-winning defenseman of Niedermayer’s capabilities — he led all defensemen in scoring with a career-high 69 points last season — would appear to once again make them a serious challenger for Stanley Cup honors.

“We are obviously very pleased that Scotty has chosen to come back and play,” a naturally excited Burke said. “He earned the right to take time in making a decision, one that was clearly difficult for him.”

Is it really a break, though, or will Niedermayer simply break down and take the Ducks with him?

History suggests that no one should believe in miracles.

The last NHL mid-season comeback of his magnitude was in 2000, when Mario Lemieux announced he was returning to the ice to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins after a 2 ½-year retirement.

While Lemieux’s revival created quite a stir within the sports world and he still displayed plenty of magic with the puck, let’s face it, he was nowhere near the player who had once dominated the game and his body betrayed him frequently.

On too many nights, he looked more like an old Lemieux than the Lemieux of old.

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The closest comeback to resemble Niedermayer’s bid came in 1956-’57. The Toronto Maple Leafs, like this season’s Ducks, found themselves on the playoff bubble. They opted to lure former captain Ted (Teeder) Kennedy out of a one-season retirement. Kennedy returned Jan. 6, 1957, and scored just six goals in 30 games as the Leafs missed the playoffs.

Guy Lafleur, Dominik Hasek, Dickie Moore, Ted Lindsay, Gordie Howe and Jacques Plante are other Hall of Fame-caliber players who returned to hockey after self-imposed absences.

“It wasn’t tough for me,” Lindsay said. “I knew for sure I could play.”

While all displayed varying levels of success during their comebacks, none were able to match their previous level of performance as elite players. And not one of them won a Stanley Cup after their comebacks.

Lindsay, who retired as a Chicago Blackhawk following the 1959-’60 season, then came back with the Detroit Red Wings in 1964-’65, was a four-time 30-goal scorer and former NHL scoring champ, but he registered just 12 goals in 69 games for Detroit in his comeback campaign.

Lindsay admitted he was as much driven by his passion for the game as anything else when he opted to return. “When you’re doing something you love, it’s never hard,” he said. “You’re doing it because you want to do it.”