ANAHEIM – Each of the four corners of Honda Center has a giant-size image of a Ducks player plastered to the curvature of the glass. Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry are at the opposite northeast and southwest ends, while Cam Fowler occupies the southeast side.

Those are natural choices given their importance to the Ducks. And so is Francois Beauchemin, who looms over anyone who walks in from the northwest corner. The longtime Ducks defenseman might still be overlooked in some corners but not by those inside the team’s offices.

Through two different stints, Beauchemin has been a fixture with the Ducks in their defense corps. Once he was the up-and-comer reaching his potential alongside the great Scott Niedermayer. Now he’s the wise veteran helping the talent-filled youngster maximize his ability.

At 34, Beauchemin is wearing a letter full time. He’s long been a leader in the Ducks locker room but being an alternate captain for the first time after the retirements of Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu carries significance that he doesn’t downplay.

“Obviously following Teemu and Saku here, it means a lot,” Beauchemin said. “Every time you have ‘A’ on your jersey, it doesn’t matter where you play – especially me being here for so long, having won a Stanley Cup – it’s always a big honor for me to wear that.

“A lot guys are leaders without an ‘A’. I was before it was put on this year. But when you do have it for real, it’s always a special thing.”

Having a letter hasn’t changed anything. Beauchemin is the same now as in the fall of 2005 when the Ducks stole him from Columbus and the spring of 2011 when the club got him back from Toronto.

The noise the 10-year defender makes is on the ice in the form of a textbook, clean hit, a momentum-changing goal or the direction given to teammates when it is necessary. If there is a time to be vocal off the ice, Beauchemin does it behind closed doors.

Ducks winger Tim Jackman calls the Quebec native a focused individual, a term that’s repeated by others.

“In the locker room, he’s a big personality but he’s very quiet,” Jackman said. “He doesn’t say too much. But when he does speak up, guys listen. He’s been there before. He’s won. And he has a confidence about him that he brings to the team that everybody feeds off of.”

“You can see when he plays out there, he plays with an edge. Guys will follow.”

All business. No nonsense.

“I was always that way,” Beauchemin said. “I’ll joke around once in a while. But my way of doing things is more like being focused and coming in, working hard. The old-fashioned way. The new guys coming in are different but for me, I’m still the way of hard-working guys, serious and just doing everything is a business way.

“Once the game is over, if we win, I’ll have a lot of fun. If we lose, I’ll be grumpy.”

Much of the past two seasons has seen Beauchemin paired with 21-year-old Hampus Lindholm. The two have been good for each other and their combined plus-87 rating reflects that.

Lindholm eagerly soaks in the advice that Beauchemin sends his way. The Ducks’ young standout said Beauchemin is good at communicating and making the game simpler while the elder partner contends Lindholm has been a great match for him.

“We both read off each other really well,” Beauchemin said. “He’s helping me a lot in that way. I know if I jump up, he’ll be back. And then if I see him up, I’ll stay back.

“He’s got that great shot, great passing. Great skater. So that’s why I think we both get along really well on the ice. I’ll be a little more physical. He’s got more finesse than I do.”

And yet Beauchemin isn’t just being a mentor. He has been the sturdy rock in the defense corps as always but he’s turned up his play a few notches while injuries and trades have changed the personnel on the back end.

His eight goals – all of them coming after returning from a broken finger and five of them in the past 12 games – have tied a career mark done twice. Beauchemin is jumping up into the play much more but says he does it only when the team is down.

Lindholm doesn’t mind it in any situation.

“It makes both of us more of a threat,” Lindholm said. “It makes it harder for the other team to see where we are out on the ice. It’s kind of like Chicago and how they play, roaming around and trusting each other to cover each other. Makes it so much harder to defend.

“I think it’s a good thing and I hope he’s going to keep doing it.”

The jump in production has come while Sami Vatanen, the team’s top-scoring defenseman, has been out because of a leg injury. Center Ryan Kesler calls Beauchemin a “horse” who leads by example and “walks the walk.”

“I just think he’s getting rewarded now,” Kesler said. “Obviously he was a little snake-bit earlier in the year, like a lot of guys. He’s really come on and played well. It’s good to see.”

Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau sees another reason why Beauchemin has been particularly effective late this season compared to other years when his occasional struggles would be revealed.

“He’s healthy too,” the coach said. “We played him a lot of minutes the last couple of years and he’d have to sit back because he was more worried about defending than he was (about his) offense.

“And when his knees are sore or his shoulder’s sore or his body overall is sore, he couldn’t do the things that he’s doing now because he’s completely healthy.”

On another team, Beauchemin might be its captain. That’s how much the Ducks think of him and that’s why he continues to stand tall within the organization..

“We can hear it from (the media) or from the coaches or from anybody else,” Beauchemin said. “But when it comes from the room, when it comes from your teammates … these are the guys that we live with every day so they know us a lot more than you guys do.

“It’s good for your confidence and a big honor as well.”

Contact the writer: estephens@ocregister.com