NHL ENTRY DRAFT : Finally, a Drafted Duck Deserving of an Exclamation Point

QUEBEC CITY —  You hear the breathless, exclamation-pointed blurbs and you wonder what to make of this Paul Kariya.

Disney hockey player?

Or Disney production?

“PLAYS LIKE GRETZKY!” --Hockey Scouts Across North America

“PASSES LIKE MAGIC!” --Shawn Walsh, University of Maine

“LIGHTS UP THE ARENA LIKE SHAQ!” --Dave McNab, Mighty Ducks

“TWO THUMBS UP!” --Ferreira and Gauthier, At Le Colisee

Sounds too good to be true.

Sounds too good to be a Mighty Duck.

But there he was Saturday afternoon, clad in the hallowed purple and green, the first selection of the Mighty Ducks in their first entry draft, the first Mighty Duck to stand a fighting chance of one day living up to the adjective.

“He’s a guy you can build a franchise around,” beamed Duck assistant general manager Pierre Gauthier, the smile all but exploding on his face.

“He’s one of those guys with the magic touch. So creative. So skilled. . . . The first time I saw him, he was 16 years old, playing for Penticton (in the British Columbia Junior Hockey League), underage, and that one game was enough. I walked out of the building that night and said, ‘Holy cripes!’ ”

There they go again. Another exclamation point. But give the Ducks their moment. It was their first break in the weather during a tumultuous stopover in Quebec, in which they were castigated in the Canadian press for selecting a bottom-line, bottom-shelf roster--the Ducks drafted for need, their primary need being to save money--and then were slapped around by the Tampa Bay Lightning, those cagey vets, who carjacked the Ducks’ best goalie and lone name player, Glenn Healy, in Phase II of the expansion draft.

Three months before playing their first game, the Ducks were already 0-2--and a long indoctrination only appeared to get longer Saturday when the Ducks and the Florida Panthers flipped another coin, for the fourth pick in the entry draft, and the Ducks lost again.

But in the NHL’s 341st last-second rule change of the weekend, this coin flip was tied to next year’s draft, with the winner receiving the option of picking fourth in ’93 and second in ’94 or fifth in ’93 and first in ’94.

Florida went for the latter and the Ducks were allowed to step up and select Kariya, the player they wanted all along, at No. 4.

What does Kariya mean to the Ducks?

What doesn’t he?

His appeal transcends time zones, international borders and cultures. Surname rhymes like “Korea.” Heritage is half-Japanese, half-Scottish. Was born in Canada. Won the Hobey Baker Award as the best collegiate hockey player in the United States.

And now he prepares to play Johnny Appleseed to the hockey-naive in Orange County. Stu Grimson and Randy Ladouceur are in place to whet appetites with Hamburger Helper; Kariya will provide a taste of filet mignon. He was drafted to raise consciousness, as well as the play of his teammates, and the Ducks expect the word and the puck to be spread in generous amounts.

“I hate to use a cliche,” says Walsh, Kariya’s coach at the University of Maine, “but he’s a perfect fit for what Disney and the Mighty Ducks are trying to do. He’s cerebral, he’s charismatic, he’s explosive offensively.

“It’s going to take a while--he’s young and I’m sure they’re not going to rush the situation--but he’s going to add a lot of flavor to that franchise. I suspect that he’s the kind of player you can mold a franchise around, the kind of player you need in the ‘90s.”

The Gretzky comparisons are all-encompassing, from his playmaking ability (“He has Gretzky’s passing style, plus breakaway speed,” college teammate Jim Montgomery says) to his scoring potential (“He has a chance to be a 100- to 150-point guy,” Walsh says) to his anticipated Ambassador of Pucks role off the ice.

Kariya, who doesn’t turn 19 until October, handles it all without so much as a flinch.

“To be mentioned in the same breath as Wayne Gretzky is a tremendous honor,” Kariya says, “but to me, Wayne Gretzky is untouchable. Incomparable. He should be left alone on a pedestal.”

What impresses Kariya most about his boyhood idol is that Gretzky’s “the only great athlete of the past decade or so who has never gotten any bad press. He’s been a great ambassador to hockey. He’s someone to emulate.”

Kariya has the look of a quick study. Friday, when his destination was still unknown, Kariya was asked about the possibility of becoming a Mighty Duck, he laughed, he blushed and he stammered, “No comment.”

Twenty-four hours later, Donald Duck’s goalie mask was on his chest and Kariya was saying, “I love the name. At first it’s different, but it grows on you. It adds spice and it’s entertaining. . . . I think it will be a very popular symbol in the National Hockey League.”

So should Kariya. As a Japanese-Canadian in the lily white NHL, he could do more for the integration of the league’s terrace-level seats than any player before him.

“I know that a lot of people of Japanese heritage live right along the West Coast,” Kariya says, knowing the target audience. “I’m very proud of that heritage. Right now, Jim Paek of Pittsburgh is the only (Asian) player in the league.”

The league needs more colors, and not just burgundy and teal. Two more small steps were taken Saturday, by the newest teams on ice, when Florida followed the selection of Kariya one round later by drafting a goaltender of African descent, Kevin Weekes.

Maybe the Ducks and Panthers truly can drag the NHL into a new age of enlightenment.

The Ducks are at the door, having paid $50 million to get that far.

Saturday afternoon, they may have found the key.