There’s No Doubt About It in Draft : Hockey: Lindros will be the first choice. The Nordiques deny they will trade the pick to the Kings.

The Quebec Nordiques have no doubt concerning their first choice in today’s NHL draft.

The Kings, on the other hand, have no clue.

With the worst record in the league, the Nordiques get the first pick overall, and barring an 11th-hour deal, that will be Eric Lindros, who is already being hailed as the next Wayne Gretzky.

Without a first-round selection, the Kings’ first pick will be the 42nd of the draft, leaving team officials little to go on.

Lindros, 18, was the Canadian player of the year last season when he had 71 goals and 78 assists for 149 points in 57 games.

But there are potential complications. For one thing, Lindros has reportedly said he doesn’t want to play for a Canadian team because his contract would be paid in Canadian money and the endorsement potential isn’t as great as it would be in a major U.S. market.

Lindros, a native of Toronto, could sign with the fledgling Continental Hockey Assn. or the North American Hockey League.

Then there is the trade possibility. Quebec General Manager Pierre Page has received several offers. One such potential deal had the Kings sending wing Luc Robitaille, goalie Robb Stauber, a future No. 1 pick and $1 million to the Nordiques for the rights to Lindros.

Although the thought of Lindros learning on Gretzky’s wing has to be appealing, the Kings deny that any serious offer has been made.

And there will be no more, according to Page. “Teams were just using that as a ploy to create friction or create problems,” he said of the trade talk. “We have made up our mind that we will not listen to any more offers.”

The Kings will miss the first and third rounds. Their No. 1 pick went to the Edmonton Oilers in 1988 in the deal for Gretzky. Their No. 3 choice went to the St. Louis Blues in 1989 for defenseman Brian Benning. And they gave up their fourth-round selection to the Philadelphia Flyers in last month’s trade for Jari Kurri.

But the Kings still have the Buffalo Sabres’ fourth-round pick, obtained in 1989 for defenseman Dean Kennedy.

“Our priorities,” said King assistant general manager Nick Beverley, “are a center, a left wing or a goaltender, and not necessarily in that order. But at that point, if somebody shuffles down someone we didn’t expect to be there, we wouldn’t hesitate to take him.”

In Friday’s supplemental draft--for players over 20 not taken in the regular entry draft--the Kings, selecting 26th, took Brendan Creagh, a 21-year-old defenseman. The 6-foot, 193-pound University of Vermont junior had three goals, seven assists and 26 penalty minutes in 31 games last season.